“You trying to kill me?” I shouted

“Why? Should I be?” He remained unflustered at my accusation. His voice was smooth and deep, his words had a humorous current woven through them.

My anger boiled, yet underneath it all, there was a tense excitement that I could not explain. The icy fear from being so close to someone who had killed so many, mixed with the intense heat of my anger, made me almost swoon. My head swam. I found I couldn’t take my eyes from his lips...his lips that were turned up on the right side into a half smile. As if he were a man waiting on the punchline of a joke—not a man who doled out justice based on his own twisted code.

And I’m not the kind of girl who swoons over a man.

Any man.

Especially not some half insane Vigilante who thought he could be the sole proprietor of rectitude in GloryLand.

My GloryLand.

I pulled myself together, as he took another step towards me.

“I checked behind Mary-Bell’s horse barn,” I said.

“And?”

“And you were right.”

As he continued to walk closer, Diana backed up.

“Woah, girl,” I said, first calmly. And then “Diana, knock it off!” as I yanked hard on her reins. She shook her head from side to side, and finally I gave up and slid from the saddle. 

It was a stupid thing to do, not to trust my faithful appaloosas. She was a good judge of character, and if things went bad, I had a much better chance if I was on her back. But I reasoned that if this man had wanted to kill me, then I’d be dead already. Murdered in my bed, just like the others.

“Of course I was right. I never take the life of an innocent,” he said, still wearing his half-cocked grin. “I already told you that.”

“Why should I believe you? And what does that mean?  An innocent? Who is innocent, really? Everybody’s done something. You can’t go around breaking the neck of anyone who you think hasn’t lived a pure life.”

“Who said anything about pure? “ He replied.  “I said innocent. Pure sounds...boring.”

“You are avoiding my question.”

His half-cocked grin spread into a full on smile, and it was wicked in the best way possible. Shivers danced across my skin. With a final step, he closed the gap between us, and before I could stop him, he grabbed my gun and tossed it away.

I should have been scared. I never let anyone disarm me, much less a confessed murderer. My heart raced in my chest, making my breaths shallow and quick.

The masked man leaned down, and with his lips almost touching my ear, whispered, “Do you believe me?”

I looked into his mostly covered face. His bright blue eyes appeared brighter, shining through the two slits of dark fabric.

I do believe him, I realized. Which was ridiculous. He’d done nothing to prove himself, besides not kill me. But while my heart threatened to run away, my gut was telling me that I could trust him.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I may regret it, but I believe you.”

Without warning he pulled me into him and kissed me hard. It was primal and rough—the way I kissed Jon. His scent of sweat and tobacco filled my head and was wholly masculine. The Vigilante opened my mouth with his lips and coaxed me deeper into the embrace with his tongue. He held me firm against himself, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from stumbling. The kiss was greedy and messy, and everything that I didn’t know that I wanted.

And then it was over and again he was standing in front of me.

Smiling.

And again—it pissed me off.

“What is your problem?” I said, hoarsely. “You can’t just go around kissing women like that. I didn’t-“

He placed a finger over my lips, still smiling, and shook his head.

To my mortification, I closed my mouth.

“You said you found Imogene-Clair,” the cloaked man said. “I am assuming that you know about Gilbert McCroy? And Ronnie Robinson?”

I nodded.

“Jo Cartwright?” He asked.

“No. I can’t imagine what sweet old Mr. Cartwright could have done to warrant such a death.”

“Trust me when I tell you that dying in his sleep was better than he deserved.”

“But he was so old. In his eighties at least. And he’d lived in GloryLand my entire life. Surely it couldn’t have been too—”

“Just ask Jon.”

“What does Jon have to do with anything?” I felt defensive, as if by mentioning the name of my lover, the Vigilante intruded on some sacred part of me. How did he even know Jon, anyway?

He leaned in and again kissed me, this time lightly, but stealing my breath just the same.

“Ask him.”

Instead of disappearing, this time the man simply turned and walked toward the desert.

“Wait!” I called.

He turned back to face me. “Yes?”

“What about Viktor? I know practically everyone had a reason to kill him—but what did he do in particular? He’s been bad forever, so why now?”

The masked man shrugged. “He threatened your life.” And with those words, he turned and again headed into the desert, this time disappearing in an instant.

I summoned Diana and we galloped home.

***