Excerpt from The Last River

He started for the cabin again, this time reaching the doorway. He looked back at Joe who was grinning at him, revealing a mouthful of missing teeth. Joe hadn’t been the same since the Indian girl’s husband had beat him with an ax handle. It wasn’t that he was less intelligent—he never had much intelligence before he was hit in the head—it was more like he was bent.

Sliding through the burlap, Buck looked toward the bed. Sparrow was sitting up, watching him, like she knew he was coming. That took him off guard just a bit.

“I come to check that rope,” he said.

She pulled on it, to let him see it still held her secured to the bedpost. He approached slowly, skirting around the table. Her eyes followed him—not with fear—but with grim anticipation, like a seasoned soldier watching the advance of an enemy army, aware of impending violence.

He stopped in front of her. “You can take this easy, or hard. It’s up to you. There ain’t no one coming for you, or they would have come by now. This is how it’s going to be.”

“Caleb will come,” she said.

Buck laughed. “That husband of yours has done found someone else to bed with. He left you in Dodge City, didn’t he? You might as well face up to it. You are my girl now.”

Defiance lit her eyes. “I will never be your girl,” she said.

“Well, we’ll see about that,” he said.