about?”
Sally smiled. “Maybe,” she said.
Smoke knew she was referring to their intimacy during the night, and he smiled back, then reached for a bear claw. “Always glad I could please,” he said.
“What? Why, you!” Sally sputtered.
“What are you all talking about?” Cal asked.
“Cal, are you going to put that boot on, or just stand here in my kitchen with it dangling from your hand?” Sally asked.
“Oh. I’m going to put it on,” he said. And with the bear claw hanging from his mouth, he sat on the floor and pulled the other boot on.
“What are you two boys going to do today?” Smoke asked.
“Ride fence up in the north quarter,” Pearlie answered.
“You’ll be out all day. Better have the cook put you up a lunch.”
“Yes, sir, I thought we would.”
“And maybe?” Cal asked, mumbling the word around the pastry.
“You can each take a couple more with you,” Sally said.
“Thank you!”
The two young cowboys grabbed the bear claw–shaped doughnuts, then hurried out of the kitchen to begin their daily chores.
“I wish someone would invent a machine to let you look inside a person,” Smoke said as Pearlie and Cal hurried across the yard to the barn. “I swear, the only innards either of them have is stomach.”
Sally laughed. “You aren’t far behind,” she said.
“It’s your fault,” Smoke said as he reached for a second. “You are just too good a cook.”
“Smoke, may I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“What was your dream last night?”
Smoke hesitated for a moment. “I dreamed about Nicole,” he said.
“I hope it was a pleasant dream.”
Smoke walked over to Sally, put his arms around her, and pulled her to him. He brushed her hair away from her forehead and kissed her there.
“It was,” he said. “But you have no reason to be jealous.”
“I’m not in the least jealous,” she said, turning her head up so his kiss came to her lips.
2
Chapter Five
Back in the jail cell in Cloverdale, Nevada, Bobby Lee Cabot was lying on his bunk, his hands laced behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Outside the jail, he could hear the sawing and hammering on the gallows that was being constructed for his hanging.
“Are you scared, Bobby Lee?”
The question came from the prisoner who was in the cell next to his. Andy Emerson was a small man, around five feet five inches tall, with a sweeping mustache that seemed oversized for his short stature. He was also a cowboy who drank too much. He was never a mean drunk, though he did, in his own words, sometimes develop “a mountain lion’s attitude in a pussycat’s body.” He often manifested this mannerism when confronting Sheriff Wallace or one of his deputies, and as a result, Wallace had a personal grudge against him. Andy spent a lot of time in jail for public drunkenness when others, who were often drunker, were given a pass.
“I guess I’m a little frightened,” Bobby Lee confessed.
“A little frightened? If I was about to be hanged, I’d be so scared I couldn’t even talk,” Andy said. “You’re about the bravest person I ever met.”
“I’m not that brave, Andy, believe me,” Bobby Lee said. “What’s the sheriff got you in for now?”
“I was at the Gold Strike last night,” Andy said. “I had a few drinks, sure, but I wasn’t drunk, you can ask anybody there. But the next thing you know, Wallace was in there accusin’ me of getting drunk and causing a disturbance.” Andy paused for a moment. “The thing is, well, he just kept pushin’ until I got mad and I shoved him. Then I really was causin’ a disturbance. But only ‘cause he sort of drove me to it.”
“Andy, we’ve talked about this before,” Bobby Lee said. “You really do have to cut back on your drinking. You’ve gotten yourself on the sheriff’s bad side and he’s just going to keep riding you till you really do get in trouble.”
“I know, I know,” Andy said. “You’ve always been straight with me. I ought to pay attention to you.”
At that moment, they heard the sound of the door that led from the front half of the building back to the jail cells being opened. Deputy Harley Beard came into the back and opened the door to Andy’s cell. “You can go now,” he said. “But next time we catch you drunk in town, you’ll wind up in here again.”
“Yeah,” Andy said, reaching back onto the bunk for his hat. He put it on, then looked over at Bobby Lee.
