Quicksilver Passion by Georgina Gentry - Colorado 01 - Quicksilver Passion

didn’t like the looks of the horizon. Clouds hanging over the silhouetted peaks loomed a threatening gray. What did it matter? He was safely back from his trip. He hoped everything was all right here.
    Bill?” He put his hand to his mouth and shouted again,Bill?”
    Cherokee’s elderly partners must be up on the claim. He hoped nothing had happened to the two old men. Bill was deaf as a rock and limped on a bad leg. W illie had a twisted left hand from an old mining accident. The three of them should put their small store of nuggets in a bank instead of piling it under the woodpile. Even a stupid thief would think to check that favorite hiding spot. But Bill and Willie didn’t trust banks.
    He saw the reflection of the rifle barrel in the rocks even as he threw up his hand to protest. The bullet took his hat off. Cherokee hit the dirt. Not only deaf, but half blind, too!Bill? For God’s sake, don’t shoot! Don’t you know your own partner?” He lay there in the bottom of the gully, his face pressed into the gravel.Bill?”
    Cherokee, is that you?” The whiskered face peeked over the ridge.
    Who the hell you think it was?” Cherokee scrambled to his feet, brushing the dirt off his clothes.If you can’t see well enough to recognize me, you should at least be able to see something as big as the burro!”
    The old man limped toward him, a sheepish smile on his face.Sorry about that. I always think it’s better to get in the first shot, ask questions later.”
    Cherokee leaned over, picked up his hat, and examined the bullet hole with a frown.You better watch out! You accidentally shoot some innocent man, there’ll be a lynch party lookin’ for you.”
    Bill spat tobacco juice to one side and leaned on his rifle.If’fen they ain’t got a claim up here, they ain’t got no business up here! Now that we’ve hit some promisin’ pay dirt, we’ll have claim jumpers nosin’ around.”
    There was no point arguing with the stubborn old coot. Cherokee sighed and slapped him on the back. Both the prospectors had been friends of his father’s. It had been Cherokee’s claim, but he needed their expertise and experience to keep things running last autumn while he was off searching for his papa. He’d found him, or at least his grave over in the Nevada diggings. He never did know what became of Lulu, the plump and pretty white whore Papa had run off with.Let’s get on back to the cabin,” he said.I brought you two a few treats.”
    Bill’s face lit up.I want to hear about everything you saw. Did you blow your whole poke on women like you planned?”
    Cherokee hesitated, chagrined. He didn’t want to admit he’d used part of it to decorate a pair of dancing slippers for a girl who wouldn’t let him touch her. He wasn’t even sure how much he would tell the two of the platinum-haired girl. He didn’t want to look foolish.Let’s just say I invested it in a bad deal.”
    The other laughed and slapped his leg.Lost it in a card game, huh? I swear, Cherokee, that don’t sound like you!”
    You just be careful with that rifle.” He put his big arm around the stooped shoulders.You’re liable to shoot some innocent hombre.”
    Phash! I kin recognize every man jack who has a claim up here from a distance. The others don’t have any business nosin’ around.”
    Cherokee started to point out again that Bill had almost shot his own partner, then shrugged and started toward the cabin. He’d have to watch the trigger-happy old man.
     
     
    The day seemed long to Silver. She looked forward to sundown. There was less time to think when the Nugget held a noisy crowd. But when she put on the silver-heeled slippers, she couldn’t keep her mind off the half-breed. That night she danced as she had never danced before and the men shouted in unison:Silver Heels! Silver Heels! Silver Heels!”
    If nothing else, Cherokee Evans had given her a new nickname. She had a feeling the name would stick for a long time.
    But later, it was