Devil in Texas (Lady Law & The Gunslinger Series, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

"I'm juggling."
    "I can see that!"
    "Then why'd you ask?"
    Wisecracks. Hair-raising risks. Death-defying feats. These were Cass's salvation. Without them, he would have lost his mind—and not just because life as a regulator, with no bushwhackers to ventilate, was insanely boring. During the quieter moments on Baron's ranch, when Cass was watching the cattle graze or listening to a harmonica croon, memories of the brothel fire would inevitably creep in.
    To distract himself from his latest bout of guilt, he'd started juggling an apple, a tequila bottle, and a .45. But he knew this reckless entertainment wouldn't spare him for long. He couldn't forget how he'd failed Sadie when she'd desperately needed someone to brave the inferno and carry her to safety. Self-loathing was like a burning blade, twisting in his gut.
    Baron, Randie, and Collie had all assured him that running inside the Satin Siren would have been a suicide mission. But how was he supposed to live with himself? He'd let Tito knock him on his ass. He'd let Sadie die.
    For days, Cass had camped out in the brothel's ruins. He'd worked as a volunteer beside the investigators, frantically combing the wreckage for some trace of Sadie's corpse, sweating out his terror that he might actually find it. After a week of fruitless searching, the Fire Marshal had pronounced Sadie missing and presumed dead. At that point, Cass had seriously considered killing someone. But who?
    Dietrich?
    Tito?
    The Fire Marshal?
    Who was responsible for Sadie's death?
    "Mister Cassidy!"
    Cass struggled with his latent rage. He kept tossing the .45 into the air.
    "Yeah, Mr. Prouse?"
    Pendleton made one of his fussy, clucking noises. "That is quite enough of your hooliganism."
    "Naw." Cass pasted on a smile. Even Pendleton didn't deserve to tangle with the demon lurking inside him today. "I'm just getting started."
    Collie snickered somewhere near the tack room. Cass could hear the boy buckling a harness onto Mrs. Westerfield's mare so the lady could drive to her Suffragette meeting. Pendleton was scheduled to accompany her, which was fitting, since tea-sipping would be part of the program. In the eight years that Cass had known Baron's secretary and sparred with him over inconsequential improprieties, like eating cheese slices from a knife, Cass had never seen Pendleton drink anything harder than jamoka.
    "Save your sass for the good citizens of the jury," Pendleton blustered. "Assuming you don't shoot your brains out before Baron can get you exonerated for killing that Ku Klux Klansman."
    "You been listening at doors again, Pendleton?"
    "How dare you!"
    "Now don't get all red and blotchy and bloat up like a puffer fish," Cass drawled. "Everyone knows you peek through keyholes."
    "I most certainly do not you... you troglodyte!"
    "What's a troglodyte?" Collie called.
    "Beats me," Cass said cheerfully.
    "I'm not surprised." Pendleton sniffed. "If it isn't a whiskey label, you haven't read it. Now holster that gun before you blow off somebody's head!"
    "Quit being such a fuddy-duddy," Collie said. "The gun isn't even loaded. Right, Cass?"
    "Reckon there's only one way to find out."
    With the speed of a striking rattler, Cass snatched the .45 from the air, drilled a bullet through a knothole, spun the gun over his finger and holstered it. By comparison, the apple and bottle dropped like molasses into his hands.
    "Nope." He took a bite of fruit. "No more beans in the wheel."
    Pendleton was sputtering, his cheeks florid, his chest heaving. "Mr. Cassidy, you have an intellect rivaled only by doorknobs!"
    Turning on his heel, Pendleton grabbed the mare's reins from Collie, booted Vandy out of the driver's seat, and "geed" the horse into the yard. Cass chuckled, watching the carriage round the corner of the Big House.
    "What's the matter with you?" Collie growled, stomping across the straw like a rooster ready for a cock fight. "Pendleton was right! You could have blown off somebody's head!"
    Cass took