Free A Place Called Harmony by Jodi Thomas Page A

mine.” He tilted his head toward where Jessie was still sleeping between the saddles. “She ain’t much, but she was promised to me when she finished growing. I wouldn’t let any of the others touch her. Never had me a virgin before. I’d been chasing her around the past few months so she could get used to the idea of me bedding her regular when she fills out. I’m thinking once I have her, I’ll use her every night till she wears out, then I’ll trade her off. She’s small, but I guess she’s pretty enough and she’s quiet. Never could stand it when a woman screams while she’s being used. The last woman I climbed on was a screamer. I made her sorry she made so much noise. I want to see if the next one I try will be, but women in these parts are hard to find unattended.”
    Gillian sat up. “And you’re telling me this because?”
    “Because I want Jessie to tell me if you bothered her. ’Cause if you did, I’ll gut-shoot you and let you die slow.” Nate turned his head slightly, but his rifle remained pointed directly at Gillian. “Girl! Get up and come over here. I got a question for you.”
    When Jessie didn’t move, he yelled, “Girl! Unless you want a few blows in your middle, get over here.”
    Nate smiled at Gillian. “I don’t never hit her in the face.” He said it like he was bragging about how considerate he was of the kid.
    Jessie stood, showing no sign that she’d been asleep. She took a few steps toward Nate without looking at Gillian.
    Nate laughed. “I come to save you, girl.”
    She faced him. “I’m not going with you. I know what you got planned for me and I ain’t going.”
    Nate frowned as if surprised she’d dared to talk to him. “You belong to me. You can’t just decide to go off with this captain. I traded a horse for you, so you’re going with me. It’s about time you learned a few more ways to be useful.”
    “I ain’t with him.” She pointed to Gillian. “We’re just riding together. He’s nothing to me. He didn’t touch me. There is no need to shoot him.”
    Nate raised the rifle. “Oh, but it’s his time to die and I ain’t bargaining with you. He was a dead man the moment he rode into our camp. He just didn’t know it yet.”
    The next few seconds of Gillian’s life passed in slow motion.
    He saw the barrel leveled toward his head.
    Jessie moved sideways, swinging her arm in front of her. The morning sun flashed on his Colt in her hand. In the space between heartbeats, she fired at the same time Nate pulled the trigger on the rifle.
    Gillian felt like a horse kicked him in the head. He tumbled backward from the force. The last thing he saw before all went black was Nate crumbling as if boneless.
    For a moment, as the shots echoed off heaven, Gillian searched the darkness for Daisy. If he died here, now, she’d never know how much he’d loved her. She hadn’t been just a part-time wife; she’d been his only wife. He might not have known how to be a husband, but he’d been true to her and kept her in his heart.
    He’d always planned to someday go back to her.
    He fought through the pain and concentrated on her green eyes. If he died here today, he wanted Daisy to be the last thing he saw in this world.

Chapter 7

    T RADING P OST
     
    Daisy Matheson tried to talk her family into letting her go alone to join her husband, but they wouldn’t hear of it. Finally, she simply started packing, leaving them no say in the matter.
    All her brothers, and every one of her nephews over fifteen, volunteered to go with her to Texas. If she was moving to Texas, they planned to make sure she got there safely.
    She loved the company, but they were bound to find out that she’d lied if they met up with her husband, so she had them deliver her earlier than she’d told Gillian to meet her.
    The family didn’t need to know that Captain Gillian Matheson hadn’t quit the army and wasn’t planning on joining her. In fact, he didn’t even know his wife had forged