Hard Money (26 page)

Authors: Luke; Short

Yates was there now. Men were talking to Yates, pointing to Feldhake and then to Seay. Seay waited, and nothing happened, and he turned away, breaking through the crowd. It was seconds later that he realized he was still holding the gun in his hand. He threw it onto the steps of a store and saw it fall at a woman's feet, brushing her skirt as it came to rest. And he looked up and saw that the woman was Vannie, who had been watching him.

He did not seem to know her, and she turned slowly and disappeared in the store. Swinging under the hitch rack, he threaded his way through the wagons blocking the way to the Union House.

Tramping up the stairs, a bitter weariness dragged at him and smothered his movement to slowness.

He opened the door to Bonal's office and stood there, hand on knob. Sharon, at the window, was looking at him, her face still, contained, utterly lovely. Bonal stood before his desk.

Seay said, “I'll be drifting, Bonal,” but he watched Sharon, saw the life come into her face.

“You didn't go to her,” Sharon said quietly. “I saw it. And you didn't go to her.”

“No.”

Slowly, proudly, Sharon walked over to him and faced him, her face radiant. “I watched it. And I'm not soft if I can do that, am I?”

Memory did not have to grope for her meaning. She came into his arms, pressing her body to him, and her kisses were warm and dear on his lips and his face.

Bonal let himself quietly into the other room. The door closed; he stood motionless, trying to know the way love went, and his only memory dim and almost sad.

About the Author

Luke Short is the pen name of Frederick Dilley Glidden (1908â1975), the bestselling, award-winning author of over fifty classic western novels and hundreds of short stories. Renowned for their action-packed story lines, multidimensional characters, and vibrant dialogue, Glidden's novels sold over thirty million copies. Ten of his novels, including
Blood on the Moon
,
Coroner Creek
, and
Ramrod
, were adapted for the screen. Glidden was the winner of a special Western Heritage Trustees Award and the Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman Award from the Western Writers of America.

Born in Kewanee, Illinois, Glidden graduated in 1930 from the University of Missouri where he studied journalism. After working for several newspapers, he became a trapper in Canada and, later, an archaeologist's assistant in New Mexico. His first story, “Six-Gun Lawyer,” was published in
Cowboy Stories
magazine in 1935 under the name F. D. Glidden. At the suggestion of his publisher, he used the pseudonym Luke Short, not realizing it was the name of a real gunman and gambler who was a friend of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. In addition to his prolific writing career, Glidden worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He moved to Aspen, Colorado, in 1946, and became an active member of the Aspen Town Council, where he initiated the zoning laws that helped preserve the town.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Andy Ross

ISBN: 978-1-5040-4085-3

This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

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