The bastard daughter of Colm O'Driscoll, Johanna Lynn, was forced into her father's Rivalry with Dutch van der Linde to be a spy within Dutch's camp or lose her mother forever. But when feelings start to grow, Johanna becomes conflicted with sharing...
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
Johanna awoke to the sound of cicadas chirping, her mind taking a moment to register where she was and the time of day. She had never heard the sounds of cicadas so clearly before, the noise reminding her that she wasn't home, laying safely in her own bed, but out somewhere in the wilds with nature all around her. She remembered falling asleep by the central campfire, sitting on a log listening to Javier sing as he played his guitar. But now she was in the same tent she had awoken the day before. The same cot too. Someone must have carried her back to the tent. Sitting up, Johanna took in the three women she shared the tent with. There were three of them. Mary Beth was sleeping in the cot beside hers, while on the sleeping palette on the ground was Karen, a dark-skinned woman to whom Johanna had yet to be introduced to. She stared at them as her hand instinctively reached for her chest, looking to feel the bulge under the bodice of her grandmother's ring. She smiled when she felt it, glad she still felt in there and that none had stolen it from her sleeping form. If she had been out hard enough for someone to carry her to the tent, it would have been easy to take it from her. Moving slowly and placing her feet on the ground beside the cot, Johanna stood, trying not to wake the three sleeping women. She decided to risk venturing outside, facing what camp inhabitants might be awake and moving about.
Outside the tent, the sun was only just peaking over the horizon, shining a faint light onto the camp. It bathed the camp in a glow that made its makeshift nature seem more alluring, making Johanna release a deep breath. Adjusting the shawl that was still around her shoulders, she ventured away from the women's tent and began moving through the camp. While most of the Van Der Linde gang was asleep, Johanna could still spot a couple of men, one being Sean, sitting around the central campfire drinking. By that point, the fire was mainly embers, none of the men having added more logs to the fire. She walked past them, greeting the three men with a good morning, only Sean returning in with a large drunken smile. She made her way to the cliff edge at the edge of the camp that overlooked the Dakota River far below. She wasn't sure where, but it was somewhere below down that river that the stagecoach had been attacked. It had been done right in view of their camp, making her wonder how much of it they had seen if any of it. Yet Johanna figured none of them had had their attention turned to the river, their focus more on the treeline on the opposite side of camp, needing to be ready for trouble at a moment's notice. The camp was well hidden where they were, but at the same time affected how they could see an enemy coming. Anyone who stumbled upon them by accident was sure to end up dead.
"You're awake."
Johanna jumped when she heard the voice, her mind not registering it as she'd been so lost in observing the scenery before her. When she turned around, Javier was standing there, dressed the same as last night, only now without his jacket, his blue waistcoat now visible. He was staring at her with a look that said it was entertaining that he had briefly scared the woman. He casually strolled up beside her, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his lips. Johanna watched as he leaned down, raising his right foot up as he flicked a matchstick against the side of his boot and brought the lit match to the cigarette.
