Read Online A Lady of the West by Linda Howard - Free Book Online

was making her weak, making her think she might have to have support just to stand.
    He shouldn’t be that close to her. She knew it, yet she couldn’t retreat.
    â€œGet on back to the house,” he said. His lips barely moved. “You don’t belong out here.”
    She didn’t know if he meant the stable or the entireterritory, but she suspected he meant the latter. She squared her shoulders and said, “Thank you again, Mr. Roper.” She left with as much dignity as she could summon. Had he sensed her shameful, illogical response to his closeness? He angered her and frightened her, but something about him touched a primitive part of her that she hadn’t known existed, a part that she knew she must suppress.
    She shaded her eyes with her hand as she emerged into the bright sunlight again, and paused when a flash of color caught her attention. To her left lounged a voluptuous young woman, with a thick mass of black hair spilling down her back. She had large dark eyes, lush red lips, and she was brazenly displaying the deep cleft of her full breasts under a white blouse worn off her shoulders. She obviously wore no petticoats beneath her skirt. The young woman met her gaze insolently, her dark eyes raking down Victoria’s neatly coiled hair, starched long-sleeved, high-necked shirtwaist, and prim blue skirt.
    This was the woman Victoria had seen on her arrival, whom she had taken for Carmita’s daughter. What had Carmita said was her name? Victoria had an excellent memory for names, and she produced it after only a short moment. The woman was Angelina Garcia, a remarkably lovely name for a woman whose own beauty was as vivid as that of an overblown rose.
    Since she obviously didn’t work in the house, Victoria assumed that she must be married to one of the men. She wondered where they lived. She approached the young woman with a smile, determined to be friendly even though Angelina’s manner wasn’t welcoming.
    â€œHello,” she said. “I’m Victoria Wav—McLain.” She wondered if she would ever be accustomed to her married name.
    The woman regarded Victoria for a moment longer in sullen silence, then tossed back her long black hair. “I’m Angelina.”
    â€œI saw you the day I arrived. I apologize for not speaking to you before now. Which one of the men is your husband?”
    Angelina laughed, a sound of deep satisfaction. “None of them. Why should I marry?”
    Not married? That was confusing … unless she lived with someone without benefit of marriage? Victoria felt her cheeks heat at her mistake. The poor girl, what an unstable, humiliating existence. But Angelina didn’t act humiliated; she seemed positively gloating. Her eyes were alive with it.
    In that instant Victoria knew she should walk away and return to the house where she was insulated from these people who were so very different from her. A lady would never dream of talking with a woman of ill-repute, which Angelina obviously was or she would never live with a man not her husband. Nor would a lady have confronted one of her husband’s employees in the stables, as she had just done. But perhaps she was less of a lady than she’d thought, because she didn’t walk away from Angelina.
    Instead she said, “You have a man?” It was an inelegant question, but she didn’t know how else to phrase it.
    Angelina laughed again, a gloating sound that grated. “I have many men. All of them are my men. They all come to me—including your husband.” Again the laugh, and the dark eyes glittered with spite. “He came back to me the night after your wedding! We all thought that was very interesting, no?”
    White-faced, Victoria at last turned and walked away, but it was too late. The woman had scored her victory. Humiliation blinded her, and she didn’t see the man until she walked into him. His hard hands grasped her shoulders to