Something beep-beeped, and Roxy turned in my direction. I swallowed down a curse and slid back into the shadows before she spotted me. She holstered her revolver, stepped forward, and picked up her phone off the vanity table, staring at the message on the screen.

   “Jim says that Lane, Coolidge, and Grayson are in the Silver Spur, trying on hats. No sign of Blanco, though.”

   Brody shook his head. “Forget about Tucker wanting her alive. I’m telling you, Roxy, you need to kill that bitch now. Not play this stupid stalking game with her. She’s not some dumb animal that I can flush out of the swamp so you can kill her on your own terms.”

   “But it’s such a fun game,” Roxy purred. “Especially since the illustrious Spider doesn’t even realize that she’s my target yet. She’s never even going to know what hit her.”

   She grinned, pulled out one of her revolvers, and started spinning it around and around in her hand again. The giant rolled his eyes. Yeah, me too.

   Forget about being quiet. If Sheriff Roxy wanted a piece of me, then I was more than happy to show her what a real outlaw looked like—and just how dead I could make her. I reached for even more of my Ice magic and crept forward—

   Laughter sounded at the far end of the alley. I whipped around and realized that two giant cowboys were ambling in my direction. Their heads were down, both of them looking and laughing at something on one of their phones, so they hadn’t spotted me yet, but it was just a matter of seconds before they would.

   I swallowed down another curse. Witnesses and collateral damage were things that I tried to avoid at all costs, so I did the only thing I could—I tucked my knife back up my sleeve, stepped out of the alley, and walked out into the staging area where my enemies were.

   “Oh, there you are!” I called out in a loud voice, waving my hand. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you two!”

   Startled, Roxy and Brody both whipped around in my direction. Brody’s hands curled into fists, while Roxy stopped spinning her revolver around, the gun pointing down at the ground.

   For now.

   They glanced at each other, obviously wondering if I’d overheard their conversation, but I plastered a benign smile on my face and went right over to them. They weren’t the only ones who could put on a show.

   I stopped in front of the giant and stared at his swollen, crooked nose, which looked like a rotten tomato that had been mashed into his face. I winced and hissed in a breath between my teeth in fake sympathy. “I just wanted to tell you how very sorry I am for hitting you. I just don’t know what came over me. It must be all these self-defense classes I’ve been taking lately.”

   I let out a light, pealing laugh, trying to play the whole thing off as a joke, but the giant was anything but amused. Brody’s fingers clenched together even tighter, his knuckles cracking under the slow, steady pressure, and his lips twisted with rage. At that moment, the giant wanted nothing more than to lunge forward, wrap his hands around my throat, and strangle me to death for breaking his nose.

   Roxy laid a warning hand on his shoulder and gave me an innocent smile in return. “Oh, Brody knows that you didn’t mean any harm, Gin.”

   “Of course not,” I chirped back at her. “It was all just part of the show, right?”

   “Right.”

   We stared at each other, both of us smiling wide as though everything were fine, and this were a normal conversation. But Roxy kept her gun out, her finger on the trigger, ready to snap up the weapon and pump me full of Fire-coated bullets, and I had my own elemental power pooling in my palms, ready to whip up my hands and blast her in the face with my Ice magic.

   But the two cowboys I’d spotted before stepped into the square, still chuckling over whatever silly video they were watching, and the moment—and our potential showdown—passed.

   For now.

   The cowboys waved at Roxy and Brody, then went over to a costume rack to hang up their hats for the day and change back into their regular clothes.

   “Well, then, I’ll leave you to get cleaned up,” I said, breaking the tense silence that had gathered around me, the giant, and the Fire elemental. “Again, I really am sorry. If you need an Air elemental to snap your nose back into place, please, feel free to send me the bill.”

   Brody glowered at me, anger turning his cheeks as red as his nose.

   Roxy, however, gave me another innocent smile. “Oh, we have a healer on staff, so that won’t be necessary. I was just about to call and get him to come over.”

   I nodded as though the information pleased me.

   “Actually, Gin, I’m glad that you’re here,” Roxy said. “I know that y’all probably want to explore the park and the hotel for the rest of the day, but I was wondering if you and your friends would like to join Brody and me for an early lunch tomorrow before the high-noon show. It would be a chance for me to speak to Finn about the resort and for all of us to get to know each other better.”

   I would rather have carved out her heart with a butter knife than break bread with her, but I played along. “Of course. Sounds like fun.”

   “Great!” Roxy chirped. “Just show up at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning at the Feeding Trough restaurant on Main Street. I’ll set everything up.”

   I nodded at her, then at Brody. “Again, I’m so very sorry, and I hope that you feel better soon. Y’all take care now.”

   I smiled at them again, turned around, and walked out of the square at a normal pace. My shoulders tensed, and I reached for my Stone magic, ready to send it rushing out through my entire body. I wouldn’t put it past Roxy to shoot me in the back, especially if she thought that I’d overheard any of her conversation with Brody. She might want to find the jewels, but she wanted me dead too so she could add another trophy to her wall.

   But I didn’t hear the distinctive click of her thumbing back the hammer on her revolver, and I rounded the corner and stepped back into the alley, out of sight of the staging area.