Page 354 of Conveniently Wed
Dent picked up the note. Rage pounded through him as he read the words.
“I dun tol’ ya but yer two stupid to pay me mind. I’m dun talkin. Say gudbuy to yer stinkin sheep.”
“Glen, run up to the house and call the sheriff,” Dent said, taking Aundy’s arm and walking her toward the house. He’d make sureit was safe and one of them would stay with her until the sheriff arrived.
They were almost to the back porch when Aundy came out of the trance she seemed to be in and realized Dent escorted her inside. She stopped walking and pulled her arm away from his hand where it had held her elbow, guiding her along.
“No, Dent.” She took another step back. “I need to go check on the rest of the sheep and Nik.”
“The men will take care of Nik and watch out for the sheep. We’ll put someone on night watch from now on until this thing settles down. Don’t you worry, Missy.” Dent was sure his reassurances fell on deaf ears.
Aundy would have run off to the pasture except Glen hurried down the back steps. “The sheriff is sending someone out right away. He asked if Aundy would wait in the house. He said something about looking at the note from yesterday.”
“What note?” Dent gave Aundy a probing glare.
“That tattletale Nash.” Aundy stormed up the steps with Dent and Glen right behind her.
“What note?” Dent asked again, wanting to grab Aundy by the arm and give her a shake to bring her to her senses. Sometimes the woman was too independent for her own good.
“When I arrived home last night, there was a note on the door. Garrett was the only one who saw it. He must have said something to Deputy Rawlings.” Aundy marched to the front room where she plucked the note from a galvanized pail she used to hold discarded papers to burn in the stove and fireplace.
Carefully unfolding the wadded piece of paper, she turned up the lamp on the desk and handed the letter to Dent.
He read it and compared the handwriting to the note they’d just found. The same hand wrote both notes.
“Glen, check the house, would ya?” Dent asked. While Glen looked in each room to make sure the house was secure, Dentand Aundy returned to the kitchen. The foreman set the warning letters on a corner of the table.
“No one wants to hurt me, just my poor little sheep.” Aundy banged the coffee pot as she filled it with water and slammed it on the stove. She stoked the fire and set a kettle of water on to heat, assuming it would be a long evening.
Taken aback by her anger, Dent expected her to be frightened or tearful, but not fuming. He was plenty mad for everyone.
“I hope Nik is okay,” Aundy muttered more to herself than Dent.
When Glen returned to kitchen and nodded his head, Dent asked him to keep an eye on Aundy while he went out to check on the sheep and Nik.
“Keep her in the house,” Dent whispered to Glen as he opened the kitchen door.
Aundy watched him leave and frowned at her hired hand. “You don’t have to stay here and keep me company. I’d much rather be out there, so I’m sure you would, too.”
Glen watched Aundy pace around the kitchen. His nerves twisted tighter with each step she took. He had to do something to calm them both down. “That’s okay. I don’t mind. Anything I can do to help around the house? Maybe we could find something to work on until the deputy comes. You need shelves hung or anything repaired?”
Aundy was right. He would rather have been just about anywhere other than in the house with her at that moment, but he was grateful she was mad and slamming things around instead of crying hysterically. He assumed that was what most women would do after seeing the lamb in the tree. Just thinking about it made a cold shiver slither down his spine. Anyone who could do that was capable of just about anything.
“Want me to call Garrett and have him come over?”
“Absolutely not,” Aundy said hotly, glaring at Glen as she stirred something in a bowl. He’d noticed she liked to bake when she was upset. It worked out well for the men, since it meant cookies, cake, or pie for them.
“How about I…” Glen didn’t know who pounded at the front door, but as he hurried to answer it, he didn’t care. Any interruption was welcome.
Almost any.
Glen could have done without seeing the pretty-faced Ashton Monroe standing on the doorstep, dressed in an expensive tailored suit with brocade vest and fancy tie in place. Glen was gratified to see, for once, Ashton’s boots weren’t polished to a shine that reflected his face.
“Where’s Mrs. Erickson?” Ashton barged his way inside. “I just heard the terrible news and rushed right over.”
“How could you hear the news? We barely discovered it ourselves,” Glen asked with a narrowed gaze.
“You know how the phone line buzzes with all the latest gossip.” Ashton looked around the room, expecting Aundy to materialize. When she didn’t, Glen sighed and walked Ashton to the kitchen.
