here?”
“No,” she said, easing out of bed. “There’s some rye whiskey in the dresser drawer.”
“What else does he have in here?”
“Not much,” she said. “Just a wallet full of money and his saddlebags. What were you expecting?”
“None of your damn business!”
The woman nodded. “You done with me for tonight?”
“Hell no.”
“I really should go.”
“Shut up.”
“Are you gonna kill him?”
“No,” Clyde said. “At least, not here.”
“I won’t say anything, mister. As far as I’m concerned, this is all just a dream.”
Clyde chuckled. “A nightmare is what you really mean.”
The woman did not deny the statement. “What do you want first, the rye or the brandy?”
“The brandy,” he said. “Between you and the brandy, I’ll finally get warmed up.”
The woman nodded and went over to get the brandy. She glanced at the door and Clyde reached for his gun, saying, “You’d never make it, woman.”
Sniffling, the woman returned to the rumpled bed with the bottle. “You gonna give me some of those hundred- dollar bills, mister?”
“Ha! You ain’t worth a hundred dollars if I had you all month!”
She began to rub his bare chest. “You’ll think a lot different come morning, mister. I promise you that.”
Clyde took another drink and laughed meanly. “Then get to work,” he said, grabbing her by the hair and pushing her face down between his thick legs.
The woman was good. Clyde glanced over at the unconscious Nathan Cox, and that made him feel even better. “Wish you were here too, Buck,” he said. “Too damn bad that you took the road to Redcliff.”
The woman looked up. “Huh?”
“It’s got nothin’ to do with you,” Clyde told her as he spread his legs even farther apart. “I was just thinking that some people are luckier than others.”
“If you pay me another hundred, we’d both be lucky,” the woman said, looking up at him.
“Well,” Clyde said, feeling like a king, “we’ll just see how you do right up until morning.”
Chapter 10
Rolf Swensen sat bolt upright in bed after hearing wood splintering and angry voices coming from the room next door. “Teresa, something is wrong!”
Rolf jumped out of bed naked and rushed to his door, but before he could tear it open and barge out into the hallway, Teresa grabbed his arms. “Wait!” she pleaded. “You could get yourself killed.”
“Killed?” Rolf blinked in the lamplight. “Why?”
Teresa pulled him away from the door. “Because things like that happen all the time when people barge into trouble without thinking. Listen!”
They both pressed their ears to the door but heard only angry, muffled voices.
“There’s definitely someone in Nathan’s room that shouldn’t be there,” Rolf said. “He’s in big trouble.”
“Then so is my friend, Carole,” Teresa said. “Let’s just listen a moment and try to figure this out.”
“You listen,” Rolf said impatiently as he reached for the doorknob.
“Aren’t you even going to arm yourself and get dressed before you go running into that room and probably get shot for your trouble?”
Rolf looked down, and his jaw dropped as he realized he was stark naked. Embarrassed, he turned away from Teresa, his cheeks coloring. “Too late, I’ve already seen and felt it, remember?”
“Yeah,” Rolf said, blushing as he went back to the bed, sat down, and began to pull on his pants, then his shirt, and finally buckling on his six-gun.
“Well,” she demanded, “do you have a plan, or are you just going to jump in there with your gun blazing?”
He looked up at her. “If you’ve got a better idea, Teresa, I’m all ears.”
Teresa reached for her own clothes. “Carole is my best friend. If your friend is in trouble, then so is my friend, and I want to make sure we don’t get them killed. Understand?”
“Sure, but … but what can you do to help?”
“I’m a guaranteed male distraction. Maybe I can get in there and find out what’s going on before everyone starts shooting off guns. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good,” Rolf said, checking his Colt. “I don’t want to kill-“
