The Measure of a Lady Read Online Free PDF

to such treatment?
    With outrage pumping through her blood, Rachel flounced across the street, shoved her way through the throng, and whirled to face them, effectively blocking Lissa from view. ‘‘Just what do you think you are doing?’’
    A sea of men with flannel shirts, topcoats, pea jackets, and even a Mexican blanket stood tongue-tied before her. The sound of a fiddle from one of the neighboring saloons wove through the air.
    ‘‘Is something amiss?’’
    She jerked her attention to Mr. Parker as he leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, crossed one ankle over the other, then took a long puff on his cigar. Not even for an instant would she appreciate his cleanliness and freshly shaved face, not so long as he was one of them .
    ‘‘Cannot a lady walk on the street without constantly being accosted by unwelcome attention?’’
    He blew a steady stream of smoke into the air. ‘‘The attention might be unwelcome, but I feel sure it would be respectful.’’
    She narrowed her eyes, fumes from his cigar curling around her.
    ‘‘Rachel,’’ her sister implored.
    She ignored Lissa’s plea. The girl was too sympathetic by half.
    ‘‘I will not have Lissa ogled. She’s but a girl.’’
    ‘‘I’m fifteen. Sixteen in two months.’’
    ‘‘Hush up.’’
    ‘‘Rachel?’’ This from Michael, holding his hat in his hand. Not out of courtesy but out of necessity, for it was filled to brimming with gold.
    ‘‘Michael! What are you doing with all that?’’
    ‘‘It’s ours, Rachel.’’ His eyes shone with pride. ‘‘The men paid an ounce of gold just to hear Lissa sing for five minutes time.’’
    Blood drained from Rachel’s face then surged back into it. ‘‘Give it back. Every last bit of it.’’
    Michael balked. ‘‘I can’t do that.’’ He frowned, then straightened his shoulders. ‘‘I won’t do that.’’
    ‘‘Oh, yes you will.’’
    Rumbling began amongst the miners.
    Mr. Parker stepped forward. ‘‘Miss Van Buren, the men become a bit agitated when they don’t get what they pay for.’’
    She centered her focus onto him. ‘‘I cannot believe you would be party to this.’’
    He raised his brows. ‘‘I’ve nothing to do with it. In fact, this clever scheme of your lovely sister’s is keeping patrons from my establishment.’’ He gently grasped her elbow. ‘‘Now, if you please.’’
    She resisted his tug, but he increased the pressure on her elbow, bending down to whisper in her ear. ‘‘The men are intoxicated, they have guns, and, as you know, we are without a single police officer or watchman. You may take your sister to the back in but five minutes time. For now, however, and for the safety of all, you must step back. Please.’’
    This couldn’t be happening. What was Lissa thinking? Mama would turn over in her grave were she to witness such impropriety.
    Her head light, she allowed him to pull her against the front of the hotel. The cheers of the men made her ears ring as Lissa smiled adoringly at the crowd then began to sing ‘‘Now Gently O’er the Moonlit Sea.’’
    It was supposed to be a quartet for female voices, and Lissa had sung it in many a drawing room with other girls her age, but that was different. She had been in the homes of dear family friends, with invited guests.
    Rachel scanned the rough crowd, whose expressions would have been comical if the situation had not been so dire. All of them, that is, but one.
    He stood on the perimeter of the crowd, calmly watching the scene before him, his speculative gaze roving boldly over Lissa. He looked nothing like the typical miner. This handsome but solemn-faced gambler wore a black frock coat and skintight green checkered trousers.
    Goose pimples broke out across Rachel’s arms and up her spine. She shivered.
    The pressure on her elbow increased for a fleeting moment. ‘‘Steady, now, it’s almost over.’’
    She barely registered her captor’s comment, noting instead, for the