Read Online Montana Legend (Harlequin Historical, No. 624) by Jillian Hart - Free Book Online Page A

was safe in the night.
    But from a distance of half a mile. That was keeping away from her, right? Thanks to the long, flat prairie, he could see the road for a good mile and the lonely woman on it, walking with a tired hobble that was almost a limp.
    He told himself it was sympathy he felt—not attraction—for the woman with the circles beneath her eyes and the worn dresses. For the widow with a daughter who’d been ill. He knew what it was like to be alone in the world with the sole responsibility of a child. And it was the former lawman in him that made him uncomfortable with the thought of any womanwalking alone, in a peaceable countryside or not, because cruelty could dwell anywhere.
    The road rolled down a gentle incline, stealing Sarah from his sight. He waited as a distant cow’s moo carried on the breeze until she reemerged, a slim shadow of grace against the endless prairie.
    Sarah slipped from his sight completely, and he nudged the mare forward, searching for her in the dark.
    There she was. Outlined against the empty road and rolling prairie. Looks like she was right all along. Maybe Buffalo County was as safe as it appeared. No danger in any direction.
    Feeling foolish, he circled the mare around, nosing her north toward town. Keeping the reins taut, he hesitated, not sure what it was that made him pause. He felt unsettled, and it wasn’t the coyotes’s call or the restless winds that made him hesitate and gaze out over the plains.
    Loneliness did. A loneliness that felt as bleak as a night without dawn.
    Gage waited until he could see Sarah’s faint shadow at her front door before he turned, riding the mare hard. He knew from experience that it would take many miles to drive the demons from his mind and the nightmares from his heart.
    Maybe there’d come a day when he could outrun them forever.
    Â 
    â€œKnow what, Pa?” Lucy tromped through the tall thistles, casting a long shadow across the timber he was sawing. She paused, hand on one hip as she waited for his undivided attention.
    â€œWhat?” he said for the tenth time that morning.
    â€œAt breakfast, Mrs. McCullough told me the schoolteacher was real nice.”
    â€œSo I heard.” He’d been there, too, blurry-eyed from a night of hard riding and, when he’d returned to the inn, hours filled with troubled dreams.
    â€œDo you know what?” This time she didn’t pause but went right on talking over the sound of the saw. “Her name is Miss Fitzpatrick. Guess that means she ain’t married.”
    â€œGuess so.” The saw’s teeth caught in the stubborn wood and the metal screeched in protest. He held back a curse as he worked the damn thing loose.
    â€œKnow what, Pa?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI sure hope Miss Fitzpatrick likes me. Not that I want to be her favorite or nothin’, ’cuz I get to be the favorite a lot.”
    Gage leaned on the saw and studied his daughter. Sparkling and excited. This new teacher was apparently a big worry, but as much as he loved Lucy, he had to get this house built. There was a whole lot of work to do before the mares started to foal.
    â€œI reckon Scout is wondering why you aren’t showing her the new spread.” He set back to work. “Why don’t you go ride her around so she can get to know the place?”
    â€œSure. Know what, Pa?”
    â€œWhat, Lucy?”
    â€œâ€™Suppose there’s lots of girls and boys my age at that school?”
    â€œI reckon so. Now go ride your mare.”
    â€œOh, all right.” Lucy sparkled. “Do you know what, Pa?”
    â€œLucy.”
    She giggled, not the least bit perturbed by his mood. “I’m gonna go ride, but I want some of Sarah’s pie for lunch.”
    â€œGo.” Gage bit the inside of his cheek to keep from chuckling.
    There went his little girl, dashing through the weeds. Lucy flourished wherever they’d landed, but she