The Austin Job Read Online Free PDF Page B

Daisy’s posture flipped the focus. He felt so disarmed and vulnerable around her that he never managed to scratch past her surface.
    She smiled as if she understood he’d finally made her game, but his recognition of it wouldn’t help. He sighed, surrendering to his emotional state. Even though his need made the act all the more dangerous, he wanted to confide in her. “Have you ever been given a gift that required you to become someone more, someone better, just to be worthy of receiving it? A gift so impossibly undeserved that it filled you with a trembling fear to accept it?” She nodded slowly, offering for him to continue.
    “A poor tenant farmer once gave me a gift like that. Not even a blood relative.” Starr shook his head, still struggling to comprehend the generous act Big Eddy had made right before he died. “Since I was a kid, he took me under his wing, gave me advice when I needed it. After being forced to quit the rodeo,” he slapped the outside of his bum knee, “he pulled me aside. Told me that God had intended me to be a leader of men, to make the world better. Then he gave me his life savings, an entire lifetime of thrift.” He shook his head and shrugged. “Here I am.”
    “You don’t want to disappoint him.”
    “It’s not an option. With rodeo, there was always the next town. In politics you get one shot, one big ride, and every twist and turn along the way is a chance to get thrown.”
    Daisy nodded. “Or a chance to thrill the crowd.” She stepped up on the bottom rail, her eyes closer to his level. “So it’s failure you fear.” He nodded tentatively, rolling the word around in his head, but keeping it clear of his heart. “You meant what you said this morning. About knowing yourself as the son of tenant farmers.”
    He nodded easily this time. “You were listening.”
    “But you want to be more.” He didn't respond. Narrowing her eyes, she continued, “Anyone with such a trustworthy confidant isn’t going to fail.” She held her stare long enough for Starr to wonder whether she meant Willy or herself. He blinked. She swooped up a basket at her feet before climbing to straddle the top rail. “Now how about some lunch?” And like that she’d dispelled the tension, soothed his fears and dismissed them in a single gesture—gone from serious to soft in a heartbeat.
    He offered her an outstretched hand, which she took as her delicate frame lighted next to his with a puff of sawdust. Her closeness swelling in the space next to him forced him to acknowledge more than an emotional weakness for the young woman. He swallowed. “Miss Lickter, are you inviting me on a date, unescorted?”
    “Eh, my daddy could have shot you already, but he hasn’t. So I figure you’re safe.”
    “As in you’re safe with me? Which you are by the way,” Starr swung a saddle onto Willy’s back, “or I’m safe from getting shot?”
    Daisy twinkled. “I was thinking more that you’d be safe with me. But if you get shot on your own time, there’s little I can do about that.”
    Starr tightened Willy's girth. Daisy Lickter would either terribly complicate the matters at hand or greatly strengthen his chances to conquer them, but he couldn’t escape her. “Good enough, and I suppose old Willy here will protect my honor.” He stroked the horse’s neck while addressing the animal, “What do you say? Willing to accept an extra burden for a ride down by the river?”
    “Extra burden?” Daisy interrupted. “Are you calling me fat, Senator Starr.”
    Willy tossed his head and snorted his agreement while Starr swung himself into the saddle. “I’d no sooner take spurs to Willy.” He winked, giving her his best twinkle and offering her a hand up onto the back of the saddle.
    “I like you, Jim Starr.” She winked back. “You make me laugh.” Lifting her left foot into the stirrup, she bumped Starr’s out of the way. “Pardon me, Willy.” Lightning fast she vaulted into Starr’s lap,