Larriane Wills a.k.a. Larion Wills
Author of romance, sci-fi, and fantasy.
A Gallows Waited
Hate rides a man hard, leaving no room for anything else.
Bare Hours after she is married, Elizabeth Tower is widowed, obligated by her dying husband's last words to care for the man who killed him. The wounded killer swore he was not the man Tower thought. Elizabeth knew who he really was though no one believed her until she struggled free of oppression, made herself heard, and fought to draw Tim Bowman from the hate that posses him.
Excerpt:
Tower took one look at Bowman,
stopped dead in his tracks, and screamed, "You!" in a voice choked with horror.
He clawed for the gun he carried on his hip, and as soon as he had the gun
clumsily in his hands, he began to shoot.
His target looked puzzled, then
shocked, and then Bowman shot back. Not in the crazy, wild, panicked way Tower
emptied his gun but with cool calculation. Only one shot was returned while
that nag of a horse stood solid with bullets whipping up dirt between her feet,
and she only flinched once when one of them burned her rump.
Bowman's one shot ended the
shooting match, knocking Tower to the ground at Gus's feet, though Tower's gun
discharged once more as he fell. With the biting smell of burnt black powder in
the air, the echoes died away before Gus found his voice again.
"My Gawd," was all he could say,
and since it didn't seem to be enough, he said it again. "My Gawd."
"Why did he do that?" Bowman
asked, sounding for all the world like he was asking no more than the time of
day.
"I was going to ask you that.
Don't you know?"
"I never saw him before."
"Boy, you better come down off
that horse. We'll have--"
"No," Bowman said, still soft and
low, but with finality. "You saw what happened. You make sure the marshal knows
it straight."
"He'll want to talk to you," Gus
said, stepping over Tower.
"I don't want any trouble, so
don't come after me."
He obviously had said all he intended
to say and backed his horse off. That was when Gus realized Bowman still had
his gun in his right hand, and to back up his words, it was pointed at Gus.
That was also when Gus saw the blood on Bowman's leg, just above the top of his
boot. One of Tower's bullets hadn't been wild enough; it had struck flesh and
possibly bone.
Before Gus could argue with him, two things happened. First, he realized Tower wasn't dead, and second, Sweet, whom he'd forgotten, opened up on Bowman. Then Sweet dove for cover and the safety afforded him by a solid barn wall between him and the return fire. A swift kick sent the bay horse into a run, with Bowmen seeking the quickest route out of there.
