Free Mail Order Mayhem (Mail Order Romance Book 2 - Benjamin and Annie) by Kate Whitsby Page A

nuts. You belong in an asylum. From the look of you, you should be heading down to Patterson to see a doctor.”
    “I thought of that,” Benjamin agreed. “But I just can’t turn back now. Not with Annie out there unprotected. I’m the only one who’ll go and rescue her.”
    “You’re not the only one,” Christopher argued. “My men and I’ll go after her and bring her back.”
    “You hope you will, you mean,” Benjamin retorted. “But you won’t go after them now, when their direction is written plain as day in front of you. Besides, if anyone is going to follow them, they should do it now, while the trail is fresh, before the weather wipes it out completely.”
    “Maybe ,” the sheriff conceded. “But I can’t go that way now. I have to go back and make sure they didn’t head toward Eckville.”
    “Well, then, that leaves me,” Benjamin concluded. “I’ll go north now.”
    The sheriff squinted at him. “What’s got into you, Moran? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this before. You’re like a mad dog, or somethin’. If I didn’t know you any better, I’d say you weren’t thinkin’ clearly, but you seem to be making some sense that I can’t argue with. I just don’t understand it.”
    Benjamin glanced sidelong at the sheriff. “Are you a believing man, Sheriff?”
    Martin Christopher jerked his head up sharply. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
    Benjamin stiffened his shoulders to continue. “I’m just askin’. Do you believe in God and Jesus and all that sort of thing? Just tell me.”
    “Alright,” the sheriff conceded. “Yes, I do. There. I said it. Now you tell me what that has got to do with anything?”
    Benjamin shook his head and looked down at the ground. “You already think I’m crazy, but the only thing I can tell you is that God seems to be leading me toward Annie. I can’t explain it any other way.”
    “What are you sayin’?” the sheriff snorted. “Are you seriously standing there telling me that you’re on some sort of mission from God? That’s about the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
    “I told you so,” Benjamin rejoined. “But from what I’ve seen, I feel like I’m being guided and led to find her and bring her back. That’s all I can tell you.”
    “What have you seen that makes you think that?” the sheriff insisted. “Have you seen signs and wonders and miracles? Is that what you’re saying?”
    “Something like that,” Benjamin muttered.
    “What was it?” the sheriff repeated. “If you want me to understand what you’re talking about, you better tell me.”
    “Well, for a start,” Benjamin began, “when I opened my eyes this mornin’, I prayed that I would be able to save Annie, and just after that I found my horse waiting for me with all my guns still tied on. I thought they took him with them, but there he was. Then, when I mounted up, the horse brought me back here, to this yard, and practically showed me those tracks there, leading away like a big highway. Only a blind man could fail to follow that trail. If that isn’t leading me onward, then I don’t know what is.”
    “Well, that was your horse leading you, not God,” the sheriff mocked.
    “That’s true,” Benjamin returned. “But then—you’re gonna say this is the craziest part—there’s this voice inside my head that keeps talking to me and telling me God is taking care of me and Annie and that He will bring us back together. I know it’s nuts. You don’t have to tell me that. I’ve been hearing this voice ever since I left home, and it’s been counseling me and encouraging me every step of the way. I believe, more than I’ve ever believed anything else in my life, that God is with me and taking care of me and taking me where I need to go. That’s the best I can explain it. If you don’t understand that, then I don’t know what to tell you. And if you really think it’s that crazy, then you better arrest me and lock me up right