Code of the Wolf

“We will do whatever we have to,” Serenity said. “We have no choice.”

“We might hire a couple of boys from town, just for the branding.”

Serenity came to a sudden stop. “You know that isn’t possible,” she said.

“We could lose dozens of calves to the Coles. You know they’ll steal any unbranded beef they can get their hands on.”

That was true, but it couldn’t be helped. “We will do what we have to,” she repeated.

And the first thing to do was get rid of Constantine. She had a feeling he would be glad enough to leave as soon as he was capable of it. Of course, he didn’t have his own mount, but Serenity would be more than happy to give him one just to get him away from Avalon.

And she prayed he was telling the truth about being a bounty hunter, which put him at least marginally on the right side of the law.

She and Bonnie parted ways, and she started toward the barn. The door swung open, creaking on its hinges, and Jacob Constantine walked out, wearing his filthy, torn trousers, his bandages and little else. He was scanning the yard with intense curiosity, and when his gaze settled on her, his gray eyes seemed to stare right into her soul.

CHAPTER THREE

CARIDAD CAME RUNNING from the barn, guns in hand and a furious scowl on her face.

“Stop!” Cari shouted, pausing to aim at Constantine’s naked back. “Stop, or I will kill you!”

Slowly the man raised his hands. Serenity was stunned at his condition. He was moving gingerly and with a slight limp, it was true, but he was on his feet when only yesterday he had barely been able to sit up.

“Cari,” she said calmly, “it’s all right. Isn’t it, Mr. Constantine?”

He lowered his hands with a slight wince of pain. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, never looking away from Serenity’s face. “As you can see, I’m unarmed.”

Unarmed, except for a remarkable strength that had allowed him to recover from serious injuries in less than twenty-four hours, not to mention a body made for fighting. A body he seemed perfectly comfortable displaying in public.

Bonnie came up behind Serenity. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she said.

Victoria came running out of her workshop and stopped suddenly when she saw Constantine.

Caridad holstered her pistols and stalked around him, scowling.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Serenity, practically seething with anger and embarrassment. “He…deceived me, the cabrón.”

“Did you, Mr. Constantine?” Serenity asked, forcing herself to take a few steps closer to him. “That is hardly a sign of good faith. Or do you want to get yourself shot?”

“Not so soon after the last time,” he said with a wry curl of his lips. The expression would have been disarming to most people. To most women, Serenity thought. It had the effect of transforming his face just as his earlier vulnerability had done, making it appear a little softer, good-natured, almost friendly.

“You seem well enough now,” she said.

“I’m getting better,” he said mildly. He glanced around the yard a second time, then up at the granite and limestone pinnacles of the Organ Mountains towering above the house to the west. “Mighty fine place you have here, Miss Campbell.” The gray eyes fixed on hers again. “It is ‘Miss,’ isn’t it?”

“What business is that of yours?”

“Easy, now. I just wanted to know how I should speak to you.”

I’d rather you didn’t speak to me at all, Serenity thought. His condescension scraped at her already raw nerves. “‘Ma’am’ is perfectly suitable,” she said.

He touched his forehead in a salute that might have been mocking if he hadn’t looked so grave. “I don’t believe I’ve met this lady,” he said, indicating Victoria with a slight nod.

“Our blacksmith, Miss Curtis,” Serenity said. “How soon do you think you’ll be fit to ride, Mr. Constantine?”

He hesitated. He cocked his head as if listening to some internal voice.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “If you’ll lend me a horse.” Caridad snorted, but he went on, unperturbed. “I’ll be riding directly after Leroy and his men. They took my horse and stole my money, but I’ll get them back. I’ll repay you as soon as I can.”

His confidence had a strange effect on Serenity, filling her with envy, anger and admiration all at the same time. He was so sure of himself, when she so seldom was.

“You are assuming they aren’t waiting to ambush you again,” she said.

“You haven’t seen any sign that they’re on your range, have you?”

“My riders haven’t reported anything.”

“Then it’s a safe bet they didn’t come after me.”

“You are a stubborn man, Mr. Constantine.”

“I have to be, in my line of work,” he said.

A hunter, probably little better than those he hunted.

Let him go after them, she thought. It’s no business of mine if he gets himself killed.

“Do you mind if I sit down, ma’am?” he asked with that same incongruous courtesy.

“You are free to return to the barn,” she said coldly.

“I’d like a little fresh air, if it’s all the same to you.”

It wasn’t the same. But Serenity could see that his face had gone a little pale, and there was a sheen of perspiration on his forehead.

She jerked her head in the direction of the house. “You must be hungry,” she said. “Changying would want you fed.”

“You are going to let him into the house?” Caridad demanded.

That wry, amused expression crossed Constantine’s face again. “I would appreciate it, Miss Campbell,” he said.

“There’s fresh bread and soup in the kitchen,” Bonnie offered.

“Obliged, Miss Maguire,” he said, inclining his head. Serenity could have sworn that Bonnie blushed—and there wasn’t much in the world that could make her blush.

Could it be that she admired Constantine? Perhaps even found him attractive?

“I hope Miss Liu and Miss Saunders are well?” he asked.