A Texan's Honor Read Online Free Page A

go?”
    â€œI see no point in not dealing in plain truths.”
    â€œThen why did Mr. Abbott choose to send you to Texas?”
    â€œBecause he knows I always get the job done.”
    â€œThen I’m sorry to be the one to interrupt your string of successes. You could always go back and tell him you couldn’t find me. Texas is a big state. It would be easy to lose a female or two.”
    His answering smile was forced. “But I’m a very determined man. I’d have found you.”
    Emily turned and headed toward the hotel. “Then you should be grateful I’ve saved you a lot of time. That’ll give me plenty of opportunity to refute all your reasons why I should go to Boston.”
    He caught up with her. “You haven’t heard my reasons yet. You might find them irrefutable.”
    â€œAnd
you
haven’t heard my reasons for refuting them. You might find
them
irrefutable.”
    â€œThen I expect we’re in for a very interesting month.”
    â€œA month!” Emily exclaimed as she stopped dead and turned to face him.
    â€œOr year. Whatever it takes.”
    Even if Mr. Nolan had been as charming as he was attractive, she wouldn’t have wanted him around more than a few days. She didn’t have time to entertain a man who knew nothing about the West or ranching. He probably thought cows were kept in barns and were tame enough for milking.
    â€œIt’s my father’s house, and he’ll determine how long you stay, but I can promise you it won’t be as much as a year. I’d say two weeks at most.”
    â€œThen I’ll have to make sure I’ve convinced you by then.”
    â€œI told you, I’m not going to Boston.”
    â€œWe’ll see.”
    His unshakable calm infuriated her. He acted as though she didn’t have enough intelligence to know her own mind. As though after a few well-chosen words from him, she’d be so overwhelmed by his brilliant arguments, she’d be in a frenzy to pack and leave. Maybe women in Boston kowtowed to their men, but she was a Texan. She didn’t jump to obey anybody’s orders.
    â€œI’ve asked for dinner to be served at seven-thirty in a private dining room. You can dine with me and the other men, or make your own arrangements.”
    â€œI’ll dine with you,” he said. “What time will we be leaving tomorrow?”
    â€œSeven o’clock. We have a long two days in the saddle. You do ride, don’t you? The train doesn’t go to our ranch.”
    â€œCan’t we take a stagecoach or at least a buckboard?” he asked.
    â€œThere is no stagecoach to the ranch, and you’d be bounced to death in a buckboard.”
    â€œHow about a wagon?”
    â€œYou’re welcome to take a wagon if you want to spend a week on the trail.” This man was pathetic. Didn’t he know anything?
    â€œI couldn’t go a week without eating.”
    â€œIf we were to go by wagon, we’d carry our own supplies and cook over an open fire.”
    â€œI couldn’t ask you to do that for me.”
    â€œIt’s a good thing, because I wouldn’t.”
    Emily didn’t know Mr. Nolan, and she admitted she’d started off without a good opinion of him, but she couldn’t get over the feeling he was laughing at her. Young, unmarried women were so scarce in Texas, her appearance usually caused young men to start blushing, stammering, and falling over themselves to please. Mr. Nolan appeared completely unaffected by her youth and attractiveness. That irritated her as well as aroused her curiosity. He’d been sent to persuade her to do something against her will. She would have thought he’d try to ingratiate himself with her, or at the very least, try not to make her dislike him. He appeared not to care what she thought.
    â€œWe won’t have a midday meal tomorrow,” she told him. “We’ll have breakfast before