Read Online After the Thunder by Genell Dellin - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Genell Dellin
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front corner of the store and saw a sight that stopped him short. An open carriage sat at the doorway of his building with two of those Mexican outriders dismounted beside it, a young woman accepting the hand of one of them as she stepped gracefully to the ground. Cotannah Chisk-Ko!
His pulse tripped and began beating faster. So. She hadn’t been able to wait, after all! She got to thinking about his invitation and changed her plans for the day! She had come to him on the very next morning after they had met!
Her skirts blew against her legs and showed the shape of her thighs as she stood beside the carriage, but it was her breasts, high and firm and generously large compared to her tiny waist, that held his gaze. What a handful for any man! He’d never seen a woman who carried herself so proudly and had so much reason to do so.
At that moment, she turned and saw him, lifted her chin, and gave him that same cold look she had used on him when she walked into the dining room at Tall Pine. His loins stirred and began to ache.
She was challenging him. The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen was challenging him—of course, she hadpicked him out of all the men at the table last night in a heartbeat—and it was a challenge that no man, certainly not Jacob Charley, could refuse.
His breath came faster. He could not wait to get that little jade alone in the dark. Yes, oh yes! One time with him, and she’d forget every other man she’d ever known.
He settled his coat more evenly across his shoulders, touched the tie at his throat to make sure it was straight, and strolled toward her.
“Miss Chisk-Ko,” he said. “What an unexpected pleasure.”
She tilted her head and gave him an intriguing smile. A smile that held a lot of promise.
But damn it, the other members of the family were climbing out of the carriage and gathering around her. Jacob greeted them and visited with as much good humor as he could muster even though his blood was heating fast. He could go a long way toward getting her ready to bed if he could talk to her alone for a while.
And he wasn’t going to worry about the fact she was under Chief Tay Nashoba’s protection, either. This was a girl who was accustomed to taking care of herself; everything about her manner proclaimed that as a fact. Tay would never tell it, but Jacob would bet good money that a certain wild streak in her was the reason she was here. After all, she was twenty or more years old, and, from what he’d heard, Texas had a whole lot more men than women, so why wasn’t she married by now?
He turned to Emily, determined to hurry the rest of them along and keep Cotannah behind with him.
“Are you here to get your supplies at Brown’s, Miss Emily? If you’d like, I’ll be glad to send my freight driver with a light wagon to haul your purchases home for you.”
“Thank you, Jacob,” she said, “but that won’t be necessary.”
She shifted the wiggly baby to her other arm and glanced up at his new building.
“I’m glad to see that the workmen are about to finish your new building,” she said, examining it intently. “Didn’t you say last night that the bricks have arrived?”
“Yes. And I got word that the bricklayers will be here today or tomorrow.”
“Tay is so pleased that Wiley Stewart has started that brickyard at Durant’s Station,” she said, “and that you’re using brick made right here in the Nation for the first brick building in Tuskahoma.”
“I’m glad that pleases Tay.”
Actually, he could not care less what would please Tay Nashoba, but he did want to keep on friendly terms with him so he could have whatever influence possible on the Principal Chief. It’d be foolish to think that the Chief would ever side with him against Olmun, though—Tay thought the old man hung the moon.
“Tay mentioned it before we retired last night,” Emily said. “He would have said so to you at supper but there just seemed to be so much going on. We had
His pulse tripped and began beating faster. So. She hadn’t been able to wait, after all! She got to thinking about his invitation and changed her plans for the day! She had come to him on the very next morning after they had met!
Her skirts blew against her legs and showed the shape of her thighs as she stood beside the carriage, but it was her breasts, high and firm and generously large compared to her tiny waist, that held his gaze. What a handful for any man! He’d never seen a woman who carried herself so proudly and had so much reason to do so.
At that moment, she turned and saw him, lifted her chin, and gave him that same cold look she had used on him when she walked into the dining room at Tall Pine. His loins stirred and began to ache.
She was challenging him. The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen was challenging him—of course, she hadpicked him out of all the men at the table last night in a heartbeat—and it was a challenge that no man, certainly not Jacob Charley, could refuse.
His breath came faster. He could not wait to get that little jade alone in the dark. Yes, oh yes! One time with him, and she’d forget every other man she’d ever known.
He settled his coat more evenly across his shoulders, touched the tie at his throat to make sure it was straight, and strolled toward her.
“Miss Chisk-Ko,” he said. “What an unexpected pleasure.”
She tilted her head and gave him an intriguing smile. A smile that held a lot of promise.
But damn it, the other members of the family were climbing out of the carriage and gathering around her. Jacob greeted them and visited with as much good humor as he could muster even though his blood was heating fast. He could go a long way toward getting her ready to bed if he could talk to her alone for a while.
And he wasn’t going to worry about the fact she was under Chief Tay Nashoba’s protection, either. This was a girl who was accustomed to taking care of herself; everything about her manner proclaimed that as a fact. Tay would never tell it, but Jacob would bet good money that a certain wild streak in her was the reason she was here. After all, she was twenty or more years old, and, from what he’d heard, Texas had a whole lot more men than women, so why wasn’t she married by now?
He turned to Emily, determined to hurry the rest of them along and keep Cotannah behind with him.
“Are you here to get your supplies at Brown’s, Miss Emily? If you’d like, I’ll be glad to send my freight driver with a light wagon to haul your purchases home for you.”
“Thank you, Jacob,” she said, “but that won’t be necessary.”
She shifted the wiggly baby to her other arm and glanced up at his new building.
“I’m glad to see that the workmen are about to finish your new building,” she said, examining it intently. “Didn’t you say last night that the bricks have arrived?”
“Yes. And I got word that the bricklayers will be here today or tomorrow.”
“Tay is so pleased that Wiley Stewart has started that brickyard at Durant’s Station,” she said, “and that you’re using brick made right here in the Nation for the first brick building in Tuskahoma.”
“I’m glad that pleases Tay.”
Actually, he could not care less what would please Tay Nashoba, but he did want to keep on friendly terms with him so he could have whatever influence possible on the Principal Chief. It’d be foolish to think that the Chief would ever side with him against Olmun, though—Tay thought the old man hung the moon.
“Tay mentioned it before we retired last night,” Emily said. “He would have said so to you at supper but there just seemed to be so much going on. We had
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