Free Clay by Ana Leigh Page A

stripped down to her petticoat and drawers. Unfortunately, the fur pelt did little to make the wooden box any softer or the pain in her shoulders any less.
    In a short time she heard Garth return. For a while, the two men talked together in low tones, then they got their sleeping rolls out of the storage box and settled down by the fire. She sighed in relief that Clay didn’t go through with his threat to sleep with her. Of course, this was just the first night, and there were many more ahead of them.
    The wagon was stuffy and smelled of the fruit and vegetables stored there. She got up and raised the front and rear flaps of the wagon, in the hope of catching a breeze. She envied the men sleeping outside. The ground would be softer than the box she was on, and it would be so pleasant to count the twinkling stars overhead, instead of imaginary sheep to try to get to sleep.
    But other than her aches and pains, the day had gone well. Maybe the trip wouldn’t be as hard as she’d been led to believe. And maybe—just maybe—Clay wasn’t as much of an ogre she believed him to be.
     
    Clay folded his hands under his head and thought about the woman in the wagon. He was responsible for her protection and welfare, which meant he now had two women to worry about. If they were lucky, maybe they’d overtake the wagon train Melissa was on. He should have anticipated that she’d take off with this Berg fellow after she told him about her condition. Sure, his mind had been cluttered with Ellie’s perfidy, and he hadn’t been thinking straight—but a little common sense then would have prevented this trip.
    He also blamed himself for taking that first drink from the Yankee conniver in the wagon. She really was some thing else. He’d probably applaud her resourcefulness— if only she hadn’t made him her target.
    Women! They were nothing but trouble. Why couldn’t they be honest and straightforward, like men? Ellie’s betrayal of him, Lissy running off with a Yankee, Rebecca Elliott manipulating him into marriage… a sisterhood of Jezebels that had begun with that damn apple in Eden. That should have been a warning to all men. Instead, we keep reaching out for the fruit.
    Well, not anymore. He had learned his lesson the hard way. And, like it or not, he was stuck with the Jezebel in the wagon.
    “But I’m sure as hell not going to make the mistake of trusting her,” he said, with a punch to his pillow.
    “You still got Ellie on your mind?” Garth asked drowsily.
    “No. Go to sleep.” Clay rolled over and closed his eyes.
     
    Much of the camp was still asleep as Rebecca struggled to get the fire started the next morning. The wood just wouldn’t take to the match. The small loaf she had prepared had risen beautifully during the night, and she was determined to bake it this morning, but she couldn’t spend the next hour just getting the darn fire going. After wasting two more matches in the effort, she was on the verge of giving up.
    “What are you doing?” Clay asked groggily.
    “What does it look like?” she said, exasperated by her failed effort. She turned and looked at him. He was sitting up in his bedroll, scratching at his head. “I’m building a fire.”
    “ Trying to build a fire,” he corrected. He pulled on his boots, then stood up and tucked his shirt into his trousers, and came over and knelt beside her. “Give me those matches before you use them all up. What time is it, anyway?”
    “Four o’clock.”
    “Four o’clock! What in hell are you doing up this early? We’re not pulling out until seven.”
    “I’m going to bake bread.”
    He shook his head. “Rebecca, what are you doing on a wagon train? You’ve never handled a mule team, you don’t know how to use a rifle, you can’t even build a campfire. You should have baked the bread last night when you had a fire, instead of trying to do it at four o’clock the next morning. A few more hours wouldn’t turn the bread stale, you