Chapter 26

“Would you care if I did?”

“Eliza…”

“You lied to me.”

“I planned to tell you everything.”

“No, you didn’t. You weren’t going to tell me that you were taking on some…some…guy…”

“Well, I didn’t plan to give you the details, but yes, I would have told you.”

“I’m not staying here,” Eliza told him.

“You’ll be safer here than at the hotel.”

“No, I mean I’m not staying here. In Dead Man’s Corner. I’m taking the next stagecoach to Silver City.”

“You can’t do that, Eliza,” Ford said, taking her elbow.

She pulled away from him, shaking her arm free. “I thought you said that I could travel where I please?”

“You can…but not here. It’s far too dangerous.”

“Do you care, Ford? I don’t think you care about me at all. If you did, you wouldn’t have agreed to do this ridiculous job. You wouldn’t have agreed to keep me in this…this…” Eliza sputtered for the proper word, but was unable to find anything polite to say. “I’m in danger here.”