Ride With Me (A Quaking Heart Novel - Book One)

  Chapter 3

  Feeling a little guilty at having taunted Rose Marie, Johnnie rose to help Mary gather the blanket and leftover food. When he went to grasp her elbow for their walk back to the buckboard, something caught his eye and he froze with his hand still raised toward her. The deer had vanished, and now he saw a patch of grey fur.

  A warning bell went off in his head. "Hurry, Mary. I need to get my rifle." He took hold of her and whisked her toward the buckboard. He'd been so caught up in the battle of wills with Rose Marie when they'd first arrived, he'd neglected to arm himself. Now he'd foolishly put them all in danger.

  "What is it, Johnnie?"

  Bonnie was snorting, pawing at the ground. "Easy girl," he crooned, reaching behind the seat to grab the rifle. "Don't get into the buckboard just yet—but stay close," he said to Mary while scanning the area for Rose Marie.

  Worried now, Johnnie whipped his gaze left to right looking for her, angry at himself that his teasing likewise put her in danger. Then he saw her, emerging from the trees and did a double take. She was covered from the wisps of hair lining her face straight down to her boots in . . . what exactly? But there was no time to analyze what had happened to her because a snap of a twig drew him back around. Close to a dozen wolves had rounded the lodgepole pine and were bearing down on them. Johnnie crammed the rifle into his shoulder, cocked, and shot directly into the center of the pack. One squealed. The rest scattered. Johnnie swung back to the women.

  "Get in! Now!"

  He lifted Mary to her seat, then blinked in disbelief as Rose Marie gathered up her many skirts and jumped up easily from the other side to plop down on the bench. He shook his head as he seized the back of the seat to pull himself up, stepped over Mary, and landed hard between the two women. The buckboard rocked on its springs.

  Snatching his gloves off the reins rail, he dropped them on Rose Marie's muddy lap. Unlooping the leads, he gave them a hardy snap. The agitated chestnut lurched forward, yanking the buckboard unsteadily. Rose Marie gasped and grabbed Johnnie's bicep. Warmth shot through him at her possessive hold. She must have felt it too, since she flung her fingers loose and tucked them into her lap.

  Once they were a ways up the mountain, Johnnie glanced down at Rose Marie. He studied her face, then the front of her dress. With an exasperated sigh, he tipped to his left, pressing hard into her shoulder.

  She grunted and opened her mouth, probably to spout something at him, when he brought out a handkerchief and held it out to her. "What in heck did you fall in?"

  He touched a fingertip to her cheek and drew it back slowly, watching as the sticky substance pulled at her cheek.

  She smacked his hand away. "Stop it!" Snatching the handkerchief out of his hand, she turned her face away to scrub at it. "I don't know what this is."

  He chuckled. "Whatever it is, it has pitch in it. It's a new look for you, Rose Marie. Kinda like it."

  "Why would wolves come at us like that?" Mary cut in, obviously saving her granddaughter from more of his taunting.

  He didn't know why he was continually half-mad, half-exasperated with Rose Marie. It wasn't just her beauty that did that to him, though that was enough. It was more. Her highfalutin attitude, superiority . . . maybe self-importance? He didn't know. He just knew she rubbed him horribly wrong.

  Johnnie shook his head, trying to clear it of the belle he had no business figuring out. "The animals are acting strangely," he finally answered Mary.

  He slapped the reins again, this time more gently. The small buggy jostled side to side a mite, but eventually found a rut and gained speed. Johnnie scanned the trees to either side of the trail and then glanced at Mary. "First the deer, then the wolves. Have you noticed that kind of thing before?"

  "No. Nothing like that," Mary said. "They don't usually come near people. In all these years I don't remember ever seeing a wolf let alone a pack of them. What do you suppose that's all about?"

  "I wish I knew."

  They rode in silence the rest of the way to the cabin as the sun set and the full moon made its way up past the mountaintops, lighting their way like a divine beacon.

  Bonnie seemed to be calm enough now, but Johnnie wasn't. Something was off kilter, tilted, like the face of tonight's full moon.

  When they rounded the last corner and Mary's log cabin came into view, a shaft of moonlight rested on Jessica's sorrel mare, tied up outside.

  "Oh, thank God she's here," Mary said, sounding relieved. "Hurry, let's go see how she is."

  Before Johnnie could help her, Mary climbed off the buckboard to rush inside. He hopped off behind her, and when his boots hit, he thought, Yes, I'm finally back on solid ground, now that Jess is safe.