She laughs. Can't help it, really. She's purposely teasing him, and when it gets a pout out of him like that she's reminded of just why it was worth it to work through all the arguments and frustrations.

They're coming up around the side of the livery when a singing through the air stops her laughter short. A liquor bottle explodes at Beaut's hooves, and the horse squeals and rears. There's voices and noises, and a raw ache in Kate's wrist from where the reins are pulled tight across bruised flesh. But for a solitary, terrifying moment the only thing Kate is aware of is the state of her horse, and the sudden crowing in her memory.

"Yeah, girl! How do you like me now?"

She sucks in a hard breath, pulling her gun from its holster while she's still fighting with Beaut. The horse is bucking and turning circles, scrabbling from the broken glass, and Kate is viciously twisting her body in the saddle, looking at every side street.

But she sees no one.