Wind Song by Margaret Brownley Read Free Book Online Page A

vibrantly alive. It was as if her body had absorbed the energy from the stampeding herd.
    "I would say that under the circumstances it's most respectable." She tried to steady her racing pulse. That failing, she hoped he couldn't hear the sound of her heartbeat. The drums had stopped, which didn't help matters. In the silence that followed, every sound, from the softest intake of breath to the faint rustle of her host taking off his trousers, seemed magnified.
    She quickly settled into the bedroll and hoped that the thickness of the flannel muted the sound of her fast-beating heart. It wouldn't do to let him know that at the moment respectability was the last thing on her mind.
     
    Chapter 5
     
    The faint light of dawn bled through the oil paper that covered the small window set deep into the sod wall. Not wanting to wake Mr. Tyler or his son, Maddie quietly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her body felt stiff, the muscles in her upper arms and shoulders sore from the hours spent shaking the blanket to ward off the buffalo.
    She longed to curl up and go back to sleep, but prudence demanded that she get an early start for Hays before the major heat of the day.
    That should give her ample time to track down Mr. Boxer and insist upon his giving her the second half of her advance. If she was lucky, she might make it onto the afternoon train bound for Washington City --if, indeed, there was an afternoon train heading east. If not, she would have to delay her return trip home until the following day.
    Her day planned, she stretched out her muscles and massaged her neck and shoulders.
    A dark, round object like a wheel lay at the bottom of her bedroll. She leaned toward it, curious as to what it could possibly be.
    The coil suddenly began to unravel. Horrified, she pulled back and let out a bloodcurdling scream that brought Mr. Tyler upright in bed. Another scream and he bounded to the floor in one swift motion.
    "What the hell--?"
    By now, the snake had stretched out to its full length and was slithering across the dirt floor. Somehow in the short time it took the snake to uncoil, Maddie had managed to jump out of bed and onto a wooden chair without having touched the dirt floor in between.
    Mr. Tyler, his hair disheveled, stood staring at her as if she'd taken leave of her senses. He was dressed in ankle-length drawers that rode dangerously low on his lean hips.
    Suddenly the snake seemed like the lesser problem. Her voice failing her, she had no choice but to resort to sign language to draw his attention to the retreating reptile.
    There was no way to convey her concern about the waistband that was dangerously close to taking a downward dive.
    "It's just a bull snake," he said. He reached over, grabbed the snake by its tail, and tossed it out the door. "There, now. It's gone." An amused look crossed his face as he regarded her. "You can come down from the chair."
    She glanced around the room, checking every crook and corner in sight. For all she knew, prairie snakes were sociable creatures that traveled in herds.
    "W-what was it doing on my bed?" she stammered.
    "It just came in to keep warm. They like to do that. Don't they, Matthew?"
    Matthew, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, grinned up at his father. It was the first time she'd seen the boy smile.
    Mr. Tyler turned his gaze upon her, and she was suddenly reminded that her own thin linen nightgown wasn't all that modest. Had it not been for the dimly lit soddy, she might well have been completely exposed.
    He wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her off the chair. She said a fervent prayer that his blessed waistband would defy gravity and stay on his hips.
    His gaze locked with hers as he set her on the floor and released her. A shiver shot through her, but whether from the encounter with nature, the warmth of his hands, or the worrisome waistband she didn't know.
    She was far too conscious of his bare torso to know much of anything at the moment,