The Pride of Hannah Wade by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page A

that existed between officers and enlisted men—a line that wasn’t to be crossed. The delineation of rank had to be maintained for order and discipline. Nothing must ever interfere with the unquestioning obedience to an officer’s command.
    “Yes, sir.” Hayes’s glum, crestfallen response tugged at Cutter, but he poured himself another drink and finished changing uniforms.
    Thirty minutes later he was seated at the poker table playing a game of seven card stud in the private room located in back of the fort’s trading store. Oates Grimshaw, who held the trading franchise with the army, ran the store and reserved a separate room for officers, segregated from the enlisted men. An attempt had been made at giving it a decor befitting a gentleman’s rank. Inexpensive reproductions of hunting scenes adorned the rough walls and water-filled ollas were suspended from the rafters to cool the room. The latest available newspapers and eastern publications were on the tables conveniently situated near the armchairs. Officially, gambling was against army regulations, but a friendly game between fellow officers was invariably overlooked.
    With a snap and a flourish, cards were dealt to the players around the table, four besides Cutter. Two were fellow officers, second lieutenants in rank, and the one in the checked jacket and bowler hat was Hy Boler, owner and editor of the Silver City
Gazette.
The well-dressed fourth man was the proprietor, Oates Grimshaw.
    One of Grimshaw’s lackeys brought a round of drinks, then disappeared through the door, swallowed up in the smoky haze of the enlisted men’s side. A pair of aces were showing among the cards in front of Cutteras he flipped a poker chip into the table’s center without looking at his hole cards. “That pair is worth something.” He waited to see who was going to stay.
    There was a spilling of chips into the pot, each player matching the bet and remaining in the game to see the last card. “Down and dirty.” Oates Grimshaw dealt it out. His bushy mustache swept into handlebars as if its thick profusion could make up for the receding hair on his head.
    “Come on, Lady Luck,” the newspaperman coaxed in a murmur as he dragged the final card close to the edge of the table to steal a look. He was a big man, his bulk solid, and he had a bulldog quality to his features. An easterner, he hadn’t adapted to the western style of dress, clinging instead to his vests and gold watch chain.
    “Speaking of ladies”—Grimshaw finished the deal with himself and set the deck aside—“you didn’t stay long at the Wades’ party for that new lieutenant and his wife, Captain.” It was an idle observation, not requiring comment as he picked up his three hole cards to peruse them in cautious secrecy. “Mrs. Wade is a beautiful woman. I’ve always thought so.”
    “All women are beautiful,” Cutter replied dryly, and sliced off the end of a new cigar with his knife, then placed it in his mouth to moisten the cut tobacco end.
    “I’ve seen some that would disprove that claim,” one of the lieutenants scoffed, a bachelor like most of the junior officers at the fort.
    “That’s because you got too close.” Cutter smiled and made his bet, his pair of aces showing still commanding the table. “A thing of beauty can rarely withstand a close inspection for flaws.”
    “Yes. You are likely to find another man’s fingerprints all over her.” Hy Boler frowned over his cards. “I don’t have any use for a woman who’s been handled by others.” He reached for his chips. “I’ll see you, and raise you.”
    The second lieutenant took another look at his cards. “Handled or not, there’s something to be said for taking down the hair of a beautiful woman.” He matched the bet.
    Cutter had an instant’s vision of the deep mahogany tresses lying in a smooth pile atop Mrs. Wade’s head when she’d stood with him on the porch. Just as quickly, he clicked it off.
    As the