Read Online Heart of a Texan by Leigh Greenwood - Free Book Online

rights and nailed boards over Nate’s window. One of the cows had returned, so he put together a rough corral for her and the two mules. Joe would catch the hens when they went to roost. That would mean stock to be fed, a cow to be milked, and eggs to be gathered as well as fixing supper for her and Nate. Thinking about all she had left to do put her in no mood to deal with Boone.
    “If I hadn’t sworn to make a success of this farm, I’d be tempted to consider your offer,” she told him, “but right now I’m too tired to think about anything.”
    “If you’d marry me, you wouldn’t have to think.”
    Roberta didn’t look up from the tomato plant she was staking. “Marriage is the most important decision any woman can make. That requires more thinking than all the rest.”
    “Otis Parker told me he turned down your request for a loan. How are you going to survive without money?”
    Roberta stood up to face Boone. “He had no business talking to you about my private affairs.”
    “I needed to know if he’d given you a loan because I was going to offer.”
    Roberta placed her hand on her hips. “Otis is positive the ranchers will blow up the dam if I rebuild it. You’d lose your money just like he would.”
    “I don’t care about the money. I’d give it to you. It’s not right for you to work in this field like a hired hand.”
    “I appreciate your offer, but I can’t accept it.”
    “What if I make it a loan with interest?”
    “I’d be obligated to you, and I won’t be obligated to anyone.”
    “You were willing to be obligated to Otis.”
    “I would have been obligated to the bank. That’s different.”
    “I don’t see how.”
    Roberta turned to Joe, who’d been working quietly alongside her. “We’ve done about all we can today, so I’m going to the house to clean up. By the time you’ve milked the cow and done the feeding, I’ll have supper ready.”
    “Joe eats supper at the restaurant,” Joe said.
    “I know, but you’ve spent the day working for me. I owe you supper.”
    “Annie cooks his favorites all the time,” Boone told her. “If he’s not there, she’s liable to throw a fit and not cook for anybody. Half of Slender Creek would go hungry.”
    “I feel like I ought to pay him something.”
    “He wouldn’t know what to do with it. Prudence collects his salary. Suppose I set you up in a dress shop?”
    Roberta left the field and started toward the house. “Someone would still need to work the farm.”
    “Then give it up.”
    “I can’t let the attackers think they succeeded. This is Texas. A person is supposed to be able to do what he wants.”
    “Look at you. Your dress covered with dirt, your hair escaping your bonnet and plastered to your forehead, and your hands covered with whatever it is that rubbed off those plants. Are you really doing what you want?”
    Roberta didn’t shorten her stride. The thought of getting to the house and cleaning up gave her extra energy. “If you dislike the way I look, why do you want to marry me?”
    “I don’t dislike it. I just hate that you have to work so hard.”
    “I don’t mind. I won’t have to do it forever.”
    “You mean you won’t have to do it when you go back to Virginia, but I don’t want you to go back. You don’t belong there anymore. You’re a Texan. What other woman would be stubborn enough to try to handle this farm by herself?”
    Roberta had already been prey to doubts on that very score, but she wasn’t going to let Boone know. Before she could decide how to respond, she rounded the corner of the charred remains of the barn to see Russ McCoy attacking the door of her house with his booted foot. “Stop!” she yelled.
    “It’s stuck,” Russ yelled back.
    “It’s not stuck. I locked it.”
    “Why the hell for?”
    She didn’t answer until she’d reached the house. “Because your boss asked me to.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “Laveau diViere was here this morning.”
    “What makes