Read Xenia’s Renegade for Free Online

you.”
    “Reckon they’d let him live if they make it in, Ty?”
    “Nah, Ray. He’d be the first to go.”
    Again, bullets peppered the walls, inside and out. Xenia took the empty gun Ty handed her and picked up the shells to reload. Snapping the barrel in place and letting the gun lay across her lap ready to give Ty, she glanced up and screamed when a burly man burst through the kitchen door that led into the room.
    “Drop your weapons!” He yelled and trained a gun on Ty.
    Ty whirled around. “How the hell—”
    Ray cursed. “Damn, I should’ve been guarding the kitchen.”
    The outlaw sneered. “That’s why we kept you busy concentrating on the front. Gave me the opportunity to come in here and kill all of you. Now, drop those guns.”
    When Ray hesitated, the bandit shot and Ray fell to the floor.
    “I’ve already dropped mine,” Lou screamed.
    “Good for you, tenderfoot. Maybe I’ll let you live.”
    Lou smiled, as the man fired. “Nah. I lied to you.” Lou fell backward into the wall.
    Xenia screamed.
    “Well, well,” the man said. “Look what we have here. Now that’s something I shore ain’t gonna kill. Leastways, not ’till we have a little fun. She’s a lot better looking than the squaw we had earlier.”
    Ty started forward, but the man raised his gun toward Ty’s head. “Don’t try it, cowboy. I have this special bullet for you.”
    Without thinking of what she was doing, Xenia turned the barrel of the gun toward the outlaw and pulled the trigger.
    He staggered backward and fired his pistol, but the bullet went into the ceiling.
    Xenia fainted.
    ****
    Ty sprang into action. He raced to the man, kicked the gun out of his hand and jerked the screaming man up on his feet.
    “Damn it, man. I can’t stand. She shot me in the…”
    Ty glanced at the front of the man’s bloody pants. He almost laughed out loud. “I see where she shot you. Guess she didn’t want to have anything to do with that.”
    “I’ll—”
    “You’ll do nothing except call off your men. What there is left of them, that is.” Ty thrust the man’s face through the broken window. “Now, call them off or let them shoot you in the head. Doesn’t matter to me, either way.”
    “Men!” he screamed.
    The outlaws pulled up their horses and stared at their boss.
    “Hang back for a bit,” one of them shouted.
    “And don’t try to come in the back door again. It’s guarded,” Ty yelled.
    “What can I do to help, Eldridge?”
    Ty was surprised. “I thought he got you, Ray.”
    “He’s not a very good shot. It’s just a scratch on my right side. I pretended to be dead so he wouldn’t shoot me again.”
    “Glad to hear it. If you will, hold this sonofabitch here so I can see about Xenia.”
    “What’s going on?” Mea Ann called.
    “We’re getting it under control. You stay down. I’m bringing Xenia to you.” He swooped Xenia up in his arms and hurried behind the cabinet.
    “Oh, no. Is she hurt?”
    “No. She fainted.” He put her gently down on the mattress.
    Xenia began to stir. Rubbing her eyes she asked, “What happened?”
    “I’ll explain later. You stay here with your sister, and I’ll be back soon.”
    “Did I shoot somebody?”
    “Yes, but you didn’t kill him. Actually, you saved my life.”
    “I’m glad of that,” she muttered, then tears filled her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
    Ty knelt beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. “If you hadn’t wounded the man, we’d all be dead, Xenia. Thank you for saving us.”
    She leaned against him and nodded. “Then, I must have done the right thing. I guess I’m glad.”
    “So am I, but I think you need to stay here with your sister for a while.”
    “But I have to load the guns.”
    “You can load them later. The shooting has slowed down.”
    Her eyes got big. “Yes, it has. Maybe I’ll rest just a little.”
    “You do that.” He removed his arm. “Look after her, Mea Ann.”
    “I will.”
    Ty