Read Loving Katherine for Free Online Page A

with amusement of his first evaluation. Mud hen. Mud hen, indeed. Her pa had her pegged right, he concluded. She was second cousin to a sparrowhawk, sure enough. Small and feisty, Charlie’d told him. “Plain as puddin’,” he used to say. “But under them brown feathers is a heart that’s bustin’ with courage.”
    “Sparrowhawk…suits her better than I’d have thought at first,” he acknowledged aloud, then grinned as he caught himself. “Talkin’ to yourself is a bad sign, Devereaux. Means you been too long without a little female companionship. Makes you drifty.”
    The quiet of the dinner table was roughly shattered by the sound of gunfire. Roan shot from his chair as though he’d taken the impact of the bullet himself.
    “Shut that door,” he ordered her as Katherine flew to the open doorway.
    She obeyed, her response automatic as she sensed the authority in his voice. Gone was the man of easy gestures, courtly mannerisms and gentle speech. She faced him warily, her back against the heavy planks that made up the door,and watched as he delved within the saddlebag that had taken up residence against the far wall of her kitchen.
    With fluid movements, he clasped the gun belt about his hips and took on the guise she had attributed to him weeks earlier. Gunfighter. Warrior, perhaps. Whatever name he wore, his stance in her kitchen proclaimed him ready to do battle, and she acknowledged his ability with silent admiration.
    “It’s probably not what you think,” she told him quietly.
    “How do you know what I think?” he asked roughly, striding to the window to stand at one side and bend his head to peer through the curtain.
    She drew in a shuddering breath. “I don’t, of course. I just think it’s maybe someone trying to scare me.”
    His look was piercing. “Who?”
    “I don’t know,” she quibbled, and then at his frown, she shook her head. “Could be Evan Gardner, a man from town.”
    “Why? You got somethin’ he wants?”
    “Yes.” A brief smile flitted across her mouth and vanished beneath the pursing of her lips. “He’s the man who wants my farm. Not to mention the horses—and of course, he’d like me thrown in to boot.” Her words were clipped and harsh, and he felt the anger she suppressed.
    “Well, I reckon we’ll just have to let him know you’re not available, won’t we, Katherine?” he asked in a deep drawl that offered a threat to the man who dared to encroach here.
    “It might not be him,” she said quickly as he strode to where she stood against the door. “It’s just that no one else ever bothers me.”
    “Bothers you! Hell, you haven’t even had a visitor since I’ve been here, lady. If this Evan Gardner comes callin’ with his gun cocked and ready, he’s askin’ for trouble.”
    Snatching up his rifle from where it stood against the wall, he motioned her to one side and slid the latch on the wooden door.
    “Come on out, Katherine.” The voice was cunning, grating against his hearing. “I know you’re peekin’ out. I heard the latch slidin’, Katherine. Did I get your attention?” Wheedling and tinged with mockery, the man’s words coaxed the unseen woman to expose herself.
    “Where is he?” Roan asked quietly, motioning to the window. “Can you see him?”
    She slid carefully across the wall, her eyes peering through the white curtain as she sought to see the man who called from outside the house.
    “He’s right in front of the door, sitting on his horse,” she said, catching sight of Gardner and then moving fully in front of the window. “He’s put his gun away.”
    Roan’s lips curled back in a grimace of pleasure that belied the flare of anger in his dark eyes. “More fool than I thought,” he said with quiet satisfaction.
    The door was flung open, and he stepped out on the porch, rifle at the ready, feet apart and braced as he faced the man who waited astride a dark mare. It was worth a bundle, Roan decided quickly, just to see the