Read Online Montana Wife (Historical) by Jillian Hart - Free Book Online Page B

cat’s grin twisted his features. “I’m just lookin’ out for the widow’s well fare.”
    Yeah, he could see what was on the man’s greedy mind. Daniel swung into the saddle. “I’m not a betting man, but I’d stake my horse on Mrs. Ludgrin. She strikes me as the type of woman who can take care of herself.”
    â€œRayna? Nah, she’s a pampered little thing. She’ll be on the lookout for a man to take care of her. And mind you, boy, she won’t be wanting to spend her attentions on a Confederate mutt. She’s used to being spoilt, and she’ll go with the man who can give her what she wants.”
    Was Dayton talking about himself? He was a married man. Daniel watched in disgust as the older man shot a final stream of brown juice into the street. With a self-righteous wink that looked suspiciously like a leer, Dayton glanced down the boardwalk at something catching his attention—a young and pretty woman.
    Yeah, there’s another reason I don’t trust you. Daniel reined his horse around, anger boiling inside him. What was it the old man had said about Rayna? That she was a woman without a man to protect her. Or satisfy her.
    What was Dayton thinking—that the new widowwould award her affections to the first man to come along and help her keep her house? Rage blew through him like steam through a whistle, and he sent his gelding into the busy street.
    Sure, he didn’t really know much about Rayna Ludgrin, but the time spent lately in her presence told him one thing. With the way she’d tried to harvest her crop with a hand scythe, she was a woman not prone to taking the easiest path. She had character and fortitude.
    As if his thoughts had conjured her, there she was on the boardwalk in front of the mercantile. Was it his imagination, or did she stand out among the other women hurrying on their errands?
    Her wool coat was a plain tan color and finely tailored to show the dainty curves and tiny waist and the flare of her skirts. The pointed toes of her polished brown shoes peeked out from beneath the ruffled hem of a fine black dress. Maybe it was the way she walked, even in mourning, that spoke of dignity.
    His heart clutched in his chest with sorrow for her losses, that’s what this emotion was. He’d been alone all his life, and he wasn’t a man of Dayton’s ilk that lusted after a woman, so it couldn’t be a desire for her that he was feeling. She was newly widowed and vulnerable. He wasn’t about to let his thoughts go there.
    But he did recognize something in her that he struggled with every day—the feeling of being alone in the world, alone to shoulder responsibilities. He knew something about that. In fact, it was all he knew.
    But it had to be a new experience for her.
    Did he go to her? See if she needed something? Tell her what he’d learned at the bank? Or would that be too forward, here in town, where rumors might spread? Itwas the way of some people, he thought, remembering how Dayton had suggested any widow’s morals were easily compromised.
    Speaking of the old devil—there he was. Ambling down the boardwalk as if he owned it. Dressed in his Sunday finest, he raked his fingers through his thinning hair, donned his hat and squared his thin shoulders in what he must have thought was a dashing gesture.
    Maybe some folks would be fooled and take him for a moneyed gentleman, but not Daniel. He could taste the dislike souring his tongue as he watched Dayton spot Rayna Ludgrin as she chatted with another woman on the boardwalk. She was obviously receiving condolences from an acquaintance. Her face when she spotted Dayton striding toward her changed from sad to wary.
    At least she wasn’t fooled by the older man’s spit and polish. Daniel leaned back on the reins, nosing his mount out of the way so he could keep an eye on things. He couldn’t help feeling protective toward the widow. It