Read Online The Texan's Dream by Jodi Thomas - Free Book Online Page A

one. Her need to tell him the truth battled with her father’s warning. “I don’t know,” she lied. “But it’s a possibility.”
    “More likely just a case of mistaken identity. Jonathan said it was raining. Maybe the shooter took you for someone else. Kansas City ain’t half rooted in civilization on a good day.”
    Kara nodded. She wanted to believe the lawman, but even in the downpour, when she’d glanced up, it looked like the man with the rifle stared straight at her.
    “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe from now on. I’ll stay with you until you reach Catlin land. Once there, your biggest problem will be trying to straighten out the books. Trust me, that will be no small task.”
    “I’m not a very good bookkeeper,” Kara admitted. “I only got out of school two weeks ago and this is my first job.”
    Wolf grinned. “Don’t worry. I have a feeling you’ll do just fine. Don’t let Jonathan frighten you none. It’s been a hard road for him, but he’s grown into a good man. The last thing he wanted was to get saddled with the responsibility of the Catlin Ranch, but he’s handling it just fine.”
    Kara asked questions about the ranch. Before she thought an hour could have passed, they were pulling into Fort Supply. From there, they boarded a coach and headed southwest to the newly organized Fort Elliot. The stage made great time until the last few miles, where it caught up with a mule train that had left Fort Supply two days earlier. Those last miles, following a hundred-wagon caravan into Fort Elliot, were torture.
    This new fort had been built beside an encampment called Hidetown. As Jonathan helped Kara from the stage, all she saw around her were soldiers and huge men covered in leather.
    “Buffalo hunters,” Wolf explained. “They smell worse than the buffalo.”
    They walked a few yards to a saloon. While Jonathan went inside and booked them rooms in the newly finished hotel, Kara looked around. The bustle of a newborn town was all around her, along with the smells of rotting meat, unwashed bodies and whiskey.
    The men left Kara at the hotel while they went to talk to the fort commander. Within an hour, they were back with permission to walk around inside the camp looking for her lost family. They’d told the commander that Mrs. O’Riley was still weak from childbirth, and they’d bring her as soon as she’d rested. The commander offered a wagon and driver as transportation for the lady.
    Wolf insisted on waiting until it was almost dark.
    Kara folded her new white shawl ten times trying to make it look like a baby blanket with a newborn inside.
    Jonathan paced.
    As they stood to leave, Jonathan stepped in front of Kara, hesitated a moment, then removed her glasses.
    “Now everything’s a blur past a few feet.” She reached for the glasses.
    “Trust me, this time it could be better that way.” He handed her the empty shawl with such care she could almost believe there truly was a baby inside. “I’ll be there to guide you.”
    The area where the army imprisoned the Indians was as Jonathan described it—little more than a corral. Armed guards stood about every ten feet. There were several cooking fires and a few small tents on the grounds. Women prepared a meal of soup with some kind of flat bread while the men sat around one main campfire. Beyond a few feet the shadows blurred for Kara, but the smells were strong enough to tell her that Jonathan had been right. Maybe it was better not to look too closely.
    Before tonight Kara had only seen drawings of the Apache. These people looked nothing like the pictures she’d seen. They were not the brave savages, powerful and proud. Most of the men and women before her were survivors of a storm that continued to rage across their lives. She kept her eyes down as if she could make herself invisible among them.
    With his hand firmly at her elbow, Jonathan pulled her quickly around the outskirts of the group. She saw him nod slightly at a tall man who looked about his age. The man walked