Heartstrings Read Online Free PDF Page B

ruggedness.”
    “That chestnut over there’s a strong ’un,” Claff offered. He ambled forward, a long piece of straw hanging from his mouth. “Trained to pull a wagon too.”
    Playing with the fragile gold chains that dangled from the bottom of her ruby brooch, Theodosia glanced at the small scraggly animal Claff had indicated. “That is a mere pony. And a sick one at that.”
    “It’s a healthy mustang,” Roman corrected her. “No horse in the world has as much stamina. It might not be pretty, but that horse’ll get you wherever you want to go.” He nodded at Claff, then turned his attention to the group of vehicles. “And she’ll take that buckboard.”
    “That rickety wagon?” Theodosia exclaimed.
    “It’s small and lightweight, and the wheels are made of seasoned orangewood.”
    “And what, may I ask, is so special about orangewood, Mr. Montana?”
    “Seasoned orangewood won’t shrink much, Miss Worth.”
    “Really?” She looked at the wheels. “How interesting. But be that as it may, I have already chosen my conveyance.” She pointed to a dainty buggy whose black lacquered body gleamed in the late afternoon sunshine.
    Roman flicked a bothersome fly off his arm. “May as well sail through a hurricane in a paper boat. The bolts on the running gear aren’t riveted. They’ll come off, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to stop every ten miles to—”
    “But—”
    “Get the wagon, or walk. The choice is yours. How’s that for being roinous?”
    Theodosia swallowed further argument and reminded herself that in only a few days she would be parting company with the arrogant man and his insufferable obstinacy. “Very well, sir,” she said to Claff. “Do as the roinous Mr. Montana says.”
    When Claff finished hitching the horse to the buckboard, Theodosia dipped her hand inside the bulging velvet pouch that swung from her elbow.
    Sunlight dazzled off the fistful of gold coins she withdrew.
    The blinding glitter nearly stopped Roman’s heartbeat. Never having seen so much money at one time, his mind reeled with disbelief even as his body tensed with apprehension.
    Sliding his gaze to the right, he saw the three men. They continued to watch Theodosia and had no doubt seen her gold.
    Damn.
    He grabbed her hand and dragged her inside the stable. “Have you lost your mind, woman? What the hell are you doing, flashing all your gold around like that?”
    “All my gold?” She attempted to pull her hand away from him but succeeded only in wrenching her arm. “Mr. Montana, the gold I carry in this bag is but pocket money. The rest is in my blue trunk.”
    Roman swiveled in the hay and saw her blue trunk lying beside her other belongings. Surely it wasn’t filled with gold, he tried to convince himself. No one in their right mind would travel with such a fortune.
    But then, Theodosia didn’t seem to possess the sort of mind normal people did.
    “As for what I was doing with the gold I withdrew from my bag, Mr. Montana,” Theodosia continued, “I was merely trying to pay for the horse and wagon. In order to successfully accomplish the task, it was necessary for me to remove the money from my bag and hand it to—”
    “You should have counted out the money where no one could see you do it!”
    “And how, pray tell, might I have managed such a procedure when the price of the horse and wagon was unknown to me?”
    “ What?” He jammed his fingers through his hair. “For God’s sake, all you had to do was ask Claff! Any simpleton could figure that out! Use some common sense, if you have any. Look, you aren’t at some peaceful, elegant garden party, surrounded by your top-hatted, lily-white-handed gentlemen admirers. You’re in Texas, where a lot of men are leashed and led by pure greed. They can sniff out women like you the way sharks smell blood from miles away.”
    “Mr. Mon—”
    “Dr. Wallaby is paying me to escort you to Templeton, and I’m sure as hell going to get you there in