Read Online Savage Winter by Constance O'Banyon - Free Book Online

most precocious smile as she held her hands out to him. She had heard that he was offering a great deal of money to get Joanna and Tag away from the Indians, and she thought she might just be the one tocollect. He wasn’t a bad-looking man, she thought, assessing him critically. He did have a certain amount of dignity, which came from having money, she supposed.
    Claudia knew she must hide the fact from Mr. Landon that she detested Joanna James more than anyone she knew if she was going to get her hands on the reward money. Again, she reminded herself that if it hadn’t been for Joanna Captain Thatcher might now be her husband.
    “You said you knew my niece?” Howard asked, raising her hand to his lips. His eyes gleamed as he watched her eyelashes flutter.
    “Yes, I was on the same wagon train with Joanna and Tag,” Claudia said, as she felt his lips against her fingers. She reminded herself that she must not act too forward and lowered her eyes coyly.
    “If that’s so, how did you escape the Indian raid?” Howard asked suspiciously, dropping her hand.
    “When the Indians struck, I hid in some bushes until it was all over.” Claudia sat down in the chair he offered her, while Howard remained standing. His eyes were drawn to Claudia’s low-cut yellow gown, which offered him a fair view of her creamy white breasts.
    She smiled at the older man, noticing how his eyes were fastened on her breasts.
    “I understand you were only recently widowed. May I offer you my sympathies?”
    Howard didn’t answer right away. Claudia watched him cautiously, hoping she hadn’t overplayed her hand.
    “Why are you still here at Fort Union, Miss Maxwell? Surely you should have returned to your home by how.”
    “My folks were killed in the raid, and I had nowhere else to go. One of the trappers, Ebenezer Hankins, brought his wife West. She was lonesome with so few women around, so they allowed me to stay with them.” Claudia dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “It’s not easy being without a ma and pa, or anyone who cares about you, Mr. Landon.”
    “Since the wagon train you were traveling with originatedin Philadelphia, should I assume that was your home before the tragedy?”
    “Yes, my folks were very wealthy, but they sold everything when we joined the wagon train. I lost all I had in the raid, Mr. Landon.”
    Howard was a shrewd man. He knew instinctively that the girl was lying. What did she wish to gain by her deception? He would judge her to be the daughter of a poor farmer, or perhaps even a tavernkeeper, or a fisherman. She was definitely not from the gentry. He wondered why she was trying to appear to be what she wasn’t. What a poor actress she was, he thought—still, she was a pretty girl, and he could feel the heat in his loins when she licked her lips and smiled at him.
    “I know Joanna very well. I think I should warn you it won’t be easy to get her away from her Indian lover. I have heard some awesome things about this Windhawk. I hear that he is a very dangerous person to cross.”
    “Is this what you came here to tell me?” Howard asked. He was becoming weary of everyone’s telling him about that red bastard.
    “Well, yes, in a way. I thought maybe I could be of help to you, Mr. Landon.”
    “In what way?”
    Claudia leaned over in such a way that her breasts almost spilled over her gown.
    Howard’s eyes seemed to devour her, and she smiled to herself, thinking he wouldn’t be too hard to entrap. After all, she was the only pretty white female within hundreds of miles. She must play her hand very carefully, however, or she might drive Mr. Landon away before she obtained her goal. If she was smart, she would soon have all she wanted—power, money, and perhaps even a respectable name. How ironic it would be, she thought, if she were to obtain all she had ever dreamed of because of Joanna James…her worst enemy!
    Claudia looked shyly up at Howard, veiling her true feelings. “What would you