Denver Read Online Free PDF Page B

perfume smelling like roses cloyed the air while she read a tattered book. She dropped the book to the floor and sat up.
    “Dan! You’re early.”
    “I needed to come to town. It’s cold out, and that bath looks mighty inviting.”
    She grinned at him and scooted to the side. “There’s room. You should know that.”
    He laughed as he pulled off his muddy boots.
    An hour later he rolled over in bed, the iron frame creaking with each movement while he stretched out a bare muscular arm sprinkled with short golden hairs to yank up his sheepskin coat. He pulled out a wad of greenbacks and dropped them on her bare belly.
    She yelped, saw what it was, and sat up. “What’s this?”
    “Your money. Where will you go?”
    Her eyes got round and she turned to look at him. “Dan, you can’t!”
    “I can. I want to and I won’t take it back.”
    “In my whole life no one has ever…It’s the nicest—” She broke off to cling to him.
    “Where will you go?”
    “I thought I’d go to California or Colorado Territory and set up a little place of my own. This is all I know. I don’t want to work anymore, but I can run a sporting house.”
    “Will Nola have you followed?”
    Dulcie looked away and bit her lower lip, which was thick and full, giving her the appearance of constant pouting.
    “Big Bob takes care of troublemakers for Nola. When Etta ran away, he went after her. She never did come back. I heard he beat her badly. I don’t think Nola cares if a girl doesn’t come back—that leaves her the money—but she wants the rest of us to see what happens to anyone who doesn’t stay in line. I don’t think Big Bob would actually kill someone, but I’m not sure.”
    “Dulcie, come with me. I have a cabin,” Dan said. “I stay with another man, but there’s room for you. We’ll leave sometime this year or next, and you can go with us to a big town. You’ll be safe.”
    “You might change your mind,” she said softly.
    “If I do, I’ll tell you,” he answered frankly, and she grinned.
    “That’s as good an offer as I’ve ever had.” She flung her arms around his neck and he hugged her close,breathing deeply the rose scent in her hair, wondering what Silas would say.
    Silas stared at him. “You’ve lost your mind.”
    “No. You saw her bruises. They might kill her.”
    The two men stood in the snow between tall spruces that towered over them. The stream that had been such a boon gurgled between dark brown banks, the only sound except for their voices.
    “She’s accustomed to men. She won’t be trouble. Ignore her.”
    “Well, I can’t lie around in my underwear.”
    Dan grinned. “Let me say this slowly and clearly: she’s accustomed to men. You can lie around jaybird naked and she won’t care. We can both sleep in the same bed with her and she won’t care.”
    “To hell with that!”
    “She’s a tolerant woman and she needs a friend.”
    “A friend is one thing. A lover is another. Oh, hell, let her stay. Why not?”
    Smoke curled from the chimney and the odor of frying meat reached both men at the same time. Their heads turned in the direction of the cabin.
    “Holy saints,” Dan said softly, “maybe she can cook.”
    Within two weeks they had settled into a comfortable routine. Dan built a wall, giving Dulcie and him their own tiny bedroom while at the same time giving Silas privacy. Silas didn’t lie around in his underwear, and he was politely cordial to her, becoming friendlier as time passed. Dan was delighted, spending hours in bed with her the first two weeks she was with them, lost in fleshly pleasure while Silas spent the days working outside. The third week, Dan joined him, grinning sheepishly at Silas.
    “I’m surprised you can walk.”
    Dan blushed and grinned. “I thought I’d better get back to work or you’ll claim it all for yourself.”
    “I was about to do just that,” Silas answered good-naturedly.
    “Silas, don’t you miss a woman something