Forsaken Dreams by MaryLu Tyndall Read Free Book Online Page A

chair, slamming him against the tavern wall. Dust showered him from above. Spitting it away, Hayden held up arms of surrender. “My name is Elias Jones, sir. You have the wrong man.” He tried to make out the man’s features in the shadows, but he couldn’t recollect him from the many men he had swindled over the past years. How was Hayden supposed to remember each one?
    “Do I now?” The man gritted his teeth and hissed like an angry cat. “You’re the one, all right. You defiled my wife and swindled my family out of our last two hundred dollars. No, no, I’d know you anywhere.” Releasing Hayden, he slugged him across the jaw.
    Hayden’s head whipped around. His cheek stung. Ah yes, now he remembered the man. Rubbing his face, he glanced over at Mr. Ladson, who had put down the pen and was frowning at Hayden. Blast it all! Hayden released a foul curse. “I have no idea what you are referring to, sir.” Drawing back, Hayden slammed his fist into the man’s rather large belly. “But I will not stand by while you attack me and my character without cause.” He shook his aching hand, but the man barely toppled over before he righted himself.
    The music stopped, and a crowd formed around the altercation. Hayden wiped blood from his lip. He supposed he deserved the man’s rage and worse for what he had done, but why did he have to find Hayden now when he was on the cusp of a huge deal?
    Fist raised, the man charged Hayden again. This time Hayden blocked his blow with one hand while shoving the other across the man’s jaw. Cheers erupted from the mob as more of the besotted gathered around to be entertained. But Hayden had no desire to provide said entertainment. He had no beef with this man, and he certainly didn’t relish dying on the sticky floor of this hole-in-the-wall. Hayden’s strike barely caused the burly man’s head to swivel.
    Shaking out the pain in his hand once again, Hayden backed away, studying the room for the best escape route. The man pulled out a pistol. Hayden barely heard the hammer snap into place over the raucous cheers, but the sound of it spelled certain doom.
    “I’ll kill you for what you’ve done, ye thievin’ carp.”
    Hayden had no doubt he would do just that. “Now, calm yourself, sir. If you kill me, you’ll go to jail, hang for murder. Then what would become of your lovely wife?”
    The man seemed to be pondering that very thing as the shouts of the throng grew in intensity. This can’t be the end . Hayden could not die for one night with a lady he barely remembered and a measly two hundred dollars. It just didn’t seem fair. He’d done far worse than that in recent years. Several of those incidents now passed through his mind like a badly acted play—a play that would no doubt be performed before God on judgment day. Shame burned within him.
    The ogre smacked his lips together. “Naw, killin’ you will be worth it.” He fired his pistol. Searing pain struck Hayden’s side. Gunpowder stung his nose. The mob went wild, some rushing toward Hayden, others toward the man, while some broke into fistfights among themselves.
    Gripping his side, Hayden ducked and wove a trail through the frenzied mob, finally blasting through the front door into the cool night air. He stumbled down the street, wincing at the pain and ignoring the horrified looks of passing citizens. He couldn’t risk someone helping him. They would ask too many questions. Besides, his ruse was blown. He must leave town as soon as possible. The pain of losing the fortune hurt nearly as much as his bullet wound. Nearly.
    He slipped into a dark alleyway and slid to the ground by a rotting barrel. A rat sped across a shaft of moonlight. Hayden removed his hand. Blood poured from the wound. He peered into the shadows and grabbed a paper lying nearby. He intended to press it over his wound when a word at the top caught his eye. B RAZIL . He read further. A ship called the New Hope was leaving tomorrow at