The Wrath of Iron Eyes (An Iron Eyes Western #5) (13 page)

‘
Ochawas!’ Iron Eyes gasped
in horror as he looked across at the five remaining Apache braves
whom he had encountered the previous day.

He had found out the hard way about their
poisonous arrowheads and did not want to repeat what he had gone
through when hit by one.

The Apaches were yelling out as they drove
their painted ponies down the dune towards him.

With a last full-blooded kick of his boot
into the face of the bandit, Iron Eyes turned and grabbed the reins
and saddle horn of the horse and threw himself on to its back.
Arrows flew over his head as the bounty hunter galloped back in the
direction of the waterfall.

When he had covered a quarter
of a mile, Iron Eyes turned his head and stared over his shoulder
through the rising dust behind his horse. The Ochawas had found
what was left of Malverez and were doing to him what Iron Eyes felt
certain they would have done to him, if he had not driven
his
horse
out of there at top speed.

Most men would have felt pity at the sight
that he witnessed as he galloped away from the Apaches.

But Iron Eyes felt only anger.

He had been robbed of the chance to finish
Malverez off and it riled him. He had been cheated of torturing the
bandit the way that ruthless kidnapper had done to so many of his
victims.

Iron Eyes had wanted to extract every ounce
of the man’s blood from his worthless veins personally.

Yet as he rode the exhausted horse back into
the brush at the top of the waterfall and saw Black Ben lying
helplessly on the blood-soaked sand, Iron Eyes knew that the
Ochawas were probably far better at inflicting death than he was
himself.

He was used to killing swiftly and they had
made an art of doing the exact opposite.

Dismounting, Iron Eyes rushed to the side of
Tucker and knelt down.

‘
I got the varmint, Black
Ben.’

Iron Eyes suddenly realized that Black Ben
Tucker could not hear him. He was quite dead and yet the face still
had a hint of the roguish smile that had endeared him to Iron Eyes.
The thin bony fingers of the bounty hunter closed the lifeless eyes
and he sighed heavily.

Why had Black Ben saved the life of a total
stranger? Iron Eyes pondered.

Black Ben Tucker knew the answer, but he had
taken it to his maker. It would remain a secret until their trails
crossed again in wherever it is that train-robbers and bounty
hunters go once death finally claims them.

He began to dig into the soft
sand with his bare hands. Iron Eyes was going to bury the man whom
he knew was worth
two thousand dollars dead or alive.

This was one bounty he was not willing to
collect.

Iron Eyes had felt certain that darkness was
the best time to return the beautiful Rosie Smith to her father.
The hours after sundown offered a little more privacy and dignity
to one who had suffered so much at the hands of the men he had
destroyed. There were no prying eyes peering through lace curtains
or around corners to see her arriving back with her torn dress that
was barely capable of concealing her blushes.

Iron Eyes had sent Sheriff Tom Hardin back
to Cripple Creek a couple of hours earlier to tell Jed Smith that
all was well.

With his
dapple-
gray
tied to the tail-gate of the wagon, Iron Eyes had sat next to the
beautiful female for hours as he steered the four-horse team back
across the border towards her home town.

For hours she had sat next to him covered in
the remains of her once-pristine dress and the heavy velvet drape.
Mile after mile she had leaned into the shoulder of the man whom
she felt so drawn to.

The man who, she knew, had saved her from a
fate worse than death and possibly even death itself.

Rosie Smith had not stopped talking for even
a fleeting moment of their long journey as she clung to his arm.
Perhaps, he thought, she was in shock. Maybe she always talked to
people this way, or was it because she actually believed that she
did love the tall stranger?

Iron Eyes slapped the reins down on to the
backs of the team of horses and steered them slowly and quietly
into the boundaries of Cripple Creek.

He knew which of the small
town’s streets were the least likely to be busy and guided the team
down them. As they turned the last corner and headed into the
street where her large home
was situated, Iron Eyes felt her gripping his
hands and pulling back on the reins.

‘
Stop, Iron Eyes,’ she
said, with panic in her soft young voice. ‘We have to
talk.’

Iron Eyes rested his right boot on the
brake-pole and held the horses in check.

‘
You ain’t stopped talking
since we headed out for here, Miss Rosie,’ he told her.

‘
We are only a short way
from my home,’ Rosie said.

‘
How do you know that?’
Iron Eyes felt her hand touching his face in the darkness and
swallowed hard as her fingers traced his scarred
features.

‘
I can smell the
honeysuckle,’ Rosie continued touching his face with her soft
gentle fingers. He liked it. ‘You have been in many, many fights. I
can feel all the scars that you have suffered over the
years.’

Iron Eyes tried to pull her
hands away from his face but she just hugged him
around the neck
instead and whispered into his ear.

‘
I meant it, you know. I do
love you. I have done since the moment we first met outside my
home.’

Iron Eyes pulled her arms off him and looked
hard into her face. He still found it hard to grasp that such
beautiful eyes could not see.

‘
You’re just grateful that
I saved you, Miss Rosie.’

‘
No, Iron Eyes. I really do
love you.’

‘
If n you could see what I
look like, you’d not say that.’

She touched his face again.

‘
Maybe I can see some
things that folks with vision can’t see, Iron Eyes.’

He shook his head, released the brake-pole
and encouraged the horses to continue down the dark, quiet
street.

As the wagon pulled up outside the white
picket-fence, Iron Eyes stopped it again and wrapped the long reins
around the brake-pole. He climbed down and then used his long arms
to reach up to her and pluck her from the passenger seat.

He held her in his arms and stared into her
face for what felt like an eternity. Then he turned and walked
through the open gateway and towards the front door of the large
house. A mere two steps from the door, she buried her lips on
his.

She kissed him with every ounce of the love
she had proclaimed for the tall bounty hunter. He allowed her to do
so and savored every moment until the door began to open. He had
never been kissed by anyone before and doubted that it would ever
happen again.

Only as the light of the lamps from inside
the house splashed out on to the garden, did Iron Eyes pull his
mouth away from hers.

Jed Smith came rushing out with Tom Hardin
at his side. The banker took her from the arms of the bounty hunter
and began to weep with utter relief.

‘
How can I ever thank you,
Iron Eyes?’ Smith asked as he took his daughter inside the house.
‘Name it and it’s yours.’

Iron Eyes nodded silently at the banker and
then patted the sheriff on his shoulder before turning around and
walking back towards the street.

‘Iron Eyes! Where are you
going? Don’t go!’ Rosie’s voice called out as he reached the back
of the wagon. He unhitched his reins and led his
dapple-
gray
silently past the house.

‘
What’s wrong, Rosie?’ Jed
Smith asked his daughter as tears rolled from her eyes.

‘
Don’t let him go, Father!
Please! I want him to stay!’

Iron Eyes stepped into his stirrup and
mounted the horse. He looked at the beautiful young female for the
last time and then tapped his spurs into the sides of his
horse.

Sheriff Hardin lowered his head as Iron Eyes
disappeared into the darkness of night. He knew how hard it must
have been for the bounty hunter to do that simple thing. He
wondered if he could have had the strength to do the same.

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1. IRON EYES
   

2. IRON EYES THE AVENGER
   

3. THE SPURS OF IRON EYES
   

4. THE FURY OF IRON EYES