A Lady in Defiance by Heather Blanton Read Free Book Online Page B

Give
her, give all of us, wisdom and discernment as we deal with each new
situation...”
    He turned away and walked back outside, lost in thought.
Memories flooded him and he was ten-years-old again. Sweat trickled down his
brow and his tie grieved him fiercely. He remembered a preacher, new to
Charleston, who had droned on and on in the suffocating August heat about the
Savior’s great sacrifice. Even then McIntyre had been disinclined to accept
that Jesus could love the whole human race so much He would willingly die for
it. But he also remembered his mother beside him on the pew, lost in prayer,
seeking the will of a god who loved her.
    He cleared his throat. But apparently no one else, he
mused, thinking over the monstrous acts of violence he had witnessed with his
own eyes. God, he had firmly decided years ago, was a crutch for compassionate
and genteel women who would never see the things he had seen.
    “You all right, boss?” Wade asked from the wagon seat. “You
look sort of like you got some bad elk.”
    McIntyre waved at him with that practiced air of hauteur.
“I’m fine. See to those things I asked you about.” Wade nodded and snapped the
reins.
    Strangely disquieted by the prayer, McIntyre took a puff on
the cheroot and wondered if maybe he had made a mistake in letting these women
come to his town. The thought was short lived. How much damage could three
Bible-toting, prudish Southern belles do in a town this mean? They would be
lucky to survive it. He would be lucky to keep them from being kidnapped by
randy miners or renegade Utes. Troubled, he rubbed his neck. Yes, indeed, those
were always possibilities. Muttering a curse, he snuffed the barely smoked
cheroot under his boot and decided he would make sure Wade kept an eye on the
little angels until further notice.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter 5
     
    As the Conestoga disappeared around the corner, Naomi stepped
outside. McIntyre thought she looked, well, refreshed, or at least more
relaxed. That was good, considering what was coming. Maybe she wouldn’t reach
for a gun when she found out the details of this business deal.
    “The marshal has taken your wagon around back. I’ve asked him
to find Emilio to help unload the heavy items.”
    “Thank you,” she replied, less haughtily than he’d expected.
    He pointed across the street. “The bank is just over there.”
    “Well, I’m ready.”
    As they crossed the street together, McIntyre asked, “When is
your sister’s baby due?” Naomi’s quick stumble and clenched jaw was all he
needed to know he was right. He assumed, therefore, he was right about the
absent father as well.
    “Baby? What baby?” He thought her voice sounded shrill and
shaky.
    “Come now, Mrs. Miller,” he chided as they negotiated street
traffic. “You should remember that I have several women in my employ. I notice
things about a woman’s figure that most men don’t.”
    “What you don’t know. . ” She turned on him as they reached
the boardwalk and raked him with an icy stare that would have terrorized a
lesser man, “is that not everything in Defiance is your business.”
    He begged to differ, but didn’t say so. He had acquired
enough of this woman’s animosity and still might have more coming once they
were in the attorney’s office. Acquiescing only for the moment, he ushered her
further down the walk.
    “You need to learn the difference between friends and
enemies, Your Highness. Perhaps the question was rather impertinent of me, but
I was thinking of Hannah’s wellbeing. Should she need the services of a doctor
or midwife−”
    “We don’t need anything,” Naomi spat without looking at him.
    He took the hint and changed the subject. “Speaking of
health, the man you encountered on the street today−”
    “ Which man? The one who took Hannah’s bonnet or the
drunk who nearly climbed in the wagon with us?” McIntyre didn’t miss the subtle
accusatory tone in her voice, as if all the rude behavior