Never Marry a Cowboy Read Free Page B

truly pleased to see his visitor.“David Robertson! What an unexpected pleasure. When did you arrive in town?”
    â€œLate this afternoon.”
    Kit closed the door and strode across the room. “Are Madeline and Mary Ellen with you?”
    â€œNo, I left my wife and daughter in Dallas.”
    Kit laid his burdens on the desk before extending a hand toward the Texan he’d met in England several years ago. “What brings you here, man?”
    David looked uncomfortable as he shook Kit’s hand. “I’m here to test the boundaries of your friendship.”
    â€œThat has an ominous ring to it,” Kit said as he studied the man speculatively. He had rekindled their friendship when he and Harry had herded their cattle north, but he hadn’t seen David since Harry’s wedding four years earlier.
    David nodded toward the bottle. “Some whiskey might help to take the edge off my request.”
    Kit grabbed the two tin cups he used to take water to the prisoners the few times that he had them. He settled into the chair behind his desk and liberally poured whiskey into the cups. “Please, make yourself comfortable,” he offered, indicating the chair across from him.
    David sat and took the cup. Kit watched as his friend studied the contents as though he searched for an unfathomable answer. He would not classify David Robertson as a close friend, but he’d always enjoyed his company. The man was successful and well bred, with a wife and daughter who adored him.
    Kit brought the cup to his lips. “Your request?” he prompted before drinking his whiskey.
    David lifted his gaze. “I want you to marry my sister.”
    The whiskey burned its way into Kit’s lungs. He sputtered and coughed, the fire spreading through his chest.
    David bolted out of his chair and pounded Kit’s back. “I’m sorry.”
    Gasping for breath, Kit shoved him aside and glared at him. “Are you out of your mind? I am a rake, a scoundrel, and a rogue. Besides I have a rule not to get involved with the sisters of friends.”
    â€œI don’t care about your rules. In England, your reputation for luring women into your bed was legendary.”
    â€œWomen to whom I was not married,” Kit felt compelled to point out.
    â€œBut you did charm them, didn’t you? Isn’t that how you persuaded them that a night with you was worth the loss of their reputation?”
    Ah, yes, he had charmed them, become obsessed with them, striving to forget the one woman he could never possess. A dismal failure, that undertaking had been. Nothing, no one, would ever allow him to forget Clarisse. He gulped the remaining whiskey from his cup and reached for the bottle. “Regardless of my charming nature, knowing my tarnished reputation, why in God’s name would you want me to marry your sister?”
    â€œBecause she’s dying.”
    Kit felt as though he’d been bludgeoned. He set aside the bottle and the cup that now carried the dented impression of his fingers. “Are you certain?”
    David nodded and lowered his gaze to the floor as though the pain were too great to bear. Kit certainly understood that feeling.
    â€œAshton has always been frail,” David said quietly. “So incredibly delicate. When our parents died, she came to live with Madeline and me. Her health began deteriorating. Madeline took her to the doctor. He diagnosed her with consumption. He gives her until Christmas.”
    Kit shot out of his chair, feeling as though the walls of the room were closing in on him, suffocating him. “Then why ask me to marry her?”
    David shifted his stance and met Kit’s gaze. “I discovered her in the attic one afternoon wearing the dress our mother had worn the day she married our father. Ashton was weeping because Fate would deny her the opportunity to become a bride. It seemed such a small thing to want. I’m not asking you to