Read Online The Frontiersman’s Daughter by Laura Frantz - Free Book Online

anyone care? She reckoned there was no hurry. She wouldn’t return home till week’s end. She’d be staying with Widow Douglas, an arrangement Ma had made without telling her until just this morning. She’d simply handed her a knapsack of her belongings and said she’d see her in a few days’ time, then hastily kissed her cheek. Though Ma never said so, Lael knew she was fearful of the Shawnees’ return and thought sending Lael to the fort would remove the danger. But the brisk send-off hurt just the same.
    She turned and surveyed her students, most of which were scratching at their slates . . . save two. Going to the back of the room, she rang the bell. On a slate atop her desk, misspelled but full of meanness, were scrawled two telling words.
    Injun lover.

9

    Lael plunged Pride into the dense woods east of Hackberry Ridge, putting as much distance between her and the fort as possible. Instead of being nearly befuddled by the beauty of late fall, the colorful maples and oaks she so loved left her cold. They shed their brilliant leaves despite her indifference, goaded by a bitter wind, and her simple cape was soon splashed with crimson and gold.
    A storm was coming—she could smell the dampness—but she didn’t dare start home. The musky, spicy shadows of the woods drew her in and she gave Pride his head, feeling she’d lost her own. For hours she wandered, so lost in thought that she paid no mind to the lengthening shadows and the sun’s cold tilt to the west. All was quiet until a twig snapped a brittle warning.
    At the sound she leaped off Pride and slipped behind the rotting top of a sycamore snag. Its bulk hid her well but the stallion followed, his shrill whinny exposing her. Breathless, she peered through the dead branches and her stomach seemed to drop away. An Indian pony? Its rider was yet obscured by brush, but the sudden sight of boots and breeches assured her this was no Shawnee. She got up from her hiding place and onto Pride’s broad back in a rush, praying the rider would veer the other way, but he’d already heard her and was now headed straight for her. Simon? Of all the places she’d longed to meet him, here and now hadn’t been among them.
    Simon Hayes looked as smug as Lael had ever seen him. Astride a horse nearly as fine as her own, he refused to let her pass on the narrow mountain path. The surprise she felt at meeting up with him and the pain of her present predicament nearly left her speechless.
    “Kindly remove your hat,” she said at last.
    He paid her no mind. The dun-colored felt remained firmly in place. He leaned forward in the saddle, looking like he owned time and would take all he pleased. Dusk was falling fast, casting velvety shadows in all the nooks and crannies of the woods.
    His grin was telling, even conspiratorial. “What’s the buzzel?”
    She stared at him, impatience etched across her every feature, and hated that her voice wavered. “What do you mean, what’s the buzzel?”
    He grinned. “The buzzel is Lael Click ousted the Cane boys from her schoolroom just yesterday after grabbing the two mongrels by the scruff of the neck and knocking their heads together, at which time she quit herself.”
    “Those Canes are copperheads!” she confessed, fighting tears. “I was plumb worn to a frazzle by their everlasting abuse. Besides, I’m a poor hand at teaching.”
    “How many days was it? Two? I could’ve told you that you don’t belong in any schoolroom.”
    Stung, she stammered, “Wh-where do I belong?”
    He removed his hat and placed it over his heart, though his eyes remained faintly mocking. “Up on my four hundred, Lael Click. Where else?”
    Flushing to the soles of her moccasins, she averted her eyes, wondering if she could get around him and home. Soon. She reckoned he was even bolder now that he was alone with her. Rarely had she seen him looking so handsome. His powerful height was apparent even as he sat on his horse. And his eyes, a deep