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

steady her, holding her soft body so close to him that her breasts were against his ridged abdomen.
    It was Roper, leading his horse across the yard. She was too distressed to realize he could easily haveavoided her and instead had deliberately put himself in front of her. She backed up, not looking at him. “I beg your pardon,” she said tonelessly.
    Roper glanced to where Angelina still lounged against the wall, smirking her triumph, and guessed what had happened. The shock was plain on Victoria’s white face.
    He felt an unaccustomed impulse to comfort. “Don’t pay any attention to Angelina,” he said. “She’s a vicious little bitch.” He wanted to put his arm around her, feel the softness of her against him again. God, she had smelled so clean and sweet. A fire smoldered low in his belly, swelling his groin.
    If anything, Victoria went even whiter, but she lifted her head with a proud motion and stepped away from him. “Thank you, Mr. Roper,” she said steadily. “I’m quite all right.”
    He watched her walk away again, then went over to Angelina. She straightened, her red lips assuming a seductive smile. It was wasted on Roper, Angelina had been trying to get him into bed with her since he’d come to the ranch, but he wasn’t interested. Angelina couldn’t believe any man could be unresponsive to her beauty, and Roper had resisted her longer than any man she’d ever wanted. But it was not, she thought, because he didn’t want her. He was jealous of all the others who enjoyed her favors, she was certain. He was just being difficult. She didn’t mind; it made him more attractive in her eyes, and she was certain that sooner or later he’d come to her. His difficultness would make his surrender that much sweeter.
    She thrust her breasts out for him, but he didn’t even glance down. His cold eyes never left hers. “What did you say to her?”
    â€œThe fancy lady?” Angelina shrugged and pouted. “Nothing. I don’t like women. I like men.” She tried another smile on him.
    Neither his expression nor his tone changed as he repeated, “What did you say to her?”
    Many men before her had felt afraid when Roper spoke like that. Angelina felt a chill and straightened with a jerk. “I told her that the Major came to me the night after her wedding,” she replied sullenly, then insisted, “It was the truth! You know that.”
    He did know it. Everyone on the ranch knew it and had snickered about it, joking that the Major’s high-nosed lady must have near frozen him to death, and Angelina had had to thaw him out. Roper had been glad that McLain hadn’t found any pleasure in his wife’s bed, glad that she hadn’t clung to him in ecstasy. He was sure Victoria hadn’t been spared her husband’s attentions, but he’d been relieved to think that, though the Major would occasionally bed Victoria out of duty, Angelina would still bear the brunt of McLain’s perversions.
    But what had it done to Victoria to discover that her husband had deserted her for a whore’s bed one day after their wedding, and that everyone on the ranch knew it? She was a proud woman, and while she couldn’t care about McLain, his actions must have wounded her all the same. No woman would like being the butt of raunchy jokes and sniggers, but for a woman like Victoria …
    To Angelina he said, “McLain’s mighty proud of his wife.”
    She spat on the ground. “If he cared about her, he wouldn’t have come to me.” She started to say that McLain hadn’t been able to do it to his wife, but caution stilled her tongue. No man liked for it to be known that he’d failed so intimately; McLain would likely have her killed if she told.
    â€œShe’s his wife, like Rubio’s his stallion. What do you think he’d do if you let his stallion go, or if his wife left