“Politics is a bare knuckle kind of fight,” Paco said as he rolled a cigarette with one hand, his leg hooked over the horn of his saddle. “Too rough for me. I’d rather face a band of screamin’ Apache than a roomful of diamond studs and bowlers.”

“At least the Apache make no bones about wanting your scalp. Men like the senator and Durant are sneaky about it.”

“So what are the chances of Brandon getting his silver overland to the coast?”

“I’d say they were damned good. No one’s around to stop him.”

“Except you.”

“Yeah.” Steve nudged his mount into a walk. “Except me.”

“What will you tell Ginny?”

Steve was quiet for a moment, the only sound that of hooves scrabbling on hard rock, the smell of dust and baking earth pungent and suffocating as they left the shade and rode into hot, searing sunlight.

“Hell,” he said finally, “she can figure out what kind of man Brandon is. It’s pretty obvious. And she knows that he’s not above cheating or lying to get what he wants. Only now, she doesn’t honey-coat it with some fantasy of noble intentions, but sees it as it is—pure greed. If she gets angry at my interference, she’ll get over it.”

“She sure didn’t like being left in San Antonio.”

“With Ginny, protest is as natural as breathing. She liked it well enough. She’s safe there, staying with Renaldo and Missie, and can shop and go to the theater anytime she wants. I think she was relieved to be in a civilized town again, but just wouldn’t admit it.”

Paco laughed. “You might be bankrupt by the time we get back to San Antone….”

Ginny was, in fact, having a fine time. It was a relief to be in a real bed again, with clean sheets that smelled of sunlight and soap instead of bedbugs and lice, and a feather mattress that actually cushioned her aching muscles instead of the hard rope cots of her most recent experience.

The hotel boasted as fine accommodations as would any hotel in New York, with private bathing rooms and huge tubs, and a sitting room with bolstered boudoir chairs and mirrors hung in ornate gold frames. It was comfortable, even luxurious, and Ginny realized that she wasn’t afraid any longer. Even if she did keep the pistol Steve had given her under her pillow or in her purse, she thought that she had finally overcome the gripping fear that had hounded her after Luna.