Protection

Chapter 14

“All we can do is pray for her and hope for the best,” Grace whispered.

“You can pray all you want, but I’m going after her.”

Grace looked at him. “No you are not. You are needed here. If you go, you’ll be asking for trouble that wouldn’t be there in the first place. You’ll stay right here and let your daughter take care of herself.”

“You want me to stand by and let her get killed?” Sherman pushed off the railing.

“Seth was a coward. He doesn’t have to guts to shoot anyone, let alone a woman. Bliss can take care of herself, especially when there are three men with her,” Grace told him.

Sherman let out a heavy, agitated sigh.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them. The whole situation was making Grace lose sleep at night. She went between worrying about what could happen and what was happening right under her nose that she didn’t know about.

Suddenly, Sherman snatched the note from her.

“We can’t let her see this.”

Grace felt her heart sink. More secrets?

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I don’t want her worrying. You’re right. Seth is a coward and is most likely just trying to scare us. I think the best thing to do is to keep this between us.”

“What if he has a sudden burst of courage?”

Sherman sighed. “Then we counter it.”

*****

The campfire crackled and popped as the night air lured Clint to sleep. His eyes were heavy and all he wanted to do was to lay down on his bedroll and sleep until the next day, but Miss Cooper made sure that he didn’t get to sleep until she was good and ready.

She had even gone so far as to make him grease the wheels on the wagon, a chore that he had done yesterday when they reached Plateau. Yet she was going to have to do a whole lot more than keep him busy if she was going to get rid of him.

“Hurry up with that wheel, Mr. Slade. You have two more to do, you know,” Miss Cooper reminded him.

Clint rolled his eyes, his back to her. “I’m well aware of that.”

“Well, then hurry up. I need you to come stand guard while I wash my hair in that watering hole we saw nearby,” she said.

“That can’t wait until we get back to the ranch?” he asked

“You try having hair as greasy as mine. I can’t go three days without it being unbearable,” she whined.

Clint heaved a sigh. He sure didn’t like the idea of standing around while she primped. Now the blasted woman was really getting to him.

“Oh, and you might as well brush down the horses sometime tonight, too,” Miss Cooper flung a towel over her shoulder.

“That can’t wait until we get back to the ranch?” Clint asked again, stirring the grease in its tin can with the brush he had.

“I want it done today.” She stuck her nose up in the air and turned on her heel.

He could plainly see that this was out of her comfort zone. She wasn’t acting herself and the person she was trying to be in front of him was not her personality. Clint found that amusing.

“As the lady commands,” he muttered.

“What was that?” Miss Cooper stopped.

“Nothin’,” Clint replied.