“Don’t lie to me.”
“I never lie.”
Evie lost sight of the girl as Gray stepped between them. “You have a bruise.”
“Just a little one. It’s not important.”
The single-minded intensity was back in Gray’s voice. “Who hit you?”
“I told you he gets mean.”
“Your mother’s friend?”
She shrugged. “I talk too much. It hurts his head.”
Gray’s hand went to the hilt of the big knife Cougar had given him over Jenna’s objections. “You do not talk too much.”
There was a cold flatness to the statement that sent a shiver down Evie’s spine. He sounded just as Cougar had when he’d said he was going hunting for Brad’s attackers. It had sounded natural on Cougar. The scary thing was it sounded equally natural on Gray.
“I’m fine, Gray. You don’t need to be mad.”
He tipped her small face up. From here, Evie couldn’t see any sign of a bruise, but the touch of Gray’s thumb to the little girl’s cheek was eloquent. “The bastard.”
“You’re not supposed to use words like that around me.”
Gray dropped his hand. “I’m sorry.”
Evie smiled at the reprimand and Gray’s response. Whomever the precocious little girl was, she was special to Gray.
Brenna patted the crate beside her as she took a bite of the biscuit. “You can sit with me.”
Gray looked around. Evie hugged the wall so he wouldn’t see her. “I’d better not.”
Brenna’s feet stopped swinging and the hand holding the biscuit dropped into her lap. “Oh.”
“Oh what?”
“You think I’m ugly, too.”
Evie couldn’t prevent her gasp. Fortunately, Gray’s curse covered the betraying sound.
“That was a very bad word,” Brenna reproached, not looking at him.
“Sorry.” He sat beside her. “Who told you that you were ugly?”
“The other kids, when they wouldn’t let me play.” Kicking her foot Brenna muttered almost too low for Evie to hear. “They called me an ‘ugly, freckled whore’s get.’ ”
The brats!
The light was getting dimmer. Evie had to strain to see, but it looked as though Gray put his arm around his friend’s shoulders.
“I like your freckles.”
“I tried to get rid of them, but they won’t come off.”
Evie’s heart clenched in her chest. Brenna couldn’t be more than five or six. Too young to be called such names, too young to have to feel the pain of being ostracized.
“Don’t try anymore.”
“But if I didn’t have freckles, kids wouldn’t think I was ugly and they’d play with me.”
For an awful moment, Evie thought Gray was going to explain the real reason the other kids wouldn’t play with her. When he didn’t, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“What are those creatures your God sends down to help people?” he asked.
Brenna took another bite of biscuit and thought on it. “You mean angels?”
“Yeah. Angels. I think of your freckles like the kisses of angels over your face.”
The tattoo of the little girl’s shoes against the crate took up a happier beat. “That’s pretty.”
“So are you.”
Brenna and Gray fell silent. The muted sounds of merriment from the saloon underscored the rap of Brenna’s heels. The two children sat in companionable silence as Brenna finished the last of her meal, wiping her mouth with the napkin. Sometime in the child’s life someone had instilled manners.
Folding the napkin, she handed it back to Gray. “I suppose you have to go now.”
Gray nodded. “It would be bad for you if someone saw me here.”
“Because your skin isn’t white?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t care.” Her small hand covered his, pale and tiny, barely visible in the dim light, emphasizing the difference between them even as it communicated the similarities, the bond. “I think you’re beautiful, too.”
“Oh, darn.” The exclamation just popped out. Gray’s head whipped in Evie’s direction. She didn’t know if he saw her. The saloon door opened. Light spilled into the alley as someone came out, capturing Gray with his arm around Brenna for whomever stood in the doorway to see.
“What in hell is going on here?”
Gray leapt to his feet. Brenna shrieked. Evie was frozen in place as a big bear of a man stepped into the tiny alley. Bull. And from the way he slurred the word
hell
, he was inebriated.
“Get away from that Indian, girl.”
Gray grabbed Brenna and shoved her behind him, standing tall in a foolish display of courage, because the man was easily a foot taller and over a hundred pounds heavier.
“Don’t you touch him,” Brenna screamed, trying to get around Gray.
“I’ll do more than touch him.” Bull cracked his knuckles.
“Stay behind me!” Gray ordered, blocking her jump forward with his arm.
“No! He’ll hurt you.”
“Damn straight I’m going to hurt him. He’s got no right even looking at a white girl, let alone touching her.”
“And you have no right to touch her,” Gray snarled back.
Bull smiled. “I’ve got a hell of a lot more right than you.”
It was such an evil smile. Evie dug in her reticule for the gun as Gray’s deadly quiet “No longer” reached her in a chilling prelude to violence. The bullets clanked against the metal. She snagged two. Damn Asa and his lessons. If he hadn’t scared her so, the gun would be loaded and she wouldn’t be fumbling in the dark.
In the split second it took to get the gun clear of the reticule, Brenna darted around Gray, kicking at Bull’s legs for all she was worth. Bull grabbed her, yanked her off her feet, and tossed her behind him. She went flying through the air like a doll, mouth open in a silent cry. Her scream broke as her head hit the wood. She crumpled to the ground. Gray lunged with a snarl, his knife flashing in a lethal arc. Evie held her breath, fearing the worst. What if he killed him? What if he didn’t?
Even inebriated, Bull was more than a match for the boy and knocked his arm aside. Instead of a lethal blow, the blade carved a path through Bull’s thigh with a nauseating, whispering swish.
Bull should have gone down. It didn’t make sense that he didn’t, but he stood, blood gushing from his thigh, and knocked Gray aside with the same devastating strength with which he’d tossed Brenna. The boy hit the ground hard and then rolled, springing to his feet, his long black hair flying about his face, the bloody knife clenched in his hand, his lips drawn back from his teeth. The word he spat when he saw Bull crouched in an equally aggressive posture between him and Brenna needed no translation.
Dear God, Evie had to do something and she had to do it now. Throwing the reticule and bullets to the side she hurried forward, empty gun brandished as if she meant business. Which she did.
Brenna moaned and sat up. Bull took a step back. Gray took two forward.
“Get away from her.”
Bull wiped the blood from his hand on his shirt. “Not killing me was a mistake, injun.”
“One I will not make again.”
Brenna stood. Her face, with its multitude of freckles and big green eyes, was starkly pale and strangely expressionless as she swayed. “I’ll go in now, Mr. Braeger.”
“You will come to me, Brenna.”
The little girl took one small step and then another, away from Gray. The acceptance in her voice hurt Evie’s heart. “He’ll hurt you, and I’ll have to go anyway.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Gray’s response was another of those words she didn’t need an interpreter to understand, but he didn’t look away from Brenna. “I will keep you safe.”
Her next step was smaller than the previous two, but it still took her a bit farther from Gray. “You promise?”
“Yes.”
It was a big promise for a boy to make, but Evie didn’t doubt he meant it, just as she knew he was going to need help keeping it.
With a small cry, Brenna ran for him. He caught her hand. Bull caught the other. Neither let go, leaving the child stretched between them.
“Get back here, brat.”
“Leave her alone,” Evie ordered.
As if she wasn’t standing there with a gun leveled at his heart, Bull ignored her. It wasn’t a surprise. Never a big thinker, Bull lost all sense when his temper ignited. Evie took another step forward, angling in so she was between Bull and the children. “You are a very rude man, Bull Braeger.”
“Fuck you.”
“With a very filthy mouth.”
Gray lunged forward as Bull yanked on Brenna, riding the momentum like a game of whiplash, stabbing downward when he drew even with Bull, laughing when the man hollered and let go, blood gushing from his arm this time. Scooping up Brenna, Gray ran toward Evie.
“Where did you come from?” he gasped as he ducked behind her.
She kept her eyes on Bull. “I was curious as to what you were up to.”
“Uh-huh.” He reached for the gun. “The Reverend won’t be happy.”
She jerked the revolver out of his reach. “If you don’t tell him, he’ll never know.”
“He’ll know.” That long-suffering truth came from Brenna. “They always know when you’re bad.”
It was very hard to imagine the sweet-looking child who reminded her of a fairy as bad. “Well, we can at least try.” She turned back to Bull. “Don’t move another step.”
His fleshy face florid, his eyes narrowed as beads of sweat dripped down from his hairline, he reminded Evie more of a pig than a bull.
“Then pull the trigger.”
She would have pulled the trigger long before now if there were bullets in the gun. “Don’t push me.”
“Shoot!” Gray ordered.
“Shut up,” she hissed at him. “You take one more step, Bull, and I swear, I’ll pull this trigger.”
The threat didn’t have the desired effect. Bull just tossed her a mocking smile. “The Reverend’s little wife threatening to commit murder?”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you afraid of burning in hell?”
“I’m more afraid of you right now.” That was the truth.
“You oughta be.”
With a blink, she realized Bull had a revolver of his own, bigger than hers, and it was pointed right at her chest. When had Bull pulled the gun? The round opening in the muzzle seemed cannon sized, and getting bigger every second that she stared at it.
He took one step, two, a sneer twisting his features when the shaking inside spread to her hands. The pistol wobbled. Gray swore again in some language she didn’t understand and yanked the gun from her hand, knocking her aside.
“No!”
He pulled the trigger. The hammer clinked uselessly. Bull’s laughter froze, and then when he realized what had happened, he sneered. “Ought to make sure your weapon’s loaded, boy.”
Gray didn’t move as Bull leveled his own weapon, just stood where he was, drawing the fire to himself, Evie realized. Inside a scream built. Brad’s name. Dear God. They needed help.
The saloon door opened again. A much smaller figure stepped into the alley. Nidia’s gaze narrowed as she took in the scene and then her expression dissolved into a sultry pout and she gingerly stepped into the alley.
“
Querido
, what do you do out here in this smelly place?”
Evie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as the madam sashayed forward, her full hips swinging, her red lips pursed in a pout. “I wait inside for you, I turn many men away, and still I sit alone until others laugh and say I cannot hold my man.”
“I’ll be back inside shortly.”
Nidia’s dark eyes darted between the gun, the children, and Evie. Disdain flickered across her beautiful, sensual face before she slid her small hands around Bull’s beefy forearm. The one holding the gun. “You need to come in now.”
“I said, get your ass back inside.”
Nidia leaned her full breasts against his arm. “Surely this silly woman and these children do not hold any appeal for a man such as you?”
The move caused her breasts to billow so far out of their confines, Evie wanted to slap her hands over Gray’s eyes.
“Gray, come here.”
He ignored her order, watching Bull and Nidia carefully, still using his body as a shield. Gray would be quite a man someday, but right now he was a child and he needed protection. This time, when she reached for him, she didn’t take no for an answer, just grabbed his arm and yanked with all her might. “Get back now.”
“He is drunk.”
“And I’m annoyed, which probably puts us on equal footing for doing something stupid. That being the case, there’s no reason for you to be hogging all the glory for yourself. Now, get back.”
He hesitated. Lowering her voice, Evie whispered, “If push comes to shove and we need to move fast, I’m not strong enough to carry Brenna.”
His gaze flicked to Brenna who was standing, fists clenched at her sides, tears pouring down her pale face. With a sharp nod of his head, which caused his long hair to slide over his shoulders, he stepped back, putting his arm around Brenna’s waist. One problem down, one more to go.
Bull was staring down into the depths of the cleavage Nidia so predominantly displayed.
Please God, let him want that more.
“I’m going to take the children home now,” she said with more bluster than true courage. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
Bull jerked upright. “The boy stays. He and I have something to settle.”
Nidia pouted harder. “
Querido . . .
”
Bull shook her off. “Shut up, whore.”
Nidia shut up. Evie didn’t have that luxury. She brushed her hands brusquely down her skirt, backing into Gray and Brenna, pushing them back with every step.
“If you feel there’s a debt owed, you can take it up with Gray’s father. I’m sure Clint would be more than happy to discuss the issue with you.”
“I do not need my father to fight my battles.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” she snapped over her shoulder. “Be quiet.”
“Listen to your momma, little boy.”