Broddock-Black 05 - Force of Nature Read Online Free PDF

repose, his long black hair blowing in the wind. “The moon’s full—your favorite kind, Father... a raiding moon.” He smiled, remembering all the times he’d ridden with his father. His father’s samurai swords were thrust through his belt—a long sword and short one, their cutting edges uppermost, the fearful blades, strong and sharp enough to cut through armor. “Give me your strength and courage.” He lifted his head as though listening and his mother’s voice echoed in his ears. “A Flynn can take on a hundred Sassenach devils without breaking a sweat, my darling boyo . . . and don’t you forget it.”
    His father’s calm voice seemed to resonate in counterpoint: “Attack when your enemies least expect it.” And attack your enemies' weak point, Flynn silently added; his father’s wisdom had become his own.
    He missed his parents—as if they’d left him yesterday although almost a decade had passed since the choking disease put them in their graves.
    And had he not been young and strong, it would have killed him, too.
    Almost from the first, he’d had to fight to hold on to his land. He’d been attacked on the day of their burial—and the struggle had never ceased.
    It made one cynical and if it didn’t break you, it made you strong. He had a reputation now for violence. Swaggering young gunfighters wanted to take him on to prove their manhood—arrogant, stupid, impatient young men—all of them dead. Although someday he knew, he’d meet someone who could outdraw him; it happened to everyone.
    But until that day, he thought grimly, he still owned twenty thousand acres of the best grazing land north of the Sun River. And tonight, he’d see that the Empire Cattle Company understood exactly who owned that range.

Chapter 6
    " Y ou needn’t be polite,” Jo said when Blaze invited her shopping.
    “Nonsense. If I wanted to be polite, I could have sent you a gift and been done with it. Come, we might as well get to know each other. Hazard is your father, after all. You’re part of the family.” Blaze took Jo’s hand, waved to those in the sitting room at the Plantation House Hotel and left Hazard to deal with Lucy’s avarice.
    She’d never been part of any family, Jo reflected, following in Blaze’s wake, unless you considered her flighty mother and moody, self-centered Cosimo a substitute. Which she couldn’t unless she suspended credulity entirely.
    Her mother had always been primarily concerned with her looks and her entertainments. Jo had understood early on that a daughter was a liability and more often than not, overlooked. A fact the monks at San Marco had taken note of one day when she was found wandering in the monastery gardens without her nursemaid. She’d been four at the time and Father Alessandro’s offer to tutor her free of charge had turned out to be an unaccountable blessing for which she would always be grateful.
    Keeping pace with Blaze as they moved through the hotel corridor, Jo said, “You’re very gracious to include me in your family. I hardly expected such kindness.”
    Blaze smiled at her. “What happened in the past has nothing to do with you or me, now, does it? We can simply enjoy each other’s company and leave all the talk of business to others.”
    “I really want to apologize for my mother’s—er—presumption.”
    “I’m sure your mother has the best of intentions.” Blaze’s tone was one of exquisite politesse.
    You don’t know my mother, Jo wished to say.
    “Although, I must confess, my husband is under orders to behave.”
    Jo flushed. Had she read her mind? “I wish I could say the same of my mother,” she replied, deciding to answer with frankness of her own. “She’s rather bold on occasion.”
    “I’m sure everything will work out,” Blaze said, blandly, deciding Hazard’s daughter had his gift for understatement. “In any event, we needn’t worry ourselves over anything more taxing than whether we want to go to Swanson’s