Jane Bonander Read Online Free

whirled around and raced to her bedroom, stumbling over the rocking chair to get to the window. She hissed a curse as pain shot through her foot, then limped to the window and pulled it open. She peered outside—and found Eli Clegg slumped against a tree, snoring deeply. Lord, how could she have missed
that
?
    She staggered to the bed and sank onto it, feeling violated and angry, and not just a little bit scared. When she’d composed herself, she went to the kitchen window, where the stranger still stood with Max.
    “I guess I should thank you, again. Would you . . . would you get rid of him, please?”
    “That was my intention, ma’am. I’ll take him to the saloon. Someone ought to know where he lives.”
    Susannah heard him order Max to stay, then he disappeared around the side of the cabin. She left the window, feeling a clot of tears press into her throat at how helpless she really was.
Damn
. How could she be alert and watch for Sonny Walker if she couldn’t even tell when a drunk was peeping into her windows?
    Going back into her bedroom, she went to the window to make sure Eli and the stranger were gone. Relieved to find that they were, she slipped on her flannel dressing gown. She glanced outside, wondering how long she’d slept before she’d been awakened by Max’s barking. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t return to bed now, she was too keyed up to sleep.
    After stoking up the fire, her glance went to Corey’s room. A fierceness . . . a powerful sense of possession swept through her. She would endure anything for her son. How she loved him! She had thought she was safe here, that nothing bad would happen. She’d always been on the lookout for Sonny, but she also knew he was far too clever to follow her himself. She had no doubt that he’d hired someone to do it for him.
    After all the times she’d had to fight off his indecent advances when Harlan wasn’t around, she knew he wouldn’t just give up. Even if Louisa had been successful in getting rid of Harlan’s body, Sonny would know that something had happened, for they saw each other daily. If he thought for a second that Susannah had been involved in getting rid of Harlan, he’d loudly proclaim her the culprit, for he knew it was the quickest way to have her returned to him. Send the law after her. Announce to the world that she was a murderess. Then, when she was returned and ready to be hanged for her crime, he’d step forward, “gallantly” coming to her defense, perhaps bargaining with the law, whom he had in his pocket anyway, to release her into his custody. And it would be done. Sonny had always been the clever one. And her life of misery would start all over again.
    She went to the stove to make herself a cup of tea, listening to the sounds of silence. She loved the solitude. She avoided the townsfolk in Angel’s Valley as much as possible, preferring to stay away from their prying eyes.
    Maybe it was guilt that made her feel that way, after all, she hadn’t been completely honest with them when she’d moved in, telling them her husband had never returned from the war. If she had her way, she’d stay away from town entirely, but she needed supplies on occasion, and she had to make frequent trips into the dress shop.
    When the sun crept over the eastern ridge, Susannah was still awake, fighting the ghosts in her past. Corey woke up feisty, having slept through the clamor that had kept Susannah awake. After he’d eaten his breakfast, she changed him, got dressed herself, then stepped out onto the rickety porch. She pulled in a breath of warm, dry, pine-scented air. Even though they hadn’t had rain for months, the river just down the hill still bubbled over the rocks. Above her, a red-shouldered hawk wheeled lazily, screaming into the windless sky.
    Max loped up to her, his tongue hanging out over the edges of his teeth. Susannah smiled. Max always looked like he was smiling back at her. She bent down and scratched his ears, gently