“No.”
“Josephine.”
“You said I decide.”
His jaw tightened.
“This is different.”
“Is it?”
For one second, they stared at each other.
Then Harlan almost smiled.
“Behind that rock.”
Josephine obeyed.
Three riders emerged from the trees.
Everett Pike was among them.
Josephine recognized him immediately.
He wore a dark coat trimmed with fur and sat a fine black horse.
Two armed men flanked him.
Pike smiled.
“Mrs. Creek.”
Josephine hated hearing him call her that.
Not because she hated Harlan’s name.
Because Pike used it as though it were another chain.
“You caused considerable trouble last night.”
Harlan stepped between Pike and Josephine.
Pike sighed.
“Still pretending to be a hero?”
Harlan’s hand rested near his gun.
“Still paying other men to do ugly work?”
Pike’s smile vanished.
Josephine stepped sideways until Pike could see her.
His gaze moved to the canvas sack tied behind the saddle.
“The dress.”
Josephine said, “What about it?”
“It belongs to your mother’s estate.”
“I am my mother’s heir.”
“Not until properly adjudicated.”
Josephine almost smiled.
“You sound nervous.”
Pike’s eyes sharpened.
The two men beside him shifted.
Harlan spoke quietly.
“You should leave.”
Pike laughed.
“You think one mountain brute frightens me?”
“No.”
Harlan’s voice remained calm.
“I think the document she has does.”
Pike’s face changed.
Only for an instant.
But Josephine saw it.
Harlan saw it too.
Pike realized his mistake.
Josephine’s fear diminished.
“You don’t know what document I have.”
Pike recovered.
“Whatever Miriam stole—”
Josephine interrupted.
“My mother stole something?”
He stopped.
She smiled faintly.
“You just told me something useful.”
Pike’s hand moved toward his coat.
Harlan drew first.
The gun appeared almost invisibly fast.
Pike froze.
His men reached for their weapons.
Harlan cocked the revolver.
“No.”
The men stopped.
Pike looked at Josephine.
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
Josephine remembered her mother’s letter.
Take up room.
Breathe.
She stepped from behind the rock.
“No.”
Her voice was steady.
“For the first time in months, I think I’m making my own mistake.”
Pike’s expression hardened.
“You have no understanding of what that land is worth.”
“Then I suppose I’ll enjoy learning.”
“You think Creek wants you?”
Josephine stiffened.
Harlan’s face became dangerous.
Pike smiled.
“He wants Black Pine Pass.”
Josephine glanced toward Harlan.
Pike saw it.
He pushed harder.
“Did he tell you his own cabin sits less than two miles from your northern boundary?”
Josephine’s stomach tightened.
No.
Harlan had not.
Pike laughed softly.
“There it is.”
Josephine looked at Harlan.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
The direct answer hurt.