Lawman Read Online Free

and wrote in the addition of the
pottery and the improved living space terms. "I—I'm sure we can
easily come to terms with that, though," she finished
awkwardly.
    Shoot, Addie had done it to her again. She'd
lost the direction of her thoughts regarding the abutment when
she'd seen her warning. Now it was too late to let her original
indignation carry her into further negotiations.
    Smiling smugly, Addie pantomimed closing a
book and ducked out of the doorway. Megan frowned after her. Don't talk like a book, indeed ! How was she supposed to cope
with people like the Websters, if all she could do was smile and
curtsey and show off her bustle?
    It was ridiculous to behave as though she
hadn't a thought in her head beyond ribbons and recipes. If that
was what it took to capture a husband, no wonder she'd never gotten
herself one!
    Aside from living in the middle of nowhere
with a bunch of station hands for company and a father who spent
more time at the gambling table than the dinner table, she amended.
If not for Addie and the much-thumbed copies of Godey's brought to her by the Kearney stagecoach drivers from the Fort
Lowell officers' wives, she wouldn't have had any feminine
influences at all.
    Across the desk, the Websters put their
heads together and whispered. She took advantage of the opportunity
to review the deed agreement one last time, then cleared her
throat.
    "It looks as though everything is in order,"
she said when they looked up. "Shall we sign?"
    She plucked a fountain pen from its holder
and held it toward Jedediah. He stared at it as though she'd
suggested he eat it, rather than simply sign his name with it.
Then, slowly, he leaned forward and reached for it.
    Mrs. Webster jabbed him with her elbow. With
a sheepish expression, he lowered his hand again.
    "Ahh, we'll need to view the reimbursement
before signing, Miss Kearney."
    "Reimbursement?"
    "The cash," Mrs. Webster clarified.
    "I see."
    She'd hoped to secure a cashier's check with
the money at the telegraph office in Tucson before completing their
transaction. Having a record of the money that changed hands would
be best. After all, the entire contents of her nest egg were at
risk. But as difficult as this meeting had been to arrange, and as
difficult as the Websters had been to deal with, all Megan wanted
to do was get it over with. A signed, witnessed receipt would have
to do.
    "The funds aren't a problem, are they?"
Jedediah asked. "I know it's not quite in a lady's nature to deal
with great sums of money."
    Megan thought back on the years she'd been
drawing wages as her father's bookkeeper and part-time, uncertified
station manager. What did that make her, if not a lady handling
great sums of money? It was fortunate she and her father had kept
her financial acumen to themselves—otherwise, folks might have
expected her to start wearing britches, or something equally
ridiculous.
    "Or perhaps you'd like to wait until your
father can be present himself, to guide you?" Mrs. Webster
suggested. "I've always taken my dear father's advice, right down
to the question of whom I'd marry."
    That explained a great deal .
Suppressing a shudder at the notion of enduring a similar fate,
Megan opened the desk drawer to her left and withdrew a stack of
leather-bound ledgers. Their familiar, earthy scent did much to
reassure her. This was her element, she reminded herself, and her
home. She wouldn't allow mean-hearted people like the Websters to
discourage her.
    Besides, all her dreams hinged on reaching
an accord with them.
    "I'm afraid my father's been called away on
business," she said. Called away to a Faro game, more
likely . According to Addie, he'd ridden out for Tucson sometime
before sunup, all afire about some 'big opportunity' he meant to
surprise them with. "So he won't be able to be here with us
today."
    "Oh, my. That's such a shame."
    Megan's heart twisted. She'd never thought
of it in precisely those terms before, but Mrs. Webster was right,
after a