Deborah Camp Read Online Free PDF

toward her horse. “Let’s get to work, men. Daylight is slipping away from us.”
    “Is he staying at the house?” T-Bone asked.
    “If he is, he’s staying in the bunkhouse or the barn, not in
my
house.”
    “Lordy, lordy, lordy,” Gabe moaned.
    “What?” Cassie asked, eyeing Gabe’s mournful expression.
    “Oh, nothing. I’m just dreading all the fussing and fighting. It’s been so peaceful since A.J. died.”
    “There won’t be any fighting,” Cassie assured him. “If he gets too ornery, I’ll pull out my .45 and plug him.”
    “Lordy, lordy, lordy,” Gabe moaned again, while T-Bone shook with laughter.
    “What’s so dagblamed funny, besides Gabe’s belly-achin’?” Cassie demanded.
    “Nothing, nothing,” T-Bone said, still chuckling as he waved aside the question. “You tickle me when you get all puffed up, that’s all. You remind me of a little old horny toad.”
    Cassie reached out and tugged at the brim of T-Bone’s floppy brown hat. “If that isn’t a fine thing to say to a lady! No wonder you’ve never married, Tee. No woman wants to be called a toad.”
    “She makes me think of one of them spread adders,” Gabe spoke up, his round blue eyes growing even rounder. “You seen one of them snakes? They’re little, but when they get scared, they spread out and make themselves look bigger.”
    “A toad and a snake,” Cassie said with a grin. “It’s good to know what you men think of me.”
    “Aw, now, boss lady, we were just poking fun at you,” T-Bone said. “Ain’t that right, Gabe?”
    “Sure nuff,” Gabe agreed. “Besides, I think some snakes are right pretty. ‘Course, I wouldn’t want to pet one or have it in bed with me—” He broke off and his face flamed a bright red. “I-I… that is, I wasn’t saying that I’d want you in bed with me… that is—aw hell, quit laughing at me, Tee!”
    Cassie grabbed a shovel and sent the business end down into the crusty earth. “Let’s get to work, fellas, before we talk ourselves into even more trouble.”

Chapter 3
     
    T hey were unsaddling their horses in the dying light when Blue Eyes rode up on them out by the barn, his stallion prancing and snorting and showing off. Cassie glanced at T-Bone and Gabe to gauge their reactions and was stunned to see them both break into huge smiles, thrilled to see him again.
    Her two wranglers pulled Blue Eyes from the saddle and slapped his back and pumped his hand and grinned like monkeys.
    If that don’t beat all
, Cassie fumed.
Them treating him like the returning king, glad to be shed of their sitting queen!
She stood to one side, arms folded, a stony expression fixed on her face. After a minute or two, they felt her granite-hard glare and turned toward her. T-Bone and Gabe hung their heads and kicked at tufts of grass. Smirking, Blue Eyes opened his saddlebag and removed a parcel wrapped in white paper and tied with twine. He extended it toward her.
    “Got something for you.”
    She eyed the parcel but made no move to take it. “What is it?”
    “Something for you,” he repeated.
    “Where’d you get it?”
    “In town.”
    She regarded him warily, wondering what trick he was playing now. Her curiosity piqued, she took the parcel from him and untied the twine.
    “You might want to wait until you get inside before you open …” His voice trailed off as she lifted the frilly hem of a petticoat.
    “What have we here?” she said, cold fury changing her voice to a dangerous purr. “Why, if it ain’t a new set of petticoats and a new town dress! Oh, and looky here. A lacy hanky and a bottle of perfume.” She looked toward T-Bone and Gabe, who were both shifting uneasily from foot to foot, their faces turning red. “Ain’t that something, boys? He thinks he can buy me off with a dress and some underclothes.” She seared Blue Eyes with a smoking glare. “Mister, I’ve been offered a helluva lot more for this place. You insult me. You think I’ve never had pretty