Free Deborah Camp by Tender Kisses Tough Talk Page B

stiffly in her bed, barely breathing, and wait to see if Reno would go peacefully to his cot or try to exercise his husbandly rights.
    So far he had opted for the cot. Adele told herself each evening that she was glad, relieved, thankful. But deep in her heart she was resentful. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with him? Why did he prefer the attentions of bought women to hers? Theleast he could do was
try
to seduce her! Not that she’d let him get very far. After all, she had her pride.
    Yes, her pride. Adele sat heavily in the straight-backed desk chair and stared glumly at the cot. Pride was a heavy weight for a woman to carry around for nine whole days and nights. Things just weren’t working out well at all.
    Things sure were looking up, Reno thought while he composed a telegram to his partner, Lewis Fields, telling him just that and thanking him for sending money, which Reno had deposited in the Whistle Stop Bank.
    His lucky streak was holding, giving him winning hands during the games of poker he and a handful of other gents enjoyed in the back room of the bank. Reno had taken a liking to Paul Green, the bank president, and had confided in him about his situation in life, both financially and matrimonially. On the nights he hadn’t played poker at the bank, Reno had gone to Paul’s house for dinner.
    The only problem with this pattern was that Adele didn’t seem to care where he was spending his evenings or with whom. Or maybe she did care, but she didn’t want him to know it.
    At least he had Sally on the run. Hell, that gal headed in the opposite direction every time she saw him, which suited him fine. He never could stomach Sally’s uppity ways. She’d always acted as though she was better than most people and that the world owed her a good life. No wonder Win had been so melancholy. To want Adele and end up with Sally would plummet any man into the doldrums.
    Having conversed with the town gents around the poker table, he’d learned that Adele had garnered a heap of respect for herself in Whistle Stop but not any beaux. Oh, sure, there were men who had their eyes on her, but nobody other than Taylor Terrapin had tried to court her. Nobody dared. She was a formidable presence and intimidated men with her intelligence and sharp tongue. Her progressive thinking turned some townspeople against her.
    Funny that all the characteristics that put off most were the very ones that drew Reno to her like a pin to a magnet. She was the most challenging, most infuriating, most independent, most exasperating, most beautiful woman he’d ever known. Simple as that.
    Which is why it raised his hackles that she hadn’t asked him where he’d been spending his evenings. Hell, he wasn’t even sure she knew he was sleeping on the cot at night.
    But things were looking up. This morning Doris McDonald had told him that Adele had been inquiring about the women who worked at the Red Queen and the Black Knight and why she thought men enjoyed the company of such women. Reno figured there was only one reason why Adele would be interested in those gals and that was because she thought he was spending his time with them.
    “She’s jealous, bless her stubborn heart.”
    “Say what?” the telegrapher asked, peering at Reno through the thick lenses of his glasses.
    “Oh, nothing. I was talking to myself. Did you send that message?”
    “Sure did. You waiting for a reply?”
    “No.” Reno paid the man, adding a bit extra.“Much obliged. If there is a reply, I’m staying at—”
    “The depot restaurant,” the man finished for him. “I know who you are. Everybody knows.”
    Reno grinned. “Guess I’m famous.”
    The bespectacled man laughed sarcastically. “Kings and fools always make for good gossip.”
    Wishing he could take back the extra money he’d given the smirking telegrapher, Reno swept his hat off the counter, wedged it onto his head, and left the small office.
    This town was hard to figure. Some of the