The Texan's Reward Read Online Free PDF

but she’s not fool enough to promise anything before
    she can weigh the ful measure of a man with her own eyes.”

    “When we left, that bossy nurse was putting her down for a nap. So you might wait an hour or so. What do you
    plan to do if this mail-order husband shows up before then?” Jacob raised an eyebrow.

    “I’ll meet this fellow, Walter Farrow’s his name according to Riley, when he steps off the train. If he thinks he’s
    going to bully our Nell, he’s got another think coming.” The old sheriff accepted a drink from the bartender,
    downed it in one quick swal ow, and added, “See you at Nel ’s for supper.”

    Rand Harrison didn’t look up from his notebook, but he nodded once in agreement.

    Jacob frowned from Harrison to the sheriff. He didn’t like the idea of having to talk Nell into marrying him in
    front of a crowd. She was hardheaded enough on a calm day when they had time and privacy. Now he’d have to
    do his talking in front of not only that mothering nurse but Harrison and the sheriff. With his luck, Marla, Nell’s
    cook, and little Gypsy, would join them. Who knows, maybe Nel ’s fiancé by mail would show up.

    He stormed toward the barbershop, thinking he might as well rent the town hall and hold a meeting. Nel
    probably wouldn’t mind at al . She’d lived her whole life with the town watching and disapproving of her. She
    wouldn’t care if they all watched. None of them had been willing to take a hooker’s child in to raise when Nell’s
    mother died, but they’d complained about Fat Alice offering her shelter. “No place for a child to grow up,”
    everyone had said. Then, when Fat Alice had left her considerable property to Nell, who was little more than a
    girl, the town had talked for weeks. Jacob didn’t want to guess what they’d said last month when she advertised
    from Amarillo to Dallas for a husband.

    Not that any of that mattered, he thought as he stomped into the barbershop, waking Jessie who napped in his
    barber chair. Once he married Nell, no one would dare show her anything but respect. He’d see to it.

    “Afternoon, Dalton.” Jessie climbed from his chair. “I sure hope you’re here for a bath. I smelled you coming
    when you were half a block away.” The barber walked around Jacob as though he were a horse to buy. “And
    we’d better get some of that hair off your face and shoulders or folks will be yelling that a bear’s in town
    dressed up like a ranger.” He giggled at his own joke, making a rattling sound like he was stuttering his way
    through a hiccup.

    Jacob growled, knowing the barber would repeat his words to everyone who stopped by the shop. “I didn’t
    come here to talk, Jessie. I just need a bath and a shave.” He lifted his saddlebags. “I brought clean clothes, but
    I’d like to leave the ones I’m wearing if you’ve still got someone who does laundry.”

    Jessie took no offense at the ranger’s bad mood. “I’ll put a pot on to boil while you haul water from the well out
    back. By the time you fill the tank, I’ll have enough hot water for you to wash the first layer or two off. But it’ll
    take a day or two to get your clothes washed.”

    “Fair enough.” Jacob dropped his bags and grabbed the buckets.

    Thirty minutes later, Jacob sat in a steaming tub. He dropped his head beneath the water, then rose up and
    shook water across the storage room Jessie called his bath chamber. Jacob had too much on his mind to relax,
    so he took to scrubbing.

    Nell filled his thoughts. What worried him more than he wanted to admit was that he feared Nell may have
    given up on her idea to run her own ranches. Before her accident, she thought she could do anything a man
    could do. Now she seemed to have decided that she needed one.

    He could see why she’d like someone like Harrison. He was thin, but not a weasel like Jacob thought might
    answer her ad. He acted and talked like a gentleman and seemed honest with Nel about what