Read Online Tried and True (Wild at Heart Book #1) by Mary Connealy - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mary Connealy
Tags: FIC042040, FIC042030, FIC027050, Frontier and pioneer life—Fiction, Idaho Territory—Fiction, Disguise—Fiction, Women pioneers—Fiction
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rancher.” Bailey rolled her eyes at Shannon. “You and those lousy sheep. Any rancher worth his lariat would have a conniption.”
“You’re the one who’d make a rancher’s wife, Bailey,” Kylie said. “Why don’t you marry the cattle king?”
“I’m not getting married.” She tossed the comment off, yet there was a darkness to it that Kylie didn’t fully understand.
Something had happened to Bailey during the war that she’d never talked about, and Kylie had no doubt her big sister would never marry.
“I got mighty tired of taking orders in the Army,” Bailey said. “Mostly orders given by fools who put an infantry soldier’s neck on the line for no good reason. And I’ve had a bellyful of taking orders from Pa. I’m not signing up for a hitch with a husband. I like the way I live, and no man would put up with it.”
The three of them looked at each other in silence for a while. Finally, Kylie said, “So if none of us is willing to distract him by marrying him, what are we going to do?”
7
A aron looked at Kylie’s paper work and hesitated. To make it honest would be simple. He wouldn’t have to change a word, except for where she’d claimed the service exemption, and he could deny that by striking a line through it.
It wasn’t right. She’d put in her time. She’d fought in the war, and he knew the price a soldier paid. He picked up his pen, then put it down again without making the mark.
She’d written her name down correctly—Kylie—so not an ounce of ink told a lie. He decided he needed to talk to her once more before he denied the exemption. He admitted too that he didn’t mind having an excuse to see her again.
Aaron pulled on his suit coat, put the papers in a leather pouch, and headed out. He met Gage Coulter, who was reaching for the door to the land office.
Chafing at anything that slowed him down, Aaron said, “I’m on my way out. Can this wait?”
“No, it can’t. I want to see the homestead claims on abunch of nesters I’ve found on my land. I need to find out if their standing is legal and where their property lines are.”
“I’m not going to stand by while you harass legal homesteaders, Coulter. So any help I give you comes with a promise to protect these folks.”
Aaron knew good and well that Coulter was thinking of Kylie. Wait till he saw where the rest of the Wilde family had homesteaded. There was a land rush on and a lot of claims had been staked. The Wildes, though, had homesteaded in roughly a straight line. Except for Kylie, they’d claimed acres with good meadowland and fine water sources. They’d picked very wisely, ignoring heavily wooded stretches, so there were many miles between the properties. But a knowing eye could see that their holdings ended up cornering a big chunk all along the western edge of Coulter’s range.
“I’m not asking you to help me break the law.” Coulter waved a dismissive hand in Aaron’s face in a way that was mighty irritating.
It reminded Aaron that his family had owned one of the largest, most prosperous farms in Virginia not that long ago, and Aaron had learned how to be arrogant at his father’s knee. The war and its aftermath had knocked that out of Aaron, but now here stood Coulter, a man who’d run from war and gotten rich while others died preserving the Union.
And here was Kylie Wilde, and Aaron denying her a service exemption, with Coulter having spent the war years cornering all this western land.
“I want information,” Coulter went on, ignoring howhis words affected Aaron, or more likely not caring. “I want to know what I’m up against.”
“Nothing fancy to tell, Coulter. Miss Wilde has a legal claim on that land. It’s about half lake, and most of the rest is mountains.”
“I know my land, Masterson. I don’t need you to tell me that. I want to know the exact boundaries. I want to know what other land is open for homesteading and what parts of it I can buy to stop nesters from
“You’re the one who’d make a rancher’s wife, Bailey,” Kylie said. “Why don’t you marry the cattle king?”
“I’m not getting married.” She tossed the comment off, yet there was a darkness to it that Kylie didn’t fully understand.
Something had happened to Bailey during the war that she’d never talked about, and Kylie had no doubt her big sister would never marry.
“I got mighty tired of taking orders in the Army,” Bailey said. “Mostly orders given by fools who put an infantry soldier’s neck on the line for no good reason. And I’ve had a bellyful of taking orders from Pa. I’m not signing up for a hitch with a husband. I like the way I live, and no man would put up with it.”
The three of them looked at each other in silence for a while. Finally, Kylie said, “So if none of us is willing to distract him by marrying him, what are we going to do?”
7
A aron looked at Kylie’s paper work and hesitated. To make it honest would be simple. He wouldn’t have to change a word, except for where she’d claimed the service exemption, and he could deny that by striking a line through it.
It wasn’t right. She’d put in her time. She’d fought in the war, and he knew the price a soldier paid. He picked up his pen, then put it down again without making the mark.
She’d written her name down correctly—Kylie—so not an ounce of ink told a lie. He decided he needed to talk to her once more before he denied the exemption. He admitted too that he didn’t mind having an excuse to see her again.
Aaron pulled on his suit coat, put the papers in a leather pouch, and headed out. He met Gage Coulter, who was reaching for the door to the land office.
Chafing at anything that slowed him down, Aaron said, “I’m on my way out. Can this wait?”
“No, it can’t. I want to see the homestead claims on abunch of nesters I’ve found on my land. I need to find out if their standing is legal and where their property lines are.”
“I’m not going to stand by while you harass legal homesteaders, Coulter. So any help I give you comes with a promise to protect these folks.”
Aaron knew good and well that Coulter was thinking of Kylie. Wait till he saw where the rest of the Wilde family had homesteaded. There was a land rush on and a lot of claims had been staked. The Wildes, though, had homesteaded in roughly a straight line. Except for Kylie, they’d claimed acres with good meadowland and fine water sources. They’d picked very wisely, ignoring heavily wooded stretches, so there were many miles between the properties. But a knowing eye could see that their holdings ended up cornering a big chunk all along the western edge of Coulter’s range.
“I’m not asking you to help me break the law.” Coulter waved a dismissive hand in Aaron’s face in a way that was mighty irritating.
It reminded Aaron that his family had owned one of the largest, most prosperous farms in Virginia not that long ago, and Aaron had learned how to be arrogant at his father’s knee. The war and its aftermath had knocked that out of Aaron, but now here stood Coulter, a man who’d run from war and gotten rich while others died preserving the Union.
And here was Kylie Wilde, and Aaron denying her a service exemption, with Coulter having spent the war years cornering all this western land.
“I want information,” Coulter went on, ignoring howhis words affected Aaron, or more likely not caring. “I want to know what I’m up against.”
“Nothing fancy to tell, Coulter. Miss Wilde has a legal claim on that land. It’s about half lake, and most of the rest is mountains.”
“I know my land, Masterson. I don’t need you to tell me that. I want to know the exact boundaries. I want to know what other land is open for homesteading and what parts of it I can buy to stop nesters from
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