Ruby Read Free Page A

fingers closed around the extra gun he always carried.
    . He needed to keep these two talking.
    “You intend to wear that badge?” he asked.
    “Damned right” Boyd withdrew the badge from his pocket and began to pin it over his chest. “Why, with this tin star I’ll be able to ride right up to any ranch and get invited in for supper.” He threw back his head and laughed. “They’ll think they’re feeding a damned lawman. And then, when they’re relaxed, I’ll just help myself to the rancher’s wife, and maybe even his kids, before I kill ’em all.”
    “That’s a good one, Boyd.” Ward threw back his head and roared at the thought of his brother posing as a lawman.
    The two brothers had identical high-pitched laughs that scraped over the nerves. Both were lean and lanky, with long blond hair and reddish mustaches that drooped over their mouths.
    “Yeah. Real funny.” Quent knew there wouldn’t be time to aim. But he hoped to be able to take down one of them. At least that would even the odds.
    Using his boot to shield the gun from view, he squeezed the trigger. The first shot slammed into Ward.
    Startled, the gunman spun away, one arm still fumbling with the sleeve of the jacket. Then he dropped to his knees, holding his chest.
     
    On the other side of the rock, Boyd dropped to the ground and took careful aim at the marshal.
    Only his quick reflexes saved Quent’s life. He flattened himself behind the rock and counted the shots as they ricocheted around him.
    “Boyd. Help me, Boyd. I’ve been hit.”
    Ward’s cries brought another hail of gunfire from his brother’s gun, but from a different location.
    Quent Regan gritted his teeth, waiting for the volley to end, wondering how much more ammunition the gunman carried, and where he’d head next.
    He peered around the rock. Ward lay on the ground, an ever-widening pool of blood spilling from the wound in his chest.
    “I’m dyin’, Boyd. I’m...”
    In the eerie silence that followed, Boyd’s voice rang out. “Don’t you touch him. Don’t you touch my brother.”
    “You fool. You want him to die?” Quent waited, hoping his words would bring the older brother out of hiding.
    “I swear to you,” came Boyd’s strangled voice, “if he’s dead, so are you. Do you hear me, lawman? Any man who kills my brother, he has to pay the same price.”
    Quent gauged the location of Boyd’s voice, then checked the bullets in his gun, before leaping to his feet and firing.
    The spot where Boyd had taken cover was empty. The gunman had managed to slip away again.
    Quent turned at the sound of hooves and watched in disgust as horse and rider disappeared into a line of trees. He’d already sprinted to his horse and vaulted into the saddle, prepared to give chase, when he heard Ward’s voice.
    “Water,” Ward called in a trembling voice.
    Quent Regan swore. There was no time to waste. If he didn’t catch Boyd now, by this time tomorrow he could be anywhere, from Mexico to Indian Territory. Wearing a marshal’s badge. Preying on innocent people.
    With another vicious oath, he slid from the saddle and removed his canteen.
    Hours later, when Ward Barlow had finally given up his life, Quent removed his jacket from the body and slipped it on. That done, he caught up the reins of the two horses and prepared to head for town.
    As he rode, Marshal Quent Regan rubbed at the crusted blood of his wounds and thought about his pledge to keep this little section of Texas safe for all the people who called it home.
    Sometimes it exacted a high price indeed.
     
    “Oh, Papa.” Ruby Jewel knelt beside her father’s grave and crossed herself, then whispered a little prayer. “You know I’m happy to be here in Texas. But my heart is heavy because it was your death that brought me to your home.”
    She touched a hand to the mound of earth beside her father’s grave. “I hope you’ll forgive me in time, Mama, for having your remains brought here. I know you would