Read Online According to Hoyle by Abigail Roux - Free Book Online Page A

honor the agreement.
    He then stepped over to the other two with the other blanket in hand. They both looked up at him with the sort of exhaustion that Flynn recognized as stemming from the cold and the long day of travel. They were lucky, Flynn thought to himself uncharitably, that he and Wash weren’t making them walk behind the wagon.
    “I only got one,” he told them. “You’re going to have to share or fight it out.”
    Rose nodded and Cage merely continued to look up at him sedately as he sat hunched over with his hands tucked up under his arms, his back to Rose’s. Flynn got the feeling that this tattered Army scout was accustomed to getting the short end of the stick without complaining about it. He reminded Flynn of a well-trained horse, always keeping his head down and hoping not to get a spur.
    He handed Rose the blanket and was slightly surprised when the man wrapped it around Cage’s shoulders before his own. He pulled the blanket tight and scooted around, putting their shoulders together and getting closer for the warmth. They both lowered their heads again, bowing against the cold prairie night together as they leaned against the wagon wheel behind them.
    Flynn stepped away. He watched them curl together with little regard for the derogatory comments Hudson was offering about their behavior. Hudson, Flynn assumed, had never been out on the plains alone. He didn’t know what cold was yet. Flynn had cuddled his horse before for the warmth. He saw nothing wrong with what the two men were doing.
    He turned away and headed back to the fire before he could admit to himself that he was slightly jealous of them as well. Just the thought of touching another man in front of someone else in any way other than a friendly handshake made Flynn blush furiously. Oh, he would do it and had done it if it meant staying warm at night. But he would still be embarrassed about it, worrying if he enjoyed it too much.
    He wondered how Gabriel Rose had become so comfortable with his reputation for favoring men. Some of the things Hudson had said to the Englishman had made even Flynn want to hit him, just on principle, but Rose had yet to be ruffled. At least not outwardly. Flynn wondered if it was even true, or if Rose just played into the reputation to give himself that added touch of mystery or derring-do. He did have an oddly gentle manner with Cage, though, and the silent man had responded in a way that made Flynn wonder if they had become more friendly while in jail than they were letting on.
    He glanced over at the huddle of blankets again. The two men had figured out how to turn their chains so they could lay under the wagon and were now doing so, away from the bite of the wind. Flynn could see nothing but the tops of their heads sticking out from under the wagon. They were curled together under the blanket, both apparently sound asleep as Hudson huddled alone and shivered in the cold.
    “Kind of cute, ain’t they?” Wash said to him.
    Flynn looked over at him in the light of the fire, meeting his eyes with a slight shiver. He had the sudden urge to blurt out a question he had wanted to ask for ages. It was a perfect opportunity to broach the subject. Over the years, Flynn had built up a sneaking suspicion that Wash wasn’t interested in women, but he couldn’t even form the question correctly in his mind, much less speak it to Wash.
    He pushed back the desire to ask and merely nodded, looking away and sighing.
    “You okay, friend?” Wash questioned quietly, his tone deliberate and somehow soothing at the same time.
    Flynn glanced up at him and twitched his upper body nervously as he gave another nod.
    “Something happen in Stillwater you need to talk about?” Wash prodded.
    “Naw,” Flynn answered, his voice unnervingly hoarse. “It’s just….” He blew a stream of air out that formed a cloud in the cold and then shook his head. “I don’t quite know how to take that one,” he said with a glance back at