This Fierce Splendor Read Online Free PDF

quality instead of quantity.”
    “Flagging manhood!” Dominic took a sip of coffee before he turned his gaze to Patrick with the faintest flicker of a smile. “When you get a little older, my lad, you’ll find a true man has to challenge himself on occasion.” He grimaced. “And last night was definitely a challenge.”
    “Were the ladies satisfied?”
    “I don’t remember.” Dominic rubbed his temple. “But I think I was. And I’m sure Rina will let me know when she wakes up if she wasn’t.”
    Patrick chuckled. “I agree. Rina’s not shy about voicing her displeasure.” Not that Patrick could recall a time when Dominic had had a problem pleasing Rina Bradshaw. The madam seemed more than happy to have Dominic’s company in and out of bed as often as possible. Patrick rocked the chair onto its rear legs and pushed his stetson to the back of his head. “Maybe you’re right. Could be this isn’t such a bad life after all.”
    Dominic took another sip of coffee and looked straight ahead. “Don’t even think about it. You’re going back to Killara first thing tomorrow morning.”
    Patrick raised a quizzical brow. “Oh, am I, Uncle Dominic, sir? And just what would you say if I decided to stay and join you in a life of decadence?”
    “I’d knock you on your ass, tie you on your horse, and send you packing to Killara. Then I’d tell everyone in Hell’s Bluff if they allowed you in a saloon, a whorehouse, or even in the general store, they’d have to face me.” He smiled with a gentleness that was more menacing than anger. “Would you care to call my bluff, Patrick?”
    Patrick gave a low whistle and shook his head. “Not at the moment. It would be a waste of time, as I have every intention of going home tomorrow. In fact, I would have been home tonight if my horse hadn’t thrown a shoe about five miles out of town.”
    “You could have told me.”
    Patrick grinned. “And missed the chance of goading dangerous Dominic Delaney? You have things too much your own way here, Dom. You need someone around to whittle you down a peg.”
    Dominic suddenly smiled with engaging warmth. “You do a pretty good job. I’m lucky you aren’t around all the time, or I’d be whittled down to the size of a toothpick.” He finished his coffee. “Well, as long as you’re here you might as well enjoy the fruits of corruption for a little longer. Do you want to come over to the Nugget with me and see if we can get up a game?”
    “Maybe later. I thought we’d go over to the hotel for a meal.” Patrick paused. “There’s someone there I want you to meet. She arrived on the stage this afternoon.”
    “She?” Dominic smiled faintly. “Dulcie couldn’t have been as good as you say if you had to go out and find another ladyfriend so soon.”
    “It’s nothing like that. You’re the reason she’s come to Hell’s Bluff. She said she had a business proposition for you.”
    “Maybe Rina has been telling the world about my skills,” Dominic drawled. “Do you think she wants to hire me as her fancy man?”
    Patrick frowned. “I’m not joking. She’s not like that, Dom. She’s kind of …” He shrugged. “She’s a lady.”
    “Evidently one who has impressed you considerably.” Dom was studying him speculatively. “Pretty?”
    “Good Lord, no.” Patrick shook his head. “She looks like the schoolteacher we had living at the ranch after Rising Star came. Spectacles and prim and proper as they come. She said you knew her father, Professor Edmund MacGregor.
    “Christ, I thought I’d shaken off that little bastard.”
    “You did. The lady said he had departed this world for a better place. Who was he?”
    “A very persistent and unpleasant gentleman with the hide of an armadillo and the narrowmindness of a preacher’s virgin daughter.”
    “Some of them aren’t all that narrowminded,”Patrick protested. “I ran into one last year in Tucson who was neither a—”
    “What does she want with