His Wicked Dream (Velvet Lies, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

find that hoppy toad?"
    He brightened, jerking his head in the direction of the general store. "Under your porch."
    "He's a big 'un."
    Jamie grinned, stretching his freckles from ear to ear. "I'm gonna call him Charlie."
    He raised his pet for her inspection, and Eden hid a smile to see how solemnly her aunt made a fuss over the none-too-happy toad.
    After a couple of nods and admiring whistles, Claudia dropped her arm around Jamie's shoulders and stabbed her pipe toward the elm. "Lookie there, Jamie. We got a stuck cat. You know how to get one of those dang critters out of a tree?"
    Jamie cocked his head, as if considering. "I got my slingshot in my back pocket."
    Eden glanced warily at the Y-shaped stick and leather thong that jutted from the boy's broadcloth breeches. "I don't think slinging stones at Stazzie is a good idea."
    Claudia drew the boy closer. "That there's my niece," she said in a conspiratorial whisper. "She's kind of particular about the whys and wherefores, on account of it's her cat."
    Jamie nodded sagely.
    "Well, I wouldn't hurt the cat, ma'am," he said politely. "I'd just spook her a bit, maybe hit some twigs up above her."
    "Jamie's got a fine aim," Claudia said, patting the boy's shoulder. "If he says he's gonna hit a twig, he'll hit a twig. Isn't that right, Angus?" she bellowed at the whip.
    "Sure," Angus shouted back gamely. "As aimin' a slingshot goes, Jamie's the best."
    Claudia narrowed her eyes at him. "Not better'n me."
    Eden cleared her throat. "I'm sure Jamie is more than proficient with his slingshot," she intervened, "but Stazzie can be quite unpredictable, and I don't want her to—"
    "That storm's about to hit, missy," Claudia interrupted with a wag of her pipe stem. "You want your cat outta that tree, or don't you?"
    "Yes, of course I do, but—"
    A female voice sliced through her protest, shrill enough to cut through thunder.
    "Jamie Harragan! What have you done to your trousers?"
    The boy started, hurrying to hide Charlie behind his back. A youngish, smartly dressed woman in honey-colored taffeta sailed toward them. With her petticoats fluttering like froth, she looked like a battleship in full steam.
    "Young man, you are filthy. Positively filthy! And you've torn out the knees in your trousers! How dare you go crawling around in the dirt, when I expressly told you to sit on our wagon and keep clean? Do you have any idea how much our tailor charges to repair your britches?"
    Claudia stepped briskly to intercept the woman. "Bonnie Harragan, a boy's got better things to do than sit on a wagon, waiting for his mother to make up her mind over some silly new gewgaw."
    "But—"
    "Boys get dirty. That's the difference between boys and dolls. If you don't like mud on Jamie's fancy pants, buy him dungarees."
    Eden bit her lip, fully expecting the younger woman to knock Aunt Claudia on her impudent rear end. Instead, Bonnie halted, drawing a ragged breath. Something canny and disquietingly artificial flickered in her eyes. She bowed her head.
    "Why, you're right, of course," she demurred. "It's just that Jamie can be so willful at times, and he really has to start learning his social graces if he's ever to follow in the footsteps of our beloved Mr. Lincoln and become the next Kentucky-born president."
    Claudia muttered something about the apple not falling far from the tree.
    "Hello, Mr. McGee," Bonnie called sweetly to Angus.
    "Miss Bonnie," he grunted, tipping his dusty slouch hat.
    Her cool gray eyes next turned to Eden. Eden felt her face heat as Bonnie's appraising stare swept from her fraying straw hat, past her modest, yellow muslin, to her scuffed and muddy traveling boots. Bonnie's lip curled faintly.
    "Aunt Claudia," she cooed, dismissing Eden with a shoulder, "whatever are you doing out here in all this lightning? Getting spooked by thunder can't be good for your heart." She linked her arm through Claudia's. "Jamie, we can't allow Auntie to strain her heart, now can we?"
    "I ain't