The Texan's Dream Read Online Free PDF Page B

seen her in a shadowy hallway, then later after she landed on him, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed her.
    Most of the women he’d talked to in his life had been weathered ranch wives with skin of leather, or painted, powdered girls at the saloons. Even in rags, Kara O’Riley outshone them all, and Jonathan knew he’d be facing problems if he took her into a country with few women and thousands of lonely men.
    “Where are your glasses?” he asked without moving from the doorway.
    “I must have forgotten them,” she answered, sounding puzzled. “My father said I should only wear them when I have to, lest I become dependent on them.”
    “I expect you to wear them from now on, Miss O’Riley. I’ll not have an employee running into things.” Or men falling over her, he almost added.
    “All right.” She frowned.
    Jonathan remembered his manners and motioned her in. “I thought you’d also be wearing your traveling clothes.”
    “I am.” She hesitantly stepped into the room. “I only came to tell you that I don’t think I should be in a gentleman’s room. So, I won’t be having dinner with you tonight.”
    Jonathan raised an eyebrow and stared at her closely. “You wouldn’t be here, Miss O’Riley, if you had arrived when the hotel dining room was still open. Besides, you’re not a lady in a man’s room. You’re my bookkeeper.”
    He wanted everything clear between them from the beginning. No misunderstandings. “In the next year we’ll be spending a great deal of time alone together and, I assure you, you’ll be perfectly safe from any advances you fear I might make.”
    She glanced at the food but didn’t move when Jonathan motioned for her to take a seat.
    He opened a lid, revealing a baked chicken. “As far as I’m concerned, Miss O’Riley, you are not a woman at all. When I look at you I see nothing but someone to keep my accounts.”
    He’d give truth to his words, he told himself, even if he had to blacken both his eyes on a regular basis. “Now, let’s eat before this meal gets cold.”
    She took a step closer, staring at the food instead of him.
    Jonathan continued as he sliced a piece of meat for each plate. “I don’t know if Mr. Clark explained everything in enough detail.” He added a portion of potatoes. “I’ve inherited a ranch. I need someone I can trust. I’ll pay all expenses, and a good wage, but I expect loyalty.”
    “You can trust me.” She glanced up at him as she took her place at the table.
    “Can I?” he wondered aloud. How could he possibly trust a woman he’d known only hours? “If I do, I expect you to be on my side and not sell out, no matter what you’re offered. If you hire on to work for me, you work for me.” He’d be willing to bet she’d be offered double the salary in less than a month to spy on him.
    “ ’Tis a fair request.” She watched him break open a loaf of bread.
    Jonathan handed her a piece. “But a warning. If you cross me, there’ll be hell to pay.”
    Fear danced in her eyes a moment before the stubbornness he’d seen earlier replaced alarm.
    “I’ll be on your side as long as you treat me with the same respect you would a man doing your books. I want no restrictions because I am a woman. I expect no special consideration. I’ll live up to my part of the bargain if you’ll live up to yours.”
    “Fair enough,” he agreed. As Jonathan watched her, his respect for her grew. She’d asked for a chance, the same chance he would give a man. He wanted to ask when she’d been made to feel so inferior, but he did not pry into her past. Neither would he allow her to look into his.
    If she knew him better, she might not volunteer her trust so quickly. In a matter of days, she’d hear the rumors about men he’d killed. About how he’d lived as a savage. About the way he kept people at a distance. She’d hear soon enough that he cared for nothing and for no one.
    He had no doubt she’d be told how cold and heartless he could be. Would she be loyal to him then? Would she stand at his side, maybe even