Read Online Jodi Thomas by In a Heartbeat - Free Book Online

stupid, but she couldn’t think of any other reason her hair would look such a mess.
    She blinked away the darkness and glanced around. There, hiding behind Aunt Etta, were the girls, their cheeks crimson with mischief.
    But before she could reach them, someone stepped in her path. “Joanna!” a male voice shouted. “Are you sure you’re uninjured?”
    “Milton!” Though she only whispered his name, it seemed to bounce off the walls and slam back into her ears. Standing before her, solid barrel chest and broad stocky shoulders, was the man she’d known and loved since childhood. But for the first time she really looked at him . . . his thinning hair . . . the hardness around his eyes of one who only saw the straight and narrow path. She also saw worry and an unsureness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
    Milton held her elbow as though she might need help in walking, but his voice was colored more with anger than concern. “We were so worried about you. No one seemed to know where you were, and what with wild Indians in this awful country—” He stopped suddenly as Colt stepped from the cellar.
    “Sir.” Milton straightened to his full height. “Am I to understand you were locked in that place with my betrothed?”
    Colt’s long legs were headed straight toward his daughters. “Not by choice, I assure you.” He glanced at Milton, his eyes seeming to narrow at the hold Milton had on her arm. “But if you wish to take exception?”
    Joanna could see the fire almost bouncing through Colt’s body as if it were trapped inside and looking for a victim to vent itself on. There was nothing he’d like better than a fight. “Of course Milton understands. You couldn’t very well have locked us in from the inside.” Her head felt like she really had fallen and suffered a blow. “Come along, Milton. I’ve got to put a cold rag on my head.”
    As Milton backed away from Colt, much like a sensible farmer backs away from an angry bull, Colt turned his attention to his children, who giggled and ran toward home. Their lack of any real fear of their father told Joanna the punishment would probably not be stern enough no matter how angry the captain looked.
    * * *
    By dinnertime the confusion was about to drive Joanna mad. Milton had planted himself in the kitchen and refused to leave until he talked to Joanna. Aunt Etta had been cooking around him, telling him stories of Texas as though in her few weeks here she’d personally lived through every one of them.
    Sergeant Buckles, for some reason, didn’t think it was proper that Milton was in the house with the ladies without a chaperon, so he’d camped at the kitchen table as well.
    The only one who had the sense to disappear was Colt. He’d talked to his daughters, then walked through the house without a word and simply vanished.
    “I have to talk to you!” Milton had been saying the same thing for two hours, only now he was ordering, not pleading or asking.
    “We have nothing to discuss.” Joanna held the rag to her forehead as if there really was a bruise from a fall there.
    “I wish to talk with you alone, dear Joanna.”
    “There is nothing you can say that can’t be said in front of everyone in this house.” She was afraid if they were alone he’d try to kiss her as he had so many times in the past. His lips were always watery soft, and after Colt’s kiss she didn’t think she could stand Milton’s.
    As Aunt Etta passed the plates out on the table, she looked at the farmer. “My advice is you’d better catch the next train back home, Milton Miller.”
    Milton’s patience wore thin. “I don’t remember asking you.” He didn’t even look at Etta, for like most of Joanna’s family, he’d fallen into the pattern of not even realizing the woman had feelings.
    Sergeant Buckles and Joanna were on their feet faster than prizefighters at the sound of the bell. As Joanna opened her mouth Buckles beat her to the draw. “I think