Montana Wife (Historical) Read Free Page A

you’ll want to be paid for your trouble, the way Mr. Dayton did.”
    His dark eyes narrowed. “What did he offer you? A right to half the wheat?”
    â€œHalf? He said I could keep a quarter of the value he got at the mill.”
    â€œThat swindler. He’d cheat Kol Ludgrin’s widow?” Daniel Lindsay’s hard face turned to stone.
    Rayna swallowed. She released the scythe and crossed her arms in front of her breasts. He wasn’t looking at her, but she felt vulnerable. Angry, he was, and an imposing man while doing it. “I would appreciate it if you would be on your way.”
    â€œNo.” He strode away, taking her scythe with him. There was a clunk as he tossed it in the back of the wagon bed. “Kol helped me bust sod that first spring I came here. I was as green as a Kentucky boy could be. He gave me his help and his advice while we worked. Some of that made a difference, and I managed to hang on. I’ll harvest your wheat free of charge, Mrs. Ludgrin, for what he did for me.”
    â€œWhat else are you wanting?”
    â€œOnly that I have the first option to lease the land, if that’s what you decide to do. Or buy it, if you’re of a mind to sell out.”
    â€œThe first option? I don’t understand.” She felt the burdens upon her shoulders weigh more heavily.
    â€œYou can trust me.” It was kindness, nothing more,as Daniel Lindsay gathered the long reins from the tangle on the sun-baked earth and held them out to her. “Go home. I’ll manage from here.”
    â€œY-you don’t want money? Or the land? Mr. Dayton had asked for it outright.” Crop’s already rotting in the fields, he’d lied to her with the fervor of a traveling salesman. But this neighbor, Mr. Lindsay, had his own lookout. Why was he doing this?
    â€œOne good turn deserves another,” Daniel said as he laid the reins in her bleeding hands.

Chapter Two
    T he powerful knock rattled the front door in its frame, echoing through the house and into the scorching kitchen. Startled by the disruption, Rayna set three pans of bread on the stovetop to cool, if such a thing were possible in the stifling heat.
    No breeze stirred the lace curtains as she tossed the hot pad on the table and hurried through the rooms. Her youngest was upstairs taking a nap, for his sleep during the last few nights had been interrupted by nightmares and she did not want him startled awake.
    She yanked open the door just in time to see old man Dayton with his beefy fist in the air, ready to knock a second time. The man clothed in trousers and sweat-stained muslin spit a stream of tobacco juice across the porch into the dirt at the roots of her favorite rosebush.
    Not a benevolent man. He hadn’t come for a pleasant visit.
    She might as well stand her ground from the start. “Your son was here earlier. I’ve found someone else to harvest the fields for me.”
    â€œI saw that tenderfoot from Kentucky haul his old threshing machine down the road past my place.” Another stream shot across her porch. “He ain’t worth dirt when it comes to cutting wheat. He probably offered to do it cheap, and I’m sure money is a concern, so here’s what I’m gonna do for you.”
    â€œAnd what a courteous way to convince me to let you harvest my wheat. For what? Only three-quarters of the profit? Or are you willing to drop down to only half?”
    â€œNow, Rayna, you know the growing of a crop is the easy part. A little dirt, seed and enough sunlight make the wheat grow. But harvesting it, that’s backbreaking labor. I’ve got the newest harvester. It came by railroad last week, and it wasn’t cheap.”
    â€œAfter all that Kol has done for you over the years. He died in your fields. And you would charge me?”
    â€œFriendship is one thing, Rayna. Business is business. A woman can’t understand—”
    â€œI understand