Letter Perfect ( Book #1) Read Online Free PDF

didn’t pay much attention, just minded his own business and continued up the boardwalk toward Maltby’s office. A fire a few years back decimated the town, but they’d rebuilt. Within a year, the buildings and boardwalk looked downright spiffy. He passed the barbershop, the laundry/ public bath, and had just reached the door to the jail when the stage driver jumped down.
    “Hey, McCain! I’ve got a delivery fer you!”
    Joshua nodded and strode across the rutted dirt street. He expected the customized saddle he’d ordered from Independence to arrive any day, so being called over to pick up the piece quickened Josh’s pace. He made his way to the other side of the dusty, persimmon-colored stage as the driver reached up to help someone disembark.
    Yards of deep green skirts with fancy swags and the tiniest lace edge of a petticoat peeping from beneath tattled that this was a genuine, high-class lady. Josh smiled—a pretty woman didn’t often arrive in town. He wouldn’t mind making her acquaintance.
    Then Joshua got a sinking feeling. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard his name on the driver’s lips.
    “Here she is. Bound for the Broken P, she said. Lucky thing you was in town today. Miss, this here is Joshua McCain, Junior. He’ll git you out to the ranch.”
    “Thank you ever so much,” she murmured.
    Joshua stared at her in disbelief and horror. Willowy, blond, and … oh no. Green-eyed. The moment she turned toward him, the eye color and description weren’t even necessary. This woman was the spitting image of her father. Of course her shape was a bit different and her features were finer, but there could be no mistaking the relationship.
    A froth of sunny curls spun around her head in whorls too wild to be considered ringlets, and she had a streak of dirt along her right temple. Her wide eyes sparkled with intelligence as she turned toward him. Though she did face him, her gaze wandered, as if she needed to take in every little bit of the town. Her lips quivered— was she fighting laughter or tears? Judging from the fancy buttons, frills, and ribbons, someone had paid far too much for her traveling gown—especially since it looked as if she’d slept in it for half a year, then been dragged through a knothole backward.
    She was, without a doubt, the most helpless-looking female he’d ever set eyes on … and the most beautiful.
    She pinched the sides of her green gown with her gloved hands and dipped a curtsy. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. McCain.”
    “Miss Caldwell,” he said grimly as he pulled off his hat, “you weren’t supposed to come.”

C HAPTER T HREE

    S he gave him a startled look and gasped. Her hand flew up toward her throat, and she blinked at him.
    “I’ll set her trunks on the boardwalk,” the driver said as he deposited a bulging tapestry valise at her feet. “Hope you brought the buckboard. The lady didn’t travel light.”
    “Trunks? She brought trunks ?”
    Miss Caldwell stretched to her full height and tried to look formidable. Seeing as she barely came up to his chin, the attempt failed. Her already-straight shoulders went back a tad more. “I could scarcely come ill-prepared.”
    Joshua cast a disparaging look up at the huge steamer trunks strapped on the stage, then took another look at her. Yup, she looked antsy as a mustang after a saddle got tossed over his back for the first time. Odd, how a body could stand still, yet give the impression of being ready to jump into motion. Every line of her sang with tension. He owed her the truth, but breaking it to her wasn’t going to be an easy proposition.
    She hiccupped. The action made her bob unexpectedly, and color flooded her pale cheeks. Her head dipped, and she hastily opened the reticule hanging from her wrist and whipped out a fan. She flicked it open and half-hid her face behind the ivory-and-silk frippery, but it failed to disguise the fact that she’d hiccupped