Claimed by the Mountain Man Read Online Free Page A

drapes, if you get my meaning,” a rough-looking cowboy said with a smirk to the drunk man on the stool. “Red as fire. Sarah’s her name, but she goes by Slick Kitty. For a lick and a promise, she’ll take you in her mouth.”
    The drunk guffawed and looked over at where the cowboy pointed, as did Jack. ‘Slick Kitty’ wore a hat with purple plumes, a purple satin dress, and a dour expression.
     
    Trapper Jack’s mind returned to the present as he regarded the woman in his kitchen. Yes, it had to be her. Same fire-red hair, same mournful look about her. That explained her ease at being only half dressed around a strange man and why she looked familiar to him.
    “I reckon I’ll have to shoot the bear,” she mused, gazing in the direction of the door.
    He barely suppressed another scoff. The idea of her trying to shoot down a grizzly, when she seemed barely strong enough to lift a rifle, was so ridiculous that he didn’t bother responding. He ate another bite of eggs.
    “Hey, which side did you fight on in the war?” she asked suddenly.
    Jack didn’t look up. He was annoyed that she’d mentioned the war again. “Does it matter?”
    “I’d say so. You could be a Reb. That means you could be the man who killed my husband, and here I am talking to you like it’s no big thing.”
    “Well, let’s see here, Nettie,” he said sarcastically. “More men than all the people who live in this state fought in the war. I doubt I was the man who killed your Billy Yank husband, and I doubt he was the man who killed my brother, for that matter.” Jack drank some water, then said sternly, “That’s the last I’ll speak of the war.”
    “But where did you fight at? If you tell me that, I’ll know if you were near my husband.”
    He set his fork down and pinned her with his fiercest stare. “What did I just say? You must have a head of mush, woman. One more word about it, and you’ll wish you were still in that hole outside.”
    She looked taken aback before she scowled. “Why? Because you’ll spank me again? Is that your solution to every annoyance?”
    He sawed off a piece of ham. “Maybe,” he said evenly. “Do you want to find out?” He popped the ham in his mouth and gave her a quizzical look.
    “Not especially,” she said, without sounding very concerned. She abandoned him and the topic and walked to the bed. She smoothed his quilt over it, then folded the fur blanket neatly at the end like only a woman would bother to do. He rolled his eyes but secretly appreciated the gesture, just like he had appreciated her serving him his portion of food. He also appreciated the peek she gave him of her thighs and ass as she bent over to make the bed. His shirt wasn’t sufficiently long enough to cover her unless she stood upright, and that was just fine with him.
    Nettie looked around the room of his cabin and walked to the far wall, where she examined a photo that hung there of him and his brother, who was shot down in Gettysburg. She turned to face him. “People say you’re the meanest man to ever walk under the Big Sky, and I reckon you are pretty scary-looking and could use some manners. But now that I know you a bit, you don’t scare me, Trapper Jack.”
    He stifled a smile. It amused him that she made that declaration from as far away as it was possible to get from him in the cabin, which was also right next to the door. “Come a little closer and say that, naughty Nettie.”
    Her lips quirked up, and she cocked her head. “What did you just call me?”
    “You heard me.”
    She smirked at him for a moment, but then sobered. “As soon as my clothes dry, I’ll be out of your hair. I have no wish to depend on a man for any longer than I need to. Thank you for feeding me, though. I’m real grateful.”
    Because he figured out that she’d been a prostitute, he understood her reason for not wanting to depend on a man. He reckoned that she chose to leave town to avoid doing just that, and she probably