Texas Hold Him Read Free

debating only a moment about smashing
     it through the door. Instead, shetook a deep breath, grasped the head firmly with both hands and swung the handle side into the wood. It made a loud noise,
     sounding surprisingly like a gunshot as it slammed into good old number ten.
    “
What the hell?
” He jerked open the door with another scowl that would have made the skunk do more than just lose its stripe.
    Luckily, she wasn’t a skunk.
    She squared her shoulders and lowered the ax. “As I said, I have a business proposition to discuss with you.”
    He folded his arms across his chest and casually leaned against the doorframe. His burning gaze raked slowly up her body.
     The intimacy of it made her heart pound and a blush heat her cheeks. By the time his eyes reached hers, her mind was numb.
    “Well, princess,” he drawled, the shadow of a beard adding a dangerous touch to the already wicked curl of his lip. “I’m not
     one to normally turn down a proposition offered by a beautiful woman, but my bed happens to be already occupied.”
    “Dyer? Are you coming back, honey?” cooed a voice from behind him.
    Dyer stepped aside to allow Lottie a glimpse into his room and the tousled lady who shared his bunk. “You’ll just have to
     wait your turn, sweetheart.” He winked at Lottie and closed the door.
    Speechless.
    Not a word most would associate with Charlotte Mason. Yet not a single solitary retort came to mind. Amazing, really.
    She dropped the ax and returned down the steps to the lower deck, too shocked to react. The more she walked, the more the
     shock changed to anger and theanger to fury. By the time she reached the first deck her mind returned, and she thought of at least fifty things she wished
     she’d said.
    The mopping boy grinned up at her as she walked by. “Told ya,” he teased, proving one didn’t need a great deal of intelligence
     to mop a deck.
    She started to give him a piece of her mind but decided if she was going to deal with Mr. Obediah Straights, perhaps she needed
     to keep all of it.
    “What time will the gamblers most likely begin their games?” she asked.
    “’Bout seven or eight to night,” he answered, still grinning as she turned away.
    “Well, Mr. Straights,” she muttered under her breath. “I think it’s time you learned a lesson or two yourself.”

Chapter Two
    Dyer flipped open his gold watch to check the time before returning it to the pocket of his red silk vest. Eight o’clock.
     The penny ante games would’ve started about an hour ago. The serious gamblers, however, would just now be boarding the boat.
     Time to make his entrance into the gaming room.
    He tugged at the cuffs of his white shirt before brushing a non ex is tent speck of dust off the sleeve of his black jacket.
     His suit cost more money than most of the sorry lot who came aboard would earn in a year. But he had an image to maintain,
     and there was nothing of value he needed to spend his fortune on anyway.
    The glare of the setting sun on the muddy waters of the Mississippi left an orange trail streaking across the river. It would
     be dark in a few moments, and that suited Dyer just fine.
    Dark was his most comfortable place to be.
    “Dyer, honey?” The syrupy voice of the woman he’d slept with the night before pulled his thoughts back from a maudlin place
     as she sidled up beside him and slipped her arm through his.
    “Hello, sweetheart.” Maybe his wink would hide the fact he couldn’t remember her name. “Decide you wanted to come back for
     another night of adventure?”
    She batted her blue eyes prettily, as women were wontto do in his presence, slid her hand inside his jacket and pressed it possessively against his chest. “Well, sugah, I just
     love to watch the games, and you are so good at them. Of course, my momma would have an absolute fit of the vapors if she
     knew I was here.”
    Dyer gently pulled her hand from under his coat, disguising the removal by holding it in his