Jane Bonander Read Online Free Page B

Susannah said dryly, and was surprised at her audacity.
    He laughed, a rusty, unpracticed sound. “Now, that’s what I like. A woman who stumbles all over herself, professing her gratitude.”
    Again she attempted to ignore him, hoping he’d go away, but Max continued to snap and snarl at the stranger’s horse. Since it didn’t appear that he was going to leave her alone, and to prevent Max from getting kicked, she finally ordered the dog to go to the cabin. He continued to growl, but obeyed, loped to the porch and curled up in front of the door.
    She gave the stranger a suspicious glance. “Was that all you wanted?” She hadn’t meant to sound churlish; fear often did that to her.
    He nodded toward the dog. “In spite of last night, he’s really a good watchdog.”
    Susannah glanced at Max. “Until last night, I would have agreed with you.”
    “Don’t be too hard on him. He feels bad enough already.”
    Susannah couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped. “Now, how can you tell that?”
    “Well, just look at him. He feels all guilty and ashamed.” The stranger expelled a sympathetic sigh. “He could have invented the expression, ‘hangdog.’”
    She looked back at Max, whose head was buried between his front paws. She thawed measurably, but tossed the dog a scolding look anyway. “Good. Let him suffer a while.”
    They were both quiet for a moment, then he said, “I’d be happy to chop up that tree for the price of a hot meal.”
    The offer caught her off guard. She leaned on the ax and studied the man. Though he was massively built, he sat astride a horse with ease. His voice was deep and pleasant. Not unkind. It didn’t matter. Susannah had learned long ago that when a man wanted something, he could easily charm the venom from a rattler. Then you got what he
really
wanted. She brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun and studied the stranger.
    “Now, why on earth would you want to do that?”
    “It’ll take you until Christmas to get that tree chopped into firewood.”
    “Well, fortunately, I don’t need the wood until then,” she answered, going back to her task. She wanted him to go away. Be gone. Get lost. It sounded ungrateful, but she didn’t care.
    Forcing her muscles to obey, she gritted her teeth and hacked away at the dead tree, wishing desperately that she could chop through the damned thing at least once before she toppled over, exhausted.
    When she finally stopped and turned around, the stranger was leaving.
    “Good,” she said to herself, relieved. “Good.”
    “Mama?” Corey stepped outside, onto the porch.
    “It’s all right, darling. You can come back outside.” She watched the man disappear into the trees, praying he was gone for good.
    “Mama, look! Max catched the ball!”
    Crossing to the porch, she sat down on the steps and tried to still her pounding heart. “That’s good, sweetheart. Here,” she urged, holding out her hands and forcing a smile, “throw it to Mama.”
    He giggled when she fumbled and had to go to the corner of the porch to retrieve the ball. When she returned with it and playfully tossed it at him, she saw how the sun caught the highlights in his golden hair, and she felt a catch in her throat. Oh, he was the most precious thing in the world to her. Everything she’d gone through since the day he was born had been worth it. Everything . . . She took no pride in killing Harlan, and running away had made her appear weak and unwilling to face the consequences. But she knew if she had it to do over again, she’d change nothing.
    The next morning, she literally couldn’t move. It had only been twenty-four hours since she’d foolishly attacked the tree, and now she was paying the price.
    The muscles from her knees to her ears screamed with pain, but she groaned into her pillow and rolled out of her double bed.
    She’d often thought about getting rid of the bed and taking the extra single one that was stored in the shed. She slept