Only 04 - Only Love

dangerous places among the most dangerous of all animals—man.
    The four men who crowded through the door were examples of why Whip was careful not to turn his back on anyone in Echo Basin. The Culpepper boys were worse than the usual run of gold hunters. Loud, lewd, unwashed and lazy, they weren’t especially beloved by anyone. Including, if rumor could be trusted, their Arkansas mother.
    Few people were really sure which Culpepper was Beau, or which was Clim, or Darcy, or Floyd. No one cared. There wasn’t a finger’s worth of difference in the lot of them. Brown hair, pale blue eyes, rawboned, quick to anger; the Culpeppers were all the same. They were pack animals. They prospected, hunted, fought, and whored together.
    It was whispered that the Culpepper boys also worked together to rob miners who were taking their gold from Echo Basin to Canyon City, but no one had ever caught them at it. Nor had anyone pushed the matter, publicly or privately. Men who crossed the Culpeppers had a nasty habit of waking up bruised, bloodied, and of a mind to pull up stakes and try their luck in some other part of the Rocky Mountains.
    The Culpeppers might have been lazy when it came to hammering gold out of hard rock, but theyfought savagely with fists, knives, guns, and boots.
    Casually Whip eased farther back toward the wall, giving himself plenty of room. He didn’t expect anything violent to happen, but a careful man was always ready.
    Whip was a careful man. From where he now stood, he could see the girl on his right and the Culpeppers on his left.
    If the men noticed Whip’s movements, they didn’t show it. Their pale blue eyes tracked each breath the girl took as though she was a lamb born only for their fangs.
    “What’ll it be, Shannon?” Murphy demanded. “Talk fast. My chilblains is aggravating me something fierce.”
    “Flour. Salt.” Shannon took a quick breath. “And a handful of lard and a pinch or two of baking soda.”
    Murphy grunted. “How you payin’.”
    It was a demand, not a question.
    Shannon’s clenched hand opened. A circle of gold gleamed on her palm.
    “My wedding ring.”
    Disappointment swept coldly through Whip when he realized that the girl was married.
    Of course she is, he told himself acidly. A girl with a walk like that wouldn’t live alone in a place like Echo Basin.
    Her husband must be a damned fool to let her come to Holler Creek by herself.
    “Gold?” Murphy asked, looking at the ring.
    “Yes.”
    The stark word said a great deal about Shannon’s emotions, as did the fine tremor in the hand she held out to Murphy.
    Whip’s eyelids flinched in sympathy for the girl.The past winter must have been very hard for Shannon and her husband if she was forced to sell her wedding ring for the most basic supplies. And not much of them, either.
    Slowly Murphy took the ring. At least he was slow while his dirty fingers touched Shannon’s palm. When he finally dragged his hand away from the girl’s clean skin, he moved quickly enough to test the quality of the gold ring.
    While Murphy bit down on the wedding band, Shannon’s right hand dropped to her side. Her clothes, like her hands, were almost painfully clean. She rubbed her palm against her ill-fitting pants as though removing the feel of Murphy’s touch.
    The Culpeppers saw, and laughed.
    “Hey, old man. She don’t want your dirty paws on her,” one of them said. “How about mine, darlin’? I washed ’em just last week.”
    “Your hands ain’t no cleaner than mine, Beau,” said another Culpepper.
    “Shut up, Clim,” Beau said. “Go find your own rag doll to fondle. I done found mine. Ain’t I, darlin’?”
    Shannon acted as though the Culpeppers didn’t exist.
    But Whip could tell that she heard each word clearly. She was standing straighter than ever, and the generous lines of her mouth were drawn flat in fear or distaste.
    I hope those boys have better manners than I think they do, Whip told himself grimly. I’d hate like hell to take on the four of them with only a bullwhip and a prayer.
    Murphy bit the ring again, grunted, and tucked it into the pocket of his greasy flannel shirt.
    “Your husband must’ve cleaned out his claims ifthis is all the gold you got left,” Murphy said.
    “Ask him,” said Shannon. “If you can find him before he finds you.”
    Murphy grunted and the Culpeppers hooted.
    “The bit of supplies your ring fetches won’t see you through a fortnight, much less a whole