Melinda and the Wild West by Linda Weaver Clarke Read Free Book Online Page B

each of them
from the boulder to the ground where he stood. The older boys did
not want help, though. They jumped down from the boulder with
excitement and laughter.
    After the last child was down, he looked up
into Melinda’s eyes and asked, “May I help you?”
    Melinda nodded and held her hand out for
help. But instead, he took her by the waist and lifted her into the
air with ease, without exertion, as if she did not weigh any more
than the children did. His biceps pressed against the sleeves of
his shirt as he lifted her to the ground.
    Melinda did not expect this and she gasped
as he lifted her from the boulder.
    After he placed her on the ground, he said
with a twinkle in his eyes, “I wouldn’t have dropped you.”
    Melinda had no comment to make as she tried to get
her breath back. Her heart beat rapidly and her face flushed a rosy
color. Trying not to let him see her reaction, she quickly turned
and strode down the mountain at a fast pace. She did not understand
why she was responding this way to the touch of this rugged
rancher. Why had he taken her breath away in more ways than one?
She didn’t even know him.
    After getting the children situated in the
back of the buckboards, Melinda thanked Gilbert for coming. She
whipped the reins and down the mountain they went.
    Gilbert stood beside his horse and watched
her leave. He had definitely noticed the effect he’d had on her,
and it made him grin. It had been a long time since he had made a
woman blush. Perhaps he still had what it took after all these
years!
    He shook his head and puffed out a breath of
air and muttered, “Darn that woman. She can get under a man’s
skin.”
    Then he climbed onto his horse and headed
home.
     

Chapter 8
A SELF-WILLED WOMAN
     
    The following day, the students were all
abuzz with the adventure they’d had at the mountains. Melinda wrote
a thank-you note to Gilbert for helping with the children. Then she
passed it around to let the class sign it.
    After class was over, she freshened up and borrowed
the carriage so she could take the note to Gilbert. Melinda could
have given it to Jenny, but for some reason she preferred to take
it herself. Perhaps, she thought, it was because she had been so
stubborn about having Jenny come on the excursion and she wanted to
personally thank him for letting her go. Or there could have been
another reason.
    It could have been because she was simply attracted
to him. However, the idea of being attracted to this rugged rancher
was nonsense. He simply was not her type. Quickly she shook the
notion out of her mind.
    Melinda knocked on Gilbert’s door and Jenny
answered with a broom in her hand. She was surprised to see her
teacher and her eyes lit up.
    “Hello, Jenny. May I see your father? I
wanted to give him this thank-you note from the class.”
    Jenny smiled. “Pa’s down yonder fixin’ the
fence. The cattle started gettin’ loose yesterday but he found the
place they got out and he’s fixin’ it.” Jenny pointed in the
direction for her to go.
    Gilbert had one of the choicest pieces of
land for cattle to graze and it was a beautiful sight with groves
of trees and a stream flowing gently through his pasture. He had
worked hard and had saved enough money to buy this property and the
cattle. It took hard work and a lot of time to make this ranch what
it was. He had bought it six years earlier and had put up every
inch of fence around it for his cattle to graze.
    When the house was sufficiently cleaned, Gilbert
would allow Jenny to join him on the ranch. He had taught his
daughter to ride a horse and shoot a rifle. Gilbert and Jenny were
very close and had a bond that most fathers did not have with their
daughters. The only thing he was guilty of was being overprotective
of her. But, he was an only parent and he did the best he
could.
    As Melinda walked down the pasture, she came
upon the stream that she had waded in before school had started.
When she stopped to admire the view, she