Page 74 of Native Hawk
Miss Hattie loosened her hold. Catalina turned to see shirtless Drew coming down the stairs with his Colt drawn.
The broken-nosed brute must have recognized him. “This ain’t your business, Hawk,” he grumbled. “I got no quarrel with a fellow gambler.”
“Well, I got a quarrel with men who pick on ladies half their size.”
“Hell, I didn’t pick on her.”
Catalina itched to slap the brute’s face. But Drew was still holding a gun on the man. She knew better than to get between him and his target.
The broken-nosed man groused to Drew as if he thought he’d found a kindred spirit. “You know how it is. You got to teach a woman from the start, break her in right.”
Catalina felt her blood rising. She heard the soft whimpering of the women upstairs, who were still cowering on the floor.
“Is that so?” Drew purred, coming down the last step.
“Sure,” the man said. “Otherwise, they’re never gonna know who’s boss.”
Drew lowered his gun, but continued advancing on the man. “Gotta show ’em the ropes?”
“Yeah.”
He ambled forward. “Give ’em a swat now and then when they get out o’ line?”
“Yeah.”
He stepped closer. “A little…love tap?”
“Y—”
Drew raised the butt of his pistol and cracked it hard against the man’s forehead. “Like that?”
The man staggered back. A lump was already rising on his brow. “What the hell?”
Drew shrugged. “Just lettin’ you know who’s in charge.”
Catalina fought the urge to cheer him on. Miss Hattie might have to be diplomatic. But Drew had no such need. And the fact that he was coming to the defense of women everywhere made her giddy with pride.
Then the man shook off the cobwebs and barreled back up to Drew. “You’re playin’ a dangerous game, half-breed.”
“Name-callin’? Really?” Drew said, shaking his head. “That’s a mite cowardly.”
The man threw a punch. Drew ducked under it. The man stumbled forward under his own momentum. A light shove by Drew sent him crashing, chin-first, into a card table.
Red-faced, the man struggled to his feet, as mad as a raging bear. “Get your hands off me!”
“Is that what Jenny said?” Drew demanded.
“You don’t know shit!” The man was foaming at the mouth.
Against Catalina’s wishes, Drew set aside his gun and turned to face the brute with his arms wide.
“Come on,” he urged. “Show me who’s boss.”
Catalina’s heart stuck in her throat. Drew was every bit as big as the broken-nosed villain. But he was probably not as ruthless or underhanded. The bullies in Italy didn’t believe in fair fights. They would knife a man in the back and kick him when he lay bleeding on the ground. Drew had said he was good with a gun, and by what she’d just seen, he was telling the truth. Why wasn’t he using his pistol now?
Afraid for Drew’s life, while the men were warily circling each other, Catalina slipped over to the table and rested her hand on his pistol. She didn’t intend to fire it. But if Drew wasn’t going to use it, at least she could keep it out of the hands of the bad man.
Like a bull stamping its hoof in a show of threat, the brute wrenched a chair out of the way.
