West Winds of Wyoming by Caroline Fyffe Read Free Book Online Page A

slammed. The boys bounded through the kitchen door, their arms overflowing with apples. Jane and Maddie, hand in hand, were not far behind.
    “What have I told you about using the front door after being out in the garden?” Brenna scolded. “Stevie, take the broom and clean up the trail of dirt I’m sure followed you into the house.”
    “We couldn’t help it, Ma. When we turned the corner we noticed the teacher. He stopped at his gate like he was gonna go home, but then he crossed the street. He’s on the front porch now and wants to talk to you.”

CHAPTER FIVE

    T he sound of gunshots brought Charlie fully awake. Adrenaline pushed him from his bedroll and he leaped to his feet. As he strapped on his loaded six-gun, another shot sounded from behind the house.
    Had someone followed him from Wilsonville?
    Charlie moved silently through the barn to the tall doors. With his back to the wall, he felt for the handle. He carefully inched it open.
    All was quiet.
    Nothing looked amiss.
    Anxiety for Nell sizzled inside him, contracting the muscles in his abdomen. The last thing he wanted was for an innocent woman to be hurt in his war.
    He listened. And watched. The silence wrapped around the barn made the predawn darkness seem all the more dangerous.
    He pulled the door open just enough to accommodate his size, flinching at the loud squeak. Darting out, he took cover alongside the barn wall, facing the house.
    The dog came around the far side of the house, then trotted up the steps. When Charlie recognized Nell’s tall, slender shape ambling along after him as if nothing were wrong, he let go a breath of relief.
    Holstering his gun, he stepped out of the shadows. “Nell,” he called quietly.
    She stopped just short of the porch steps.
    Striding over, he halted a few feet away. “Is everything all right? Gunshots woke me.” He could see that she wore her pants under her nightshirt. The dog flopped down by the front door.
    “Dog cornered a rattlesnake against the house. Probably drawn to the warmth of the foundation.” Her hand slipped down and caressed the gun nestled in its holster around her hips. “I wouldn’t have killed the poor thing if it had been anywhere else. But so close to Dog, plus the horses and cattle, I had no choice.”
    “And us?” Charlie asked. The sound of her voice stirred his blood. He let his gaze slip over her face. Four years was a long time to be alone—in the real sense of the word. Startled at the direction of his thoughts, he took a step back. “You could have been bitten,” he said tersely, wanting to feel anything except the attraction pulling him toward her. “You should have woken Seth or me.”
    Her stance straightened as if she were looking for an argument. The dog climbed to his haunches and whined. “I don’t think I like your tone, Charlie Rose.” He thought she was serious until she glanced up at him from beneath her lashes. “You forget who’s boss around here?”
    “Maybe I have and maybe not.”
    When she reached out and plucked a piece of straw from his hair, a wave of fire crashed through his body.
    “If you stay on, you best get used to me doing for myself.” Her tone shifted then from teasing to somber. “Sometimes I have problems sleeping.” She pulled her mass of curly hair over her shoulder and her hand trembled. “If I do, I go out.” A coyote yipped, mercifully drawing her gaze toward the horse pasture. “Fresh air helps.”
    He understood that, all right. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since the accident that had killed Annie. When he did drift off, visions of her body crushed beneath the overturned wagon, or of his three-year-old daughter crying for her mama, troubled his dreams. He should have been driving that day. If he had, Annie would be alive and Maddie would still have her sight. A bitter price to pay for putting his work before his family. Annie had driven the route a thousand times, but this time there’d been a runaway horse