Never Marry a Cowboy Read Online Free

act as her husband, only her bridegroom, to give her one day in the sun.”
    â€œWhy me?”
    â€œBecause you come from a country where marriages are still arranged, and you understand that vows can be spoken with feeling even when no love exists between the couple.” He took a step forward. “And because when last we met, you told me that Christopher’s wife had taken ill and died. I saw in your eyes that you suffered from her loss, so you know that death can be cruel.”
    Kit snatched the bottle off the desk and drankgreedily, relishing the unmerciful flames burning their way through him. He lowered the bottle. “I have watched one woman die. I will not watch another.”
    â€œI’m not asking you to watch her die. I’m only asking you to marry her. Charm her for one day, one evening. Allow her to be a bride. Then I’ll take her back to Dallas.”
    Shaking his head, Kit laughed and dropped into his chair. He remembered being introduced to Ashton at a party David had hosted, but his recollection of the woman was vague and blurry. The image of a timid mouse hovering in a corner popped into his mind. “I hardly know her.”
    â€œHow well did you know the other women you’ve charmed?”
    All good humor fled. “I seriously doubt you want to put your sister in league with them.”
    â€œHow many of them hated you?”
    â€œAs far as I know, none. I always managed to stay on good terms with my conquests .”
    â€œThat’s the reason I think this idea will work.”
    â€œYou want your sister to become one of my many conquests?”
    David placed his palms on the desk and leaned forward. “I do not want you to bed her. She is far too frail. I only want you to marry her, allow her to walk down the aisle, dance a bridal dance with her. She’ll have her wish, and you’ll have—”
    â€œA wife! I shall have a wife until she dies.”
    â€œFor six months. Is there someone in your life right now who would object, whom this act of charity would hurt?”
    â€œI object. This insane notion of yours is ludicrous. I would be shackled to a woman I hardly know, a woman I don’t want.”
    David straightened. “As I said when you greeted me, I was here to test the boundaries of our friendship.”
    â€œAsk anything else of me and I will grant it, but do not ask me to marry a dying woman.”
    David nodded, obviously accepting Kit’s decision. “Madeline opposed the idea as well.”
    â€œI always knew your wife was remarkably intelligent.”
    â€œI hope I didn’t damage our friendship with this request.”
    â€œNo,” Kit said somberly. “I know how difficult it is to watch someone you love die. At the time, you would do anything for her—even die in her place if you could.”

Chapter 2
    T he morning after he’d finished off a bottle of whiskey always made Kit wonder why he bothered to carry the decanter to his lips in the first place. The dull ache pounding between his temples rolled to the back of his head.
    Marry a dying woman . The thought had kept him tossing and turning on his narrow cot for the remainder of the night. What had ever possessed David to dream up such an incredibly insane scheme?
    The answer came before he’d finished asking himself the question: love.
    He knew the emotion too well to ever be lured by it again into doing something he would regret.
    His mouth felt as though someone had stuffed the cotton he’d picked that first summer into it. That first summer. He stared at his reflection in the mirror as he shaved, finding it difficult to believe how quickly five years had passed. He had been the marshal of Fortune for three.
    In the beginning, excitement had flourished when the trail drovers had begun driving their cattle through Fortune. Kit had needed to calm the rambunctious cowboys. They still passed through every spring, but with a bit