Read Gunslinger for Free Online

empty bunkhouse, chose a bottom bunk next to the door and dropped his saddlebags. The bunkhouse was neat and cleaner than most, he thought as he cast a jaded glance around the room. Various articles of clothing were draped over chairs to dry in front of the potbellied stove. A guitar was propped against a bunk and a harmonica lay on the table where someone had abandoned it.
    Desperado was about to wander outside and get acquainted with some of the hands when he heard the door slam and the jangle of spurs. Years of living dangerously made him whirl and reach for his gun. He relaxed when he recalled that he had nothing to fear here. He soon discovered his mistake.
    The cowboy who swaggered up to him was more lad than man, but Desperado didn’t like the ornery look on his boyish features.
    “You Desperado Jones?” the boy asked.
    Desperado nodded. “Who are you?”
    “Rowdy. That’s my bunk you just claimed for yourself.”
    Desperado’s face hardened. If the kid wanted mean, Desperado would give him mean. Best to get these things out of the way before settling in. It was time this cocky youngster learned not to mess with Desperado Jones.
    “It’s my bunk now, kid,” he said in a raspy whisper that turned most men’s legs to jelly. Unfortunately, Rowdy was too young and cocky to know real fear.
    “I don’t care if you
are
a gunslinger,” Rowdy claimed, eyeing Desperado warily. “The only reason you’re here is because Miss Chloe decided she needed an experienced gunhand. I coulda told her she didn’t need you, but she didn’t ask me. I can shoot a gun as well as any cowboy and rope better than most. We don’t need a gunslinger on the trail drive.”
    “I’m here to stay, Rowdy,” Desperado said, “so get used to it. You got an argument with that? We can always settle it outside.”
    He flexed his hand over his gun, hoping to frighten the boy enough to back him down before real trouble started. The last thing he wanted was to draw against another cocky kid with an itchy trigger finger.
    Desperado held his breath, waiting for Rowdy to make up his mind. Prudence must have won out, for Rowdy shrugged and took a cautious step backward. His expression wasn’t so ornery anymore, just belligerent.
    “Take the damn bunk if it means that much to you,” Rowdy muttered, backing away toward the door. “I can’t stand here jawing with you when there’s work to be done. If the herd don’t get branded in time, the trail drive will be delayed. And I know Miss Chloe won’t like that.”
    Desperado merely smiled as Rowdy beat a hasty retreat. He sighed, wondering if he would have to intimidate every one of the hired hands before they accepted him.
    “What are you trying to do, alienate all my hands?” Chloe asked from the doorway. “You’re supposed to get along with them, not scare the stuffing out of them.”
    Desperado bit out a curse when he saw Chloe’s trouser-clad figure poised in the doorway, long legs splayed, hands on curvy hips. It was all he could do to keep his eyes from popping out and rolling on the floor. She looked so damn sexy his hands itched to fill themselves with her. His eyes kindled with desire as she crossed the room to confront him.
    “That was nothing, just a small misunderstanding,” Desperado said. “ ’Pears like the hands resent me. Rowdy is a troublemaker. He needed to be put down. It’s best the hands know right off that I’m a bad-ass gunslinger who won’t take sass from anyone.”
    “Just as long as you know I’m the boss,” Chloe huffed. “Everyone here takes orders from me.”
    Desperado had the unaccountable urge to laugh. It was just like a woman to think she was in charge. Chloe’s mother had been like that. But he was a stronger man than his father. No woman was going to tie Desperado Jones in knots like his stepmother did to his father. If he ever had a child, which was highly unlikely, he wouldn’t let some woman talk him into sending him or her away.
    “Is