Somebody's Business: A Classic Historical Western Romance Series by Irene Bennett Brown

Author:Irene Bennett Brown [Brown, Irene Bennett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781639777839
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Published: 2023-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

They had left the outskirts of Skiddy two or three miles behind when Nila gasped sharply, putting her book aside. “Jocelyn, look there. Isn’t that Maretta’s red Model A out in that pasture, tipped over?” She leaned forward for a better look.

“Oh my goodness, it surely looks that way.” Jocelyn snapped the reins over the team’s back, urging them on faster, and took in the scene ahead. For some reason, it appeared that Maretta had left the road, her motorcar taking out a quarter mile of fence. The red hulk, on its side, was being inspected by a half dozen or so curious cows. Maretta, dirty, sobbing, hat and clothes askew, wobbled up from the pasture to the road.

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Jocelyn drew her team to a stop by the miserable-looking woman. “Maretta, how are you? What on earth happened?”

Maretta gave Jocelyn an angry, studied look for a moment, swiped at her eyes. “I saw the cursed mad dog, tried to hit the despicable thing, run over it. You can blessed well see what happened.” She waved her arm. “And the dog is still running loose.”

“Are you hurt, though? Let me drive you back to town. Or wherever you were headed.”

“I can walk, I don’t need your help.” She hurtled past them headed in the direction they were taking.

“What if the mad dog is close around here?” Nila leaned out from the wagon to say to her.

Jocelyn took a moment, watching the figure wobble along the road. She cleared her throat, shook the lines to get the mules moving. “It’s not safe, Miss Rudd, Nila is right, the dog could be close by, still.”

Maretta halted. As the team and wagon drew toward her, she started across to them, then stopped. She spoke sharply, arms waving, the expression on her face erratic. “I was on my way to my friend, Gerda Bender’s. Wanted some peace from that awful hullabaloo back in town. That pasture there, where the blessed cattle will probably be tromping all over my motorcar is Benders’s property. Their home place is ahead a couple miles. I can walk there if you’ll just stop bothering me.”

And it’s their cows you could’ve hit, and yes, your motorcar the red heap left in the Benders’s pasture. “We can give you a lift. It’ll be safer. Please.” Jocelyn managed a decent tone and a hand signal for Maretta to come and get into the wagon. Nila climbed over the seat and into the back. Jocelyn pulled Andy closer to her side. They waited. A dust-devil chased along the road from a sudden breeze that also flurried Maretta’s skirts.

She stood there like a statue for a minute or two, tossed her head and looked around. Likely thinking of the sick, runaway dog. Her shoulders slumped and with a deep frown she came to their wagon, climbed up on the seat next to Andy, and stared ahead.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go back to town, Maretta? The Benders may not be home.

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