Midnight Lover by Barbara Bretton Read Free Book Online Page A

"Come by the Crazy Arrow Saloon tonight, ladies—" she turned toward the Reverend and gave him a saucy smile "—and gentleman, and find out."
    Summoning up everything her father had ever taught her about pride and independence, Caroline stepped down from the coach with Abby nipping at her heels.
    Late afternoon sun blinded her and her arm instantly went up as a shield. The hot dry air that rose from the dirt road carried the smells of whiskey and tobacco, of horse and bay rum, and the combination made her stomach lurch. Abby covered her nose with a scented hanky, much to the amusement of the two men leaning against the railing.
    "This ain't nothin'," said the smaller of the two as they started across the street toward the coach. "Just you ladies wait 'til July."
    Abby groaned and the Wilder sisters made equally horrified sounds. Caroline remained impassive even though she could scarcely imagine how this godforsaken place could smell any more foul than it already did. The prospect of adding the stench of perspiration just didn't bear thinking about.
    A group of bedraggled cowboys who had been watching their arrival from the porch of a hotel appropriately named The Last Stop joined the man standing near Caroline.
    "Puny haul, ain't it?" one asked. "Usually them coaches are packed to the rafters with 'em."
    Laughter mingled with the sound of a scuffle in The Last Stop.
    "Ain't many left back there," said another. "They've all come out here to rope a man."
    Abby, who had been pointing out Caroline's trunks to the grumbling driver, whirled around. "And left because there weren't a man to be found in the whole miserable lot of you!" she spat at the growing number of men ringing the stage and its passengers.
    The McGuigan and Wilder sisters gasped, no doubt envisioning their dreams of wedded bliss evaporating in the harsh Nevada sunlight. The shorter of the two men who had been leaning against the railing loped toward Abby. Caroline's eyes had yet to adjust to the vicious glare but she had the impression of compact strength and steely determination. He stopped a few feet from the maid.
    "You meanin' to tell me you ain't here to find yourself a husband, little lady?" Abby had the classic Irish temper and wouldn't hesitate to use her fists, outcome be damned. Caroline stepped forward and faced her maid. "Abigail," she said, her voice quiet but stern, "don't you have other duties to occupy your time?"
    "My sainted mother would turn in her grave if I be lettin' that sorry excuse for a man insult you like that."
    "Insult me?" Caroline's voice rose in surprise. "I can fight my own battles, Abby." She motioned behind her with a toss of her head. "The day one of those unwashed ruffians can insult me, I'll—"
    "You'll what?"
    A different voice. Lower, deeper, more intimidating. She spun around. With the sun backlighting him as it was, she couldn't make out the cowboy's features but somehow she knew it was the man in the skintight breeches.
    "This is a private conversation, sir," she said brusquely. "If you don't mind..." She let her words trail gracefully away and turned back to Abby. Men in Boston had always responded instantly to her cool dismissals. "Come, Abby."
    Abby, however, had forgotten Caroline's very existence. Her maid's eyes, and the eyes of their traveling companions, were focused squarely on the arrogant, rude cowboy she'd just dismissed.
    "Abigail." Caroline raised her voice to be heard over the scuffle that had spilled from the hotel into the street beyond them, "if you would please help the driver find our trunks, we can be on our way." More than anything, she wanted a long, relaxing bath and a meal served on china plates instead of those horrid metal bowls found in most of the rail-stop outposts they'd dined in along the way.
    The fighting in the street was spreading closer to them. She reconsidered. A bath would be lovely but perhaps her first goal should be reaching the Crazy Arrow alive. The stagecoach ride through