Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble Read Free Book Online

there were cattle grazing on a thousand hills. Several whitewashed barns were in the back lot and fences penned in a remuda of horses. A few chickens pecked in the dirt in the side lot by the barn. He’d never been in a place where he felt so alone. No city, no people. Just the big, blue sky overhead and the sense that he could see forever.
    Eileen tugged on his shirtsleeve. “Look, Jed, kittens.”
    Half a dozen kittens played in the dirt by the barn door. “I see them.” He slid off the rocker and set her on her feet, then took her hand. “Let’s go look around.”
    Even the dirt was different here. Dry and dusty. It left a fine red layer on his shoes as he led his sister across the scrubby yard. While his sister knelt and cooed at the kittens, he studied the landscape back here and imagined himself riding the low-lying hills. His friends back in Wabash would be envious if they could see him now. They had read of the exploits of Jesse James and Cole Younger and dreamed they would be the hero to bring them down. He pretended to draw a gun from a holster and shoot at the chicken pecking near the water trough. If that had been Jesse James, he would have nailed him.
    A horse’s nicker from inside the barn caught his attention. He walked into the cool, dim building. A beautiful gray horse stared at him from a stall. He’d never seen a horse so fine.
    He touched the horse’s nose and found it soft. Its lips nuzzled his chin. “I don’t have any sugar for you.” A bag of oats hung on the far wall. He took a handful from the sack and held his cupped palm to the horse. A thrill shot through him when the horse ate it. If only he could have this horse. It was love at first sight.
    When a sound came behind him, he assumed it was Eileen until he smelled an unfamiliar hair tonic. When he turned, he saw no one.
    “Hello?”
    No one answered him, and if it weren’t for the spicy scent still in the air, he would have thought he had imagined it. That smell . . . Terror enveloped him and he couldn’t move. Why was he so afraid? It was only hair tonic.
    He swallowed hard and shuffled his feet. With the paralysis broken, he listened. The hair on the back of his neck prickled at the ominous silence. He wanted to run, but he was part of this family now. If the man wasn’t answering, then he was up to no good. Jed took a pitchfork in his shaking hands and sidled toward the darker areas of the barn. He pushed each stall open with the tool.
    When he was in the last stall, he heard Eileen call his name. He whipped around to make sure she was okay, but when a rustle came behind him, he knew he was in trouble. He half turned, but a blow came out of nowhere and knocked him to his knees.
    His ears rang and he nearly blacked out. He shook his head and staggered to his feet in time to catch a glimpse of a man’s jeans and boots disappearing out of the stall.
    “Eileen, run!” He stumbled to the front barn door. When he exited into the sunshine, he blinked to clear his vision. Eileen was picking up the kittens as though she were trying to save them too. At least that man hadn’t hurt her.
    He heard hoofbeats and ran to the side of the barn where he saw a rider galloping away on the back of a black horse. He’d never be able to identify the intruder. All he’d seen was the man’s clothing and hat. Not his face.
    He needed to tell Mr. Stanton, but what if the news made him sicker? Maybe he should wait and tell the younger Stanton when no one else was around.
    “Something wrong, kid?” a voice said behind him.
    He turned to see a young cowboy atop a huge roan. The man’s cowboy hat was pushed to the back of his head, and his blue eyes were smiling though his lips were in a straight line.
    “There was a guy in the barn. He hit me and ran.” Jed turned to point to the rider, but he was already out of sight. “He’s gone.”
    The cowboy frowned. “He hit you?” He dismounted and came to stand by Jed. “You’ve got a knot on your