Jake by Cynthia Woolf Page B

work it. What you want with this Anderson fella, anyway?” She tried to sound nonchalant but since she was not letting him anywhere near her, there was nothing nonchalant about it and the man knew it.
    “Just in case you happen to meet him you tell him I got something that belongs to him. Something he’ll want. Bad.”
    “I told you I don’t know him.”
    “Like I said, if you happen to meet him. I hear he’s got a claim around here. We’ll be back when Billy’s here. Maybe he’ll be more hospitable.” He looked her up and down. Becky could feel his eyes roving over her body like he was taking off every stitch she wore. Her hand started to shake and she grasped the gun with both hands, aiming it at the man’s heart.
    “I wouldn’t bother coming back. Billy don’t like strangers any more than me.”
    “Who said we were strangers?” He turned on his horse and was followed by the second man who hadn’t said anything but just leaned on his saddle horn and stared at her with cold eyes. A killer’s eyes. If he did or didn’t like what he heard, he gave no indication. Both men put the fear of God into her but she wasn’t going to let them know that.
    She watched them ride away and wondered if they’d already stopped at the Anderson camp or come straight here to see Billy. Good thing he was still at The Gem doing his best to keep them in business single handedly.
    Becky heard some rustling in the bushes behind her, turned and pointed her gun at the sound.
    “It’s just me,” said Jake, walking out of the bushes where he’d gone as soon as he’d gotten the signal from David.
    When Jake discovered the bounty hunter was in Deadwood, they all decided to keep watch for anyone who came up the gully. Any traveler would have to go past the Anderson camp first and so they’d posted David at the top of the hill between the two camps with a mirror. If anyone came up that way he signaled to Jake who then high-tailed it into the woods to watch and wait. If there was any danger to Becky, he was there, with his Henry Yellow Boy, to take out the stranger before they could hurt her.
    She holstered her gun. “Did you hear?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So what do you want to do? They’ll be back.” She walked to the fire, took the pot of beans off the heat, stoked the fire and put another piece of wood on it before putting the beans back.
    He sat on one of the camp stools and poured himself a cup of the coffee left over from breakfast. “I know. I can’t keep hiding every time someone comes and neither can Zach. It goes against our very nature.”
    “Well, what do you propose? You can’t let them take you and that’s exactly what they’ll do if they see you.”
    He ran a nervous hand through his blond, shaggy hair. She noticed it had gotten overly long in the few months he’d been in the gulch, now touching just below his collar in dark golden waves. She longed to run her fingers through it and couldn’t believe that she felt that way.
    “I don’t know. I’ll handle it when it happens.”
    Jake wanted to protect her but that was all. He hadn’t been able to save Elizabeth and now wanted to make that up by protecting Becky. She wasn’t so naïve she didn’t know that. He shielded her from himself, too and she wasn’t sure she wanted him doing that. Her heart leapt a little at the thought that he cared. She was fully capable of taking care of herself, but admitted it felt good to have someone care whether she lived or died.
    And having him hold her like he had the night she’d cried for the little girl that still wanted her daddy’s love, was the nicest thing anyone had done for her in years. No one had held her and let her cry since Grandma Bess was alive. That was a long time to go without a hug.
    In some ways, she may always be that little girl. That was a prospect she didn’t like. It made her weak and she couldn’t be weak and survive in this world.
    Jake didn’t approach her or speak for the longest time. He