The Gunfighter and the Heiress by Carol Finch Page B

fortune.
    â€œWe are leaving for Fort Worth on the next train,” Avery declared.
    Kimball gaped at him in astonishment. “You are joking.”
    Avery bore down on him. “I’m dead serious and you might find yourself left for dead—or worse—if you don’t come along. We made a deal, and the sooner we overtake my belligerent stepdaughter and get the two of you married the sooner we can dispose of her.” He smiled nastily. “Since I led the press to believe she has been abducted bya money-hungry maid there is no reason to let that wily little snip live to tell her side of the story.”
    Mumbling and grumbling, Kimball pivoted on his well-shod heels to gather his luggage for the unwanted trip. “We damn well better find her fast. This is the height of the social season in New Orleans. I do not intend to miss it. There are too many innocent maids ripe for the plucking.”
    Avery headed upstairs to pack his luggage. He intended to be on the next train headed to Texas. He made a mental note to insist his henchmen, Jenson and Green, accompany him. He had contracted both men specifically because they were short on scruples.
    Whatever Natalie was up to, Avery and his hired gunmen would hunt her down. He had spent more than three years slowly but surely poisoning his wife so no one would suspect his involvement in her long-term illness before he took control of the fortune.
    â€œI should have poisoned Natalie instead,” he groused as he grabbed a suitcase to fill with clothing. “She is more trouble than her mother ever was.”
    Â 
    Two days after Van and Natalie left Wolf Ridge, headed for Nine Mile Station and then to Taloga Springs, Bart lounged on the settee, sipping coffee and recuperating from his injuries. Opal Higgins, the middle-aged female attendant whom Van had hired to run errands for Bart, rapped at the door.
    â€œI brought your newspapers and the mail arrived.”
    Bart clutched the pistol resting beside his hip. After the goons had attacked him, he had vowed to be more cautious. No telling who might have coerced Opal. Bart wasn’t about to let his guard down and be pounced upon again.
    â€œCome in.”
    Bart relaxed when Opal, the large-boned, square-faced farmer’s wife who had been eager to take the temporary job to earn extra money, waddled inside. She set the stack of newspapers and correspondence on the coffee table.
    â€œWill that be all, Mr. Collier?”
    The poor woman had the personality of a potted plant, Bart noted. She was the exact opposite of Natalie, who was bewitching, mysterious, intelligent and amazingly difficult for even Van to handle. That amused and disturbed Bart simultaneously. He liked seeing his friend challenged in ways that didn’t involve cross-country chases and deadly gunfights. But Natalie’s secrecy still bothered him.
    â€œThank you, Opal. That will be all for today.”
    Without another word she trooped off, taking his empty breakfast tray with her. Bart checked the mail for possible assignments for Van. Not that Van would accept any for more than a week, since he’d decided to escort his new wife to Taloga Springs and teach her to become self-reliant in the process.
    He muttered under his breath when he received a second letter from the Harper Brothers that said, We’re coming for you, half-breed. Your days are numbered. It was signed The Harper Brothers.
    Grumbling, Bart set aside the intimidating note then picked up the Kansas City newspaper, then one from Houston. He was thumbing through the Louisiana Gazette when one particular article leaped out at him.
    â€œOh damn!” he muttered as his gaze zeroed on the first name that demanded his attention.
    Natalie Robedeaux-Blair, heiress to the Blair shipping fortune in New Orleans, has been abducted. Her personal maid is missing and wanted for questioning. Her family is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the