In a few minutes, Snake rode into camp on a lathered bay. “Hallo the camp!”
“Come on in,” she yelled. “I’m the only one here.”
He rode in and dismounted, tossing the bank bag at her feet. “Here you go, baby.”
“Oh, you’re hurt.” She feigned concern at the blood on his sleeve, but her gaze was on the bag.
He shrugged, looking at his bloody sleeve. “A few shotgun pellets from that damned banker. Not as bad as I first thought. There’s probably a posse behind me, so we need to clear out. Larado show up?”
“Uh, no. Was he supposed to?” She was angry at Larado for spurning her.
Snake began to curse. “He seemed pretty honest or maybe just stupid. I dropped one of the bags when we ran out of the bank and Larado picked it up. We were lucky to get away. All we had was pistols and that banker had a double-barreled shotgun.”
“Well, honey.” She gave him a bewitching smile. “Let’s see the loot.”
Snake grabbed it up. “Heavy,” he said and poured the contents out on the blanket, then began to curse again. “I’ll be damned, mostly change, a couple of double eagles.” He sorted through it. “I’ll be double damned. Probably not more than fifty dollars total, and I almost got myself killed for this. I reckon that damned Texan got the big stuff, that double-crossin’ sidewinder. I ought to hunt him down and kill him.”
Dixie was still smarting from Larado’s rejection. “Yeah, you should. He gets away with the big money and you get nothin’ much. You deserve better, honey.”
“I was gonna buy you some presents,” he grumbled.
“Maybe next time. Can I have the double eagles?”
“Naw,” he snapped. “You greedy little bitch. Gimme the double eagles. You can have the small change. Too bad I grabbed the wrong bag. Now that Texan’s gonna be rich and comfortable.”
Somewhere in the distance, they heard gunshots, and on the far ridge, she saw the posse strung out in a long line. “I reckon they’re signalin’ each other. You better clear out of here, Snake.”
“You too.”
She shook her head. “Naw, they won’t do anything to me because they won’t connect me to the robbery. Besides, half them respectable men is my customers when their wives ain’t lookin’. They wouldn’t want me tattlin’ on them. You just clear on out, and I’ll delay them while you get away.”
“You’re one in a million, Dixie. I’ll hide out and maybe come back for you sometime.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll survive—I always do. Now get out of here.” She picked up the empty bank bag and tossed it into the fire. “Now there’s nothin’ to connect this camp to any bank robbery.”
“You’re smart for a woman, Dixie. I won’t forget you.”
“Sure, sure.” She didn’t care about Snake. He didn’t have any money, and she wanted a man who could give her nice things, a fancy carriage and a big house. “Get!”
Snake swung into the saddle, nodded to her, and rode out. She watched him go until he was only a speck on the horizon. He was heading in a different direction than Larado, so he wouldn’t meet up with him and learn Dixie had lied. Anyway, Snake would never believe Larado’s bank bag had been full of paper. He’d go looking for Larado for betraying him. For a split second, her conscience bothered her, because she knew what a good shot Snake was. Still, she was mad at the Texan for spurning her. And worse than that, he seemed attracted to that tall brunette at the Last Chance. That annoyed Dixie. She turned and watched the posse coming over the hill. The Texan deserved whatever he got—and that pretty Lark too. It was ironic, maybe. Lark’s twin sister Lacey had stolen the other man that Dixie had cared for.
The posse rode into camp and dismounted.
“Hi, boys, out for a picnic on this spring day?”
The deputy pulled at his gray mustache and frowned at her. “What you doin’ out here by yourself?”
“Waitin’ for you boys to show up,” she drawled. She had put the change down the front of her corset cover, and she could feel it, cold, but comforting there.
“You wouldn’t be waitin’ for anyone, would you?” The men dismounted and looked around the site.
“I told you I was waitin’ for you,” she pouted.
“Don’t play with us, Dixie,” the deputy snapped. “There’s been a bank robbery in town and the teller was shot in the back. We’re lookin’ for two dirty yellow killers.”
She tried to keep her lip from trembling. Neither Larado nor Snake had said anything about killing a man. That made this much more serious. If the posse got either of them, they’d hang them on the spot. “You gonna take me in?”
“You know anything about this?” one of the deputies asked.
“No, and that’s the God’s truth.”
The deputy glanced skyward. “Be careful, girl, a lightning bolt might come out of the sky and hit you.”
“Well, you can take me in, boys, if you want, but I might start tellin’ all the wives in town what some of you boys are actually doin’ when they think you’re at a Civic Club meetin’ or the church fundraiser committee.”
A number of the men looked away, shuffled their boots, and cleared their throats.
The deputy said, “Well, it’s plain she don’t know anything—she’s just a common whore. Let’s ride on.”
“How dare you, Cliff Rainey?” she snapped. “I’m the best ride you ever had. You don’t think I’m so common when you’re sneakin’ up to my room while your wife’s off visitin’ her sister.”
His face turned brick red and the other men laughed. “She’s right,” the barber said. “Taking her in will only get us in trouble with our women. Let’s ride on.”
The others seemed to suddenly remember that they’d spent a little time up in Dixie’s room too. The deputy cleared his throat. “Reckon you’re right, Jim. Let’s get back on the trail. Miss Dixie, you’d better head back to town.”
“Well, I will, unless some of you got time for a quickie.”
“Don’t mind if I do!” A couple of men stepped forward. The deputy roared, “What in tarnation you fellas thinkin’ of? We ain’t got time for women now. We’re on a manhunt. Now get ridin’.”
Reluctantly, the men headed to their horses. She’d bedded most of them at one time or another, but how many more years before she’d be too old for men to want her? “Bye, boys, see you back in town.”
They mounted up, tipped their hats, and rode out. The wind had picked up, blowing dust across horse tracks, so she knew it would be difficult to follow either Larado or Snake. She watched the posse leave, heading in the wrong direction. If the deputy had offered a little reward, she would have told him everything she knew, because she didn’t give a damn about Snake and Larado didn’t give a damn about her.
Somewhere, there was a man who would buy her fine clothes and a fancy house. She watched until the posse had ridden away and sighed. One more night ahead of her, flat on her back for a dollar, under any drunk who wanted her for a few minutes. Abruptly she was sick of all that, sick of being a common whore. What she needed to escape this life was money,