Free Emma's Blaze (Fires of Cricket Bend Book 2) by Marie Piper

face unreadable, though she felt like giggling and clapping. Nothing was as much fun as busting a bad cheater. “The card.”
    “You’re crazy.”
    Emma set down her cards. “Am I? Show me what’s in your left sleeve.”
    “Show her,” Pete said. “You wouldn’t cheat a lady, would you?”
    Andrew reached into his sleeve and pulled out a card. It was, indeed, a queen of diamonds.
    “Woo!” Pete exclaimed in triumph. “She schooled you.”
    “Shut up,” Andrew grumbled, grabbing his cards back.
    “The big shot got called out by a woman. No offense, ma’am.”
    “I take no offense at being called a woman. After all, I am one.” Emma watched Andrew try to hide his fury. It didn’t work, and he damn near exploded as he leapt to his feet.
    “Woman!” Andrew scoffed in rage. “You’re nothing but a—”
    “Watch yourself.” Pete stepped forward in warning, before he called over his shoulder. “Boys! Sparrow just caught Andrew cheating at cards.”
    Andrew threw the entire deck of cards at Pete and Emma. The cards flipped through the air and rained down to the earth. A few of them struck Emma and Pete. It was a hard throw, and well-aimed. If it’d been anything heavier than paper, the impact would have hurt. Andrew turned on his heel and swore loudly as he left the cooking area.
    Emma bent down to pick up some of the cards. Pete did the same.
    “Your brother has quite a temper,” she noted. The memory of what Jess had said about Andrew fighting a woman in Cricket Bend came to mind, and with it a warning from her gut of approaching danger
    Pete nodded. “You watch out for him, you hear?”
    “I will.”
    Pete held out a pile of cards he’d collected for her. “Still, it was fun to watch him get schooled. How’d you know he was cheating?”
    “I know a thing or two about cheaters,” Emma replied, watching the direction Andrew had gone. For all her confident acting, her skin had prickled the moment he’d thrown the cards at her. Men with tempers like his weren’t to be trifled with. Inside Andrew, there was a world of danger. Emma just hoped she’d be in Cricket Bend before it exploded. Until then, she’d mind the warnings and stay clear of him.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Bill
     
    First light came, and with it Emma’s nervousness. When he’d returned to camp the previous night, she’d been teaching Pete and a few others how to play, and cheat at, cards. The men had hung on her every word. She’d been confident and sassy, the star of the show. As she woke, he noticed that all of her bluster had melted away. As Bill rose and rubbed his eyes, she sat wide-eyed on her bedroll twiddling a loose string on her shirt.
    “Good morning.” He yawned and stretched.
    “I’m not sure what’s good about it.”
    “You’re alive, ain’t you?”
    She glared at him. “Until I drown in a river a few hours from now.”
    “Men have been crossing rivers on horses since there were men. And horses have been doing it since before that. You’ll be fine. Though, if you’ve changed your mind, you can cross in the wagon with Appie. No one’ll think less of you.”
    “Except your father.”
    “Except him.”
    “I won’t give him the pleasure of thinking I can’t handle myself.”
    From the look on her face, anything other than her crossing the river on Maggie’s back was simply no longer an option. With a sigh, she got to her feet and grabbed for her broom. It was a little bit out of her reach, and Bill stood up to hand it to her. Their hands touched as he held it to her, and even just the brush of skin on skin made him grin.
    “What are you so happy about?” Emma grumbled as she hooked the makeshift crutch under her arm.
    Bill couldn’t tell her what had really made him smile; that she’d kissed him the day before. Maybe she’d even want to again someday. He hoped she would, even if her mind was on anything else but kissing at that moment. “Should be a nice day. Good