Rugged and Relentless Read Online Free PDF Page A

support.
    “More biscuits!” another seconded.
    Miss Thompson closed her eyes as though gathering strength, and Jake abruptly realized how much his teasing would cost her.
I should have known others were listening—Ma had reason to worry about what others thought
.
    “I say you offer a ‘bounty of biscuits’ option—for an added fee, of course.” He raised his voice to make sure this proposition carried. “I’ll be the first to take you up on it, Miss Thompson.”
    “It’s not every day I’m served patrons telling me how to run my café.”
    Jake respected any man who stood his ground, and he’d just found that went double for a woman. They both knew she’d be foolish not to take him up on the offer, but she claimed her territory with aplomb.
    “Me, too!”
    “Same here!” Three other men took up the chorus of rattling baskets.
    It wasn’t until she pursed her lips—he suspected to trap a smile—that he noticed their fullness.
    Which I have no business noticing
. Everything about MissThompson, from the polished toes of her boots, to those tightly buttoned sleeves he’d deplored earlier, to the proud fire in her eyes declared her a lady.
    And Jake had left behind his life as a gentleman.

     THREE     
    E vie eyed the stranger causing so much chaos in her orderly café and tried to hide her amusement. Before her sat a tall, rangy example of why that old maxim, “The customer is always right,” hadn’t made it up on her wall.
    But at least he knew when he did wrong and moved to fix it
. For that matter, the entire battle of wills led to an extra way for the café to expand its profit.
Thank You, Lord
.
    “I’m a patriotic woman,” she declared, “so in the spirit of democracy, I’ll add the bounty of biscuits to what we offer.” With that, she collected baskets and orders, otherwise ignoring the man who’d instigated it all.
    “Already have more in the oven,” Wilma greeted her when she reached the kitchen and headed for the baking table.
    “Conversation carried all the way in here, did it?”
    “Bounty of biscuits and all.” The two women shared a laugh. “Took me a moment to realize they were shaking their baskets like tambourines though. Wish I could’ve seen that.”
    Evie’s chuckle went alongside those extra biscuits until she reached the stranger. Then she schooled her features into a completely blank expression as she surveyed the now-clean platein front of him. Well, almost clean. A few chicken bones littered the surface as he dove into his second basket of bread. “Any complaints about the chicken?” The challenge shot out before she could stop it.
    “Just that I ate it so fast, if the bones didn’t stay behind, I’d swear it flew by me.” He slathered butter on a biscuit, his easy grin nowhere in sight. “I think I’ll be changing my order now.”
    “The cookies are wrapped one with each sandwich,” she clarified so if he decided he didn’t want them he wouldn’t be surprised if she reached for them.
    “I figured.” One bite demolished an enormous amount of food, but he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself as much as before. “I’ll need another two cookies—and change my order to a double serving of cobbler.”
    He didn’t look at her the way he had before the bounty-of-biscuits exchange. If Evie didn’t know better, she’d say the man outright avoided looking at her at all. Certainly the teasing tone of his conversation switched to all business.
    Why? And why didn’t I realize how much I was enjoying the way he talked before, until it changed?
Evie couldn’t very well ask the man, so she set about serving him in this newly constructed silence she found so unsettling.
    He ate every bite she brought him—save the sandwiches, which she’d been right in assuming he intended to take with him—without another word. And when he was done, he stood and left with a gesture she’d remember for the rest of her days.
    The tall stranger strode to the