The Unexpected Partner

Chapter 19

Shane paced back and forth across the large room.

"Clark is a lady. Clark is-." He cut himself off. "Clark is not even his name!" Noticing his mistake again, he said, "her name!"

It has been half an hour since Claire marched through the doors, bawling her eyes out. "I'm the one who was deceived and yet she's the one crying." Just thinking about the fact that he was deceived for so long, made him outraged. The fact that he did not notice she was a woman by himself, exasperated his rage.

"How could she do this?" He talked to himself, continuing to pace back and forth. Of course, no one responded to his question. He just continued to talk to himself some more. "She should go to prison for this!"

Out of nowhere, the words of his mother rang in his head. 'Always treat a lady with respect, no matter what she does to you.'

He puffed through his nose. Mother would also be outraged. Again, the words of his mother came back. 'Yes, us women, we do crazy things. I mean, just ask your father. Well, he's even crazier but the way I see it, real men respect women, no matter what.'

Lifting his hands, Shane buried them in his hair. He felt ungentle man like that he had thrown Claire out to fend for herself when it was not only dark but half a day's ride from her home.

"Mother would be so disappointed," he whispered. Well, she won't know. She's too busy in California.

No matter how much the thoughts about his mother distracted him, they couldn't seem to make him get rid of the fact that there was a lady still on her own out there. Yes, she had deceived him but if anything happened to her, he knew he would feel guilty for placing her in that danger after she had begged him not to.

Without a second thought, he put on an extra shirt. The boots and coat followed. Marching out the door, he rushed to his black horse and prayed that the lady was on the main dirt path and had not ridden far. After his hair had finally dried, the rain poured on it again.

"Go!" Shane moved the horse as fast as he could on the path. "Giddy up, go!"

-

Claire rode halfway through the dirt path, before she saw another wagon and wondered who would be traveling so late at night? Keeping her head down and ignoring it, she rode past the carriage.

When the drifter saw what he thought was a frightened young boy riding across from him, he thought it was the perfect opportunity to steal some money.

The middle-aged man stopped the carriage and turned it to go after the brown horse and the young boy. At the same time, he whispered out for his two friends that were lying in the back. "Get up boys, we got an opportunity!"

The man called out to Claire. "Wait up!"

The man from the wagon was following her now. She decided to halt her horse and stand up to him, man to man. Besides, she thought, what can one man do?

After halting the horse, the man jumped off the carriage and walked towards her. She also got off her horse. Out of nowhere, two other men came out of the wagon. What in the world? She panicked. It's not only one man!

Claire tried to get Fancy moving again so she could run away but she wasn't quick enough. One of the men grabbed her and pushed her on the ground. "We can do this the hard way or the easy way."

"What do you want?" Claire stuttered, laying on the ground. The man didn't answer her, just took the bag that she had tied on the horse and started to look inside it. "Put my haversack down!"

One of the other men went to where Claire lay on the ground and put his foot to her chest. "Shut up."

After the man looked through her bag and didn't find anything, he threw it on the ground, making all the things in it fall out.