The Irish Devil Read Online Free PDF

up their heels in a fashion that saloonkeepers don’t always appreciate,” Lennox murmured.
    William’s mouth twitched unwillingly. Even his handpicked teamsters occasionally raised a ruckus in town, and Lennox owned all of Rio Piedras’s saloons, the most obvious target for such high spirits. The two men’s eyes met in perfect understanding.
    Lennox went on with barely a break in his voice. “Tregarron regularly explained to the saloonkeepers how business really works in Rio Piedras and then matters would settle down, a task I now have to perform. So until the new manager arrives, please feel free to call upon me if I can be of assistance in ironing out difficulties with any of the local business establishments.”
    “Thank you. I appreciate your consideration.”
    “My pleasure. I’m also bringing my best men out from New York to help keep the town orderly. Some of the miners have been a bit stubborn, but Conall O’Flaherty and his brothers should soon set them straight.”
    “Thank you for the warning.” A thug named Conall O’Flaherty? No, surely he couldn’t be the same man. It was twenty-four years and a different continent since that meeting. “I’ll pass it on to Evans and my men.”
    “I’m sure it won’t be an issue but I did want you to know the name.”
    William nodded acknowledgment and took a deep drink of coffee. Old memories swirled behind his eyes: his mother’s arms wrapped around her swollen belly, Maeve and Caitlin sobbing against her skirts. His nose bloody from a futile attack on the men as he struggled against his father’s tight grip. Their few possessions settling into the muddy road as the land agent urged his oldest son to throw a torch into the cow byre…
    “Enough of business,” Lennox said jovially. “Let’s discuss gentlemen’s interests, like this little mare I bought for forty dollars. She was a famous racehorse in Kentucky, so she should win next month’s big race in Tucson.”
    William looked at the blood bay more closely. Excellent lines, very fast but delicately built. She’d be better suited to the grass racetracks of Kentucky, or perhaps California, than the cactus-marked sand and rock of southern Arizona. “How long has she been here in the desert?”
    “Just over four weeks.”
    “Hardly enough time to learn how to run amidst cactus,” William pointed out, an edge creeping into his voice.
    “Exactly! The odds will be against her and I’ll make more money when she wins.”
    More likely she’d go lame or break a leg, William thought acidly, assuming she settled down enough to race. The little mare was sweating heavily now as she sidled away from bursts of activity in the yard. Her nostrils flared and her eyes rolled back until the whites showed when a barrel of coffee was tossed up to a wagon.
    Lennox turned back toward William, ignoring the restless horse. “Once my mare races Taylor’s gelding and wins…” He stared significantly at William as if to force agreement.
    He nodded a response but didn’t commit himself to abstaining from the coming meet. Taylor’s gelding could run circles around every other horse south of Globe except Saladin.
    “Then I’ll have more than enough money to build the finest hotel in the territory. Right there!”
    Lennox flung out his arm to indicate the chosen hilltop just as idle chance quieted the depot for a moment. His coffee mug flew out of his hand and crashed against a chest waiting to be loaded. The mug’s destruction echoed like gunfire. Pottery shards and coffee lanced the air and found his mare.
    The blood bay reared and screamed, laying her ears back flat against her head. The reins snapped, setting her free to wreak havoc. Lennox’s eyes measured the distance from her to the gunpowder. He reached for his gun.
    William dropped his mug and ran toward her.
    The little mare kicked out, tearing chunks out of the buggy and breaking one of the traces. Her first panicky turn snapped the buggy against a