Daisies In The Wind by Jill Gregory Read Free Book Online

Rawlings?”
    No, I’m Bear Rawlings’s daughter, so of
course I’m a thief, trying to steal this run-down, good-for-nothing
snake pit of a shack.
    Rebeccah glared at him and, without
answering, began to clamber down from the wagon. But the hem of her
gown caught on the splintered old wagon seat, and she pitched
forward with a panicked yelp. She would have fallen flat on her
face in the dirt, but Wolf Bodine instantly spurred his horse
forward and grabbed her as she toppled out. He scooped her up
alongside him so that she sprawled across his saddle.
    “If you aren’t the
clumsiest
woman,”
he muttered, shaking his head in wonder. “You probably fall out of
your bed every night.”
    “I do not!” she snapped, strangely distracted
by his nearness, by the sensation of being held in rocklike arms.
“And what goes on in my bed is hardly your concern!” she flashed.
Then, as her own words echoed in her ears, she turned scarlet.
    The bright flush traveled up her neck,
suffused her cheeks, nose, and forehead, and burned her ears.
    “I didn’t say it was,” he replied softly, but
his eyes were brimming with gentle amusement. “Unless you want to
give me firsthand evidence ...”
    “You ... oh!” She shoved hard against his
massive chest, which only made his grin deepen. Dimples appeared
within his bronzed cheeks.
    Rebeccah pushed him again. “You’re the most
vile-minded, insufferable man. I’m damned if I need your help! Set
me down this minute!”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    He lowered her to the ground, still grinning.
As she straightened her hat and twitched at the hem of her skirt,
he shook his head. “Can’t see what you’re so all-fired upset
about,” he commented mildly, just to irritate her.
    “You! And this ... place. I expected this
ranch to he a
bit
more prosperous-looking, that’s all.
It’s a shock.”
    He dismounted, then reached into the wagon
for her trunk and lifted it down with ease. He set it beside her in
the darkening yard. Her parcels and hatbox followed. “Maybe you
should think about selling,” he said slowly. “It’ll take a lot of
work and a lot of money to make a go of this place. I’m sure Jed
Turner over at the land office would be glad to put it on the
market for you. You could get a good price.”
    So he was still trying to get rid of her.
Rebeccah squared her shoulders and turned toward him. “Let’s get
something straight right now, Sheriff Bodine,” she said quietly.
“I’m not selling this property. I’m not leaving Powder Creek. This
is my home, my ranch, and it’s going to be the biggest, grandest,
most prosperous ranch in the territory before I get through with
it, so you can save your long faces and dire threats for some
stupid little ninny, which you obviously mistake me for, because I
am neither stupid nor a ninny, and nobody tells me what to do.”
    Now it was his turn to be angry. Even in the
gathering dusk she could see it. He scowled at her from beneath his
hat, and she sensed the tension in his tall frame. He reached out a
hand, tilted up her chin, forced her to meet his gaze. “Let me give
you a little warning, Miss Rawlings.” He took a step closer, and
leaned down, his face very close to hers. “You’d better not be as
low-down and crooked as your father was because we don’t put up
with lawbreakers in Powder Creek. And being a woman won’t save you
from getting plunked in jail if I get even a hint that you’re mixed
up in any dirty dealings. If anyone shady shows up in town, I’ll be
breathing down your neck so fast, you won’t even see me coming.
I’ll lock you up in that nice little cell in my office and throw
the key in the river, so help me God, I will. You understand?
Because it’s easy to see you’re as stubborn and as bad-tempered as
your father, but if you take after him in any other way—”
    “Damn you,” Rebeccah cried. Her fingers
balled into fists. “My father was
not
bad-tempered!”
    “What?”
    She was quivering with