Several people shushed me, and Ira Morris gave me a particularly dirty look for daring to interrupt the show’s grand finale, especially with such bad language. Finn, Owen, and Bria all stared at me, but I shook my head, and they all went back to the show. Me too, with my gaze now firmly fixed on Sheriff Roxy.

   Roxy galloped down the street, threw herself off her horse, and whipped out her trusty revolvers. “Surrender, Brody!” she yelled, pointing her guns at the giant outlaw. “Don’t make me shoot you!”

   “You’ll never take me alive, Sheriff!” Brody shouted back, pulling out his own guns.

   After that, it was like an epic Western movie shoot-out, as everyone pulled out their guns and started firing at everyone else. All of them using blanks, this time, of course. Costumed characters poured out of the saloon, the jewelry store, and all the other shops to take part in the big showdown, with Brody Dalton and his gang facing off against Sheriff Roxy and the good folks of Bullet Pointe.

   I’ll give the performers their props. They went all out in selling the show, with exaggerated facial expressions, bloodcurdling screams, and several impressive swan dives from the second-story balconies and even the storefront roofs onto strategically placed hay bales and other soft surfaces below. A couple of dwarves even dropped down into a couple of conveniently placed water troughs and came up sputtering. I shivered. Even though it was all an act, that water had to be frigid today, no matter how many space heaters were in and around Main Street.

   The gang members were quickly overpowered by the townspeople, who loomed over them with shotguns, ­rifles, and pitchforks, and soon Brody was the only outlaw left standing.

   “Give it up, Brody!” Roxy shouted, slowly advancing on the giant, her revolvers still pointed at him. “You’ve got no place to go!”

   “Never!” Brody hissed back.

   The giant’s head whipped left and right, searching for an escape route. Then he did something completely unexpected—he sprinted directly at the bleachers. The crowd gasped, but Brody ignored their surprise and popped off a few more blank shots at Roxy, who gracefully rolled behind a water trough for cover.

   “You’ll never take me alive, Sheriff!” Brody repeated, still racing toward the crowd.

   He skidded to a stop right in front of the bleachers, as if just realizing that people were sitting there. His dark brown gaze locked with mine, and a smile spread across his face.

   Before I knew what was happening, Brody Dalton grabbed my arm, hauled me to my feet, and pressed his gun against my temple.

10

   “You’re coming with me!” Brody yelled in my ear.

   “I don’t think so, sugar.”

   I didn’t even think about what I was doing. I just reacted the way I normally did anytime someone shoved a gun up against my head and tried to take me hostage.

   Violently.

   I rammed my elbow into the giant’s stomach three times in rapid succession. Brody let out a loud oof! of pain and surprise and lost his grip on me. Before he could recover, I whipped around, yanked the gun out of his hand, and slammed it right back into his face.

   Crunch.

   The giant might have been shooting blanks during the battle scene, but his revolver was real and heavy enough to break his nose, especially with the force I put behind it. Brody yelped and staggered back, clutching his hands to his suddenly lumpy, swollen nose. Blood gushed down his face and soaked into the black-and-white paisley bandanna tied around his neck. The giant’s blood also spattered all over the revolver, which I was still holding up high, ready to slam it into his face again.

   For a moment, there was stunned silence.

   Brody stared at me with wide, shocked eyes, as did the rest of the performers and everyone in the audience. Even the horses looked at me sideways. I’d forgotten about everything else when I was taking down Brody, but now dozens of people and animals were eyeing me, the crazy woman who’d just ruined this grand Western show by being, well, me.

   Ira hustled over and plucked the revolver out of my hand before I could do any more damage with it. “Let’s give a round of applause to this little lady who, um, saved the day in Bullet Pointe!”

   Polite, scattered applause broke out, but everyone in the audience kept shooting me wary glances, and the cast looked particularly sour. Brody glared at me with hate-filled eyes, even as he ripped off his bandanna to wipe the blood off his face and his still-swelling nose.

   “Why don’t you give a nice wave to the crowd, little lady,” Ira said in a loud, pointed voice, jabbing his elbow into my side much the same way that I’d done to Brody.

   Despite his one-hundred-plus years, the dwarf was still strong, and the blow dug into my ribs. I started to retaliate, but Ira gave me a sharp warning glare. So I gritted my teeth, raised my hand, and gave a short, jerky wave. No more applause sounded, though, and I hurried back over to the bleachers and sat down next to Owen, hunching my shoulders and trying to make myself as small and invisible as possible.

   Owen looked at me, a grin spreading across his face. “You know,” he said, “I think there just might be a new sheriff in this here town.”

   “I think you’re absolutely right,” Bria chimed in, enjoying my misery as much as he was.

   “Shut it, you two,” I groused, crossing my arms over my chest.

   Finn leaned forward, staring at me. “You just had to go and ruin the show, didn’t you, Gin?”

   “I didn’t do it on purpose,” I groused again. “He had a gun.”

   “Which was loaded with blanks.” Finn snorted. “He had a toy.”

   Still, he grinned and tossed his last few pieces of popcorn at me, letting me know that all was forgiven. Well, at least my friends thought that my embarrassing myself was freaking hilarious, because the Bullet Pointe performers certainly did not. They all gave me another round of sour looks before walking down the street and heading back inside the shops to take up their previous stations. Naturally, Brody was the angriest of all, giving me a drop-dead-bitch glare before he stomped off toward one of the alleys.