Hearts in Defiance (Romance in the Rockies Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

back of his head. Something sharp and wet rained down over his
face, and Billy nearly gagged from the stench of stale beer. His knees buckled
with a jolt, and a black fog reached out to grab him as thunderous laughter
rang out around him. He thought of Hannah. Was she living in a worse town than
this one? He wanted to find the answer, but the mist quickly thickened into
complete darkness.
    ~~~
     
     
    Throbbing, bone-deep soreness crept into his consciousness, but
Billy didn’t open his eyes. There was so much pain everywhere. He took a moment
to determine if anything didn’t hurt. His hand throbbed. His head
pounded. His nose had its own heartbeat, as did his ribs. Something rough dug
into his cheek. Gravel?
    Billy blinked, trying to focus. A warped board filled his vision
and weeds sprouted inches from his face. Confused, he tried moving his head.
The motion caused a searing pain to shoot up his neck and down his arm. He
realized he was lying on his stomach in the dirt, head twisted to the left,
arms bent behind his back. Pushing through the pain, he slowly rose to all
fours and carefully rotated his head to loosen the kink in his neck.
    His hair fell over his eyes.
Peering through it, in the faint, predawn light, he could see he was in an
overgrown, trash-littered alley at the rear of two weathered buildings. Empty
kegs and barrels loomed over him. He staggered to his feet and immediately fell
against the closest wall. He figured he must be out back behind the saloon.
    But how—
    A nearby door opened and a
rotund woman marched out, carrying an empty pony keg on her shoulder. She
spotted Billy immediately and grunted. “One of the girls said I might find you
here.” She was a big-boned woman with weathered features and drab brown hair
pulled back in a tight bun. She set the container atop another and wiped her
hands on her skirt. “You check your pockets?”
    Understanding slowly dawned
on Billy, and he slapped his pants, rifled through his coat pockets, and
searched his vest. All empty. The fight came back to him now, his own
cockiness, the rap on the back of his head. He reached up and touched a pretty
impressive goose egg. What had they hit him with—Montana? The possibility that
the scoundrel would cheat had never entered Billy’s mind. And now he had
nothing. He couldn’t pay for his room, he couldn’t eat, he couldn’t get his
horse out of the livery … and he couldn’t get to Hannah. Wouldn’t his father
just love to be here to gloat?
    “Listen, son,” the woman
said, draping her arm over a large whiskey barrel. “That there was Earl H.
Goode and friends that whooped you. They scouted for Quantrill. You’d best
watch yourself in Dodge. Better yet, light a shuck out of Dodge.”
    A man on the train had
warned Billy that Dodge City was rough—almost as rough as Defiance, the meanest
mining town in the Rockies. And Hannah was in Defiance, along with his son. He
imagined her surrounded by men like Earl H. Goode. The thought twisted his guts
and stirred up an urgency to get to her that rushed through his blood like
lightning.
    His trip west had started
out at a leisurely pace. A few races in this town or that, wherever he decided
to take Prince Valiant off the train and out for a little fresh air.
Admittedly, he’d been dragging his feet, putting off his reunion with Hannah
because he was afraid of her reaction. Now he was afraid for her. Earl
H. Goode had put it all into perspective. If Dodge City was the wickedest
little city in America, what did that make Defiance?
    No place for Hannah and his
son.
    But how was he supposed to
get to her without money? He almost laughed at the reversal in his fortunes as
he raked a bloodied, swollen hand through his hair, clearing his line of sight.
“Ma’am, I’d be happy to leave your warm and friendly community.” Billy
straightened and looked the woman in the eye. “Only, for the first time in my
life, and now when it matters most of all, I have no