Betrayal by Robin Lee Hatcher Read Free Book Online

they needed and a few things they wanted. He and Rose both believed in and trusted the Almighty and were raising their children to do the same. And there was the beauty of God’s world to be seen whenever they stepped outside their front door.
    He gave his head another slow shake as he pushed off the fence. No, he couldn’t count all the ways God had blessed him. Weren’t enough hours in the day. So he might as well go inside the house and kiss a few of those blessings — his wife and new baby daughter included.
    What was it about Julia Grace that made Hugh want to leap to her defense? No one else was around, and yet he had the desire to protect and shelter her. Was it the delicacy of her appearance, a fragilebeauty unlike any he remembered seeing before? That she should be seated next to a man like him seemed all wrong.
    Silence stretched between them again, the only sound the clopping of hooves, the creak of the wagon, and the jangle of harness. While Hugh had plenty more questions he could have asked his employer, he chose to refrain. Because the more questions he asked of her, the more permission he gave for her to ask questions of her own. Questions he might not want to answer. Answers that might make her tell him to leave, and he didn’t want to leave. Not yet.
    He turned to look toward the rugged mountains rising on his right, a mass of granite covered in wild flowers and pine trees. A landscape of gray and purple and green. It seemed to him that God had done some of His best work in western Wyoming.
    Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains .
    How had God decided where to put mountains and where to put oceans and where to put deserts? Had the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost debated such matters before the world was spoken into existence or had the Trinity been in complete agreement from the beginning of time?
    He gave his head a slow shake. Were such thoughts proper? He hoped the Lord was amused rather than angered by them. Sometimes in the night, when he was unable to sleep, he liked to imagine himself walking beside Jesus near the Sea of Galilee. Hugh could envision the Lord laughing when he posed such questions to Him, but He would answer. He wouldn’t think Hugh stupid for not knowing.
    There was comfort in that belief.
    Bandit began barking, drawing Hugh’s attention to the wagon bed. The spaniel had his front legs up on the sideboards.
    “No, Bandit,” Julia said. “Stay.”
    The dog stopped barking, but his body twitched with excitement.
    “No, Bandit.”
    Hugh tried to follow the line of the dog’s gaze but saw nothing amiss.
    “A wolf,” Julia said, as if reading his thoughts.
    “Where?”
    “There.” She pointed. “Near that dead tree. He’s running toward the base of the mountain. Probably the one Charlie warned me about.”
    It took Hugh awhile, but he found the gray shadow before it disappeared into a draw.
    “This past winter was milder than most. I didn’t have any trouble with wolves. Guess they had plenty of easy pickings among the deer and elk up higher in the mountains. It isn’t always like that. When the snows get really deep and hunting is scarce, the wolves and other predators can ruin a herd.”
    Hugh pictured Julia taking aim and firing — and imagined her flying backward, knocked off her feet by the kick of the weapon. She was gutsy. He’d say that for her.
    “I’d rather have to run off the wolves than a grizzly.”
    “Grizzly?” He turned toward her again.
    “Grizzly bears. Cantankerous, enormous creatures. Sometimes they kill for sport more than food. Least, that’s what Angus used to say. They tend to stay further north of here, up in the Yellowstone, but there’ve been a couple who’ve come down this far since I’ve been at Sage-hen.” She gave a slight shudder. “I saw one from a distance once. I’ll never forget it. Gives me nightmares.”
    “I get the feeling not much scares you, Julia.”
    “Plenty of things scare me. I just try not to let my