Free Bound For Eden by Tess Lesue Page B

sudden shiver of terror. She thought it was real . . . but what if it wasn’t? What if the Gradys had been counterfeiting? Oh, she felt sick again.
    â€˜Serves you right,’ Luke said, watching her clutch her stomach. ‘Wasting your money like that.’
    â€˜Wasting! You wanted that horse too!’
    â€˜Not for that price, I didn’t.’
    â€˜I couldn’t let Gideon get him,’ Alex said miserably. ‘You don’t know Gideon. He would have mistreated him.’
    Luke shook his head, exasperated, but Alex noticed the admiration in his eyes when they returned to collect the stallion.
    â€˜What’s his name?’ Alex asked Jackson as she accepted the papers.
    â€˜Whatever you want it to be,’ Jackson laughed, lighting up another cheroot.
    â€˜I think we should call him Blackie,’ Adam suggested.
    â€˜But he ain’t black,’ Luke said.
    â€˜Blackie was Adam’s puppy,’ Alex told him. Poor Blackie had been an early victim of their altercations with the Gradys.
    â€˜This can be Blackie Junior,’ Adam said solemnly.
    â€˜He don’t look like a Blackie Junior,’ Luke protested, as Adam took the rope from Jackson’s stableboy. ‘It ain’t manly.’
    Jackson laughed and bid them good day, his hand curled protectively around his bag of gold.
    â€˜Blackie Junior will do fine,’ Alex interrupted them, sensing Adam’s dismay. She was rewarded with a glowing smile from her brother, and a disgruntled look from Luke. ‘But what on earth are we going to do with him?’
    â€˜I know a place you can stable him, for a small fee.’
    â€˜Of which you get a commission,’ Alex guessed sourly. ‘As long as it’s cheap – we’re pretty broke now, and we still have to buy the oxen.’
    â€˜But we’ve got Blackie Junior now,’ Adam protested.
    â€˜He’s not for pulling the wagon.’
    â€˜Is he for riding?’
    â€˜I guess.’ Alex was a mess of nerves as they walked through Independence. The Gradys were sure to see them. She chewed on her lip. She might have to keep them all locked in the hotel room, just as they’d stayed locked in their cabin on the steamboat. Only there were still oxen to buy, and supplies to lay in. She had too much to do to hide in the hotel.
    Alex couldn’t believe it when she realised where Luke was leading them. ‘You want to stable my horse with a bunch of whores?’
    â€˜Dolly’s stable is cheap and the kid takes good care of the horses. My horse is here.’
    Alex was too tired to argue. She settled herself on a hay bale while Luke went inside to rustle up Dolly’s boy. She listened to Adam murmuring to Blackie Junior and closed her eyes, leaning back against the stable wall.
    â€˜I just had to come and see the record-breaking horse for myself,’ a strident female voice announced.
    Dolly stood silhouetted in the doorway, a crimson ostrich feather curling around her painted face.
    Alex saw her kohl-lined eyes widen, and then the scarlet lips split into a smile.
    â€˜My dear,’ Dolly drawled, ‘that outfit does absolutely nothing for your figure. Why, one would hardly know you were a female.’

Nine
    Alex gaped.
    Dolly gave a playful laugh and strolled into the stable, cocking her head and sweeping Alex with an evaluating gaze. ‘Women are my business, darlin’. I can spot a pretty girl, even underneath an acre of filth.’
    Alex rose from the bale, sick with shock and dismay.
    â€˜Don’t worry,’ Dolly assured her, ‘your secret is safe with me. For now.’ She strolled over to the stallion, giving Adam a seductive smile. ‘My, aren’t you a big one.’
    â€˜Leave him be.’ Alex hadn’t meant to sound so sharp, but her nerves were shot after the events of the afternoon.
    Adam was gaping too – at Dolly’s exposed cleavage.
    â€˜I’m having a