Judith E French Read Free Page A

Fancy must be with him.
    Tamsin broke into a run, but as she neared the stables, she saw several men repairing a railing on the corral. One turned to stare at her, and she slowed to a dignified walk.
    “Hey!” the cowboy shouted.
    She ignored him and turned toward the house. A black gelding, hitched to a piano-box buggy with yellow wheels, stood near the front porch. The animal’s sideswere streaked with sweat, and foam dripped from his mouth.
    Tamsin circled the horse and carriage, stepped over a sleeping cat, and climbed the steps to the front porch. The door stood open. From inside came the sound of a man’s swearing.
    “It’s not what you think, Sam,” a woman pleaded. “Henry—”
    “Henry’s my brother and you’re my wife! You’ve been whoring with him behind my back!”
    Tamsin heard a second man’s voice, an older man. “I warn you, Sam. It isn’t like that. Don’t do anything you’ll regret!”
    A woman’s scream was followed by the crack of a gunshot. Glass shattered and the woman began to sob. “No! No! No!”
    Tamsin stood motionless, not sure if she should go inside or turn and run. Then the three burst through the door onto the porch.
    The woman, a petite blonde in her mid-thirties, bore the imprint of a man’s hand across her cheek. Her eyes were swollen with tears, and her elaborately coiffured hair was disheveled. She clung to the arm of a muscular man with shoulder-length brown hair and a drooping mustache.
    “Sam, please,” she begged. “It’s not true.”
    Cursing, he backhanded his wife and drove a clenched fist into the belly of the man Tamsin supposed must be Henry.
    The blow rocked the middle-aged gentleman in white shirt and waistcoat, and he doubled up, clutching his stomach. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
    “Get the hell off my place, Henry! If I ever lay eyes on you again, I’ll blow you to hell!”
    Henry staggered back and steadied himself against a porch post. “Come with me, Sarah,” he urged. “It’s over. You don’t need to stay with him anymore.”
    “I warn you, I’ll kill you.” Sam’s face darkened with rage. “I’ll kill the both of—”
    “Not if I kill you first!” Henry flung back.
    Then, for the first time, Sam caught sight of Tamsin. “Who are you?” he demanded. “What the hell are you doing on my spread?”
    She blanched. “I’m Tamsin MacGreggor,” she managed. “And I’ve come for my horses. A mare and a stallion, thoroughbreds, stolen last night from the livery in Sweetwater.”
    “You’re out of your mind,” Sam grated.
    “Am I?” she dared. “Let’s take a look in your barn.”
    Henry wiped the blood from his chin and stared at Tamsin. She caught a whiff of hair lotion from his too black, obviously dyed hair.
    “I’ve got two thoroughbreds in my stable,” Sam admitted. “Bought and paid for from a dealer yesterday. I don’t know who the hell you are, woman, or what your game is. But if you’re calling me a horse thief, you belong in a madhouse.”
    “No! They’re mine,” Tamsin insisted. “I bred them both, back in Tennessee. I—”
    “Get the hell off the Lazy S,” Sam ordered. “Broom! Willy!”
    The two cowboys, who’d been mending the fence, came on the run. A third man in a farrier’s apron followed, still carrying his hammer. “Yeah, boss?” the first man said.
    “See these two off my land,” Sam ordered. “If they come back, you’re fired.”
    “The judge, too?” The tall cowboy who had spoken first looked uncertain.
    Sam nodded. “You heard me, Broom.” Sam seized his wife by the shoulders and pushed her roughly back inside the house.
    “Keep your hands off her,” Henry said.
    “She’s mine, brother. I’ll do with her as I please.”
    Tamsin turned toward Henry. “If you’re a judge, you’ve got to help me.”
    He scowled at her. “I’d advise you to get back where you came from. Accusing a man like Sam of stealing can get you in more trouble than you can