“There's a big ruckus under way down at the Rusty Plug. The miners are really tearin' the bone out.”

“This time he jerked the appendage from her soft lap and tucked it under his leg, Indian fashion.”

“I'd soon crawl down a rabid badger's hole as crawl into your bedroll.”

“Abruptly, he wheeled Shadow into a full turn, stopped, and yanked his rifle out of the sheath on his saddle.”

“I have plans for my life and they don't include taking time out to break my back busting virgin sod with a flimsy plow.”

“Coyness wasn't the only thing Ardetta had been aggressive about and he'd had to summon up all his southern chivalry to turn her down gently. When he'd relented and obliged her with a kiss, she'd been on him like ugly on an ape. He'd narrowly escaped her clutches with his honor intact.”

“She was full of flaws which with time would evolve into full-blown personality defects.”