Read Online Head in the Clouds by Karen Witemeyer - Free Book Online Page A

employer to wade into the mire to rescue her.
    “I am the youngest of three sons, and I’d always been something of a gadabout.”
    He picked up the Bible and thumbed through the pages, the thin paper crinkling. “My mother hoped I would follow in her father’s footsteps and join the clergy. I considered it for a time, but something held me back.”
    “How did you end up in Texas?”
    “Propaganda.”
    She waited for more, but he just sat there with a smug look on his face. The rascal. He was going to make her ask, wasn’t he? She’d bet in his childhood he was one of those boys who pestered his brothers to the precise point where they would retaliate so that he could escape punishment while they received a scolding for beating on him. He probably had a full arsenal of crocodile tears to go along with those devastating dimples.
    “You gave your brothers fits growing up, didn’t you?”
    Belatedly, Adelaide realized her comment made no sense in the context of their discussion. At this rate, she was going to talk herself out of a position before she ever truly started. However, Gideon seemed to follow without difficulty. He exhibited no blank stare or puzzled frown the way most people did when she made a radical mental shift. Instead, his eyes danced with mischief.
    “Every chance I got.”
    She grinned, and he steered them back on course without a single bump.
    “Word had it that any man with money to invest could earn vast profits with little to no effort in the American West. Buy a half-dozen sections of land, fill it with stock, and let the money roll in while you hunt big game and host parties.”
    “Don’t tell me you believed that nonsense?”
    He shrugged. “Well, I was intelligent enough to know there would be some work involved, but it sounded too good to pass up. My father, bless his wise soul, gave me a condition. He would provide the capital for me to invest in land, build a house, and purchase stock if I agreed to learn the wool business through firsthand experience. I consented, never imagining what a hard teacher experience could be. But everything worked out. The pastores I hired on in California had me trained right and proper by the time we arrived in Texas, and several of them stayed on to work the ranch with me.”
    He laid the Bible back on the table, leaving it open. Adelaide couldn’t read the tiny print from where she sat, but she recognized the number 23 and figured it must be Psalms.
    “I never realized how many verses there are about sheep and shepherds until I spent two years of my life outside with the silly creatures. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the Lord as the Good Shepherd and for how much grief his flock must put him through.”
    Gideon Westcott might be a rascal, but he had depth.
    “What about you, Miss Proctor? What circumstances led to your coming here?”
    She couldn’t exactly say she followed a cloud, now could she? He’d think her deranged. Instead she opted for the bland version of the truth. “I came across the advertisement Mr. Bevin ran in the Gazette and decided to apply.”
    Her employer shook his head at her and clicked his tongue, the frown lines in his brow at odds with the twinkle in his eye. “For shame, Miss Proctor. Surely there’s more to the story than that dull explanation.” He leaned on the chair arm nearest her and winked. Her heart stuttered. A lock of dark hair fell across his forehead just as she imagined any true rake’s would, tempting her to reach out and comb it back into place with her fingers.
    “The chairman of the Cisco school board wrote you a glowing recommendation. Obviously they would have preferred you to stay. So what made you leave? Wanderlust? An overzealous suitor? A sick friend?”
    Panic knotted her stomach. Not even the little-boy grin he was favoring her with could ease the tightness. Had Mr. Bevin told him of her marriage fiasco? She hadn’t revealed the details to him and he hadn’t pressed her for them,