Hunted by Lindsay Buroker Page B

firearm.”
    “Ah, so that was merely a warning for an
ambiguous action.”
    “Precisely.”
    “Kali?” Sebastian called. “Who’s with
you?”
    “Cedar,” she said. “The, uh, fellow you met
at my workshop.”
    “He wasn’t invited,” Sebastian said.
    “He’s willing to work too. Why turn down an
extra hand? He’ll take a cut of my share. No need to pay him.”
    “That so?” Cedar murmured.
    She elbowed him.
    “He willing to take a cut of your rations
too?” Sebastian asked. “Because we don’t have enough to feed
someone that big.”
    “We brought our own food,” Kali said.
    “You didn’t even bring a blanket,” Cedar
whispered.
    “Sshh.” She could see nothing of his features
in the dark, but sensed his humor was tickled by the situation. Or
maybe gun-slinging put him in a good mood.
    “Come in,” Sebastian said. “We’ll work out
the details in the morning. It’s late. Long past when respectable
folk ride up on a camp.”
    “Yes...we were delayed.”
    Kali stood and walked toward the fire, arms
spread to show she had no weapons in hand. She supposed the
courteous thing to do would be to mention that a dangerous woman
might be about and that Kali’s presence could bring danger to the
entire camp.
    “Getting sexed up, probably,” Sebastian
muttered to the man at his side who snorted and nodded.
    Kali narrowed her eyes and reconsidered the
level of courtesy she would show the man. Such as, maybe she
would warn him if she saw a grenade plummeting toward his head.
    Cedar did not stray from her side as she
approached, and she admitted a smug satisfaction at having him
looming there. She knew Sebastian would not be jealous—that would
have required him to have had an actual interest in her—but at
least Cedar’s presence proved she was not so undesirable as he
believed. Except, she reminded herself, Cedar was not her beau and
she had lied to Sebastian. Her smugness faded.
    “You arrived sooner than I expected,”
Sebastian told Kali. “The steam equipment isn’t here yet. We’ll be
bringing it up on a raft from Dawson soon.”
    “That’s fine. We can help with the sluice box
or whatever you have set up so far.” Kali glanced around. Though
she and Cedar had passed numerous claims with such equipment, she
had not noticed any on Sebastian’s land. Maybe she had missed it in
the darkness.
    “Good. We have lots to set up,” Sebastian
said. “We’ve barely got the tents pitched.”
    “Is there room for us in one?” she asked.
    “Sorry,” he said in a tone that assured he
was not. “They’re already claimed. You can bed down over there.” He
smiled and pointed to rocky ground near the fire.
    “Thanks,” Kali said, glad the air did not
smell of rain.
    The men watched Cedar as he moved farther
away from the fire than Sebastian had indicated. He ignored them.
Well, Kali doubted that, but he acted as if he was ignoring
them. The way nobody introduced themselves struck her as odd, but
the gunfire greeting had probably set the men on edge. Thus far,
the night did not hint of future friendships, so she hoped Cedar
could complete his business with John Wilder within a day or
two.
    She laid down her gear and, under the guise
of performing her nightly ablutions, checked the two smoke nuts
nestled in her pocket. She decided to sleep with them and the knife
on her belt as well. While she doubted anyone would bother her with
Cedar around, she did not like the camp atmosphere.
    When she returned from washing at the river
and saw Cedar’s all-in-one bed-blanket-pillow stretched over the
rocks, she remembered she would be expected to spend the night
tucked into it. With him.
    Though the rest of the men had disappeared
into the tents, Sebastian sat on a log by the fire. He probably
wanted to see if another man would actually share a bed with her.
She glowered at Sebastian and stalked over to join Cedar.
    He crouched beside his blanket, waiting for
her. He lifted a hand, perhaps asking if she