"Can you count that high?"
Quick's eyes narrowed. "I'm gonna like killing you," he whispered before he continued with his explanation. "When one of us stops, the other one stops too. Then we shoot each other. You'll be dead before your hand reaches your gun. They don't call me Quick-As-a-Snake for nothing."
He snickered again and started backing away. Harrison also backed up. The two men faced when they were about fifteen feet apart.
Quick suddenly started shaking his head. "Don't shoot me," he cried out.
"Why the hell not?" Harrison bellowed back.
"I ain't going to draw. I'm putting my hands up real easy. I don't want to shoot."
Harrison was infuriated. "What changed your mind?"
"I don't like the odds."
Harrison wanted to shoot him anyway. He realized he was acting like a savage. He didn't care. The bastard could have killed Mary Rose, and life without her would have killed him.
He took a long, deep breath and tried to calm his rage. "All right, put your hands up. I'm going to let Judge Burns hang you."
Quick put his hands up. Harrison started walking toward him. He happened to glance toward the walkway and saw Mary Rose peeking out at him through the window of Morrison's store. She looked extremely upset.
He wasn't altogether unhappy she'd witnessed the confrontation. He wished he'd been able to shoot the gun out of Quick's hand though. Then maybe she'd start believing he was just as capable as her brothers.
He'd take what he could get. Facing down Quick had to count for something.
God, he really needed to get the hell out of here, he suddenly realized. He was beginning to think and act like Cole.
Where was Cole? Harrison knew the answer before he turned around. The brother was standing ten feet behind him and just a little to his left. He wasn't alone. Travis and Douglas flanked his sides.
"How long have you been standing there?" Harrison bellowed the question.
"Long enough," Cole answered. "I wouldn't turn your back on Snake if I were you. He looks like he's itching to shoot you in the back."
"I told you…"
Harrison spotted the man leaning out a window above the empty storeroom. He was bringing his gun up when Harrison drew his gun and fired one shot.
It was enough. The gun flew out of the bastard's hand. He let out a howl of pain.
Quick seized the opportunity and went for his guns. The third man came running out from between two buildings and fired at the same instant.
Cole shot the man coming out of the alley, then turned to Quick. He was too late. Travis had already beaten him to the task. He was putting his gun back in his gunbelt before Cole had time to recock his gun. "Now, that was quick," Travis drawled out.
Douglas had already moved to stand behind his brothers with his back to them so he could protect them from any more surprises. Harrison wanted to kill every one of the interfering brothers. His humiliation wasn't complete, however. Cole started giving him hell for being so stupid.
"Didn't you wonder where the other two went? If we hadn't interfered, you'd be flat on your face with a bullet in your back.
Start using your head, Harrison. Hotheads don't last long out here."
Harrison took a deep breath. He knew Cole was right. Anger had almost gotten him killed.
"You're right. I wasn't thinking."
"Oh, you were thinking all right. You were thinking all about how Quick could have killed Mary Rose. Isn't that true?" Harrison nodded. He was fast beginning to feel like an idiot. "Listen up, City Boy. There's only one rule to live by out here. Someone's always going to be faster. Always. As long as you remember that, and believe it, you'll stay alive." He shoved his finger in Harrison 's chest. "Got that?"
Harrison nodded. Cole let out an expletive. "We didn't kill any of them."
"I wish we had," Harrison admitted. "I guess I'll round them up and lock them up in the empty store."
"It won't do any good. They'll only get out. Let the sheriff deal with them."
"You don't have a sheriff, remember?"
Cole shrugged. "Do what you want then. You were so angry, you didn't get Quick to confess. He isn't going to now. Get ready. Here comes Mary Rose. She looks as mad as a hornet."
Harrison didn't want to turn around and look. Mary Rose reached Douglas first.
"Will you get the horses. We're going home. Now."
"Are you mad about something, Mary Rose?"
"You just shot up the town, Douglas."
"I didn't shoot anyone. They did. Harrison started it."
"I'm not in the mood for excuses. You were as much a part of it as they were."
"Why aren't you in the mood? Anything else happen?"
"Eleanor just called Mrs. Morrison a fat cow. That's what else. Let's go."
Cole had turned away so his sister wouldn't see his smile. Calling Mrs. Morrison a fat cow was a real mean thing to do. He couldn't help but appreciate the guts it must have taken for Eleanor to stand up to a woman who weighed four times more than she did. It was also a stupid thing to do, but Cole didn't want to dwell on that fact.
Travis wasn't smiling. He was horrified Eleanor had insulted Catherine's mother.
"I'll admit she's a hefty-sized woman, but I wouldn't call her a cow," he told Mary Rose.
"Mary Rose, come here. I need more money. I've found something I want to buy."
Eleanor shouted the order from the walkway in front of the store. Mary Rose ignored her. She walked with Douglas to get the horses.
Cole explained Harrison 's plan to Travis and told him to tell Douglas when their sister wasn't within earshot.
Harrison got inside the carriage. He'd given up on the idea of rounding up the wounded men. His only hope was that they all bled to death.
The three brothers left with their sister a few minutes later. Eleanor finally realized she'd been abandoned and ran over to the buggy.
Harrison didn't help her get inside.
"Have you ever seen such rudeness in all your life?" she muttered. "How dare Mary Rose leave without me. I am her guest, I'll have you remember."
Harrison gritted his teeth and didn't say a word until they were halfway home. Then he pulled the carriage over to the edge of the road.
"You aren't a guest. You're a charity case."
She tried to slap him. He grabbed hold of her hand and then let go. "Or at least you were a charity case."
"How dare you talk to me like that."
"Get out, Eleanor."
She let out a gasp. Her hand flew to her throat. "What did you say?"
"You heard me. Get out."
"No."
"Fine. I'll throw you out."
"You cannot be serious."
He reached for her arm. She let out a stone-shattering scream.
Then she got out of the carriage. "You've lost your senses. When I tell Mary Rose…"
He didn't let her finish her threat. "I don't think you'll make it back, so I don't have to worry about that, do I?"
"You can't treat me this way." She burst into tears and threw her hands over her face.
"Mary Rose's brothers will cheer me. I'm making their job easier for them. They were going to give you the boot tomorrow."
Eleanor was quite remarkable. She stopped weeping in mid sob. "What do you mean?"
"They're going to make you leave."
"Mary Rose won't let them."
"Everyone voted," he said. He didn't feel at all bad that he was upsetting her. It was time someone shook her up. She'd been acting like a spoiled little princess with a thorn in her backside long enough. The young woman needed to learn the consequences of her actions.
"Adam would vote to let me stay," she cried out.
"He would if he could," Harrison agreed. "But he's head of the household, so he always abstains. Cole, Travis, and Douglas voted against you. I would have, but I'm not a member of the family, so they wouldn't let me vote. In the Clayborne household, majority rules, Eleanor. You've been given every chance. Mary Rose was going to help you pack tonight. I've just saved her the chore."