Pete (The Cowboys) Read Online Free

bellow his fury. Much to her surprise, he struggled visibly to get his temper under control.
    “We’ll see,” Belser said. “You’re not the only one with a lawyer.”
    “I’ll be going,” Bill Mason said. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”
    “I might be calling on you to lend a hand with this rustling,” Peter said.
    “Come over any time,” Mason replied. He nodded in the direction of Anne’s uncle and Cyrus “You want me to take them with me?”
    “No. I can handle them,” Peter said.
    Anne would have felt better if Peter had let Mason take care of her uncle and her prospective bridegroom. She didn’t especially like Mason—he was too rough and unfeeling—but she had complete confidence in his ability to handle her uncle.
    At a signal from him, Mason’s men turned and followed him out of the ranch yard.
    Peter turned to her uncle. “I’ll send someone into Big Bend tomorrow with a letter for my lawyer. I’ll let you know when I get the marriage papers.”
    “I’ll have the sheriff out to you before then,” her uncle threatened. “We don’t allow men to carry off our women.”
    “I’m not carrying Anne anywhere. There’s no better place for a man’s wife than at his side.”
    Her uncle swore viciously. “She’s not your wife!”
    “I say she is. Now unless you want me to knock you down again, you’ll take your friend and get out of here.”
    “You’ll hear from me,” Cyrus said. “I’m a powerful man. I—”
    Peter pulled his gun and fired into the ground at Cyrus’s feet. Anne jumped, and her hand flew to her mouth to smother a small shriek.
    “You’ll be a dead man if you don’t get off my land,” Peter said. “I don’t think a Wyoming jury would find it at all out of the way if I was to kill you for trying to carry off my wife.”
    “I wasn’t trying to carry her off.”
    Peter turned to Dolores. “Didn’t it look to you like he was trying to carry her off?”
    “It certainly did,” Dolores responded vigorously.
    “Didn’t it look the same to you?” Peter asked Belser.
    Belser hesitated but finally nodded his agreement.
    “That’s three of us,” Peter said. “I imagine Mason would back us. That ought to be enough for any judge.”
    Anne could tell her uncle knew he had been outma-neuvered.
    “I agree with Belser,” he said. “I don’t believe you’re Peter.”
    Anne could tell her uncle knew this was a groundless objection. He could see the money he’d hoped to get from Cyrus disappearing, and it made him furious.
    “I don’t give a damn who you are,” Cyrus said. “I want that woman.”
    Peter turned his gaze on Cyrus, and Anne watched a coldness grow in his expression. “I would say she’s more a girl than a woman,” Peter said. He turned to Anne. “How old are you?”
    “Seventeen.”
    “Well, that makes you a woman out here.” He turned back to Cyrus. “She’s still much too young for an old lobo like you. Now get off, both of you, while I still have some control over my temper.”
    They watched in silence as her uncle and Cyrus mounted up and rode off. Anne could hear them quarreling, threatening each other, but she didn’t care. She was safe. She was married. Peter had returned, and he was more of a man than she’d ever dreamed possible.
    “And what’s your place around here?” Peter said, turning to Belser.
    “If you were really Carl’s nephew, you’d know.”
    “I know what Carl thought,” Peter said. “I want to know what you think.”
    Anne knew Belser had counted on having the ranch. He’d been trying to give orders for weeks, telling the men he’d fire them the moment he got control if they didn’t do what he wanted. Only the foreman’s determination had prevented Belser from taking over.
    “Carl let me live in the house and eat with him, but I’m just a hand,” Belser finally said.
    “I’ll do the same as long as you don’t kick up any dust,” Peter said. “Now I suggest you set about earning