Sudden Storms Read Online Free PDF

eyes caused Rivers’s heart to leap.
    She looked away quickly, unable to meet the piercing stare.
    “Did my dear brother mention my friend Rivers don’t much put up with his vinegar? She poured a cup of milk in his lap at breakfast this mornin’ and half drowned him in the creek to boot!” Jolee teased.
    “Now, dang it all Jo! Don’t go tellin’ the boys things like that,” Paxton pled as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment in a humiliated grimace. “She’s exaggeratin’, boys. Don’t listen to little sis,” Paxton chuckled, turning back to study the cards in his hand.
    “Well, good night, boys. You all be good now,” Jolee called over her shoulder as she walked toward her room.
    Rivers followed, catching wisps of the conversation behind them.
    “She’s a quiet one,” someone said.
    “Oh, don’t let her fool ya, boys. She’s tough as an old cowhide,” Paxton answered.
    
    That night, Rivers dreamt of trains—of fast, rushing air and the smell of boxcars. Of rain and storms frocked with thunder, lightning, and the sounds trains make as they travel over wet tracks. Ever present in those dreams, however, like a ghostly visitor watching her, was the disturbing and handsome figure of Paxton Gray.
     
    Ruby would never have pulled him in the creek, Paxton thought as he lay in bed after a long night of cards with the boys. Ruby was frail and beautiful and knew her manners. He closed his eyes and tried to envision her. But that danged girl kept coming into his mind instead. He had sworn to himself he had learned his life’s lesson at the hand of Ruby Dupree. He had done what he knew to be right and look how it had turned out. Nope. No female would have a chance to blame Paxton Gray for heartbreak again.
    Still, Rivers had looked as delicious as fresh cherry pie when she came walking out of Jolee’s room in that dress, her hair braided after cleaning up from her dip in the creek that morning. For the first time in his life, Paxton felt his mouth literally begin to water at the sight of a girl. As pretty as Ruby was, his mouth had never watered when he’d looked at her. He told himself it was because he had missed a good breakfast, that’s all. Didn’t his morning milk end up in his lap?
    He couldn’t help chuckling to himself at the thought of that girl pouring milk in his lap. He liked her for it! She wasn’t gonna let anybody treat her badly—something to be admired in a person. He turned over and was soon sound asleep.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    “Wash the beans, stem the beans, snap the beans. Shell the peas, wash the peas. Does it ever end?” Rivers asked Jolee as they each collapsed into a kitchen chair.
    “Oh, eventually,” Jolee sighed. “But it’s a pretty sight, isn’t it? Rows and rows of jars bottled up with vegetables for the winter months.”
    Rivers nodded. They were lovely. She felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment at the sight of the preserved food. She had helped Jolee cut her bean and pea putting-up time in half, at least. Besides, she and Jolee had become good friends over the past few weeks. Rivers no longer felt like an intruder at the Gray farm. She knew Jolee wanted her there, even if Paxton was averse to it. And she had a plan—a bit of mischief swarming around in her mind where Jolee and Weston Warner were concerned. She had watched Jolee when Weston was around, and she knew that, although her friend talked lightly of her attraction for the man, Jolee was deeply in love with him. Rivers had stayed on at the Gray farm for one reason alone—to repay Jolee’s kindness to her.
    Yet that reason for staying, she whispered to herself, was a lie, and deep within her she knew it. Certainly she wanted to see Jolee happy. But the truth was Rivers was finding it increasingly difficult to think of leaving Paxton, even though she knew he held her in no great esteem whatsoever. He was addictive somehow. She found herself waking up in the morning drenched in a sort of