Only 06 - Winter Fire

that little rock.”
    Conner’s second draw looked as fast as his first, but Case knew it wasn’t. Not quite.
    A chunk of stone flew out from the big rock.
    â€œMissed again,” Conner said, disgusted.
    â€œYou weren’t more than three inches off. Close enough to stop a man.”
    The boy just shook his head and holstered the gun.
    â€œStopping a man is almost as good as killing him,” Case said matter-of-factly. “That way you can take a little more time with the second bullet, unless you’re up against more than one man.”
    â€œIs that what happened in Spanish Church?”
    â€œPartly. Mostly those Culpeppers were just too damned fast. But they shot too soon, same as you did and for the same reason. Touchy guns.”
    â€œThey didn’t get another chance?”
    Case gave Conner a sideways look out of cool green eyes.
    â€œIf I’d given them another chance, I’d be planted out back of the bar instead of them.”
    â€œHow close were they to you?”
    â€œNearly twenty feet,” Case said. “If it had been ten, they would have killed me.”
    â€œYou don’t sound as if the idea bothers you,” Conner muttered.
    â€œGamblers have a saying—scared money never wins. Same goes for shooting. The day you feel scared is the day you take off that belt gun and never put it on again.”
    â€œYou mean you’re never scared?”
    â€œNot when it comes down to it. Before or after, hell yes.”
    Conner looked at both guns again.
    â€œLet me try that raider’s gun,” Case said, holding out his hand.
    The boy held his gun out butt first to Case.
    â€œI see Ute taught you good manners,” Case said dryly.
    â€œWith a gun, manners make sense,” the boy retorted. “At eating time, they just get in the way.”
    Case holstered the gun, lowered his hands, then drew and with a speed that blurred everything into one motion. He fired three shots with a single rolling sound.
    Rock exploded everywhere.
    Conner whistled again. “That was really slick. Why don’t you file off the sight and shorten the barrel of your own gun?”
    â€œOne out of three isn’t good enough.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œOnly one bullet hit the little rock. If I’d been up against three men, I’d be looking like a sieve right now.”
    â€œOh,” Conner said.
    â€œSee that chunk of wood on the next boulder to the right?”
    The boy nodded.
    â€œHolster my gun and shoot when I say.”
    Conner followed instructions and then looked at Case expectantly.
    â€œWhen did Ute first start teaching you how to shoot?” Case asked.
    Conner blinked. “As soon as he healed up from his bullet wounds. Six of them. That’s a tough hombre.”
    â€œDid you pester Ute into teaching you?”
    â€œNo, he said a man who couldn’t use a gun and use it good would be a dead man right quick. And seeing as how Sarah was so fond of me, Ute thought—”
    â€œ Draw .”
    The order was unexpected, but Conner didn’t hesitate. He drew and fired.
    The wood leaped up and came down as a shower of splinters.
    â€œGood shooting,” Case said.
    â€œSlow,” Conner said, disgusted.
    Case shrugged. “You’re big enough to soak up some lead, if it comes to that. Better to be the last one to shoot than the first.”
    â€œI’d rather be first and last.”
    The corners of Case’s eyes changed slightly.
    â€œSo would every man,” he said. “But no matter how good you are, there’s someone out there who’s better. The best fight is the one you avoid.”
    â€œYou sound like Sarah.”
    â€œShe’s a woman of uncommon good sense.”
    â€œShe keeps treating me like a kid.”
    â€œShe raised you. Takes time to grow out of that, on both sides.”
    Conner looked stubborn. The line of his mouth was so like Sarah’s that Case could hardly bear to see it.
    I never should have touched her , he realized again. Now that I’ve tasted her, it will be pure bloody hell forgetting .
    I didn’t know anything could be that sweet .
    Or that hot .
    God, I’ll die remembering what it was like to feel her surprise and passion. To taste it. To slide into it and forget …
    The sound of Conner reloading his six-gun reminded Case that he had set out to teach Sarah’s beloved younger brother how to survive in the wild