The Mavericks Read Online Free PDF

everything he said. He was just trying to help her stay out of trouble. And a woman as beautiful as Josie was bound to run into difficulty. If her temper didn’t cause it, her beauty would. She was the kind of woman men couldn’t stay away from even when they knew being close to her was dangerous.
    â€œSomebody would have come along, or we’d have figured it out,” Josie said.
    Hell, he wasn’t going to argue with a woman who refused to listen to reason. He’d be better advised to talk to his horses. At least they acted like he knew what he was talking about.
    â€œWhat are you doing out here in the first place? I’d have thought there was plenty of work in Globe.”
    â€œThere was until the fine ladies of the town decided dancing girls were a danger to their husbands’ morals.” Josie’s snort of indignation was loud and rude. “Even a cracked mirror should have told the wives their
appearance
was the greatest obstacle to marital fidelity.”
    â€œDon’t tell me they tried to close down the saloons.” Zeke had heard of women trying but not of any succeeding.
    â€œThey realized men have to eat and drink,” Suzette explained. “They just didn’t think the customers needed to be entertained at the same time.”
    â€œWe didn’t do anything but sing and dance,” Anna said, “but they didn’t believe us.”
    â€œThey needed somebody to blame,” Josie said, “so they picked us.”
    â€œThey picked
you
.” Laurie’s voice was too weak to convey any of the anger or animosity she might have felt.
    Apparently, the conversation had stirred up Josie’s resentment at her treatment. She talked with her hands, flinging the last bits of her stew into the air with one particularly angry gesture. Some pieces landed in the fire and sizzled noisily before bursting into tiny flames and leaving the unpleasant smell of burned meat.
    â€œForget about it,” Suzette said with a shrug. “We got our money, and we’ll be able to find jobs in Tombstone. I don’t like to stay in one town too long, anyway. The men get used to your act and start to want something else from you.”
    â€œDo you want some more stew?” Anna asked. “There’s still a little bit left.”
    Zeke and Hawk both got up and took their bowls over for the remainder. Zeke didn’t like to eat until he was uncomfortably full, but he couldn’t see any reason to waste good food.
    â€œWhoever saw a man who didn’t want more to eat?” Josie asked with a sharpness that would take the edge off any man’s appetite. “Why don’t you just give them the pot and let them finish what’s left?”
    â€œIsabelle says a gentleman never eats out of the pot,” Zeke said, his irritation at Josie’s jibes beginning to get to him. “Hawk and I eat out of bowls even when we’re on the trail by ourselves. Just because we’re camping outdoors doesn’t mean we don’t know how to act.” Zeke handed his bowl to Anna, then turned to Josie, waiting for her reply. She glared at him, shrugging her shoulders in a manner that suggested she didn’t believe a word Zeke said.
    â€œI met a man once who had lovely manners,” Laurie said. “He said he was the son of an earl.”
    â€œAnd you believed that?” Josie asked.
    â€œHawk and I took some blooded bulls up to Monty Randolph’s ranch in Wyoming a few years ago,” Zeke said before Laurie could reply. “He had an earl and a couple of younger sons of a Scottish duke staying with him. They wanted Monty’s advice on buying a ranch in Montana.”
    Zeke doubted that Josie knew of Monty Randolph or the reputation of the Randolph family, but she didn’t challenge his statement.
    â€œI think as many men know good manners aswomen,” Anna said. “It just seems men can do without them