The Loner: The Blood of Renegades Read Free Page B

and forth between Conrad and Arturo. “Are you sure you want to take on my troubles?”
    Conrad stepped up into the saddle. “We wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said with a smile.

Chapter 4
     
    They made camp at the foot of a small mesa, giving them protection from the chilly winds that often sprang up at night. Conrad started to unsaddle Selena’s horse before he tended to the black and the buggy team.
    She hopped down from the buggy and hurried over. “I can take care of my horse. I don’t want to be any more of a burden than I have to.”
    “I don’t mind—”
    “No, I’ll handle it,” she said as she unstrapped the saddlebags and set them aside. “I insist.”
    Conrad shrugged and turned to the black gelding. Obviously, Selena Webster was a proud young woman.
    While it was still light, Arturo kindled a small and almost smokeless fire to boil coffee, fry bacon, and heat up some beans and biscuits left over from supper the night before. The fire would be out by the time the sun set. Conrad figured Leatherwood and the others wouldn’t have much trouble tracking them, but it didn’t make sense to help their enemies by announcing where they were.
    Selena shook her head when Arturo offered her a cup of coffee. “I don’t take stimulants. No offense.”
    “Oh, none taken,” he assured her. “I do require stimulants, especially when traveling through a godforsaken wilderness. This way there’s more for me.”
    Selena smiled. “It’s not godforsaken. This part of Utah may not look like much, but God is here.”
    Conrad hunkered on his heels and reached for the cup Arturo offered him. “From the things you say, I suppose you’re a Mormon, too.”
    “Of course. I never denied my faith, Mr. Browning. Just because I don’t want to marry Father Agony doesn’t mean that I’m . . .”
    Conrad smiled. “A heathen Gentile like me?”
    “That’s not exactly how I would have put it.”
    “Don’t worry,” Conrad told her. “I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about anybody’s religion, or lack of it, including my own. I’ll admit to being curious, though. Were you raised out here?”
    Selena nodded as she took the tin plate Arturo handed her. “That’s right. My grandparents on both sides came here with Brigham Young. My family has been here ever since.”
    “What about your parents? Do they live at this Juniper Canyon place?”
    Selena’s mouth tightened. “My father does. My mother passed away a year ago.”
    “Condolences,” Arturo murmured.
    “My father is one of Father Agony’s men,” Selena continued. “Father Agony has had his eye on me ever since . . . well, ever since I stopped being a little girl. My mother knew I didn’t want to marry him, so while she was still alive she was able to exert enough influence on my father to keep him dragging his feet on the matter whenever Father Agony approached him. But since she passed on . . . I knew it was just a matter of time before my father agreed to what Father Agony wants. He’ll make it worthwhile for my father.”
    “I have to say I mean no offense, Miss Webster, but bartering one’s flesh and blood that way seems rather medieval,” Arturo commented. “Even barbaric.”
    “It’s the way things are done at Juniper Canyon, and in other places, too,” Selena said with a fatalistic tone in her voice. “And it’s not always bad. Some of the elders are fine men, and their wives are very happy. I just don’t want to live my life that way.”
    “Nobody can blame you for that,” Conrad said. “And nobody should force you to, either.”
    “Unfortunately, they can do that, whether it’s legal or not. They’re a law unto themselves.” Selena looked off across the plains. “I thought if I could get away from there, I’d go to California. I might be safe there.”
    “How do you plan on getting there?”
    “I . . . I have a little money. My mother saved it. She meant to use it to help me get away when the time came, and