Free Colorado Dawn by Kaki Warner Page A

He’d happily ignored her for the last six years—why couldn’t he leave her alone now?
    With a huff of irritation, she looked around for Mr. Satterwhite and spotted him at the front of the wagon, harnessing Buttercup and Maisy. Careful of her footing on the slick, frosty grass, she marched toward him. “He’s coming with us,” she muttered when she reached the old man.
    “If you mean the foreigner,” he said as he tested the curb on Maisy’s bridle, “I know.”
    “But why? He has no reason to hound me all the way to Heartbreak Creek. I’m not going back to Scotland with him. Ever.”
    “So you said.” Satisfied with the rigging, the old man walked back toward the front of the wagon.
    Maddie followed. “Besides, the man eats like a horse and we’re already running low on supplies. You said so, yourself.”
    He climbed up into the driver’s box and unwound the reins from the brake handle. “I know.”
    “You
know
?” Maddie gripped the wheel, the metal rim cold and gritty against her palm. “That’s all you have to say?”
    “What do you want me to say?”
    “That you’ll help me.”
    The old man sighed heavily. He muttered something under his breath, then turned to her, an impatient look in the faded blue eye pointed her way. “Help you do what, missy? Shoot him?”
    “Heavens, no!” She drew back, her whole being recoiling from the suggestion. “How could you even think such a thing, Mr. Satterwhite?”
    “I wonder.” Another sigh. “He’s your husband, missy. And he seems a good man. I’d give him a chance. You riding up here, or in back?”
    “What? I—in back, I guess.” Why was he acting this way?
    “Then get your dog and let’s be off. It’ll take us three days to reach Heartbreak Creek as it is.”
    Hurt, Maddie whirled and marched to the rear, her eyes stinging. She desperately needed her friends. Lucinda and Pru and Edwina would help her figure out what to do.
They
wouldn’t let her down.
    She came to an abrupt stop when she found Ash waiting by the step, Agnes tucked under his arm. The wretched beast was licking his stubbled chin like it was coated with honey.
    God.
Was everyone turning against her?
    She glared at him.
    He smiled back, and the wicked twinkle in his eyes told her he must have overheard every word of her conversation with Mr. Satterwhite.
    “Up you go, love, so I can secure the stair.”
    “ ‘Love’?” she mimicked. “What happened to ‘lass’? Or have you suddenly become English now that you’re a member of the peerage?”
    He grinned and sketched a bow. “I’m a bit of both,
leannan
, with a wee drop of the Irish thrown in.”
    She snatched her traitor dog from his arms and stomped up the steps.
    “And don’t fret about going hungry,” he added as she opened the door. “If it’s fresh meat you’re needing, I’ll be sure you get as much as you want. As you’ll remember, wife, I’m verra good with my gun.”
    She slammed the door so hard the window rattled.
    ·  ·  ·
    It was midafternoon, and the ache in Ash’s side was so constant he could hardly sit the saddle when Satterwhite finally reined in the team.
    “How’s this?” the old man asked Maddie, who had long since released herself from her self-imposed isolation in the back of the wagon and moved up front to the driver’s box.
    “It’s lovely, Mr. Satterwhite.” She turned to Ash with a tight smile. “But does it meet your approval, Lord Ashby?”
    Still miffed, he saw. He had already rejected a similar meadow that would have been impossible to defend. Old habits in old soldiers die hard, he’d found. Assessing this one with a military eye, he saw a grassy clearing with a wee creek on one side and a rocky bluff on the other. “This will do, Satterwhite. If you’ll set camp, Tricks and I will forage for supper.”
    He let Lurch and Tricks drink in the creek, crossed, then rode a short way past it before reining in behind a jumble of boulders. “Shite,” he hissed,