Elle Saint James [Menage Amour 118 Badlands 03] Double Chance Claim (pdf)(1)

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City intermediary, it would be melted down and the gold extracted.
They d always planned to sell the property to someone in Campbell s
Valley. They wanted to leave it to someone deserving of a boon.
Wade s first choice was Joe Stanton and his brother Frank or perhaps
even Sheriff Vanguard. All three were decent men who d been
friendlier than most when they d moved to town.
Wade took a deep breath of fresh air. The scent of pine and loamy
earth filled his lungs. With their ultimate goal on the horizon to being
fulfilled, Wade relaxed a notch and slowed his mount to take in the
majesty of the nature around him.
To his left was an incline with low scrub bushes against tall
skinny trees rising several yards to the peak of a small hill. To his
right, he saw much of the same landscape of bushes and trees until he
caught something out of the corner of his eye. Several yards into the
woods, in a small clearing between the trees was a pile of rocks that
looked like someone s grave. He would never have seen it at night,
and the mound was too uniform to have occurred in nature. Why
would someone stack up a bunch of rocks?
Whoa. Wade pulled on Lucky s reins until they stopped. He
started to dismount and explore the stone pile to assure himself there
wasn t a dead body underneath it, but paused when he heard the snap
of a branch on the trail behind him. He twisted around in his saddle
and searched the land.
Shit. Someone had followed him from town.
* * * *
Wyatt forced his face not to betray the turmoil in his mind. What
makes you think someone stole my horse, sheriff?
A witness came to my office with the information a little while
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86 Elle Saint James
ago. Vanguard nodded once to Maggie, and the corner of his
mustached mouth lifted. I guess you were off gettin hitched. Joe
told me I d find you here at the church. Don t worry though, I m
about to go track the thief down.
Holy shit! I appreciate it, sheriff, but my horse isn t missing.
He s in the stable behind my saloon.
That so? Mind if I take a look?
Actually, I do. Wyatt paused, trying to think of a good reason
why the sheriff couldn t see his stable. He leaned forward and
lowered his tone. Could we do this later, sheriff? I d planned to be
busy for the next couple of hours with my new wife.
Maggie s head dropped forward, and he saw her cheeks turn
crimson at the innuendo.
The sheriff straightened, and Wyatt thought he might have
blushed a little, too. Right. Well, if you re sure you still have your
horse.
I am sure. Excuse us, Vanguard. We have a honeymoon waiting
for us.
I ll let the witness know he was mistaken.
Great. Thanks, sheriff.
Wyatt steered Maggie off the steps of the church and quickly back
to the saloon. If Vanguard checked, he d find out Wyatt hadn t lied
about a horse being in his stable. It just wasn t Lucky.
Are you about to get caught in a lie?
No. There s a horse in our stable. It s not Lucky though, so I
don t really want the sheriff to look too close. Why did you think I
lied?
I saw Wade ride away this morning. I didn t know you had a
backup horse just in case.
Wyatt smiled. We have a small stable in back of the saloon.
There s another horse that looks similar to Lucky. We trade them out
occasionally.
So someone else saw Wade leave this morning.
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Double Chance Claim 87
That s my guess. I ll go ask the sheriff later on. Right now, I
have a honeymoon to get started on.
I m all for the honeymoon, but do you think we ll be left in
peace?
He shrugged, and a long sigh escaped. Possibly. Vanguard s not
stupid, but I don t know if he ll go back to the witness, sneak a look
in the stable, or chase after Wade. I don t think he ll let it go. But I
also don t think he ll bother us today. He winked.
Who do you think the witness is?
I don t know. I saw someone lurking around next door when I
came back from Stanton s Dry Goods this morning, but I didn t see
who it was. I only saw a mangy pair of boots and a blur of someone
running away.
Maggie got a worried look on her face. Was it Sadie?
Wyatt almost halted mid-stride in the middle of the road. He kept
walking and didn t respond until he got to the saloon doors. Why
would you think it was Sadie?
Because she is very intent on getting you to go into business with
her.
How do you know that? Perhaps Wyatt needed to understand
how his new wife had spent her time before coming to him last night.
She s been trying to use me to convince you. She was insistent.
But I told her no. When I ran out of money for the hotel, she offered
to pay my way if I d come over and get you to agree to a partnership.
Wyatt unlocked the doors and entered the saloon after Maggie
walked inside. So is that why you married me, to convince me to
open the upstairs as a whorehouse?
* * * *
Maggie nearly fainted when he accused her of colluding with
Sadie. Distrust laced with secrets was not how she wanted to start this
marriage. I promise you, Wyatt, I would never do that. Not ever.
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88 Elle Saint James
His expression immediately turned contrite. I m sorry. I know
better. That woman just makes me crazy. She s been here every week,
and sometimes twice a week, trying to get me to go into business
since a month before you got here. If I could figure a way to do it, I d
bar her permanently from entering my saloon.
Why do you think she s so adamant to set up shop here again?
Wyatt shrugged. I don t know and I truly don t care. She s a
nuisance.
She told me this place used to be hers, but her partner stole all
her money and ran off so she couldn t pay for it.
Wyatt rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Be that as it may, I just want
to live in peace while we re here. Once we sell the gold we ve
accumulated, we don t have to stay here. Like I mentioned before, we
can go anywhere we want.
Maggie pondered where she might want to go. Where are you
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