The Iron Horseman Read Online Free PDF Page A

mother to move west so they could be closer, but she’d
insisted she and their two children stay in Chicago. Cadence felt like she
barely knew her father anymore, but in that moment, she realized just how much
she wanted to be reacquainted.
    You
sound like a little girl , she chastised herself inwardly. Stop it.
    “Of
course I know him. Eamon and I have worked very closely over the last year or
so. He speaks very fondly of you.” He snapped the reins on the horse with a
slight jerk of his wrists. His arms felt good around her and a flush of heat
spread in her cheeks at the thought. “Look,” he said quietly, almost a whisper
in her ear.
    Cadence
looked up to see her chestnut mare a few yards ahead of them, drinking from the
stream. For a horse that had been bred out West, she sure had been jittery
around that slithering critter.
    Levi
pulled his mount to a stop and helped Cadence down from the saddle before
getting down himself. “Here, hold these, will you?” He handed Apollo’s reins to
her and took a few carefully placed steps toward the mare. She looked up at him
and nickered softly. Levi reached out for her reins, which dangled on the
ground and into the edge of the water, patting her neck and mumbling something
Cadence couldn’t hear. It didn’t take long for him to coax the animal back to
where she stood.
    “Why
don’t you ride Apollo back and I’ll take this old girl here.” With a gentle
nudge of her nose into Levi’s face, it seemed the ‘old girl’ approved. Levi
laughed—a great sound.
    “Why
do they call you the Iron Horseman?” she asked. “It seems you are anything but
iron-like with horses, so I assume it has something to do with your job since
I’ve heard steam locomotives referred to as iron horses.”
    Her
question evoked a wide smile in his tanned features and a loud guffaw erupted
as he tossed his head backward with obvious amusement. Cadence’s heart did a
little flip-flop inside of her chest. She couldn’t remember ever having seen a
man with teeth so white or a smile that lit up such a beautiful face so fully.
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks again at the thought.
    Still
chuckling, Levi collected himself enough to look at her. “I’m afraid, my lady,”
he said with a slight bow, “that is a story for another day.” He pulled himself
up onto the mare. “We should get back.”
    Cadence
climbed up into the saddle on his horse and clicked her tongue. “I’ll race you
back,” she called over her shoulder as she quickly urged Apollo into motion.
    “Oh,
no you don’t,” she heard Levi call from behind her.
    Cadence
couldn’t help the wave of giggles that erupted from the pit of her belly as
blood rushed through her body, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. Apollo
was powerful. No wonder Levi had chosen him.
    The
wind whipped through her loose hair and she scolded herself for leaving her hat
back at the livery. It would take a long time to get a brush through her hair
tonight, but right now, it didn’t matter. She was having more fun than she’d
had in a long time.
    The
sound of Levi’s whistles and hollering had quieted. Cadence dared a glance
behind her only to find that he was nowhere to be seen. A slight twinge of
worry crept into her thoughts and she considered turning around until she saw
Levi to her far right galloping up the middle of the street from the other
direction toward the livery. She quickly inched her already bunched dress up a
little higher on her legs to give her more room, leaned down closer to the
saddle horn, and squeezed her knees into the impressive gelding’s flanks. With
the livery focused in her sights, she raced toward the building with reckless
determination.
    As
she approached the livery’s front gate, Levi whizzed past her and she watched
with amazement as he dismounted at a run directly in front of the livery while
the horse was still moving. Too late, Cadence realized she was running out of
road. She pulled herself up with a