Chapter 14

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Chapter 14

Bliss looked over the land around her, gazing anywhere but at the man beside her. Prairie dogs ran here and there and ducked down into their holes. Tufts of grass sprung up out of the orange-brown dirt in scattered places and the ground lay bare in other places. A tall butte rose abruptly out of the ground ahead of them where the trail that the wagon was running beside it.

She let her eyes wander to her left where Clint sat, one hand holding the reins and the other he had propped up on his knee and rested his chin on his knuckles. His attitude had improved some, but she still didn’t feel like testing that. She had remained silent for most of their time beside him in spite of wanting to run him out of her life. She mostly didn’t want to suffer the wrath of his anger should he get mad at her. He would be proud to know that if she decided that she would show her feelings on the matter, which she had not.

Clint pulled the wagon to a stop under the butte where it cast a shadow over the land in a large area. It was a few degrees cooler in the shade and Bliss breathed deep of the cooler air.

“Why are we stopping?” Damian asked.

“The horses need to rest,” Clint replied stiffly.

He hopped down, walked around the horses to the other side of the wagon, and held his hand out to her.

Bliss stared at him strangely. Back in Plateau, he had seemed annoyed by the chore of helping her down, but now he was doing it willingly?

Strange.

Setting her thoughts aside, she allowed him to help her down and set her on the ground. Her legs were stiff from the hours of riding in the wagon, and her knees threatened to buckle. Clint caught her by the arms.

“You okay?” he asked.

Bliss nodded and felt her knees return to normal. She stood straight and shrugged his hands off her arms.

Damian and Colt climbed out of the back of the wagon, Colt more quickly than Damian did as he sent a glare to Clint.

Bliss felt her defenses rise. What was Clint supposed to do? Let her fall?

It wouldn’t do for Colt to start getting jumpy while she was around Clint, especially when he knew that she was trying to get rid of him.

She felt the tension between the three of them rise and grow stronger at that moment as they all exchanged glances.

It was going to be a long ride home.

*****

Grace snatched the letter from Sherman’s shaking hands and read aloud.

“You think you can scare me away with a fancy gun? You have no idea what I am capable of. Soon you will see that I always get what I want in the end. Watch your back and you will see.

-S.R.”

Grace felt her own hands begin to shake.

“Seth? How does he know about Clint? How can he see us?” she asked with a quivering voice.

“I-I don’t know. That’s what angers me. I don’t know much of anything about this. Bliss never told me all of the details about her and Seth. Now she’s out there unaware of the danger that she’s in,” Sherman leaned against the railing of the porch to hold himself up.

“She has Clint Slade. Surely he is on his guard at all times and will know what to do if any trouble arises,” Grace offered.

“Maybe, but I can’t rely on that. I’d be a lousy father if I did. I just wish she was here.” Sherman sighed deeply.

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