Read Taming of Jessi Rose for Free Online Page B

though; he already knew she didn’t fit the mold.
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    Jessi had no decent place for him to bunk except in the house with her and Joth, so she showed him to her pa’s room. She usually avoided the room. Even though Dexter Clayton had been dead over a year now, the space still held his spirit. Every time she entered, the grief would rise again, as would the memories of their bittersweet relationship.
    They’d not gotten along well, she and her father. Standing between them had been her mother’s adultery and subsequent tragic death, and the role Dexter Clayton had played in Jessi’s own liaison with Calico Bob. “This was once my pa’s room, but you’re welcome to it, unless you prefer the porch.”
    Griff looked around the book-lined room. It was the first room he’d had to himself in quite some time. “No, this is fine—as long as you don’t feel I’m crowding you.”
    â€œAs long as you don’t believe I’m going to be part of your pay, we’ll do fine.”
    Griff smiled inwardly. Tough as rawhide, and sharp as a bed of nails .
    She looked up at him and asked quite plainly, “Do you get my meaning?”
    He nodded. “I do,” adding, “I know I’m a stranger, and you’re a woman alone, but you have my word: I’m no danger to you or the boy.”
    â€œThe word of a train robber?”
    â€œThe word of an honorable train robber.”
    Jessi looked skeptical. “Stash your gear and I’ll giveyou a tour of the place. Joth won’t be home for another two hours or so.”
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    Griff noted that she sat her horse like a man and rode with an easiness that denoted much experience. She conversed only sparingly as she showed him as much of the place as the time allowed. He saw broken down fences, burned range shacks, and some of the prettiest land he’d ever laid eyes on. There was fat pasture grass for her milling herd of lowing cattle, and a wide ribbon of crystal blue water that tasted cold and pure. He could see why Darcy and the railroads wanted this land, and why she was fighting to keep it.
    She explained, “My sister Mildred and I grew up here. For a long time we thought Papa owned the whole world.”
    Griff wondered what she must have been like as a child. “Where’s Mildred now?”
    â€œDead. Childbirth.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said genuinely.
    â€œThanks,” she replied. “Joth and I are the only Claytons left.”
    â€œMarshal Wildhorse said you were a widow.”
    â€œI am. My husband’s buried back east.”
    Griff sensed he’d pried into her personal life enough for now. “How’d those range shacks get burned?” he asked, changing the subject.
    â€œDarcy’s men,” she replied bitterly. “They burned all six in the last month. Since there was nothing I could do to stop it, I just let them have their fun.”
    â€œHow many head do you have?”
    â€œThere were thousands five years ago, but at last count only a hundred or so are left. Darcy’s men began butchering them the day after my father was gunned down.”
    She reined her horse around. “We need to head back.I don’t like Joth coming home to any empty house.”
    They arrived about thirty minutes before Joth did. The boy, now sporting a healthy black and blue shiner behind his spectacles, broke into a grin upon seeing Griff standing on the porch beside his Aunt Jessi. “You’re staying?”
    â€œFor a short while.”
    â€œHot dog!”
    Jessi steered the conversation back to more mundane matters. “Where’d you get the black eye?”
    â€œRuss McCoy called you a whore so I whupped him. Mr. Trent says I’m expelled for three days. Here’s the note.”
    â€œJotham!” she exclaimed, taking the note from his light brown hand. “How many times must I tell you to ignore people like Russ