The Trapper by Barbara Goss

Author:Barbara Goss [Goss, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-15T06:00:00+00:00

Joanna tied off a thread and set the baby nightgown aside. She’d finished four of them that day. Someone’s baby would stay warm that winter. Joanna thought she might have time to sew one more nightgown, and she reached for more material. Someone knocked on the door. She dropped the piece of flannel, stood, and walked to the foyer. Joanna reminded herself to be careful: no one ever visited during the day.

She went into the sitting room and pulled the drapes aside, peeked at the front of the house to see Bradley McKenna, dressed in a suit and string tie and carrying a bouquet of flowers. Joanna sighed. She didn’t know what to do. It appeared he'd come in peace. She wouldn’t allow him to enter the house, of course, but she really should acknowledge him by going outside and talking with him.

Joanna unlocked the door, opened it, and slipped out. “What can I do for you, Mr. McKenna?”

He nodded. “Miss Rodgers.” He held out the flowers. “Can we talk for a moment?”

“Of course.” She led him to the garden at the side of the house where several stone benches overlooked a gorgeous garden. Joanna sat and waited for him to do the same.

She took the flowers and smelled them. “You shouldn’t have, but daisies happen to be my favorite flower. Thank you.”

“I haven’t had a drop to drink since the gunfight. I really want to do this right. I botched everything up by drinking to steady my nerves when we first met.”

Joanna scripted her words carefully. “You also said you were twenty-eight and that you were a rancher.”

“I may have exaggerated my age; I’m forty-one. I do have a ranch. A pig ranch.”

Joanna smiled at the term. “I’m not a gold-digger, Mr. McKenna. You could have told me the truth. The fact is, you lied, and that tells me more than I need to know about your character.”

“If I can quit drinking, I sure as…um…heck can quit lying, too.”

“But it’s there in your nature. It can’t be turned on and off like a lamp.”

Joanna watched his face change from hopeful to angry. “I will have you. I brought you here, and I aim to marry you. If I can’t do it the polite way, I’ll have to do it another way.”

Joanna felt threatened by his tone of voice and the look in his eyes and she backed away from him. “What do you mean? Are you threatening me?”

“I saw you going to Jared Steele’s cabin alone. His reputation in town is soiled enough, but when this gets around, you’ll both be recluses.”

“We left the door open. Jared and I are friends.”

“Tell that to the town folks. They already know what Jared Steele is capable of.”

Joanna stood and put her hands on her hips. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“I guess I am. Now, when can I arrange a date for the reverend to marry us?”

“When your pigs fly,” she said, and she ran out of the garden, up the front steps, into the house, and bolted the door behind her.

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