Free Whispering Hills of Love (American Wilderness Series Romance Book 3) by Dorothy Wiley

you—to prepare the hides for market—so you can buy more liquor. So you can just get drunk all over again. It’s an endless and depressing cycle and I swear I’ll no longer be a part of it!”
    “You’re an ungrateful little whelp. You’re nothing like your mother.”
    “Stop! Stop hurting me with your cruel words. You cannotunsay an unkind word. And, for mercy’s sake, stop drinking.”
    He took another sip of whiskey and plugged the jug. “I’ll stop for now.”
    His words were slow and slurred and in less than a minute, he was asleep. At least she would no longer have to endure the torment of his presence.
    She was so furious she would never be able to sleep. She found his rifle and checked the powder, then took his pistol and did the same. She put both across her lap and found a boulder to lean against. Her vision was excellent and she scanned the darkness for any movement and listened to the sounds of the night. There weren’t any. She guessed she’d scared off everything including the night critters with her loud outburst.
    She wished she had scared off her father.
    The only thing darker than her mood was the night. She felt utterly alone despite her father’s presence. She should never have gone with him. She should have stayed with William, he would have found her a place to stay. Leaving with her father was beyond foolish, but she felt an obligation to the man. He was her father after all. And she’d desperately hoped that maybe he had overcome his habit of drinking too much. But now, after the way he’d treated her over the last couple of hours, every shred of fondness she’d once held for her father grew as dark as the night.
    With the moon casting the eerie forest and shadowy brush in shades of blue, grey, and black, it came as no surprise to Kelly that the night was a long one for her. After thinking about how much she would miss William, losing her position as the children’s tutor, and then the sudden appearance of her now soused father, she decided, as William had suggested, to try to figure out what the heck was bothering her even before all that happened.
    She recognized that she behaved oddly at William’s swearing in ceremony. And her nightmares had been bad for some time. She really couldn’t blame Mister Wolfe and his mother for being concerned about Kelly’s screams scaring his daughters. The last dream terrified her so much she woke covered in sweat, crying, and shaking.
    The root of her nightmares and fear had to be the rape. But why was it getting worse with time instead of better? William had said that pain can make you weaker or stronger. Clearly, she’d been letting the traumatic experience make her weaker, little by little, like a hole in a damn that grew larger as more and more water rushed through it.
    But even if the rape was indeed the root of her problem, she still wasn’t convinced the assault was the cause of all her fears. There had to be something else. She’d felt more uncomfortable and vulnerable at the swearing in ceremony than she had anywhere else. She should have felt comfortable with William, Sam, and Bear all there. She should have been excited and happy for William. But instead, she’d felt bone-deep panic.
    She pondered just what it was that had made her feel so exposed, so much at risk.
    At the ceremony, William was the focus of everyone’s attention and admiration—even Daniel Boone’s. Her memory of him standing next to her, looking so devilishly handsome, was clear and vibrant. He had made her feel what she could only describe as an intense awareness of him. All of him. As she traveled with his family and then camped with them once they’d reached Boonesborough, she’d been around him for months. From the beginning, she’d regarded him as her rescuer and hero, admiring him for his bravery and gallantry. And more than once, shecautiously stole secretive glances at him, appreciating his handsome face and muscular body.
    But at the ceremony, she