In Love's Territory

  Chapter 11

  “I want him fired! Get him off your farm!” Carter was standing as he spoke to Thomas, who remained sitting in his chair on the porch. Kate could see their shadowy figures through the gauzy curtains from her seat; curled up on the sofa in the darkened parlor, she could hear everything that Edward and her father were saying, but she was essentially invisible, she realized as Carter leaned close and stared futilely through the window.

  “Edward, please sit down and let’s talk about this,” Thomas said. His voice was calm, soothing even; it was quite a change from the previous evening. When Jake had finally come home, Thomas had probably been heard over on the neighboring farm. She almost felt bad for her brother, who bore nearly thirty minutes of their father’s fury before he was marched out to the barn.

  Edward sat down only for a second before jumping to his feet again, almost as if he’d sat on a tack. “Can you imagine what it was like when they came to me and told me that my fiancée was riding out of town on another man’s horse?” he asked. “Can you imagine how I felt with half the town seeing Kate wrapped in that half-breed’s arms? Do you know what I went through?”

  “Probably something a damn sight better than what Kate went through, I’d imagine,” Thomas said.

  Carter raised a finger as if to emphasize a point, but said nothing and eventually dropped his hand to his side. He turned to stare out at the field, his fists at his hips, and when he spoke again his voice was so quiet that Kate could barely hear him.

  “I want that boy fired. He laid his hands all over my betrothed,” he said. “He violated Kate and made a fool out of me.”

  That’s not what happened at all. He was the only one who saved me from getting violated. An angry, sour feeling rose inside her as she watched her father stand up and step to Carter’s side.

  “It seems like there’s only one person making a fool out of you right now,” he said. “And it’s not Sam. Good afternoon.” Thomas turned and entered the house, closing the door behind him and leaving Carter standing alone on the porch. Kate watched as he shook his head for a moment and then stomped down the steps; a moment later she heard Carter’s horse snort sharply before they departed at a gallop.

  She rose from the sofa and went to the front window. As Edward reached the road and raced off toward town, her gaze slipped across the fields to the hilltop, where she could see a horse and rider. Sam. Still keeping an eye on things. The sour feeling in her belly began to subside and she stepped back from the window, returning to her spot on the sofa. She curled up again, pulled the shawl over herself and closed her eyes.