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Page 255

| bled, sweat pearling his brow. "One slip of the finger and" |

| "And you'd be history?" Ashton said, chuckling. "I don't think anyone would miss you." |

| "Get on with why you saw fit to come on my land," Stanford said, wiping the nervous perspiration from his brow with the back of a hand. |

| "Are you going to try to pretend that you don't know?" Crispin exclaimed, astonished. In his mind's eye he could still see Rufus lying lifeless, his neck broken, his eyes staring blankly upwards. "Are you going to deny that one of your men came on our property and killed Rufus and stole some of our sheep? Sidwell, if I had my druthers I wouldn't have come by day to see you. I'd have sneaked up on you in the middle of the night and broke your neck just like you ordered Rufus's to be broken!" |

| Stanford was not touched or swayed by Crispin's threats. "So one of your men died during the storm, eh?" he said, leaning his weight on his saddle horn. "Why, I'm sure sorry to hear it." He looked over his shoulder at his men again. "Is there anyone among you who wants to come forward and admit to the dastardly crime?" |

| Low rumblings of laughter wafted through the air. Ashton's insides tightened as fury mounted within him. "You son of a bitch," he growled. "Your smugness proves your guilt. You'll pay for this. You'll pay." |

| Stanford inched his horse a fraction closer to Ashton's. "All kidding aside," he said threateningly, "you aren't the only one who has a murder to report today. One of my men was murdered also. And several of my sheep were stolen." |

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