Page 27 of Montana Groom of Convenience
They considered each other. Silently sharing something they had in common. For the briefest of moments, she thought she saw a flash of acknowledgment as if he saw her pain and admitted his own.
And then it was gone. Perhaps it had only been her imagination.
“Now for a mattress.” She didn’t invite him to accompany her but half expected he would. Since theyarrived at the ranch, he’d followed her on every task. Not that there was any need for his help, but with him holding the mattress and her stuffing in sweet hay from the stack in the loft, she admitted how much easier it was than struggling on her own.
Jill still sat at the table with Father when they returned. Carly spoke to Sawyer.
“I don’t need any help to make the bed. Sit and talk with Father.”
“Aye, you do that, laddie. Jilly has been telling me about your travels. Seems you’ve had a few adventures.”
Carly made sure to leave the bedroom door open so she would be in on any stories Sawyer told. She listened shamelessly as he told of being followed by some wolves and encountering a winter storm.
As she smoothed the last cover on the bed, Sawyer said, “We found shelter with an old man in a cabin by a river.” His voice deepened. “A loner with a mean streak.”
Carly shuddered. She’d sooner deal with marauding animals and Mother Nature at her worst than a man with evil intent.
“Aye, I’ve met a few of those nasty sort. What did this one do?”
“He snatched Jill from her bed and said he would kill her if I didn’t give him all my money.”
Carly went to the door, needing to see Jill’s reaction to the story.
She sat at the table, motionless, staring at her hands. Hiding her feelings as well as Sawyer.
But Jill was a little girl and she would have been so frightened. So powerless. Carly went to Jill’s side. “How awful. I’m glad you’re okay.” Jill showed noemotion. Carly looked at Sawyer. He, too, was impassive, revealing nothing. She wasn’t convinced that meant he felt nothing. “What did you do?”
“I agreed to give it to him, but it was in my saddlebag. So was my gun. I couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t hurt Jill, so I hid my gun at first. When I made as if to give him my money, Jill kicked him and bit him.”
Father and Carly looked at each other and grinned. No doubt he was thinking Carly would have done much the same.
“I pulled out my gun then, and he backed away. We left. Better a snowstorm than a crazy man.”
“You’ve had an awful time. And not just that man.” She longed to offer some sort of comfort, but both Sawyer and Jill sat stiff and expressionless. Both believing they felt nothing, and no one could hurt them. “You’re a very brave little girl.” She squeezed Jill’s shoulder, then moved away, sensing the child didn’t know how to deal with such gestures.
“I wasn’t brave. I was angry.”
“And scared, too, I think. I know I would have been.”
Jill didn’t answer.
“Good thing you had Sawyer to take care of you.”
Two Gallagher heads came up, and Sawyer and Jill looked at each other. Both seemed surprised at Carly’s observation. If only Mother was alive. She would know how to help this pair. Carly could only do what she thought Mother would have said and done. Right now, she knew Mother would have hugged them both, but Carly didn’t feel free to do it. She patted them both on the back and then moved on before either could react.
Father, perhaps sensing the awkwardness of theothers, spoke. “Shouldn’t you show them around the place?”
An excellent idea. “Come with me.” She signaled them both to join her, and they left the house. “You’ve already seen the barn, so we’ll skip that for now. Behind the house is the garden.” She led the way to the right. “That way is where we grow the crops. Wheat and oats. To the left are the corrals for the horses. That’s Big Harry. He’s a black Clydesdale.” As if they couldn’t see that for themselves. “He’s a gentle giant, but Father forbids me to handle him.”
“‘Too much for a wee lassie like you,’” Sawyer quoted getting the accent exactly right.
It sounded so funny coming from his mouth that Carly laughed.
Her gaze caught his and refused to move on. His lips barely lifted. But she decided she would call it a smile. His eyes lightened as if humor had caught him by surprise.
She shifted his attention to Jill just in time to catch a fleeting grin.
Feeling rather pleased with their reaction, she pointed past the corrals. “Our ranch runs down to the river. We have a hundred head of cows. I try and keep them close to home rather than let them roam too far afield. It’s still open range.”
