Mail-Order Man by Martha Hix Read Free Book Online Page A

behind her to tie it around her trim waist. Skinny she might be, but she had a nice shape. With no corset to get in the way. Behave, this is a lady . It wouldn’t do to make her think he was an American Romeo, especially since the stepmother might have a lot to say about his reputation.
    He settled on the situation at hand. “Tall order, keeping a ranch going without cowboys.”
    â€œIt hasn’t been ‘going.’ We expected . . . more than we found.” She looked away. “We thought the cowboys would come back, since the fighting’s over.”
    While Brax sympathized with her predicament, what was the use of pussyfooting around the truth? “Forget the cowboys.”
    He knew what he was talking about. According to Titus, most had quit, then scattered, when he’d volunteered for the army. Of the eight who followed the major, five died in battle. That left Tennessee Frost, Snuffy Johnson, and Luckless Litton. Tennessee lost his sight at Gettysburg, which sent him to a sister in Flat Creek. Brax and Geoff had stopped there on the way from Virginia. Ole Tennessee had taken up preaching.
    â€œAfter Chickamauga I lost contact with what was left of the Nickel Dime cowboys. That’s when I parted from Hood’s Texas Brigade, Chickamauga. When John Bell Hood took a shell in his leg. He recuperated in Richmond. I was with him,” Brax explained. “If Snuffy and Litton are alive, they may or may not show up. It’s a long haul back to Texas.” Brax thought about his once brutalized feet. “Especially if they’re walking.”
    â€œWe had so counted on them. Claudine and I have considered mounting a trail drive to the port of Indianola.”
    â€œYou’ve named a trail boss?” He suspected not.
    She licked her lips. “Would you be willing . . . ?
    Yep, strong back required. “It takes thousands of dollars to get a herd to market. Salaries, grub, supplies.”
    She blew a stream of air toward the ceiling. “What about a tannery? We’ve heard there’s good money in hides and tallow.”
    â€œYou ever been around a tannery?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThe stink would gag a buzzard.”
    Her cute little nose lifted. “I assure you, I am no shrinking violet. I have smelled many putrid things, Sergeant. A tannery couldn’t be worse than the smell of rotted flesh.”
    Ah, the bliss of ignorance. Tinhorns always came to Texas thinking they were tough enough. Many a man and woman had turned tail and sprinted east in the face of hardships much more demanding than the whiff of rotted flesh. “Maybe you ought to look into tanning supplies.”
    â€œWe bought a few. Indians stole them.”
    â€œPig—” He brushed his fingers across his mouth. “Your sister. She says the Comanches have given trouble. What about the soldiers from Fort Mason? Why haven’t they helped?”
    â€œThe fort is deserted. Has been for a couple of years. We must have a guardian angel looking over our shoulder, as far as Stalking Wolf and his people are concerned. They’ve helped themselves to this and that, but they haven’t scalped us.”
    Titus had mentioned Stalking Wolf. Brax didn’t know the Comanche’s temperament, since the chief had arrived about the time Brax left. No telling what he had in mind.
    Somebody’s got to set this ranch to rights.
    That somebody won’t have the initials BHH . No way would he be that much of a sap. Interesting woman aside, Brax decided to call Geoff, saddle up, and ride out. He started to make the motions of leaving. He stopped.
    He needed a place to roost. Damn, be needed something to hold on to. For a while. Besides, he was in too far for backing out, now that he’d seen the woman who reminded him how much joy could be gotten from being a man.
    Thus, he had to set this ranch a bit to rights. Like getting a proper herd together. To make it appealing to a