Free Dorothy Garlock by High on a Hill Page B

helping me with the garden.” Annabel cocked her head to listen. “That sounds like Boone’s truck coming in. He works for my father.”
    “I’d better go.” Tess got quickly to her feet. “Don’t go, Tess. Boone will probably go to the barn and talk to Spinner, the other man who works here.”
    “I’d better. Marvin—” Tess headed for the door with Annabel following.
    They had just opened the door when Boone stepped up onto the porch. He stopped short when he saw Tess.
    “Hello. I didn’t know you were coming back today,” Annabel said.
    “I came through town and brought ya a chunk of ice.” Boone spoke to Annabel, but his eyes were on Tess. He jerked the billed cap off his head. “Howdy, ma’am.”
    “This is Tess Carter, Boone. She lives on the place south of us. Tess, this is Mr. Boone. He’s really quite nice, even if he does look like a bear most of the time.”
    “I met Mrs. Carter in the woods the day I went to get the cow. Sorry about the misunderstanding with your husband.”
    When Tess didn’t correct him, Annabel felt she should.
    “You didn’t tell me you’d met Tess, Boone. She isn’t married. She lives with her brother.”
    “Three brothers,” Tess said, so low that Boone barely heard the words.
    “The man on the mule was yore brother?” Boone asked as if Annabel were not there.
    “Leroy.”
    Boone grinned. “Tell ya right now, I wanted to bust his nose.” He watched in fascination as Tess’s eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth twitched, but the smile never materialized.
    “Tess and I have the same birthday,” Annabel announced. “We’re going to have a birthday party together if we’re still here.”
    “That’d be dandy,” Boone said, still looking at Tess.
    “I’ve got to go.” Tess was so nervous that her stomach was fluttering.
    “Don’t let me run you off. The girl here needs a lady’s company once in a while. How’s the ice holding out?” Dragging his eyes from Tess, he looked at Annabel.
    “Got a little left.” She turned to the girl, who was poised as if to sprint away. “Will you come back to see me, Tess?”
    “I don’t know if I can.”
    “Come anytime. I’ve got goods to make kitchen curtains. I’m not sure how to go about it and would value your opinion.”
    “I don’t know anything about curtains.” Her eyes darted to the edge of the woods, where she suspected Marvin lurked with his spyglasses, then up at the big man with the dark stubble on his face. His black eyes were focused on her and she felt as if they were looking into her soul, her past, her future. “I’ve got to go. ’Bye.”
    Tess jumped off the porch and walked quickly across the yard toward the woods.
    “’Bye,” Annabel called. “Thank you for the berries.”
    Tess turned and waved. She wanted to run, but forced herself to walk until she reached the shadowed forest, then she ran as if a demon were behind her.
    She hadn’t gone fifty yards when Marvin stepped out in front of her and she skidded to a stop. He had a pair of binoculars in his hand. She had been right about his spying.
    “What’d you find out?”
    “Nothing much. They’re nice folk.”
    “What’d the woman say?”
    “Said her pa sold things and was gone a lot.”
    “Is one of them fellers her man?”
    “No. She’s not married. They work for her father.”
    “What’s he sell?”
    “She didn’t say. I reckon it’s stuff in a catalog.”
    “Ya reckon? Hell, I didn’t send ya over there to reckon.” Marvin grasped her arm. “Did she want the berries?”
    “She wanted them. She was nice.” Tess tugged on her arm, but he refused to release it.
    “Go back over there. Tell her ya’ll show her where ya got ’em. Offer to help make pie or somethin’.”
    “I can’t do that.”
    “Ya can if I tell ya to.” His fingers tightened on her arm. “I seen her up close.” Grinning, he indicated the binoculars. “Pretty, ain’t she? Leroy was right about one thing. She’s got good