Brides of Idaho Read Online Free Page B

here?”
    “Paid my money to your sister.” He knew that wasn’t what she meant. She simply objected to his presence, but he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of acknowledging it.
    She made a protesting noise deep in her throat but didn’t voice her disapproval in words. Perhaps because Joanna watched them. Instead, she marched toward the door. “I’m going to check on Pal.”
    “It’s late. Almost dark,” Joanna protested.
    “I’ll go with her,” Mandy said.
    Glory stopped and planted her hands on her hips, glaring from one sister to the other. “I do not need a nanny. Or a mother. Or a guard. Or… or…”
    Joanna waved her away. “I expect the two of you back soon so I can close the doors.”
    Exasperation burst from Glory’s mouth in an explosive sound, and she tossed her hands in the air in a gesture Levi took as defeat.
    He grinned.
    She slanted him a glare with the power to straighten his mouth and make him sit up straighter. “I need no one and nothing,” she muttered before she strode out the door.
    Levi’s grin returned as soon as the door closed behind her.
    Joanna stepped past him into the kitchen area and settled at the table, entering figures into a big ledger and likely waiting for her younger sisters to return. She left the door between open partway so she could keep an eye on the outer door for more overnight guests.
    Many of the men had tucked into their bedrolls already. Several snored loudly.
    But Levi sat up, continuing to read by the faint lantern light from the kitchen. He wouldn’t settle down until he knew Glory and her sisters were safely in their beds.

    Glory steamed after Mandy, hot air burning from her lungs. Why had that man chosen to spend the night at the stopping house? Seems a real preacher would have found a quiet place to sleep.
    Like a hundred miles away straight up the tallest mountain.
    They reached Glory’s shop, and she made a great show of filling Pal’s water trough, checking the gate, and examining the inside of her shop. As if someone might have moved in and taken over.
    Just like Levi had taken over every spare thought in her head. Oh, how she hated that she couldn’t stop thinking of him. “I think I’ll go check on the other horses.” They didn’t need it any more than Pal did, but returning to the stopping house, knowing that man was there made her skin feel too small.
    “You can’t do that. It’s nearly dark already.”
    “I can do it if I want.” She sounded petty and childish but couldn’t seem to help it.
    “Why are you so angry? It’s because of Mr. Powers, isn’t it? I saw the way you kept looking at him.”
    She ignored her sister’s questions. They didn’t deserve acknowledgment.
    “Why does he bother you? He’s here to start a church. Seems you should be glad for such a thing.”
    Glory snorted. “Who says he’s a preacher? Besides him. And why should we believe him? He could say he was anything, and we’d have no way of knowing. Does he have papers to prove it?”
    “Glory, listen to yourself. We didn’t ask Mr. Murray to prove he was a lawyer. No one asked us for proof we could run a stopping house.”
    “Proof is in the product, I’d say. We run a good clean establishment with satisfying meals and rules about conduct.”
    “Then I guess Mr. Powers deserves the same consideration. A chance to prove himself.”
    Glory stared at her sister. Should she tell her of the suspicions? Mention that Toby thought Powers looked like a robber on a wanted poster? “Did you see his vest?”
    Mandy grinned. “Sure did. You think he’d sell it?”
    Glory rolled her eyes. “Who cares?”
    Mandy got a faraway look on her face. “I suppose you noticed how handsome he is.”
    “Is not.”
    Mandy’s gaze jerked to Glory, disbelief written in every line. “Is too.”
    Not prepared to argue with her younger sister, Glory simply rolled her head back and forth.
    Mandy suddenly crowed and slapped her thighs. “You think he’s too