Wild Kat Read Online Free PDF Page A

never
have him. She would always be a better man than he was.
     
    “Where’s
the hog?”  Thomas asked quietly.  He aimed to soothe the angry words away, he
had his doubts she would return at all.
    “Being
delivered.  I brought more seeds and I ordered a few things.  Here is the
mail.”  She handed it to him climbing down.
    “These
are for you.” Thomas flipped through the letters.
    “Are
they?  I didn’t look.”  He handed the letters back and took the reins from her.
    “All
three are yours.”  She took her mail in the house and sat at the table. The
first two were whiskey orders.  The third was a letter from her sister Julie. 
Kat cried as she read the letter.
    That
day had been the worst of her short life.  Kat only eleven then, spied on her
older sister and her beau, Doug.  She watched them make love in the hayloft the
night before and announced it at the breakfast table to their parents.  Her
father was livid.  He threatened to take Julie to a convent and Julie ran
away.  She and Doug weren’t heard from since.  Her mother and father, finding
Julie missing at bedtime, got in the wagon and headed for Doug’s home place. 
Her angry father not thinking cut through a field seldom used and rolled the
wagon over a rocky hillside.   They were both killed.  Julie did not know her
parents were dead and she wrote to apologize for running.  She had twins last
fall and they were all happy in New York.  She would write again soon.
    “Are
you all right?”  Thomas’ big rough hand squeezed her shoulder.  Kat jumped
startled. She had not heard him come in.  “Bad news?”
    “No
actually it’s good. My sister had twins.  She does not know about our parents
though.”
    “I
am sorry.  Maybe you could visit her.”  Thomas sat down beside her.  The chair
creaked with his weight.
    “And
let you have my farm?”  Her voice rose to a fevered pitch.
    “Are
we back to that again?  It’s my farm I told you.”  He answered calmly.
    “I
will buy it from you.”  She offered hastily.  Thomas stood towering over her.
    “It
is not for sale.”  He leaned back against a wall and crossed his arms over his
massive chest.
    “I
will give you five thousand for it.  You can start a better farm somewhere
else.”  Her eyes were wild and desperate.  Thomas wondered if she would have
hysterics.  He heard of women having them before and they had to be slapped. 
He thought he may enjoy that right now.
    “Not
for sale.”  He shook his head.
    “Then
I will wait, Mister Woods.”  She stood before him, her back straight and her
entire body rigid.
    “Do
that Miss Whitley.”   He stomped out.  “Damned woman.”  Thomas kicked the
dirt.  Toby trotted after him staying clear of the big boots.
     
    They
worked side by side on the garden, silently.  Each one eyed the other
suspiciously.  They tended their chores, Kat doing most of the work.  She was
earning her keep by cleaning, washing and preparing meals.  Thomas wanted to be
friends with this beauty.  She had a nice sense of humor and her mind was as
sharp as a steel trap.  She reminded him a lot of his own mother.  He wondered
if there was a chance that he could talk her into going to the altar but only if
he could dull that sharp tongue. He was mature enough to know this was a small
argument and nothing to get upset about.           
    Kat’s
belly flip-flopped when he got too close her gut twisting for reasons she did
not understand and muscles deep in her belly clenched unbidden.  Her hands
trembled sometimes when she knew he was watching and her breast filled with
butterflies.  He would be gone next winter and things would get back to normal
but did she really want to spend the rest of her days here alone?  She played
with Toby and tried to teach him to hunt but he was not as good at it as she
was.  She did manage to teach him to fetch and roll over. Thomas watched her,
his own pulse quickened when she was too