Thunder on the Plains by Rosanne Bittner Page B

meal.” He left, and Lieutenant Amber turned to Sunny’s father.
    â€œYou say he killed three men?”
    â€œIn the blink of an eye. I must say they deserved it, but you don’t often see a man kill another with no hesitation and no regrets. He’s killed others before this. Hard to believe, him only twenty.”
    â€œWell, he’s part Indian,” the commander answered. “It’s in their blood. It’s no wonder he won’t help me track down those Cheyenne.”
    â€œI like him, but he’s a strange one,” Stuart put in. “One minute he’s blowing a man away and the next he’s all worried about a cut on my sister’s leg.”
    â€œDaddy, I’m not very hungry tonight,” Sunny said then. “May I go back to the wagons? I want to write some things in my journal.”
    â€œWell, it’s dark out there, Sunny. Why don’t you stay with me until I leave?”
    â€œThere are lanterns at most of the buildings, and soldiers everywhere! Our men are camped around the wagons. I’ll be all right.”
    Bo frowned, setting down his wineglass. “I suppose it’s all right.”
    â€œShe’s quite safe, Mr. Landers.” The lieutenant rose. “Miss Landers, never has my table been graced with such elegance and beauty.” The man looked her over in a way Sunny was not accustomed to being looked at. Had men been eyeing her this way for a long time, and she just never noticed before? She didn’t mind when Colt looked at her that way, but she didn’t like it when others did.
    â€œThank you, Lieutenant,” she answered. She pulled her shawl around her shoulders and excused herself. As soon as she was out the door she hurried off into the darkness, trying to remember where the livery was. Crickets sang as she scurried across the parade grounds to a building that was lit across the way. When she reached it she saw through the window a man sitting at a desk. She quickly entered, realizing she didn’t have a lot of time before her father would look for Colt to pay him what he had coming. The soldier at the desk seemed surprised at seeing her, and he jumped up from his chair. Sunny noticed he looked her over the same way as the lieutenant and other soldiers had eyed her. She had even become aware that her father’s own men watched her that way sometimes. It gave her a strange feeling of power.
    â€œMiss Landers!” the soldier exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Where’s your father?”
    â€œI’d like to know where the livery is. I—my father sent me to give a message to a couple of his men who are over there right now.” She hadn’t dared to ask in front of her father where the livery was, or he would know why she wanted to go there. Surely he wouldn’t mind that she wanted to say a last good-bye to Colt Travis, but for some reason she didn’t want him to know.
    The soldier wondered why Bo Landers would send his pretty daughter out into the night to find a couple of his men, but the young lady who stood before him represented several million dollars, or so he’d been told. He was not about to question her. “The livery is only four buildings down from here.” He pointed. “That way.”
    â€œThank you!” Sunny hurried out, running along the buildings, counting. She stopped when she saw a campfire behind the fourth building. A man was bent over it, adding a little wood to get the fire going better. She recognized the tall frame, the fringes of his buckskins that danced in little shadows in the firelight. Her heart pounded as she cautiously walked closer, wondering if he would be angry that she came. “Colt?”
    He turned, looking surprised. “Sunny!” He looked around. “You alone?”
    â€œYes. I—I made an excuse to go back to the wagons, but I really wanted to come and see you by myself. I just, well, it didn’t seem