Long, Tall Texans: Calhoun Read Online Free PDF

that. She was going to get out and live!
    She poked her head into the living room. Cigarette smoke drifted in front of a screen on which men in uniforms were blowing each other up.
    "I'm going out with Misty," she told Justin.
    He glanced up from where he was sitting. His long legs were crossed over the coffee table, and he had a snifter of brandy in one hand and a cigarette in the other. "Okay, honey," he said agreeably. "Stay out of trouble, will you? You and Calhoun are hell on the digestion lately, and he doesn't seem to need much excuse to go for your throat."
    "I'll behave. Misty and I are just going to that new dance place. I'll be good, honest I will. Good night."
    "Goodnight."
    He went back to the bullets and bombs, and she closed the door with a sigh. Justin was so nice. He never tried to hog-tie her. Now why couldn't Calhoun be like that? She felt murderous when she considered Calhoun's possessiveness. She was entitled to a life that didn't revolve around him. There was just no sense in wearing her heart out on his taciturn indifference. None at all!
    Misty came ten minutes later. Thank God, Calhoun didn't reappear. With a sigh of relief, Abby ran out to Misty's little sports car, all smiles, her breaking heart carefully concealed from her all-too-perceptive girlfriend.
    It was Friday night, and the Jacobsville Dance Palace was booming. It had a live Western band on the weekends, and while it did serve hard liquor, it wasn't the kind of dive Calhoun had forbidden her to frequent Not that she cared one whit about his strictures, of course.
    Abby glanced apprehensively toward the doorway, across the crowded room where cigar and cigarette smoke made a gray haze under bright lights. The band's rhythm shook the rafters. Couples danced on the bare wood floor, the men in Western gear, the women in jeans and boots.
    "Calhoun won't know you're here, I tell you." Misty laughed softly. "Honestly, it's ridiculous the way he dogs your footsteps lately."
    "That's what I keep telling him, but it does no good at all," Abby replied miserably. "I just want to get out on my own."
    "I'm doing my best," Misty assured her. "Any day now I'll have some new apartment prospects for us to look at. I've got a real estate agent helping."
    "Good." Abby sipped her drink, trying not to notice the blatant stare she was getting from the man at the next table. He'd been eyeing her ever since she and Misty had walked in, and he was giving her the willies.
    He looked about Calhoun's age, but he lacked Calhoun's attractive masculinity. This man was dark headed and had a beer belly. He wasn't much taller than Abby, but what he lacked in height he made up in girth. He had a cowboy hat pulled low over his small eyes, and he was obviously intoxicated.
    "He's staring at me again," Abby muttered. She lifted her gin and tonic to her lips, wondering at how much better it tasted every time she took a sip. She hated gin, but Misty had convinced her that she couldn't sit at the table drinking ginger ale.
    "Don't worry," Misty patted her arm. "He'll give up and go away. There's Tyler! Hi, Ty!"
    Tyler Jacobs was tall and rangy-looking. He had green eyes and an arrogant smile, and Abby was a little afraid of him. But he didn't carry his wealth around on his shoulders as some rich men did, and he wasn't a snob, even though the town of Jacobsville took its name from his grandfather.
    "Hello, Misty. Abby." Tyler pulled out a chair and straddled it. "What are you doing here? Does Calhoun know?" he asked quietly.

    Abby shifted restlessly in the chair and raised her glass to her lips again. "I am perfectly capable of drinking a drink if I want to," she said, enunciating carefully because her tongue suddenly felt thick. "And Calhoun doesn't own me."
    "Oh, my God," Tyler sighed. He gave Misty a rueful glance. "Your doing, I gather?"
    Misty blinked her long false lashes at Tyler, and her blue eyes twinkled. "I provided transportation, that's all. Abby is my friend. I'm