Wild Texas Rose Read Online Free PDF Page A

pumpkins?” Abe fought not to smile.
    The judge just swore and smoked. “You and my brother are ganging up on me. He keeps telling me to forget about women all together. He thinks I should hang a shingle up here and go to work behind a desk.” Killian laughed. “The last time he picked me up in the gutter, Shawn told me he felt like knocking some sense into me. Before I passed out, I thought of daring him to, but hell, I’d probably be beaten up by a ghost with my luck.”
    In the quiet dawn both men watched the schoolteacher walk across the street. She minded her steps, avoiding mud until she reached the steps of the little schoolhouse. She moved like a willow, Abe thought, and never offered a smile to anyone but her students.
    “How old is she?” Killian asked as if just making conversation.
    “I don’t know. She looked almost too young to be a teacher when she came here eight years ago, but they said she’d already taught at a school up north for a year. I’m guessing now she’s twenty-seven or -eight.”
    “Well on the way to being an old maid,” Killian said. “She ever had any suitors come calling?”
    Abe shrugged. “I’ve never noticed any man dropping by. She walks past my place heading back to the boardinghouse every evening. I’ve never seen anyone with her.”
    “Kind of a shame. She’s not exactly pretty, but she’s not homely either.”
    “She’s far too thin for you.” Abe lowered his voice.
    “I know. Plus she’s the proper type. Probably wouldn’t let my brother hang around. Some women start acting funny when I tell them he died a dozen years ago. They seem to be of the opinion that he shouldn’t still be waiting around before passing on to the hereafter. I’ve told him a hundred times that he should go, but he says he’s got to stay around and keep me company.”
    Abe continued to watch the schoolhouse door even though the teacher had disappeared. “If you ever do find one who doesn’t mind Shawn, marry her no matter how thick or thin she is. She’d be one in a million, I’d guess.” He almost added that he’d do exactly that if he ever found a woman who didn’t mind his limp.
    They were both silent as they watched the teacher open the windows. The winter day promised to be warm and Abe guessed she wanted to air the place out.
    “She’s more your type, Abe.” Killian held the cup almost to his mouth when he spoke.
    “Not likely, but I will say she’s a worker.” Abe shook his head. “It’s a week before school starts back and she’s already getting everything ready. For what they pay her she should only work a few hours a day, but she’s in that room from dawn to dusk.”
    Killian tossed his cigar in the mud. “You ever talk to her?”
    Abe shook his head. “Only when she orders supplies. You’d think in the eight years I’ve been watching her go back and forth to work I would have thought of something to say besides ‘How many do you want, Miss Norman’ or ‘I’ll have it in a week.’”
    Killian refilled his half-empty cup of coffee with whiskey from a flask. “Maybe you should grab her and kiss her. If she likes you, she’ll kiss you back. If she doesn’t, she’ll slap you. Either way, you’ll know how she feels.”
    “Where’d you get that advice?”
    Killian winked. “Shawn told me. I haven’t had a chance to test it. Most of the women I meet are defendants.”
    Abe ordered in a low voice, “Tell your dead brother to stay out of my love life.”
    “You don’t have a love life,” Killian corrected.
    “Neither do you, and bathing only when you hit town isn’t a good plan if you ever want one.”
    Both men laughed, something either rarely did. They talked on about the weather and work, but both knew the importance of this hour they spent had little to do with what they said. It was the one time they both could almost believe their world was normal and they were just like everyone else.

Chapter 4
    Main Street
    R ose shifted and tried to