“I don’t like this,” she said sharply. She caught Robin by the arm. “I don’t want you to go out there and meet that man. You mustn’t.”
Robin shrugged his shoulders.
“I got to meet him here an’ there, sometime,” said he. “I never did really side-step him. I surely won’t now.”
“Listen, my girl,” Sutherland frowned. “I’m boss of this layout. There’ll be no private wars started here. There may be some talk but there’ll be no shootin’. Tyler’s right. He can’t side-step. There’s a matter of business to be talked about. You leave keepin’ peace between these two to me.”
May smiled and kissed her father brightly. Robin marveled at her easy assurance. He doubted even Adam Sutherland’s power to avert a clash if Shining Mark made a move. That, it seemed to Robin, was a little beyond even a cattle king in the heart of his own domain.
“You run along, now,” Sutherland told his daughter. She obeyed at once.
Robin moved toward the door. Almost instinctively he gave a little hitch forward to the gun scabbard on his belt. Sutherland stopped him with an imperative gesture.
“You heard what I said.” His tone was pitched low, but lacked none of its habitual authority. “Don’t you make no breaks. He won’t. You let me walk out ahead.”
Robin gave way to him. He didn’t know what was coming, but he was ready for anything. If a little tension seized him he was nevertheless alert, mentally and physically prepared for the unexpected.
Shining Mark greeted him as casually as if nothing had ever risen between them. Robin looked at him in silence. He couldn’t simulate that indifference. He wouldn’t pretend. He kept his eye on Steele and his mouth shut. Mark shrugged his shoulders, looked at his employer.