Unusual Inheritance by Rhonda Grice Read Free Book Online Page A

you
girls alright?” He asked as he looked them over.
    “Yes, we are okay. What is going on? Why are
we here? They haven’t told us anything.” Stormy said.
    Jed explained about the cattle and that he
had agreed to trade them for eight head.
    “You are trading us for eight head of
cattle?” She exclaimed with hands on her hips indignantly.
    “Stormy, be quiet! You are lucky I’m getting
to trade for you at all and you aren’t going to end up as the third
wife of some brave!” he said, a little irritated.
    “Sorry,” Stormy said. “I’m thankful you are
here. Let’s go.”
    “Not so fast”, he put a hand out to stop her.
“The chief says we have to bring the cattle first. By the time I
get back and round them up and make the trip back it will be
tomorrow afternoon. You will have to spend the night.”
    “Oh no, please hurry Jed,” Stormy
pleaded.
    He reached out and touched her arm. “I will.
You two just stay out of trouble and do what they say.”

Chapter 12
    Jed fumed on the way back to the ranch. It
appears that his suspicions just got confirmed. Someone at the
ranch is stealing cattle and he was pretty sure he knew who was
heading up the operation. He had been suspicious for a while now
and with all the strange things that had been happening around the
ranch it was all starting to fall into place. A full report would
be made to the sheriff as soon as he got Stormy and Katy Marie home
safely. He could not believe that the rustlers didn’t just steal
from Stormy, but from the Indians as well. It appears their greed
is going to be the undoing of them this time. As soon as he got
Stormy and Katy Marie home he had to sit down and have a talk with
her.
    He wanted to talk to her about more than
missing cattle too. It was time to tell her how he felt about her.
She is all he thinks about and he meant it when he told the chief,
she belonged to him! He wanted her and Katy Marie to be in his
life, and he prayed she would want him as well.
    Morning came and eight of the best cattle
were rounded up for the trade. Jed took two men with him to help
move the small herd along. Jake had tried to act surprised when he
found out about the missing cattle but his nervousness gave him
away as far as Jed could tell. He just needed to find out if Jake
was the main boss, or someone else. And where were all the missing
cattle?
    As the Indian village came into view Jed and
the men were met by the same two braves as before. They helped them
herd the cattle to a makeshift holding pen and then escorting them
to the chief. All the men were allowed in this time, but Jed had
already warned them to keep quiet unless spoken too. If the chief
had changed his mind or anything went wrong, none of them would get
out of here alive!
    “Chief Running Bear I have brought you eight
of my best stock to trade for my woman and child,” Jed spoke
firmly. “I bring the best to show great chief how sorry I am his
cattle were taken. The men who took cattle will be punished, I
promise you.” His expression showed he meant the words spoken to
the chief.
    The chief nodded his head and spoke. “I
believe your words and am happy you bring honor back to your ranch.
We make trade now.” He signaled to one of the braves and he
immediately left and soon returned with Stormy and Katy Marie. Jed
gave them both a look that meant keep quiet, and they did.
    Without another word they all left the Indian
village. Stormy rode on the back of Jed’s horse and Katy Marie with
one of the ranch hands. Jed waited until they were past the point
where the braves had met them coming in before speaking to
anyone.
    “Okay, I think we can all breath now. Are you
girls okay?” he asked.
    “Oh yes,” Katy Marie said. “It really wasn’t
that bad, except the food wasn’t anything like what Carmen fixes.
You know, they even eat with their fingers,” she squealed. Everyone
broke into laughter, amazed that a child could be captured by
Indians and her only complaint was