Texas Lucky by Maggie James Page B

place to start a ranch?”
    “Somewhere south of Dallas. If I had the money I’d buy land there, have a nice life, and give up being a gunfighter.”
    “Gunfighter?” she echoed in surprise.
    “That’s right. I guess I’ve done a little bit of everything in my life, from soldiering to wrangling. But I’ve also hired out as a gunfighter sometimes when I was needed.”
    Tess sniffed with disdain. She might not be worldly-wise when it came to life in the untamed West, but she had sense enough to know what he was talking about. “You were paid to kill people.”
    “To protect people,” he corrected.
    He had cut behind Main Street, and Tess pointed out the back door of the assay office. “That’s how I went in.”
    He grinned as he dismounted. “Then maybe I should go in the front, because I don’t want to do anything like you did.”
    She scowled at him, and he laughed.
    After peering in the rear window to make sure no one was around, Curt quickly broke the lock on the door, and they went inside.
    A counter ran along one wall, with delicate scales in glass cases and shelves above with strange-looking instruments and bottles of different shapes and sizes—tools for the complex tests on ore samples.
    Curt saw the safe. “He’s liable to show any minute. Get on the other side of that and stay out of the way. I don’t want to get caught again because you’re in my line of fire.”
    “ Again ? What do you mean?”
    “I mean”—he frowned to remember—“that if you hadn’t been between me and Branson at the hotel that night, I’d have got away. I couldn’t shoot my way out because of you.”
    Recalling the scene, she realized he was right. She had been the reason he had surrendered without a fight. “I think I owe you a thank-you,” she said.
    “You don’t owe me anything.” He was brusque. “Just stay out of sight and—”
    At the sound of the front door opening, he raised a finger for silence, then pointed to the safe.
    He waited till she was safely hidden between it and the wall before positioning himself behind the door leading from the outer office.
    Seconds later, Jake Harville stepped into his laboratory and was roughly slammed against the wall by Curt’s strong right forearm.
    His eyes bugged in recognition as he clawed at Curt with one hand while using his other to try to reach the gun inside his coat.
    Curt got to it first and tucked it inside his belt, then said, “Do as I say, and you won’t get hurt.”
    Gasping for air, Jake asked, “How did you escape?”
    “Don’t worry about it. Just open the safe.”
    Jake shook his head. “I can’t. I left the combination at home.”
    With an ominous click of the gun’s hammer, Curt pressed the barrel against Jake’s temple. “I don’t ask twice.”
    Jake gulped, swallowed, and, with shaking fingers, managed to work the lock until the door finally squeaked open.
    Curt gave him a hard shove that sent him reeling inside to fall on his knees. “Stay there,” he warned, then called to Tess, “Get in here and count out ten thousand dollars.” There were several bags of money stashed about, along with rough ore. He knew she would find enough.
    Jake glared at her but kept silent.
    She snatched up an empty bag and began to fill it with money, counting out loud.
    When she was finished, she looked Jake straight in the eyes and said, “I am not a thief. I have a right to Saul’s money, and you know it—just as you know you had him murdered, only I can’t prove it. But I can take what’s mine.”
    Curt took the bag from her and hoisted it over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
    As they were walking out of the safe, Jake dared to threaten, “You won’t get away with this. I’ll see you both hang, goddamn you—”
    Curt slammed the safe’s door.
    He gave the dial a spin. “He won’t be found for a while. Let’s get out of here.”
    He held out his hand to Tess, but she had spotted her trunk in a corner and cried, “Look. He didn’t