Kisses With KC (Cowboys and Angels Book 11)(14)
“You missed your partner by a bit there, KC.” Ellis laughed.
“You too. Tricky distance this time, wasn’t it?” KC shouted to be sure Lance heard.
Ellis chuckled. “Looks like you have egg on your face, Lance.”
“It’s fitting on you,” KC called across the space. “We’re out, sweetheart. Let’s go get ready for the shooting contest.” He jogged over to extend his arm to Eliza, her cheeks a beautiful blush, and escorted her away from the game.
“Eliza. Eliza!”
KC turned to see a man and woman hurrying toward them, each carrying a box. The woman’s bright red hair waved behind her.
Eliza turned around and opened her arms. “Millie!”
Millie shoved the box into KC’s hands and embraced Eliza. She let go and extended her hand toward KC. “I’m Millie Bing, Eliza’s best friend.” He put the box down and shook her hand.
“That’s true. Millie is everyone’s best friend.” Eliza laughed. “Hello, Edwin. This is KC Murray.”
“Edwin McRae,” he said as they shook hands.
Kailin waved goodbye to her friends, then stretched her neck a little to look in Edwin’s box. “What’s for lunch today?”
Edwin put his box down and picked up a bowl from inside the box, removing the towel on top. “Fried chicken.”
Millie did the same and added, “And corn bread with butter and honey.”
KC didn’t need to hear more and pulled out his change purse. “We need enough for five, please.” He saw the questioning look on Eliza’s face and said, “I’m not feeding Ellis. I need two. Throwing eggs is hard work.”
Eliza laughed and swatted his arm, then she shook out some linen napkins from her basket, and Edwin placed the food on top.
Millie put a plate from Eliza’s basket on the quilt, then hooked arms with her. “Will you serve out my corn bread, Edwin? I have something to talk with Eliza about.”
Before the man agreed, the women walked a ways away and whispered between them. Occasionally, Millie looked at KC. The women giggled with their heads close. It made KC a bit on the nervous side. He was being self-conscious. They were probably talking about something else. That’s when Millie turned completely toward him, looked him up and down, and then turned back to Eliza, saying something excitedly. Nope. He was wrong. They were talking about him.
The only thing he was sure he heard was “Penny.”
The women came back over, and Kailin wasted no time. “What were you saying about Penny? I saw her grabbing at KC during the egg toss.”
“Not a thing,” Millie said. “Except that there are four girls in that family. All dark-haired. All beautiful.”
“All terrible flirts,” Kailin added. “Nineteen, eighteen, and seventeen and all in a fat hurry to get married.”
KC laughed, but Eliza gave Kailin a look he’d seen on his own ma when he needed to hold his tongue. “The oldest is married now—to the preacher.” Eliza nodded like she thought that would be the end of the subject.
KC felt one of his eyebrows quirk up before he could stop it. He didn’t like the man.
Kailin caught it, too. “Hah. It was rather sudden. They deserve each other.”
“Kailin Marie.” The smile melted from the girl’s face at Eliza’s use of both names. “Eat your chicken.”
The shooting contest was held in the west end of the field near a rise in the hillside. They set up ten whiskey bottles for each man to break. The first one to finish was the winner. KC took a wide stance with two ivory-handled Colt revolvers holstered at his hips. At the sound of the start, he pulled both guns. His eyes stared in concentration at the bottles as he squeezed the triggers again and again. In seconds, he replaced his guns and won the contest while his nearest competitors had half their bottles still standing.
Eliza was up next. The women’s competition required that they use a rifle and shatter five bottles. She was using a Henry rifle, an older gun, but with sixteen shots loaded at once, it was practical. She could still win this if she was accurate.
She sighted the rifle methodically, obliterating each bottle. Eliza cocked the gun smoothly, then it shot the shell out and aligned the next bullet—all in a graceful dance with that firearm. He could see the concentration on Eliza’s beautiful face, her finger easy on the trigger, and the confidence she had in her aim as she squeezed off the fifth shot. The bottle shattered. Eliza also won.
KC’s heart pounded. That might have been the most attractive thing he’d seen her do over the past few weeks. Was it possible he’d found the perfect wife for him? He loved everything about her. Loved? The elation he’d felt a second before deflated completely. He was leaving—to go who knew where—as soon as this mystery was solved. What kind of a life could he offer her? None.
A man and woman walked with Eliza back to KC. “KC Murray, this is Henry and Hannah Wheeler. Henry is the U.S. Marshal around here. They live in Topaz.”
“Pleased to meet you,” KC said, recognizing the scrutiny of a seasoned lawman, suspicion in his gaze as he looked a newcomer over.
“That was some impressive shooting. Made the other men look like they were standing still. I don’t think you wasted even one shell. Reckon it took a lot of practice to do that.” Marshal Wheeler’s words were friendly enough, but KC heard a little interrogation in them. He was checking to see if this town was safe while KC was there or if he had to look out for the man to make trouble.