How the West Was Wed by Brownley Margaret

Author:Brownley, Margaret
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Western
Publisher: Teragram Books
Published: 2020-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Circus animal trainer Mr. Adams was testing his newly purchased pistol with terrible effect. He hopes to regain full use of his left leg in due time. —The Two-Time Gazette

Josie ran toward the terrified girl. “Haley!” she screamed, her voice shrill. “Someone help!”

Brandon Wade reached Haley first, seeming to appear out of nowhere. He scooped her in his arms and moved her out of the camel’s path in the nick of time. Josie followed, but lost them in the pandemonium that ensued. The circus people quickly led the rest of the animals away, leaving only a small, stunned crowd and a somewhat dazed animal trainer behind.

She finally spotted Wade on his knees, rocking Haley in his arms. With a face drained of color, he looked shaken. The sobbing girl clung to him as if to never let go, her face buried against his broad chest.

Josie dropped down beside them and ran her hand along Haley’s back. “It’s okay, dear heart. You’re safe now.”

Instead of comforting the child, her touch only seemed to upset Haley more. Her young body tensed, and a look of horror or maybe even fear crossed her pale face.

“It’s only me,” Josie said. “I’m not going to hurt you.” When her soothing words failed to console the child, she pulled her hand away. Poor thing. Who could blame her for being scared out of her wits?

“I thought that camel was gonna hurt me,” Haley sobbed. Her tears spilled onto Wade’s shirt in a widening wet circle.

“It’s all right, muffin,” Wade said, running his hand up and down her back. “The camel’s gone now and I won’t let anything hurt you.”

“I- I-” Haley could hardly get the words out between her sobs. “W-want to go home, Papa.”

Startled, Josie met Wade’s gaze. “You’re . . . her father?” She’d heard something about his wife dying and leaving him with a child, but she’d discounted it along with all the other rumors, including his being an offspring of British royalty.

He answered her question with a nod. “Why so surprised?”

“I just never thought of you as a family man.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Does that change your opinion of me?”

Yes, yes, it did change her opinion of him, but in which way she couldn’t say.

Haley stirred in Wade’s arms. He blew a strand of his daughter’s hair away from his face. “Come on,” he said. Lifting her off the ground, he tenderly cradled her in his arms. “Let’s get you home.”

***

The following morning, Josie found Hank slumped over his desk. He was beside himself, and nothing Josie said or did could console him.

“Someone could have keen billed,” he lamented. “And all because of me.” He said more, but his words became so scrambled it was as if he were talking a foreign language.

“Listen to me, Hank.” She made him raise his head off the desk and look at her. “No one was killed or seriously injured. The doctor said that the animal trainer was just a bit shaken up and has no broken bones.

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