The Irish Devil by Diane Whiteside Read Free Book Online Page A

his slim cane, started to rotate it, but stopped with a brief hiss of pain.
    She turned the bottle so light glinted on the jagged glass as she stepped forward.
    He backed up slowly, his eyes cold with fury, until he came to his old buggy. What on earth had happened to the new horse and buggy that he’d been showing off around town yesterday? The big gelding tossed its head at the unusual approach but steadied quickly as Lennox took the reins from Jenny’s brother Eli.
    “You have one hour to decide: starve or accept my offer. You’ll marry me in the end, Viola Ross, so make it easy on yourself and come with me now.” He swept their audience with a long glare, sending them back into their shelters like mice hiding from a rattler.
    Viola kept her chin up, unwilling to let him see how his words affected her. Give him an hour and no one would dare offer her more than a drink of water. “I’d rather be an Apache’s squaw,” she said, and knew it for the truth.
    “Don’t be foolish, my dear. You know you’re meant for me. We will meet again at noon.” He had the audacity to bow, albeit mockingly, before he drove away.
    Viola shivered and retreated back into the mud-brick hut, pushing aside the basket of dirty laundry just inside. She leaned against the wall, sliding slowly down to the dirt floor. She couldn’t have taken another step if she tried, given how her legs were shaking. Her skin was cold as ice and her stomach wanted to rush up her throat.
    What in heaven’s name was she going to do now?

Chapter Three
    V iola walked slowly back up the hill toward town, still trying to think of alternatives. Beg sanctuary from Padre Francisco? Lennox would torch the little church within hours; he’d bragged before of how he’d kept “Papist temples” away from his better properties in New York.
    Send a telegram to her brother Hal? Even if she knew where he was currently piloting a riverboat, his objections to Edward had been louder than the Captain’s. And her sister Juliet would never risk scandal by countering their father.
    She could go to the Apaches if she could reach them before Lennox came after her. Cochise’s band was known to watch Rio Piedras and attack any lonely travelers, a success rate unhindered by the new Army post. If she took the old road out of town, past the German’s mine and up the canyon into the mountains, surely they’d find her quickly. After that, she would simply have to do her best to convince them she’d be a good, docile squaw.
    Viola shuddered and came to a stop. Then she forced herself to start walking again. Starvation sounded better, although Apaches might be worth it. Especially if she could somehow see Lennox’s face when he realized she truly did prefer becoming a squaw.
    She was still smiling at that image when she opened Mrs. Smith’s gate and fed Jake the bread she’d bought less than an hour ago. Just this one last bit of business to tidy up and then she could leave.
    A quick knock brought Lily Mae to the door, her forehead creased in surprise. “Why, Mrs. Ross, I didn’t ’spect to see you back here so soon!”
    “I didn’t anticipate it either,” Viola agreed, balancing the laundry basket on her hip. “May I speak to Mrs. Smith?”
    Lily Mae’s frown deepened, but mercifully she didn’t ask for an explanation. “If you’ll come this way, ma’am, I’ll see if she’s in. Just put that down over here.”
    “Thank you.” Viola deposited the basket on the same table she’d used earlier that morning and followed Lily Mae past an elegant music room with a new Steinway piano, and into a very small front parlor. She discreetly studied her first view of what the parlor house’s clients saw, admiring the heavily carved rosewood and ebony furniture against silk wallpaper. It was a page from the fanciest illustrated ladies’ magazine brought to life on the harsh frontier.
    Yet despite the elegant decor, the air reeked with cigar smoke and other smells that she