A Fire in the Blood Read Online Free

up—"
           "You promised, Papa! What could be more important? I'll wait if you have to have some boring old meeting over at the Association."
           "I'm afraid that won't be possible, Lissa," he said placatingly.
           "But I just had my hair done, and the hotel maid pressed all my gowns in a special rush...." she wheedled.
           His jaw was set in that stubborn way that she knew meant he would not be moved. Lissa recognized it because she too clenched her jaw the same way on frequent occasions.
           "I'm sorry, Princess. I'm going to have to have a business dinner. A man I just hired has arrived a day early, and Lemuel and I need to discuss vital J Bar affairs with him."
           Her heart skipped a beat. Jesse Robbins! "I don't see why I can't sit in. I promise to keep quiet and let you talk."
           His blue eyes were glacial as he replied, "This man is not the sort that a lady would ever be seen socially with. He's a half-breed stock detective from Texas."
           So it was he. "Oh, poo! What difference does that make to me? I only want to dress up and have an elegant meal in a civilized place." She knew Marcus shared the Westerner's prejudices about good women associating with Indians or gunmen—and stock detectives were by definition gunmen. But the whole thing was narrow-minded and silly. She had half a mind to say so, but he gave her no opportunity.
           "I know you've spent your formative years away from here, and for that reason I'll ignore that foolish remark," he said sternly. "I promise to take you to dinner tomorrow night. Now be a good girl and order whatever you want sent up from the hotel dining room for tonight." He walked over to her and placed a kiss on her forehead, then started for the door. He paused midway and said, with a twinkle softening his cold blue eyes, "Oh, Princess, your hair does look grand. Have the hairdresser come again tomorrow—and wear the gold dress."
           After her father left, Lissa began to pace and scheme. If Lemuel was going to be present, too, then she could say she was so eager to see him that she just couldn't wait. Papa would be furious, but since he had been pushing Mathis at her for over a year, he could not stay mad. And he would never guess that her real motive for coming to the dining room was the silver-eyed gunman.
           Lissa could not wait to see Jesse Robbins's face when she made her grand entrance and was introduced as Marcus Jacobson's daughter. "I bet he swallows his tongue!"
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
           Jess waited in the lobby of the hotel, which was adjacent to the fancy dining room. The aroma of rich coffee and fresh-baked bread perfumed the air. His stomach let out a low grumble, and he realized that he had not eaten since a hasty breakfast of bacon and beans on the trail at daybreak.
           Marcus Jacobson and three companions strolled into the hotel, laughing and talking jovially. They must've had a drink at their club . He imagined them inviting him to enter that hallowed sanctuary. Hell would freeze over first .
           As they approached, he studied the men with Jacobson. One of them wore expensive boots with a dress suit that was stiff and ill-fitting. He had a weathered face, creased as old buckskin and blasted by the elements. The second fellow was better dressed, with well-barbered hair and Celtic features. He, too, wore boots. The two of them were like old Marcus, no mistaking their hard-eyed toughness.
           The third fellow had the look of a townsman. His clothes were well-tailored and he moved as if at ease in a fancy shirt and buttoned suit coat. He wore highly polished shoes and gold jewelry. Jess studied his face, which was flat and broad, with pale colorless eyes beneath sandy eyebrows. Quick eyes, missing nothing. He was younger than the others but no kid by any means. His thick sandy hair was liberally thatched