The Trailrider's Fortune by Shannah Biondine

was partially averted. Was Rafe Conley embarrassed?
It didn't seem possible. He'd taken on three rowdies at once. One small-minded
bigot surely couldn't faze him. It was probably his recent injury bothering
him. "You should go back up to my room and get some rest. I warned you it
was too soon to be up and about."
    He stopped her from
gathering up the tarot cards. "How much of what you see is in those? They
tell you everything, or you got second sight? I heard what the ladies said, how
you're right most of the time. Snatch almost got bit by a rattler right after I
rode out of here, just like you'd cautioned me. How much can you tell about the
future?"
    Sparkle saw he
looked disturbed by more than Malloy's outburst. Had she foretold anything
disastrous in Rafe's future? His reading had been so long ago now, she honestly
couldn't recall. "Sit down, and we'll look at your cards again."
    He dropped onto the
rickety stool across from her and watched her reshuffle. "Them things look
heathen."
    "Some say they
are." Seeing the furrow beneath the brim of his hat, she softened her
manner. "But I don't know that the ideas of older religions and folklore
can't be compatible with Christian teachings. Why would God give us abilities
if we weren't supposed to use them?"
    Rafe chose from the
three stacks of cards before him. "How much of it's these cards?" he
asked again.
    "How much is
your gun?" she countered. "I'm sure you keep it cleaned and oiled and
working perfectly." He nodded. She smiled. "But if you didn't
practice to develop your aim and skill in using it, even the best gun in the
world wouldn't be of much value."
    "Ain't the
same." Sparkle was relieved to hear the slow rhythm back in his speech.
He'd been too intense before. Now he was relaxing, becoming the Rafe Conley she
found almost charming, although she doubted others appreciated this man the way
she did.
    "I need my
thumb on the Colt. Got a strange feelin' you could look me in the eye and tell
me things all on your lonesome. You don't really need those fancy painted
cards. I don't recollect one with a snake."
    Sparkle laughed,
scanning the unused cards. "I doubt you can remember every card in the
deck after one sitting, Rafe. This card has a serpent. You see the snake is
behind Hermes, the figure with the jackal's head? In tarot, left represents
what's behind you or what may come unexpectedly."
    "So anytime
that card's in someone's readin', he'll get snake-bit?"
    "No. Part of
it does come from intuition. It takes a long time to read tarot and learn what
the signs mean. I've been doing this for years, just as you've been a hired gun
for years. I'm sure you trust your gut feelings about outlaws."
    "That's why
I'm talkin' to you. Been trackin' a certain man for nigh on six years now. I
wonder if you can tell me where to find him."
    "I can't do
that," she sighed. "I can't tell you where your lost money pouch is,
or if Aunt Tess went to Purgatory. I can't simply lay out cards and get an
image of some particular person sitting in a train station in Baltimore. It
doesn't work that way." She saw Rafe didn't believe her.
    "One snake
took you from thinking I was a charlatan to believing I can predict
everything." She folded her arms across her chest. "You didn't
believe it was real when I read your cards before. I knew that, so I didn't
tell you everything. Now you believe too much, so I still can't. You won't like
what I see."
    "Shit. I told you I'll die young. Ain't no big surprise. This is somethin' I got to do. You can
help me. I know you can. You're just bein' contrary because you don't like what
I do."
    "I'm sorry. You're
asking me to aid in your pursuit of this man, but judgment's already been
passed."
    His eyes became
huge dark pools. "How'd you know that?"
    She tapped JUSTICE,
which had come up inverted, positioned beneath the primary subject card.
"You're pushed by a desire to continue something wrong or biased. You
believe an injustice was done."
    "It was,
dammit! Dan