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

money.”
    Maybe the lady barkeep got
the joke. She chuckled, the action jiggling her frame like gelatin, and hooked
her thumb at the barrels. “Tell ya what, son. If you can load those in a
freight wagon and get ’em down to the warehouse, it’s worth a dollar to me.”
    Billy eyed the barrels. They
were stacked two and three high, and they lined the length of the saloon.
‘Miserable’ wouldn’t begin to describe the chore, considering his present
condition.
    The woman seemed to read his
mind. “You can start with fried eggs and a cup of coffee. Even I wouldn’t ask a man to do that job on an empty stomach, especially one who’s had
the hound beat out of him.”
    Her sideways smile struck
Billy as sincere. He nodded. “Your offer is more than agreeable, ma’am. It may
be a lifesaver.” At least he would be able to get his horse out of the livery.
    The woman ushered Billy into a small kitchen at the back of the
saloon and sidestepped over to a potbellied stove. She cracked two eggs and
dripped them into a pan, then tossed the shells into a bucket. As if she could
do this in her sleep, she scrambled the eggs with a fork in one hand, while the
other snagged a mug hanging from a nail and set it in front of him. The sublime
scent of fresh coffee filled the room.
    “Name is Eleanor, by the
way.”
    Stiffly, Billy sank into a ladder-back chair at a small table.
“Billy Page. And thank you.” The friendly whiff of breakfast brightened his
spirits a little, and he thought there might yet be hope for the day.
    “One of the girls was
tellin’ me you put up a pretty good fight last night.” Eleanor slid the eggs
onto a tin plate and passed it to him along with a fork. “A dollar’s all I can
give ya to move the barrels. Will it get you out of town?” she asked, filling
his cup with coffee.
    Billy shoved a bite of egg
into his mouth and savored the warm yolk touched with a hint of salt. He hadn’t
realized he was so hungry. “A dollar will get my horse out of the livery. If I
can line up a race for him today, I should be set to move on to the next town.”
    “That’s mighty confident
talk.” He heard another egg start sizzling in the pan.
    “I have a mighty fast
horse.”
    She stopped stirring and
turned to him. She gave him the once-over with a skeptical arch in her brow.
“You look like a dude in those clothes.” Billy raised a hand to his chest,
defending his well-tailored, but filthy three-piece suit. “And even with the
swollen nose, I can tell you’re handsome, but you’re pale as milk. You’re, oh,
what, a banker’s son?” She didn’t wait for a confirmation. Instead, she tossed
him a biscuit from the bread warmer and kept talking. “Dodge City is just dying
to chew up somebody like you and spit you out.” She turned back to the stove
and harrumphed her disapproval. “Might as well be wearing a sign.”
    Billy touched his nose
gingerly, as if it might fall off any second. “Apparently I was wearing one
last night that said, ‘Kick me.’”
    Eleanor’s shoulders jiggled
again, then she jerked her head up and stared at the wall. “You’re the one with
the thoroughbred.”
    Billy wondered how she knew
but nodded obligingly. “He’s as fast as lightning and as light on his feet as
the wind. He’s how I’ve been making my way out West, pulling together races. I
shouldn’t have any trouble making it from here to Defiance.”
    “Defiance?” She did turn
then, eyes wide. “Why in Sam Hill would you want to go to that cesspool? Ain’t
Dodge mean enough for ya?”
    Billy quickly went back to
the remnants of the egg.
    “Ooooh,” She drawled out the
word knowingly and went back to the skillet, “a woman. Well, let me tell ya,
boy. If she’s in Defiance, you don’t want to find her.”
    “It’s the only thing I do want.” He heard the misery in his voice and hated the childish sound of it, but
miserable he was. He might as well spill the whole story. “I ran off and left
her … and