Read Online The Passionate and the Proud by Vanessa Royall - Free Book Online

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    The man helped her up. He was tall, and broad in the shoulders and chest. His waist was trim and narrow; his hips were lean in denim trousers.
    “You got to watch out around this camp,” he warned her with gentle severity. “I didn’t have the foggiest notion you were going to jump out at me from behind that wagon.”
    “I didn’t exactly jump out at you…”
    “Sorry. Just a figure of speech. Say, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. I’m Randy Clay.”
    He offered his hand, which was well shaped, with long, strong fingers.
    “You haven’t,” Emmalee replied. “I just got here. In fact, I was looking for Mr. Torquist. I want to sign up for a place on the train.”
    She waited, expecting the half-disbelieving, half-derisive response to her plans that she’d received from Val Jannings, Garn Landar, and, most recently, Burt Pennington. But Randy Clay just grinned and asked what her name was.
    “Sounds fine to me, Emmalee,” he said then. “But where’s the rest of you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “The others. Ma. Pa. Husband, cousins, kids.”
    “There aren’t any. I’m alone.”
    This news did not seem to alarm Randy Clay either, but he did inform her that the Torquist wagon train was composed of people who wanted to claim land in Olympia for the purpose of farming.
    “So do I,” she said. “That’s why I’m here.”
    He smiled again. He had a wonderful smile. It made her feel happy and wanted, like a friend.
    “Well, let me take you to Mr. Torquist then. He’s the one who can tell you exactly how things stand. I’m signed on as a scout, but I’m really aimin’ to get land of my own once we reach Olympia.”
    He helped her up onto the big gray horse, which Emmalee could tell was a sturdy beast, respectable but without lineage. It was the horse of an honest man who needs an animal not for the sake of appearances but for good, hard work. In fact, the dapple-gray wore no saddle, so when Randy swung up on its back behind Emmalee and put his arms around her so that he could hold the reins, the two of them were mounted close together. Emmalee was very conscious of the warmth of Randy’s body behind her.
    “My gear—” she began.
    “Leave it,” he said. “Nobody’ll touch it. We’ve got decent people on this train. Not like some others I could name.”
    He kicked the horse lightly with his heels and the beast lumbered into a trot.
    Emmalee indulged in a small measure of satisfaction. Things seemed to be progressing fairly well. Randy had said that good people belonged to this company, and that was nice to know. Moreover, he would personally introduce her to the leader, Mr. Torquist. That was ever so much better than having to stumble up on one’s own, a stranger out of nowhere. There was just one small matter, however, which had yet to be resolved.
    “What is the fare on this train?” she asked, trying to assume an air of casual confidence.
    “A hundred and thirty dollars.”
    Her heart sank. After the train trip and the purchases in Hannibal, she had four dollars and twenty cents left.
    “Less than most,” he said.
    “Oh, yes. I shopped around. What is Mr. Torquist like?” she asked. “As a person, I mean?”
    “Well,” said Randy Clay, hesitating, “that’s sort of a hard question to answer.”
    “What I mean is…well, is he a good man?”
    “Oh, definitely good.”
    “Has he taken a wagon train out west before?”
    “No, but he’s a strong leader, that’s for sure. I doubt there are any stronger.”
    “Somehow you don’t seem especially enthusiastic about that.”
    “Oh, I am,” replied Randy. “It’s just that Mr. Torquist is very sure of everything. Sometimes this causes him to have trouble with other people. Not serious trouble, mind you, but…”
    Emmalee decided to approach Horace Torquist warily. “And he is a farmer?” she asked.
    “You bet! He had a huge farm in Ohio, near Galena. That’s where I’m from. But his wife died, he