Broddock-Black 05 - Force of Nature by Susan Johnson Read Free Book Online

evening” as he moved across the room.
    “You should come into town more often,” Stewart said with a grin when Flynn reached him. “I can practically hear the female hearts beating from here.”
    Flynn didn’t pretend not to understand and his smile held a distinct touch of Irish charm. “If every bloody cattle baron didn’t want my land, maybe I could. Congratulations, Stewart. You deserve this celebration.”
    “Glad you could make it.”
    “I wouldn’t have missed it. Thanks to you, there’s hundreds of kids going to school who otherwise wouldn’t.”
    “Couldn’t have built those schools without generous donors like you, my boy. You deserve a medal too,” the heavy-set, older man replied, tapping the gold medallion pinned to his lapel. “Right purty, ain’t it? Lillibet designed it,” he added, proudly. “And if’n you should ever get it in your head to take the plunge and get hitched, I might be willing to cede over a couple of copper mines for the right son-in-law.” He guffawed at Flynn’s sudden discomposure. “Jest a thought, my boy. It ain’t as if I haven’t offered you her hand afore.”
    Stewart’s daughter Elizabeth was sweet and pretty and so utterly innocent she’d make a perfect wife for any man looking for pure unadulterated wholesomeness. A shame he didn’t have an eye for innocence. “If I ever decide to marry, Stewart, you’ll be the first to know.”
    Stewart winked. “I jus’ want last bid, Flynn. That’s all I ask.” Since Lillibet adored Flynn with a schoolgirl’s crush, her father wasn’t offering his daughter without her consent. “Think about it. You wouldn’t have to fend off those Empire renegades everyday. You and Lillibet could retire to Europe for all
    I care.”
    “You’re tempting me, Stewart,” Flynn said with a grin. “You mean I could sleep again at night?”
    “Since when do you want to waste your time sleeping,” Trey interposed, coming up on the men. “There’s better things to do at night. Not that I have to tell you that, Flynn.” The two men were not only good friends, but also the most eligible bachelors in Montana. Their good looks and wealth, along with their reputed stamina in bed, occasioned a steady supply of women in hot pursuit.
    “I don’t know about you, Trey, but on a working ranch we go to bed early.”
    “You may go to bed early. As for sleeping”—Trey’s brows rose—“that I doubt.”
    “Well, boys will be boys; that’s the way of the world,” Stewart noted with a grin. “But you’all are going to have to settle down someday. And I’m a patient man. Now how about some bourbon and branch water. We’re all too sober.”
    Even in the hard-drinking frontier society, Flynn drank more than usual that evening—always out of his element in tie and tails, not in the mood for all the ladies looking for an invitation to join him in bed later, not sure himself why none of the women appealed. Perhaps he’d been up country too long and was out of touch with city flirtations, perhaps there was a sameness about the pretty faces that elicited ennui rather than interest. Whatever the reason, he found himself watching the slow-moving hands of the clock, hoping the after-dinner speeches wouldn’t be too lengthy, and planning to leave as soon as courtesy allowed.
    He barely touched his food, his conversation was minimal, his constantly refilled glass systematically emptied as though it was his mission to outdrink everyone in the room. With luck, Lillibet wouldn’t corner him before he could escape. Although, he could already hear the orchestra warming up in the ballroom and she always insisted on the first dance with him. She was so clearly adoring, he was running out of polite excuses to her invitations; church socials, Grange picnics and the like weren’t high on his list of priorities. In the meantime . . . oh, God, Clara Moore was getting up to sing.
    He waved a waiter over to refill his glass.

Chapter 9

    J o arrived