Read Online Her Bodyguard by Geralyn Dawson - Free Book Online Page A

she stepped outside. Fire bells clanged their way down Main Street and, hearing them, Mari experienced her first glimmer of true fear. The Texas Spring Palace stood on the south end of town.
    She joined the flood of people making their way down the street and almost against her will, tuned into the conversations taking place around her.
    Train wreck…boiler explosion…whorehouse in Hell’s Half Acre. The Palace. The Spring Palace. Gotta be the Texas Spring Palace .
    A cowboy exited the dry-goods store saying, “Heard they expected a big crowd there tonight. Hope some folks got out of there alive.”
    Mari heart shot up to lodge in her throat as she broke into a run. No. No. No. My family. Oh, God. Please .
    It took forever to reach the end of the street, and yet, she arrived far too soon. Bracing herself, she looked left. Her blood ran cold and terror froze her footsteps.
    Fire engulfed the Texas Spring Palace. Black smoke billowed into the sky. Flames danced everywhere she looked. The roof of the west wing collapsed even as the east wing’s walls disappeared behind a wall of red and yellow fire. Fingers of flame clawed across the huge dome. The northwest cupola teetered, then fell with a groan.
    It was the sounds that finally penetrated Mari’s horror. The cracks and crashes, the clanging of fire bells. The screams. Oh, God, the screams.
    As she watched, a woman dropped a child from a second-story window into willing arms waiting below. Then, she made the leap herself.
    The huge crowd outside the building gave her hope. The Spring Palace had many exits, something her architect father had noted with approval. People had escaped. Surely her family had escaped.
    Please, God, let my family have escaped .
    How could she know? The scene was chaotic. People rushed away from the building, toward the building, from one side to the other. Husbands called for wives, mothers for children. Children cried for their mommies and daddies and broke Mari’s heart.
    She stopped beside a boy of five or six who sat sobbing on the ground. He had sandy hair and big, teary brown eyes and a trembling mouth that revealed two missing front teeth. He wore a cute little fringed leather jacket with the Lone Star flag embroidered across the back. Kneeling beside him, she asked, “Can I help you?”
    “I can’t find Pa.”
    “Were you inside the Spring Palace?”
    “Uh-huh. We was in the farmin’ section lookin’ at plows and there was a big boom and Pa hauled me out but then he stopped to help somebody and I don’t know what happened. He was right there and then he was gone. I’m scared, lady.”
    “I know, honey. What’s your name?”
    “Billy. Billy Waddell.”
    “Billy is a good name. One of my brothers is named Billy. He is ten years old and I’m looking for him. How about you and I look together?”
    “Okay,” he replied, sniffing as he climbed to his feet.
    “Let’s get you up where you can see.” Mari scooped him up into her arms. “What does your father look like?”
    “He’s big and he has black hair.”
    “What was he wearing tonight?”
    “His good boots.”
    Obviously, she needed to take a different tack. Chances were, given the chance, Billy’s father would spy him before Billy spied his father. She’d find a prominent spot and wait and…
    “Wait. That’s it.” She smiled as a childhood memory provided plan. “When I was young like you, my papa told me and my sisters that if we ever became separated in a crowd, we should look for the tallest thing around and go stand by it. Has your papa ever told you anything like that?”
    “No.”
    “Let’s try it for a bit, anyway, shall we?” While she’d continually scanned the area for familiar faces, now she shifted her attention to locating a tall, safely located landmark. There, the flagpoles in the park across the street from the Spring Palace. If members of the McBride family remembered Trace McBride’s instructions, that’s where they’d go. “In fact,