Rode Hard, Put Up Wet: Cowboy Romance (Rebels & Outlaws 2)

Chris stiffened when she said Jamie's name. His jaw pressed together like a vise, but after a long moment he turned again and stepped through the back door. It was different, this time. She'd been up to this room twice before, and both times it had been an experience, to say the least.

Now, though, it was silent as she stepped through the door. Must have been that everyone who might have been up here was outside, gossiping. And they'd be gossiping about her all the more, in a little while. This was no place for a lady. Was she even a lady any more? She'd given away whatever little virtue that she might have had in their eyes.

Chris's door was closed when she got to it, a moment after him. She opened it softly. When she'd first run after him, she'd seen it all playing out in her head, all fire and brimstone. Hit him with the full force and fury of God. But now, she just wanted to stop him. Just get him to see reason because if he didn't then it wasn't just her who would be suffering.

"Why does it need to be you? I know you didn't tell the Sheriff about wherever you're heading."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything, and I'm not headed anywhere."

He was packing a bag, though, sure as anything. She watched him pull a box of cartridges out from behind the bed and slip it into a sack.

"Don't you lie to me, Chris Broadmoor, not after—"

She didn't finish her sentence, and she knew she didn't need to. He stopped, at least for a moment, and turned to face her.

"You're right," he said finally. "I shouldn't lie to you. I'm going to deal with this once and for all, and I'm doing it because I have to."

"No," she said, insistent. "You don't have to. You can just let someone else handle it, just this once, Chris. You don't have to handle anything at all."

He smiled. "You're a smart woman, Miss Bainbridge," he said softly. "But in this one case, you don't really know what you're talking about at all."

He tested the weight of the bag on his back.

"Tell me what I'm supposed to tell Jamie. Tell me what I'm supposed to do when the Governor's people come and try to take him."

He closed his eyes, and she knew she had him. She might have hurt his feelings, deep down. If he had any feelings to speak of. But she did what she had to do, and just for once, just for now, that was enough.

Thirty-Two

Chris set down on the bed and dropped his bag, suddenly tired as a wave of something that wasn't entirely unlike regret hit him. Marie was right, as much as he didn't want to admit it. He'd already made his decisions, and there wasn't going to be any take-backs, no matter what he might want. No matter who might get hurt, he'd made his bed and now it was time to lie in it.

"You made your point," he said softly. "You don't have to wait."

The sound of her feet not moving was unsurprising. Then they started moving the wrong direction. His bed sagged as she set down in it beside where he lay. He didn't move the arm that covered his face. There wasn't any reason to move it, not now.

"You know, Chris, it's funny."

She let the sentence hang in the air like it was supposed to make sense to him. Finally he decided to indulge her.

"What's funny?"

"I've been here for months, you know?"

"Not long, really. You've sure made a stir, for such a short stay. Took me a while to work my way up to the talk I've got now." His lips curved into a smile against his own will.

"I've been here for months, and I've heard a fair bit of talk about you, Chris Broadmoor."

"Oh, it's all true," he said, letting the laughter touch his voice. "I made a deal with the devil, and so on."

"I've heard you were a killer, hiding out from the law. Heard you were a spy from Washington. Heard all kinds of things."

"All true," he reminded her again.

"And the one thing I haven't heard is someone talking about you going out shooting men. Not since you got here, anyways."

"I'm sorry to have disappointed you."

He rolled over onto his side and let out a long breath, looking at the little room that was most of his life now. The rest of it was sitting at the foot of his little bed. If she decided to stay, he'd never have a reason to leave the place.