Free Her Sheriff Bodyguard by Lynna Banning Page B

as smart as you!”
    Another woman in a pink gingham dress shot to her feet. “I work just as hard as any man. Harder, if you count havin’ babies.”
    â€œAnd,” Caroline interjected, “that is exactly the point. Now, I must compliment the state of Oregon, which has had the foresight to allow a woman to homestead on her own. Six hundred forty acres can be claimed by a single woman. But let us say she falls in love with her neighbor, also a homesteader, and they want to get married. Did you know that the minute she says ‘I do’ her homestead no longer belongs to her? It now belongs to her husband. If he wants to, he can sell it out from under her and he will not owe her one red cent.”
    â€œThat ain’t true,” a man bellowed.
    â€œOh, yes it is true,” Caroline returned. “Ask any judge in any county in this state.”
    Hawk blinked. If that was true, it was damned unfair. All at once he wondered if his mother would have wanted the vote.
    A burly man stood up and stuffed his thumbs in his overall straps. “Iff’n you ladies get the vote, first thing you’ll do is start outlawin’ things like gambling and, well, fancy ladies.”
    â€œAnd,” another farmer shouted, “just so’s you all know, ma’am, men hafta have some kind of, um, release every so often.”
    Caroline kept her voice level. “Sir, I do not think giving women the vote would prevent any man from, well, enjoying his, uh, release.”
    â€œSure it would, little lady. Ya see, some women don’t much like sex.”
    Caroline blushed to her hairline. “Yes, I—I do see.”
    Hawk bit the inside of his cheek. He’d bet she didn’t even have a glimmer. Didn’t even think about it. Then he had to wonder why she didn’t think about it. Men certainly gave her an appreciative once-over wherever she went. He’d seen it every time she appeared in public. So wasn’t she interested in the male of the species?
    Next time he got her alone, he’d ask her.
    He chomped down on the other side of his cheek. Like hell he would .
    He shoved her speech-making to the back of his mind and began to plan how to get her safely onto the train after her speech. The eastbound Union Pacific to Boise left at one o’clock, right after she finished up her talk. Anything could happen between here and the train station.
    Already the crowd was getting raucous, and questions and insults began to fly. Hawk studied the body language of the men, trying to anticipate where trouble might start, when some infuriated rancher would do something he’d regret.
    As Caroline’s hour-long speech wound down, he couldn’t help frowning. The men in her audience were vocal, quarrelsome, even accusing, but no gunplay had started, and no threatening notes had been delivered by some innocent-looking kid.
    What was he not seeing?
    He envisioned the three long blocks from here to the train station, blocks she’d have to negotiate on foot. Even though she’d be flanked by Fernanda and himself, she would be out in the open and so vulnerable it made his flesh crawl. Part of him wanted to wrap her up inside his skin and keep her safe. Another part of him wanted—what?
    He wanted this whole damn exercise in free speech to be over. He wanted to barge into a saloon and gulp down more than a few slugs of whiskey instead of worrying that someone was going to shoot her or kidnap her or worse. He wouldn’t relax until the train to Idaho started rolling down the tracks. Good thing he’d left his deputy, Sandy, back at Smoke River. Sandy could handle whatever might come up while he was away.
    She finished her talk, and with a gracious smile accepted the applause, right along with loud boos from the men. Then she turned to him, a look of both relief and triumph on her face. His nerves felt strung up tight as new barbed wire, but he tried to smile at her