Lisa Plumley by The Honor-Bound Gambler Read Free Book Online Page B

about to occur. For the first time ever, she’d invited a man to dinner. He’d accepted. And now...who knew what might happen.
    Fastening a smile on her face, Violet tugged open the door.
    The gambler Cade Foster stood on her front porch, with the setting sun and all of Morrow Creek behind him, attired in yet another of his well-designed suits. His dark hair, brushed from his face in waves, framed his features superbly. His white shirt looked crisp. His necktie looked silky. His coat set off his broad-shouldered physique to perfection. He looked... wonderful.
    The only thing missing in his appearance was—
    A smile. Just as she thought it, Cade gifted her with one. At the sight of it, Violet’s poor heart pitter-pattered twice as energetically. He really was so handsome. And so charming!
    Unfortunately, while Violet was savoring the sight of him , Cade was enjoying an equal opportunity to scrutinize her . He sent his gaze roving over her flowing calico skirts, her dress’s high-buttoned bodice, her lace-trimmed shawl...and nodded.
    “You look lovely.” He took her hand in greeting. His fingers felt warm over hers—warm and deft and masculine. “That dress brings out the green in your eyes. They’re sparkling.”
    “That’s because I’m happy to see you. Please, come in!”
    Violet stepped back with a flourish, feeling uncommonly pleased that he’d approved of her ensemble. The oak plank floorboards creaked under her feet; the scent of roast chicken and root vegetables wafted from the kitchen’s cast-iron stove. Expectantly, she clasped her hands, waiting for him to enter.
    Cade didn’t move. Instead he gave her a doubtful frown. “I hope it’s all right if there’s one more for dinner.”
    From behind him, Cade reached for something. He dragged it forward. At first it looked like a bundle of cast-off clothing. Then it resolved itself into a scrawny child—a boy with wary eyes, sharp features and an overall air of shameful neglect.
    “Tobe Larkin, I’d like you to meet Miss Violet Benson,” Cade said. To Violet he added, “Tobe is one of the first people I met in Morrow Creek. I...ran into him on my way here and decided to bring him along.”
    “Why, that’s fine,” Violet began. “One more is always—”
    “He shanghaied me!” The boy, Tobe, jerked his arm out of Cade’s grasp. He glowered at Violet. “I tole him, that lady done dropped her reticule! I was only gonna return it to her, is all. Nothin’ more’n that. Until this here knuck picked me up clean off’n the depot platform and said it was the sheriff or you —”
    Cade kicked his foot. As though recognizing that signal, Tobe quit talking. Instead he raised his chin. Then he sniffed.
    “Is that chicken I smell?” Enthusiastically, the boy strode inside the house. “Chicken and biscuits, maybe? Mmm, mmm, mmm.”
    With a confidence that belied his few years, Tobe stepped farther into the entryway. He propped both hands on his hips. “This might be all right, I reckon. Only don’t you get no ideas about sellin’ me into white slavery or nothin’, Miss Benson,” he warned. “I done heard’a you plenty. I aim to be on my guard the whole time I’m here, and that’s for certain. I ain’t no fool.”
    “Well, I—” Mystified by his wrongheaded notions about her, Violet hesitated. “We’ve only just met. I wouldn’t think to—”
    She glanced to Cade for guidance. He was watching Tobe with a strange, mingled sense of stoniness and nostalgia on his face.
    “— sell anyone,” she continued, wondering all the while at Cade’s unusual expression. “I’m certainly not a white slaver!”
    Where in the world had the boy gotten such a nonsensical idea? Violet could scarcely fathom it. Indeed, she helped many different people in town, including children, but the people whom she helped were generally grateful for her assistance.
    “He’s afraid you’ll send him to a foundling home,” Cade explained, doubtless recognizing