Ride the Thunder Read Online Free PDF Page A

attempt to pay and lowered her voice to add, “Everything’s always on the house. You know that, Brig.”
    “Thanks.” A faint smile softened the usually hard line of his mouth.
    Brig was aware of her meaning. Every town, no matter how small, had its quota of local drunks and a whore or two, whether the respectable, church-going folk wanted to admit it or not. Trudie fell in the latter category. Except for the first time, he’d never had to pay for her services, so he’d gradually stopped regarding her in that light these last ten years. She was a warm, giving woman, who supplemented her income with the highest paying part-time job she could find. She wasn’t a hard-core professional. Those were the kind he regarded with contempt.
    “Have another beer.” Trudie was pouring him one before he could refuse. With a faint shrug of his shoulders, Brig sat back down on the stool.
    The blonde walked to the work counter where she’d left the new bottles of liquor. “That was really some winter. It hit everybody hard.” From under the counter, she pulled out a set of wooden steps and took two of the bottles, tucking one under her arm. “Jake Phelps was in last month and said he ran out of hay in March.”
    “I had plenty of hay. That May blizzard hit me right at calving time.” The first beer Brig had downed to quench his parched throat. This second one, he nursed along. “I lost almost two-thirds of the calf crop.”
    “Oh no, Brig.” She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a commiserating look.
    “As you said, it hit everybody hard,” he said diffidently.
    Crushing his cigarette in the ashtray, he watched her climb the two steps and rest a knee on the counter to reach a high shelf on the wall behind the bar. The tight black skirt rode up to her thigh on one side. His attention began to dwell on her heart-shaped bottom and the shapely curve of her legs. Again he felt that stirring hardness growing inside of him.
    It was a full second before Brig realized Trudie had partially turned to look at him. Boldly he lifted his gaze. Something seemed to catch fire in her eyes. He noticed the way her breasts strained against the material of her blouse as she took a breath and appeared to hold it. Then she was climbing down the two steps.
    “This trip to New York,” she said, turning to face him once more, a soft, breathless quality to her voice, “is it necessary for you to leave right away?”
    “There’s nothing to be gained by postponing it.”
    “Not even until tomorrow?” Without giving him a chance to respond, she glanced at the two men farther down the bar. “Do you guys want anything else?”
    The two men looked up from the figuring they were doing on a paper napkin. One shook his head and the other said, “No.”
    “I’m going in the back room for some supplies. If anyone comes in, holler, will you?”
    “Sure.”
    Her blue eyes made a silent appeal to Brig as she asked, “Would you help me bring out a keg of beer?”
    For an answer, Brig straightened his length from the bar stool and walked behind the counter. Trudie led the way through the door into the backroom, pausing to close it after Brig. She had positioned herself so he would have to brush against her as he went by. He felt the faint tremor in her body at the contact and smelled the cloying fragrance of some cheapcologne. Picking up her silent message, Brig could hear the thudding of his own heart. After a long winter in isolation, his desires were easy to arouse.
    “The keg is over there.” She pointed to a far corner of the dimly lit room and took a step in that direction.
    His fingers circled her elbows to halt her. “To hell with the keg, Trudie.”
    He allowed her a second to resist, although he knew she wouldn’t, then turned her into his arms. He had forgotten how short she was as his head came down to claim the red lips already parting to receive his kiss.
    His blood ran hot as she molded her amply rounded curves against him. Her