A Lady in Defiance Read Free Page B

finger
dance over the map as she looked for something, some land mark or town, some
hint of what to do next, where to go…
    “Defiance…?” She stopped her finger at the town.  The
name tweaked her memory. “What…?”
    But the Lord’s words leaped to her mind: There are those
around you living in Defiance. Take to them the Good News. Love them as I do.
    She stared at the word. The town was only a few miles due
west. She also knew, with a searing dread, that it was their destination.
Feeling sick and overwhelmed, she closed her eyes and went back to that dream
which was now painfully vivid. She had told Him three times she would go where
He sent her. Not willingly , she admitted. Forgive me, Lord. I go
grudgingly, to say the least. With John beside me, I would have gone to Hell
and back. I had my heart set on growing old with him. Where didn’t matter. Now
nothing matters.
    The truth be told, Lord, I don’t like You very much right
now.
    The admission broke her heart as much as the loss of her
husband. If she didn’t have the relationship with God that she had always
counted on, then she had nothing. Yet, getting past her anger at this sudden
destruction of her dreams was proving nigh unto impossible. She cried over her
loss and her smoldering resentment and begged God to help her get past them
both.

 
     
    Chapter 2
     
    Inside the Iron Horse Saloon, McIntyre drummed his fingers on
his desk. The letter did not bring him the news he wanted and he despised not
getting what he wanted. He read that one particular line again: “while Defiance
is in an excellent location to provide a hub for spur lines up from Animas
Forks and Pinkerton Springs, the town’s lack of civil organization, or for that
matter, civility, distresses us.”
    The same complaint…again.
    So Defiance was a bit on the wild side. He looked out the
window of his office at the bustling horde of scruffy miners. These men
suffered from the consuming malady of Gold Fever and he was there to nurse them
through it with wine, women and song. After all, what more could a man really
want?
    Possibly a hotel room without a female already in it. A night
without the eruption of gunfire. A duly elected mayor. A legally deputized
marshal. Law and order. Churches. Schools.
    He sighed like a man accepting his fate. Defiance had to be
tamed. If he wanted the railroad to come in, he was going to have to get on
with it. He heard the front doors squeak and looked up. His office afforded a
view of the entire length of the bar and he straightened attentively as a
pretty little blonde entered and removed her bonnet. Hands clenched tensely at
her waist, her eyes were glued to the nude painting over the bar.
    Whoever she was, she had never seen anything like that and he
smiled as she looked away. How long had it been since he had seen a woman
blush? He couldn’t honestly recall. He enjoyed gazing upon her for a moment,
taking in the slim, curvaceous figure and that long, golden braid running down
her back like Rapunzel’s. She was tanned from the sun and her dress showed a
fair amount of wear. Still, she was enjoyable to study and it wouldn’t take
much for his mind to wander...
    She looked around the rest of the empty saloon and finally
her eyes found him. He stood as she approached his office door. “Are you Mr.
McIntyre?”
    “I am,” he agreed in his most charming Southern accent. He
skirted his desk and met her in the entrance, momentarily struck by the
contrast of ocean green eyes in a beautiful, tanned face. High cheekbones,
freckles and a slightly pug nose, she was a fresh-faced, wholesome change from
the women currently populating Defiance. And he had picked up on her accent
before she had spoken her second word. “A fellow southerner.” Extending his
hand, he admitted, “Though I can’t quite place the accent, Ms…”
    “We’re from North Carolina and it’s Mrs . Naomi Miller.”
    He nodded, accepting her correction. “Mrs. Miller. To what do
I owe