With a slow shake of his head Tabor took a last look at the rose-colored brick set against the deep blue sky. He should have left for good last night. Coming back and seeing Lilah today only deepened the hurt. He hardly felt the blaze of the sun on his back as he climbed into the buckboard, cursing his luck. Lately it was all bad. Tabor snapped the reins, urging the horse into a trot. His sense of loss weighed heavily on both heart and mind. Before checking out of his hotel he would arrange to have a gift sent to Lilah. Perhaps a delicate porcelain figurine, something to mirror her exquisite beauty. Maybe she would even keep it. Maybe it would leave her with a somewhat better memory of him. He couldn’t think of a good reason to stay in San Francisco. Delilah’s trail had disappeared and he really didn’t have the same desire for revenge he’d had in the beginning. He did still want to recover the Admiral, but he was having no success at that either. He decided his next best move would be to advertise a description of the stallion in newspapers over the state and to offer a reward for information.
