Microsoft Word - Jenny dreamed Read Online Free PDF

wondering if the stage would be on time today. It stopped here from Helena every two days' and generally managed to arrive about the same time. There was time for a drink at the saloon in the half-hour until it was due, and as he ambled along the boarded sidewalk that edged the buildings his thoughts turned to the girl he was supposed to meet.
    He gave a cursory glance to the few occupants of the room, noting the card game in the back comer and the dance girl who draped herself close to one of the players. The long polished bar to his left was empty except for one rough-looking character who stared morosely into his beer.
    The bartender recognized Dev and called, "Be right with ya!' before he laid down the glasses he was polishing in anticipation of the night's business. Dev ordered a whisky neat, and when the man sensed that he was too preoccupied to feel like talking, he wisely returned to his polishing.
    Jennifer-he liked the sound of her name, anyway. Nice and soft, ladylike. About all he really knew of her was that she'd married young, and Jared and Mariah hadn't been too happy with her choice. Now she was a former Duchess, a widow; and as he contemplated the time he'd have to spend with her, Dev only hoped she was as good-looking as her mother.
    No, that was too much to hope for, Dev told himself. Since he'd met Mariah Bryant, he'd seen a lot of girls, taken more than his share of women to bed, and not a one could compare with that special beauty she had. Lord, he had a sudden thought, what if this girl took after Jared? His features were handsome, but as Dev tried to picture them on a girl, the idea brought a broad grin to his face.
    "Huh." The deep guttural exclamation interrupted Dev's thoughts and he glanced down the length of the bar to find the solitary drinker staring at him, his plain, weathered face wearing an ugly expression. Dev didn't know the man, but he'd seen that look before and it always meant trouble. "What'cha smilin' 'bout, Injun-lover?" The man had obviously been drinking for some time and it showed in his movements as he gestured to the empty saloon in general and added, more loudly, "Why don't'cha share it with ever'body, boy? You thinkin'
    about how them squaws kin get ya hot without usin' a blanket?"
    By now the room was totally silent, the cardplayers watching to see Dev's reaction, the bartender's hand poised in the air as he stopped his work. The only sound was the loud, vulgar guffaw from the stupid fool who was taunting Dev. Several years earlier he might have instantly challenged his tormenter and drawn a gun to still his tongue.
    Those years with Jared had made a difference, though, and Dev recognized the man for what he was a drifter whose big mouth issued insults he was in· no condition to back up. He was all the more dangerous, though, because he was too deeply into his drinking to realize that he didn't stand a chance against a younger man who was a far more competent shot than he.
    Dev chose to ignore him, taking a sip of his whisky and continuing to stare straight ahead into the mirror that ran the length of the wall behind the bar. To everyone watching, he gave the appearance of being completely at ease, undaunted by the belligerent drinker. Only another ' man skilled at gunplay would have observed the telltale signs of tenseness in his body-the way he had carefully set his glass down to free his hands or the narrowed gaze that flicked the length of the reflective mirror to watch the other's actions.
    "You deaf 'n' dumb, boy? 'Tha's what livin' with Injuns does toya. You done forgot how civilized folk talk, ain't that right, barkeep?" There was no answer. The bartender's sympathies were with Dev, but he had seen too many men die over just such foolish words.
    Safety lay in neutrality.
    Dev was watching every movement at the end of the bar, and while the man's left hand was in sight, fingers flicking in an excited, nervous gesture, his right hand was not reflected in the mirror.