Read Online The Gambler by Lily Graison - Free Book Online Page A

napkin from her lap, placing it on the table. “So, where is it
we’re going, exactly?”
     
    “Willow Creek Montana. I told you that last
night.”
     
    “I know, but where in Montana is Willow
Creek?”
     
    “On the other side of Missoula.” He grinned
and wrapped his hands around his coffee mug. “Know where that
is?”
     
    She shook her head. “No. I’ve never been to
Montana. I’ve never been anywhere.” She looked around the hotel,
her smile widening. “I lived in Cottonwood Springs my whole life
and this is the first time I’ve ever left.” She looked back at him.
“Never been on a stagecoach, either. Are they comfortable?”
     
    Tristan laughed. “Not by a long shot but its
warmer than riding on horseback and we’ve a ways to go yet. We have
a weeks travel before we get to Willow Creek so you’ll be sick of
eating in hotel restaurants by the time we reach home.”
     
    She asked him about Willow Creek, enough that
she no doubt had a mental picture in her mind and he hoped he’d
done the town justice. They talked for the next hour and he learned
things about her he wished he didn’t know and was embarrassed to
tell her he’d left home at seventeen because his father told him to
stay out of the saloons or not come back. That was nine years ago.
He almost hated the thoughts of going home but with his pa sick,
the old man might not even remember telling him to leave. Or he
wouldn’t care any more.
     
    After their talk, he escorted her out of the
hotel and crossed the street to the stagecoach station. Emmaline
chewed her thumbnail as she watched the people passing on the
street. He took her hand, gave it a light squeeze and left her in
front of the station to make sure their tickets were in order. When
he returned, the stagecoach was ambling down the road, the horses
pulling it stirring up dust and causing the people on the street to
scurry out of its path.
     
    When it stopped, the driver jumped down and
Tristan left her side again to secure their things. By the time he
turned to reach for her hand to help her inside the stagecoach, she
looked scared to death. “Are you all right?”
     
    She blinked, looked up at him, and nodded.
“Just having second thoughts.”
     
    “About what exactly?”
     
    He was still holding her hand and Emmaline
looked down, staring at their joined hands. “I’m putting a lot of
faith in you, Tristan Avery.” She looked back up, the fear shining
in her eyes. “You abandon me with nothing but the clothes on my
back and I’ll hunt you down and skin you alive.”
     
    Tristan smiled and lifted her hand, placing a
soft kiss on the back of it. “I’d never dream of such a thing.” He
pulled her toward the stagecoach, putting his free hand on her
back. “Come along, Ms. Hunt. Your new future is a week away.”
     
     
    * * * *
     
     
    Much to Emmaline’s delight, they had the
stagecoach to themselves. No other passengers had climbed aboard
when they did and it suited her just fine. She’d taken the seat
across from Tristan and they rode for hours, her neck aching from
where she’d been looking out the window the entire time. The
scenery passing by her window was too much of a distraction.
     
    She hadn’t lied when she told Tristan she’d
never been anywhere. She hadn’t. The farthest she’d ever traveled
was to the far end of Cottonwood Springs, to the last building on
the street, where nothing lay beyond it but wide-open spaces and
the road.
     
    Seeing Tristan out of the corner of her eye,
she turned her head to him. He was staring at her again. “Why do
you insist on gawking at me.”
     
    He grinned. “I wasn’t aware I was.”
     
    “Well, every time I look, you are.”
     
    “Maybe I only look when you do.”
     
    She doubted it. He had been staring at her.
Ever since he helped her into the stagecoach she felt his gaze on
her. It was unnerving to have his undivided attention and she
wasn’t even sure why she did. Was he admiring the new