Wildstar

For a minute, the mule skinner's scowl only deepened. Jess held her breath. Clem was a rough-talking, ornery old devil who lacked an education, but he was like family, and she didn't want to take sides against him. Devlin didn't ex­actly seem intimidated, though, or even offended. He stood there calmly taking Clem's deliberate insults, regard­ing the old man with a shrewd, unwavering gaze.

A hint of respect slowly dawned on the mule skinner's face, although he didn't drop his guard. "You from any­place hereabouts?"

"Chicago originally, but I've been here and there."

"Chicagy, eh? One of them Eastern dudes."

"Chicago isn't that far east." Devlin indicated the straight-backed chair across from Jess. "Mind if I join you?"

A short silence was followed by a grudging headshake from Clem. With a hobnailed boot, he even nudged the chair back from the table in an invitation of sorts. "Town's full o' drifters, nowdays. Cain't be too careful."

"Devlin isn't a drifter," Jess interjected. "He's a—" She bit back the word gambler, not wanting to divulge Devlin's profession.

"Businessman," he finished smoothly for her as he seated himself.

"He figuring on camping out up yonder at the mine?" Clem asked Jess. Not giving her time to reply, he shook his shaggy gray head. "That's a crack-brained notion if I ever heard o' one, Jessie. Burke ain't gonna be afeared of no city slicker. And Hank Purcell, neither."

"Burke will think twice about taking on Devlin, believe me. You didn't see what happened tonight. I did. Devlin's no tinhorn. He knows what he's doing."

"It's you what worries me. Jess. I always thought you had a good head atop your shoulders, but it seems you ain't got a lick o' sense!"

"Clem, you're wrong. Hiring Devlin makes perfect sense. The Wildstar miners are scared, you know that. If we don't do something to protect them from Burke, they'll up and quit. Who's going to work our claim then? Riley won't be well enough for weeks."

When the old man didn't answer right away, she pressed, her point. "And what about guarding the mine? Who will do that? You? Me? The marshal? I didn't see anybody rushing to volunteer—and never will, if it means going against Burke." She sent Devlin an encouraging smile. "We need him, Clem. He can sleep here during the day and be here for Riley while I'm at the boardinghouse."

"He's gonna stay here!"

"In the daytime. At night he'll be up at the mine. I'll take Devlin up there tonight and show him around—"

"Now just a dad-blamed minute! You ain't goin' up there at night, with or without no citified pretty boy!"

"Hush, or you'll wake up Riley!"

"I ain't gonna wake up Riley! He's out like a grizzly in winter. But he'd have my hide it I was to let you pull a damn-fool stunt like that."

"It isn't a stunt. We need to get up there tonight. The mine's unguarded right now. and if Burke means to try to sabotage it, now would be the perfect time."

"She's right, you know," Devlin said objectively, enter­ing the argument for the first time.

Clem turned his fierce scowl back on Devlin. "If Riley was dry-gulched, who's to say you won't be, too?"

"I'll be ready for it."

"Yes," Jess agreed eagerly, "now that we know what to expect, we can take precautions."

"How you gonna ride back down alone in the dark, gal? That's jest askin' for grief."

Jess hesitated; she hadn't considered that problem. "I'll stay up there tonight with Devlin—"

"You sure as hell won't!"

"Don't cuss in the house."

His face red with frustration, Clem held back the retort he was plainly itching to make. "I'll go up yonder with him," he said finally.

"You can't. You need your sleep so you can be fresh for work in the morning. And you have to be at the boarding-house to convince the crew to go with you and make them see there's nothing to be afraid of. They'll take it better coming from you."

Clem's expression turned mutinous, but Jess's tone went soft and pleading. "You have to keep working the mine, Clem. If you don't, then Burke will have won, don't you see?"