Read Online The Men of Pride County: The Rebel by Rosalyn West - Free Book Online

purposes so early in our stay.”
    “And that’s all that motivated your gesture?” She’d hoped there’d be more. The quick downward cant of his gaze said there was.
    “A family shouldn’t be put out on a vain woman’s whim, regardless of rank.”
    “I quite agree.”
    “Then we’ve found some common ground at last.” His words were teasing, but his sudden penetrating stare was not. It conveyed all sorts of deeper meaning, giving Juliet a start of alarm.
    “A small patch, Major,” she conceded gruffly, then turned away. On second thought, she looked over her shoulder. “I should have my books in order by tomorrow. Then consider the library open.”
    His dazzling smile shot a quiver to her soul. “Yes, ma’am. I look forward to looking under your covers.” Again his grin took a devilish twist that both annoyed and aroused her sensibilities with its unspoken subtext.
    “Rogue,” she muttered to herself as she shut the door between them. A rogue and a rebel. She couldn’t afford to forget the latter.
    John Crowley stepped into the small adobe house hours later and felt instantly at home. Familiar touches already filled the stark rooms. A lacy cloth covered the plain pine board tabletop, where two place settings of well-traveled china were laid out for dinner.His wife’s woven shawl was folded over the back of a reassembled rocker set at an inviting angle next to the stove. His pipe and humidor and tattered leather slippers waited there as well. Plain daubed walls were adorned with a portrait of his late wife and the military citations that highlighted his long career. And those ferny green things his daughter insisted on carrying wherever they went leaned toward the harsh light at the windows. In his bedroom, he knew he’d find his shaving mirror on the wall and a tin basin next to his toiletries.
    Like her mother before her, Juliet knew how to make a man feel welcome.
    And while he selfishly enjoyed being that man for the moment, he also thought it high time she found one of her own to cater to.
    “Dinner’s almost ready.”
    Juliet stood in the doorway of the small kitchen. An apron covered her practical gown, and her features were flushed by the heat of the stove. Not a beauty, but a handsome girl, her father observed. One who would make some deserving officer a fine wife.
    “If it’s no trouble, set two extra plates. I thought the dinner table would be a good, informal place for my seconds to get to know each other.”
    A deeper color rose to his daughter’s cheeks, but her reply was automatic. “No trouble.”
    Crowley knew better. Something was bothering her, and he didn’t think it was worryingover how to divide their beef into two extra portions. It was one of the guests who flustered her, and by evening’s end, he hoped to learn which one.
    No trouble .
    Juliet grumbled to herself as she diced more potatoes for her stew. Most of her ill-temper was because it ordinarily wouldn’t have been any trouble. She was used to stretching meals to accommodate her father’s last-minute invitations to their table. But this time it irritated her.
    And she knew it had to do with Noble Banning.
    The thought of sitting down to a meal with him disconcerted her. She’d have only enough time to set two more services and dish the meal, none to freshen her appearance or change into another dress. Such sprucing-up details wouldn’t have occurred to her if Miles had been their only guest. The knowledge that she wanted to fuss in order to please the smug Kentuckian galled her no end.
    After all, he wasn’t coming to dinner to ogle her.
    But obviously, that was Miles’s intention.
    Miles Dougherty had been her father’s second in command at his last post in Texas, before the War between the States pulled the Crowleys back East. Miles had gone on to serve under another at Fort Blair until that unfortunate commander had taken a bad turn aftera sudden, unexplained fever. So her father’s return had the