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But she knew that was also a lie. She was too hungry, and the little bit of flour she had brought back from Holler Creek would be gone all too soon.
Half grateful, half angry, thoroughly unsettled, Sha
Hegets one look at you in that little bit of satin and lace and he’ll forget all about hitting the trail alone. You’ll be married before you can say aye, yes, or maybe.
A curious, tingling sensation went through Sha
«Would I look pretty enough to hold him?» Sha
There was no answer but the echoing silence of the cabin. Quickly Sha
Soon the first real meal Sha
The deer was only the begi
When Sha
Sha
Decision made, Sha
When Sha
Yet every time Sha
Nor did Prettyface ever scent Whip the entire way to Cherokee’s cabin.
«Come in, gal,» Cherokee said, opening the door.
«Thank you.»
Sha
«How is your ankle?»
«Fine as frog’s hair.»
Sha
«That’s good,» Sha
«Now lookee here. It weren’t no loan, so it don’t need no repaying.»
«I’ll hang the venison back in the corner,» Sha
Dumbfounded, Cherokee watched while Sha
«That’s fresh venison,» Cherokee said finally.
«Yes.»
«Well I’ll be go-to-hell. You got yourself a deer!»
Sha
«Now, you just take back them bags of flour and sugar,» Cherokee said quickly. «I got plenty to last me till I scratch out more gold or trade some herbs down to Holler Creek.»
Sha
«Apples!» Cherokee said reverently. «Do I smell apples?»
«You sure do. I put half of an apple pie on the back of your stove to warm.»
«Bread. Pie. Iwillbe go-to-hell! You done went back and claimed all your supplies!»
Sha
«That was a damn fool thing to do,» Cherokee said. «Two of them Culpeppers didn’t have no more than their pride hurt in the fight with Whip. They could have caught you.»
«They didn’t.»
«Still, they —»
«I didn’t go back to Holler Creek,» Sha
Cherokee was silent. Abruptly her seamed face split into a wide, gap-toothed grin.
«It was Whip, by God,» she crowed. «He’s courting you!»
Sha
But Cherokee might refuse to share in the spoils of attempted seduction.
«Maybe,» Sha
«’Course he is. Where’s your mind, gal? He’s got an eye for you. Or did you wear that frippery for him already?»
«I’m married, remember? That’s what everyone is supposed to think, and don’t you forget it.»
«Huh. Wearing a ring didn’t make no marriage. Anyways, you’re widowed.»
«Get off your ankle,» was all Sha
«Going somewheres?»
«Hunting,» Sha
Cherokee looked puzzled. Then she laughed her husky, chuckling laugh.
«You go
Sha
«I’m going to run that old boy’s tail right into the ground,» she drawled, imitating Cherokee’s accent.
Cherokee’s laughter redoubled until she was breathless.
«You just keep on thinking that,» Cherokee said finally. «You just go ahead, right up to the moment Whip grabs you and drags you in front of a preacher.»
Sha
But Cherokee didn’t need to know. She looked so delighted that Sha
«You stay off that ankle, now,» Sha
Still chuckling, Cherokee limped to the rumpled bed and stretched out.
As soon as Sha
While Sha
She never spotted Whip.
But she heard something that could have been the wind keening through distant rocks…or the sound of a man making the mountain silence tremble with the soft wailing of panpipes.
After she left Cherokee, through the long, futile hours of hunting, Sha
Yet for all Sha
The next day she followed a game trail, walked between two boulders — and found three grouse neatly dressed out and tied by their feet, dangling from a tree branch.
Frantically Sha
Nor had she heard any shots. Yet there the birds were, obviously freshly killed.
He got them with that bullwhip. Lord, that man is fast!
Prettyface circled the ground beneath the grouse, growling almost silently.
«Well, I’m glad you can smell Whip,» Sha
She hesitated, then took down the grouse and stuffed them into her makeshift backpack.
«No point leaving good food for varmints,» she numbled.
Prettyface sniffed the wind several times before he lost interest. His ruff settled and he looked at Sha
Sha