Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman Page B

men’ll be spread throughout the room. He’ll know we’re on his tail if his buddy from the river caught up and warned him. He might even figure us to be bounty hunters. Either way, he could recognize us. It looks lucky, but it’s a death trap, Kate.”
    I see his point, I do, but I can’t stand here doing nothing. I might not get a chance like this again.
    â€œI thought we had a deal,” I says.
    â€œA deal, yes. But not if we’re gonna be dumb ’bout it.”
    â€œI reckon I’ll just go alone and ride bareback, then,” I says. As I turn to leave, Jesse grabs my wrist.
    â€œPlease, Kate, you ain’t listening.”
    â€œLet go,” I says. His grip only gets tighter. I writhe and squirm, but he’s much stronger, and all of a sudden my heart kicks into a frenzy ’cus he’s tugging me hard enough that I’m moving in a direction I don’t want to go—away from the exit. “Damn it, Jesse, let me
go!
”
    I throw my opposite fist into his chest. He drops my arm immediately, but I know it ain’t ’cus I hurt him or convinced him with that one blow. My freed wrist sings with relief. Jesse watches me rub it, and I catch something shameful flicker in his eyes.
    â€œYer saddle’s in Evelyn’s room,” he says finally. “But please don’t be stupid ’bout this, Kate. I’ll help, we both will. Only, let’s have a plan . . . a smart one.”
    Evelyn comes down the stairs, smoothing the front of her dress. She gives Will a small smile and he beams back, his gaze never leaving her as the chip continues to pass effortlessly between his fingers. I remember his story ’bout cheating Jesse at cards, and the way’s suddenly clear.
    â€œI think I got an idea,” I says.
    They listen as I explain. If’n we’re careful, we won’t gotta shoot Rose. Everyone else in the saloon’ll do that for us. Will can count cards, stack the deck on his turn to deal, set Rose up with a nice hand, but me or Jesse with an even better one. He can also plant a card or two on Rose’s person so it looks like
he’s
the cheater when we’re the ones actually pulling aces from our sleeves. The other players’ll turn on Rose in a flash.
    â€œIt ain’t a bad idea,” Jesse says. “’Cept for the fact that Rose might expect three men to be on his tail after that mess ’long the Agua Fria.” His gaze lingers on my short-cropped hair and Stetson, then drifts to where Evelyn’s mingling with the other girls and parlor guests. “But Rose ain’t expecting a girl to walk into the Tiger.”
    Will seems to know what Jesse’s driving at, ’cus he shoves off the bar and pushes his way through the crowd. He says something hurriedly into Evelyn’s ear. She touches the folds of her dress, glances at me.
    â€œNo,” I says.
    â€œCome on, Kate,” Jesse argues. “You put on a borrowed dress and you’ll be able to look Rose dead in the eye without him suspecting a thing. And Will and I’ll be there watching yer back.”
    â€œUpstairs you said you wanted nothing to do with this.”
    â€œIt don’t matter what I want. I promised my father I’d watch out for you. That don’t change if yer a girl on a vengeful road. It don’t even change if yer a liar.
I
ain’t one. I keep my promises, and seeing as yer bent on doing this no matter what I suggest, I’m stuck making sure you ain’t dead before dawn. Plus,” he adds with a smile, “the promise of gold sure don’t hurt.”
    First he tells me not to go after Rose, to let the past be. Now that he knows there’s a lost mine involved, he can’t wait to chase down the bastard. Turns out Jesse ain’t just a preacher, but a hypocritical one too. Lucky me.
    I frown, and glance between him and Will.
    â€œFine” is all I says.
    We work