Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer

Author:Karen Witemeyer [Witemeyer, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical, Western, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 0764209663
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

22

Crockett thumped Neill on the back as he embraced his brother a second time. It was just so good to see him, to reconnect with family. As eager as he’d been to leave the ranch and start his ministry, he’d never imagined how hard the separation would be. Forged through trials and survival, trust and mutual respect, the Archer bond went deeper than blood. Having Neill here was like regaining a piece of himself that had been missing.

He glanced up to the house, intending to invite Joanna to join them. Yet when he scanned the porch, all he saw was the back of her skirt disappearing through the kitchen door.

“It must be rough working for such a pretty lady.” Neill lifted his chin toward the house.

His brother’s knowing stare penetrated a place Crockett wasn’t ready to expose. Doing his best to cover his reaction with his usual wink and grin, he draped his arm over Neill’s shoulders and steered him toward the wagon. “You haven’t met her father yet.”

“I still can’t believe you took a job with the man who kidnapped you.” Neill shrugged out from under his brother’s arm when an approaching rider broke through the trees on the far side of the house. “Of course, now that I’ve seen his daughter, it makes a little more sense.”

Avoiding his brother’s scrutiny, Crockett turned to greet Jackson as the boy barreled into the yard on Sunflower. Crockett strode back to his own mount and gathered the reins he’d left draped over the saddle horn.

“Do you mind seeing to my horse as well as Sunflower?” He drew his bay’s head up from where he’d been nibbling on a tuft of grass near the corral fence and paced over to where Jackson had dismounted. “Silas gave me the rest of the afternoon off, and I’d like to show Neill my place at the church.”

“Sure.” Jackson collected the reins from him and patted Sunflower’s neck. “I’ll rub ’em down and turn them out in the corral for a bit.” He started to lead the animals to the barn, one on either side of him, but stopped to glance back. “You want me to come by when I’m done? We still gotta set up the shootin’ targets and lay out the racecourse tonight, ’cause the gals expect us to help with the decoratin’ in the morning. Although why they think they gotta hang ribbons and bows on everything is beyond me.”

Crockett shared a grin with Neill over the boy’s youthful disdain. The Archer brothers couldn’t claim much understanding of females, either, but they had enough sense to know when to go along with one.

“Well, we want the ladies to enjoy the picnic, too,” Crockett said in conciliation. “And if dressing the old churchyard up adds to their pleasure, I suppose we can handle decoration duty.”

“I guess.” Jackson sighed heavily and plodded on into the barn.

“He reminds me a lot of you,” Crockett said, returning to Neill’s side at the back of the wagon. “He

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