Wild Texas Rose by Jodi Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t believe him. In some ways, he knew all about her, from what she ate to the tiny bottle of perfume she bought herself for Christmas each year, yet she didn’t even know him well enough to believe him.
    Lightning flashed again and the Donnely children woke up from their moment of silence. Henry and Abe had their hands full counting and boxing up as Mrs. Donnely screamed at them to finish or they’d be left behind.
    When Abe had a second to look up, the schoolteacher had vanished. He’d probably think of what he wished he’d said to her tonight as he fought sleep. Now and then he’d concentrate on her face and will himself not to dream of the war. She might be about his age, but she wasn’t the kind of woman who would ever look at a man like him. No woman wanted to step out with a man who relied on a crutch when he walked beyond the walls of his store.
    Ten minutes later, he locked the door behind the Donnelys and turned to Henry. “Go on home and have your supper. It’s late.” Abe pulled the shades down and turned off the lights as he heard Henry running out the back door.
    Moving through the empty store, Abe knew just where to put his hand on a counter or shelf or pole so that his weak leg never had to take the weight when he walked. Outside he might be crippled, but in here he almost appeared to be walking.
    Smiling, he remembered how his mother taught him the trick when the store was small. He’d never been sure if she wanted him to be independent or just needed him to move faster. After she died and he expanded the store, he made sure he could move about so there was little chance of falling.
    As he turned out the last lamp, a sound came from the back behind the counter. His first horrible thought was that Mrs. Donnely had accidentally left one of her crew behind. Or had someone slipped in and hidden until he was alone, waiting to rob him? During the early years when Fort Worth was wild after the war, he’d been robbed twice. Both times he’d handed over the money. No danger, no amount of money, would be worth picking up a gun again. One robber had said he was sorry and left, but the second robbery had been committed by two men. They’d taken the money, beat him in the head with the side of a gun until he passed out, and then ran, leaving Abe bleeding badly.
    The sheriff had mentioned the robbers were probably the Tanner brothers, the same men who had been caught for robbing trains of late. The paper said that though they could be tied to more than a dozen robberies, they had no money on them when apprehended. One report described them as ragged when they were hauled to jail by a Texas Ranger. The two brothers were either very poor robbers or terrible money managers.
    After the second attack, Abe swore if he ever got robbed again, he’d at least fight.
    Now, in the shadows of his store, he picked up an ax he kept leaning against the opening to the storage room and moved slowly toward the noise.
    One hand braced the doorframe and the other held the ax high as he stepped into the back of his store. In the shadows between boxes he saw someone lifting a weapon.
    Abe shifted his weight as the figure moved toward him. Just before he swung, the shadowy weapon lowered to the top of a box as if to pry it open and a frustrated huff whispered in the air. The big arms he’d seen became puffed sleeves and the tall form appeared shorter when he recognized the outline of a hat.
    “Miss Norman?” Abe lowered the ax, not believing what he saw.
    She turned toward him, a crowbar in her hand. “I’m only trying to help find my supplies.”
    “No one is allowed back here.” He took the bar from her hand as if disarming her.
    “The supplies have to be here. I can’t start school without them.” Her angry voice echoed his. “If you don’t have time, I’ll look myself.”
    “No one is allowed back here.” He repeated the words slowly, anger building. He’d almost hurt her, maybe even killed her, and all