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preferred table, with his back to the wall, as Barry brought him a large plate of fried chicken and potatoes.
    Gabriel took his time eating his supper. He wasn't hungry, but knew he needed to eat. He couldn't help think about his past , and how it would affect Julianna . . .
     

 
    Chapter 3
    By the time Gabriel finished up his supper of fried chicken and potatoes, he was in a foul mood , and headed for the outlaw camp's saloon to drown his deadly thoughts, with the very men he wished to kill!
    Gabriel normally did not drink much whiskey. He liked to keep all his senses about him in case there was ever any trouble. After downing a whole bottle of rye by himself, he stumbled out of the camp's saloon , and over to his little shack back by the canyon wall.
    "Dora, Dora, " Gabriel mumbled as he stumbled over to the small bed, looking down on Julianna asleep. In his drunken haze, Gabriel mistook Julianna for Dora as he struggled to get all his clothes off, and climbed into the little bed with her. He smelled Julianna's faint perfume of lilac, and he snuggled up to her saying, "I love you, Dora." Then he kissed her cheek before falling asleep.
    In her sleep, Julianna dreamed of a strong muscular naked man curled up to her backside with his big arms around her, holding her tight. She could feel his steady breathing as his chest rose and feel against her small back , and his warm breath on her delicate neck. Then he kissed her cheek saying he loved her, as she sighed happily.
    *     *     *
    As consciousness came to Gabriel, he wondered why his head was pounding like a sledgehammer? Then the smell of lilacs invaded his senses slowly, bringing his memory of the previous night back to him.
    At supper Gabriel had started thinking about Clayton, Ted, Victor, and Dora. He ended up in such a bad mood, he went and drowned his thoughts in a bottle at the outlaw camp's saloon. Luckily Victor was in bed healing from his bullet wound, and Clayton and Ted were busy playing poker with some other outlaws, or Gabriel may have shot them right then.
    Gabriel then remembered stumbling home drunk. Once inside, he looked down at Dora, who looked so beautiful asleep in his small bed. He took his clothes off and . . .
    Wait, it couldn't be Dora he laid next to, because Dora was dead! Just then Gabriel's brain registered . . . . Jules! He had climbed in bed with Julianna naked, and had kissed her goodnight!
    He needed to get out of that bed and get dressed , before Julianna woke up and saw him like this. He had promised her he would keep her safe. What would she think if it looked like he was trying to bed her? He knew that answer, she would condemn him . . .
    Why did he care what she thought of him? As soon as this was over, Gabriel would take Julianna safely to her loving father, and would never see her again.
    Julianna started to stir, and before she woke completely, Gabriel jumped up and donned his clothes so fast you would of thought the shack was on fire.
    With a faint memory of last night's dream still in her head, Julianna woke up to find Gabriel standing on the other side of the room looking disheveled. She assumed he had slept in his clothes too, and thought no more about it.
    Gabriel pointed to a clean towel, and the bowl and fresh pitcher of water on the table. "I hope you slept good? Why don't you clean up while I go tend to the horses. When you are ready, I will take you to breakfast."
    "Yes, thanks, that sounds really good. I'm so hungry I think I could eat a horse right now," Julianna replied.
    Happy that Julianna didn't seem to know what happened when he came home last night, Gabriel smiled and grabbed the plate of fried chicken and potatoes he had left on the table. He took it outside with him and tossed it to the camp dog , as he headed to take care of the horses. "Here you go boy, eat up."
    Inside, Julianna washed up and did her best to fix her hair and dirty clothes. With no mirror to use, she had no idea how disheveled she