Read Online Linda Ford by The Cowboy's Convenient Proposal - Free Book Online Page A

waited, not daring to move until she was certain. It seemed he had truly left, and her breath whistled out.
    “Is he gone?” Belle whispered.
    “Yes.” Thankfully. She was grateful for his help. Truly she was. But she didn’t plan to accept more than she was forced to.
    “Are you glad?” Belle asked, easing away from the dark corner as if still uncertain it was safe to do so.
    “We’re finally on our own. Just you and me.” Apart from Linette and Eddie up the hill, a cookhouse and cowboys across the road and Ward, no doubt, flitting back and forth. She would have much preferred Ward’s isolated cabin, but this would do for now.
    “I’m glad, too.” Belle turned to study the room. “We gonna sleep here?”
    “Yup. Just the two of us. Let’s have a look around.” The room held a small stove that would serve as a kitchen range as well as a welcome source of heat on cold nights. There was a tiny table, two chairs, a shelf with a few supplies and a bookcase with a few odds and ends. There was another doorway and they went to the small bedroom.
    Belle edged over to the bed and touched it. “How long we staying here?”
    Red crossed to Belle’s side, perched on the bed and caught her sister’s chin. “Honey, we need some place until I can come up with a plan. But as soon as I do, we’ll leave. We’ll find a place on our own where we’ll always be safe and always together.”
    Belle’s gaze clung to Red’s. She could see her little sister wanted to believe in a future that held promise and possibility. Understood her hesitation to do so. Her faith in good things had been shattered in the past few months.
    Red pulled Belle to her lap and held her tight. “We got away from Thorton and Old Mike. They’re both in jail and will never hurt us again.”
    “They’ll stay in jail forever?”
    “I hope so. But long enough they won’t bother us again.”
    “Red, he prayed. He said we could trust God.”
    She heard the wistful note in her sister’s voice and understood Belle referred to Ward.
    How was she to deal with this? She had no trust left. Not for God and certainly not for any man. But how could she admit she felt God had abandoned them and rob Belle of any hope? On the other hand, she didn’t want her to trust anyone but themselves for their future. She closed her eyes and tried to marshal her thoughts together. It took too much effort, made her head ache. She’d deal with the matter later.
    Belle looked intently into Red’s face. “You don’t like him, do you?”
    The question startled Red. There was something about Ward that got under her skin like a red, itchy rash. His insistence on helping even though it was evident he didn’t care a whole lot about her. The way he took objection to her comments. Yes, they might have been a little barbed, but she couldn’t help it. It had become part of her armor. Yet, despite his contrary ways, he exuded strength beyond the power in his arms. It came from deep inside him. Born, perhaps, out of his own pain and experience. She had to respect that. Might even find it slightly appealing.
    But she could not let herself like him. To like a man, she would have to trust him, and she could not, would not, ever again trust a man.
    Belle waited patiently for her answer.
    “Honey, we don’t know him well enough to have much of an opinion about him.”
    Taking her cues from Red, Belle sighed. “Too bad he’s a man. Otherwise I might like him.”
    Laughing at her little sister’s wisdom, Red hugged her tight. “Let’s check out the bed.” She pulled Belle down beside her and they flopped backward on the furs. “I think we’ll be very comfortable.” Sharing a narrow bed with her sister was not going to be difficult. Having her so close, she could feel her breathing would comfort her.
    They returned to the other room and examined the items on the shelf. Containers of flour, cornmeal and sugar. “Guess we won’t starve to death.”
    “Can I help you cook