The Emperor's New Clothes Read Online Free PDF Page A

Sedge’s uniquely British way of looking at life, but today he saw nothing whatsoever humorous in his predicament.
    The two men stood on the porch of Tye’s modest home on the ranch his parents had run until their death. Uncle Jack had kept the place up more or less through the years, but a house left too long unoccupied required a fair amount of work to bring it back to decent living conditions. That was just one of a long list of chores demanding Tye’s attention. He didn’t havetime for this mayor nonsense.
    â€œWhen do your official duties begin?” Sedge’s manner was casual, but Tye read a smirk behind the words.
    â€œTonight.” He sighed in surrender. “It’s not much, but it’s kind of a reprieve. I was supposed to appear this afternoon until we got word the countess wouldn’t be coming. Then the blasted woman showed up anyway, so all the festivities are back on.”
    â€œCountess?” Sedge raised a curious brow. “We have a countess in Dead End?”
    â€œEmpire City.”
    â€œEmpire City?” Sedge laughed again. “Apparently, Tye, you’ve failed to give me all the fascinating details of your trip to town.”
    â€œIt’s the details that muddy the water,” Tye said grudgingly. In retrospect, everything did seem a bit preposterous, and even he could see the humor. “Let me lay it all out for you. If you want to be a civilized town, you need a mayor.”
    â€œAnd that, naturally, is you.”
    â€œThat’s me, all right. Next you need a respectable name.”
    â€œI gather Dead End did not come up to the standards of respectability?” Amusement colored Sedge’s tone.
    Tye snorted. “No, but I suppose they could have come up with something even more ridiculous. To put the icing on the cake, some damned countess is stopping by on her tour of the West.”
    â€œI see,” Sedge said slowly. “And I gather you as mayor, of course, are the official host for the town.”
    â€œSomething like that,” Tye grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaned against the porch and eyed his friend.
    He’d first met Sedgewick Montgomery at school. The two were a bit older than the other students, owing to their individual reluctance to submit to higher learning, and both were far from home. It was only natural that they’d become fast friends in spite of the vast difference in their backgrounds: Tye, fresh from the wide-open spaces of Wyoming, and Sedge, the black sheep second son of an English lord. The men had backed each other up more than once, and each knew the other could be counted on.
    Tye had to count on him now. “I need a little favor.”
    Sedge narrowed his eyes. “What kind of favor?”
    â€œI need you to come with me to Big Jack’s party tonight for the countess.”
    Sedge grinned. “I daresay I can use a bit of amusement. I’ve been working far too hard as it is.” He aimed an accusing finger. “You didn’t warn me how bloody difficult this ranching business would be when you talked me into abandoning home and country and purchasing property here.”
    It was Tye’s turn to grin. “You didn’t ask me. Anyway”—he shrugged—“if I remember right, it wasn’t so much a case of you abandoning England as England abandoning you.”
    â€œIt really quite depends on your point of view.” Sedge spread his hands out before him in a gesture of resignation. “I prefer to think of my unfortunate departure as simply an opportune twist of fate.” He waved at the land around him. “I have the chance here to create a life of my own making. There’s something to be said for that.”
    He smiled wryly. “At this moment I’m not sure exactly what, but something, no doubt.”
    â€œNo doubt.” Tye laughed.
    â€œWho is this countess?”
    â€œName’s Bridgewater. Ever