Heart on His Sleeve by Jodi Thomas

Author:Jodi Thomas
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Amanda wished she could have seen the expression on Clint’s face. From her perch at the top of the canyon, she’d watched him set up his hiding place. In the walls of the shallow gorges in these parts were caves and winding paths that led to the narrow valley in the center. She’d simply waited until dark and followed a path down to the rock where he hid.

She’d learned a long time ago not to argue when a man told her what to do. It was better to wait until he dropped his guard and then ambush him.

“Anything happening that I should report yet?” she whispered a few inches behind him.

Anger made his eyes flash brighter than the campfire. Amanda had the feeling he might have grabbed her and shaken her senseless if thirty men hadn’t stood a few yards away.

“Quiet,” he managed to whisper between clenched teeth.

As casually as a woman accompanying her beau to a Sunday picnic, Amanda looped her arm through his and watched the meeting. “I’ll be happy to fill you in on the background of any of the men out there. I’ve known most of them all my life.”

As she slid her cold fingers from his elbow to his hand, Clint’s arm muscles tightened. “Do you mind if I borrow your jacket?” she asked.

For a moment she thought he might refuse or tell her to go freeze to death somewhere else. With forced slowness, he lifted his jacket from the rock beside him and draped it over her shoulders.

“Thanks,” Amanda whispered.

His hands lingered on her shoulders. She could see just enough of his face in the firelight to know he was still angry, but his hands were gentle as they smoothed the jacket over her.

Finally, reluctantly, he lowered his hands and glanced back at the men near the fire. “I’ve figured out what I need to know. The farmers don’t want trouble any more than the colonel does, but the gambler, Lawson, is stirring them up. He’s taken every opportunity to remind them that the land is legally theirs and they can fence it off if they want to.”

Suddenly an old farmer named Pap Lloyd started shouting at Lawson. Clint pulled Amanda lower behind the rock as they listened. But Pap Lloyd’s slow-talking reason was no match for Lawson’s lightning tongue and itchy gun hand. One by one the men began to side with Lawson.

Amanda leaned closer to Clint. “Lawson arrived a while back. He reminds me of a weed in the garden. You don’t see it coming; you just look around one day and there it is.” She was so near she could almost feel his cheek blocking her breath. His taut muscles told her he felt the same way. “If I could figure out what Lawson has to gain from all this, I’d print it. He doesn’t even own any land that I know of, and I’ll bet his hands have never steadied a plow.”

Clint considered clipping her with a right jab just under her chin to keep her quiet.

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