Fearless Read Online Free Page B

saw him move, but in the flash of a light, the aggressor was lying on his back in the dirt with many bruises. The men don’t give Rodrigo any reason to go after them, since that happened. He is very strong.”
    “Rodrigo?” Glory sounded out the name. It had a quiet dignity.
    “Rodrigo Ramirez,” she replied. “He worked on a cattle ranch down in Sonora, he said.”
    “He came from Mexico?”
    “I think he was born there, but he does not speak of his past.”
    “His accent is very slight,” Glory mused. “He speaks Spanish, I guess.”
    “Spanish, French, Danish, Portuguese, German, Italian and, of all things, Apache.”
    Glory was confused. “With a talent like that, he’s managing a truck farm in Texas?”
    Consuelo chuckled. “I, also, made this observation. He led me to believe he once worked as a translator. Where, he did not say.”
    Glory smiled. “Well, at least this is going to be an interesting job.”
    “You know the big boss, Jason Pendleton?”
    Glory nodded. “Well, sort of,” she amended quickly. “I was more friendly with his sister,” she confided.
    “Ah. Gracie.” Consuelo chuckled again. “She came with him once. There was a cat with a broken leg lying beside the road, a stray that hung around here. Gracie picked it up, blood and dirt and all, and made Jason take her to the nearest vet. She was wearing a silk dress that would cost me two months wages, and it didn’t matter. The cat was what mattered.” She smiled. “She should marry. It would be a very lucky man, to have a wife like that.”
    “She doesn’t want to get married,” Glory said. “Her real father was a hell-raiser.”
    “Hers and Jason’s, you mean…”
    Glory shook her head. “You see, Jason and Gracie aren’t related. Her father died when she was in her early teens. Her stepmother married Jason’s father. Then her stepmother died and Jason’s father married again.” She didn’t add that Jason’s stepfather was also her own stepfather. It was complicated.
    Consuelo took off her apron. “I must show you to the guest room.” She turned, and only then noticed the cane, half hidden behind Glory’s jean-clad leg. Her eyebrows met. “You should have told me,” she fussed. “I would never have let you stand like that while I gossiped! It must be painful.”
    “I didn’t notice. Really.”
    “The room is downstairs, at least,” Consuelo said, leading the way past the pantry shelves, into the living room, and through a far door that led to another hall, which ended in a bathroom opening into a small, blue-wallpapered room with white trim.
    “It’s lovely,” Glory told her.
    “It’s small,” Consuelo said. “Rodrigo chose it for himself, but I told him he needed more room than this. He has two computers and several pieces of radio equipment. A hobby, he said. There is a small desk in the study that he uses, but he prefers his bedroom when he’s doing the books.”
    “He’s antisocial?”
    “He has nothing to do with women,” Consuelo replied. She frowned. “Although, there was a pretty blonde woman who came here to see him one day. They seemed very close. I asked. But he ignored the question. He does not talk about himself.”
    “How odd.”
    “You are not married, or engaged?”
    Glory shook her head. “I don’t want to marry. Ever.”
    “You don’t want children?”
    Glory frowned. “I don’t know that I should try to have them,” she said. “I have a…medical problem. It would be dangerous.” She sighed. “But since I don’t trust men very much, it’s probably just as well.”
    Consuelo didn’t ask any more questions, but her manner with Glory was gentle.
     
    T HE TRUCK FARM WAS HUGE . There were many fields, each with a separate crop, and the plantings were staggered so that something was always ready to harvest. The fruit trees were just being picked. Peaches and apricots, nectarines and kiwi fruit were first to harvest. The apple trees were varieties that produced in