Page 36 of Her Gentle Protector
The night air grew cooler as Baxter pulled her closer, resting his chin on her head. Laughter and music filled the surrounding air. Her heart raced; her cheeks flushed with an unfamiliar warmth she hadn’t felt in a long while. Just as their dance ended, Berry raced up to them, fear in her eyes.
“Midge! Midge! You need to come quick!”
Midge reluctantly pulled away and looked at Berry, who had tears in her eyes. “What is it, Elderberry?” she asked.
“It’s Pet.” The girl was sobbing, and Midge could barely make out the words.
“What about Pet, dearest?”
“She’s... she’s...” Berry pointed to the dark.
Baxter kneeled next to Berry and took her little hands in his. “Take a deep breath, sweetheart, and blow it out like you are putting out a candle.” He showed her. When Berry complied, he did it again. “Once more.”
When Berry had calmed down enough, she looked at Baxter with a serious expression on her face. “Petunia’s dead.”
“Dead?” Midge squeaked.
Baxter lifted his hand. “Why do you say that?”
“She’s in the wagon and there was somebody with her.”
Midge saw Baxter’s body stiffened. “You saw someone with her?”
Berry nodded. “You need to hurry. He’s eating her brains!”
Chapter Ten
Baxter’s pulse raced as he clenched his fists, feeling his anger build. If Tommy Moore was anything like his cousin, Ranger, who had a reputation for being a little too carefree with his affections, the young lad was going to wish he had never met Petunia Beale. Or Baxter Hartman.
Placing his hands on Midge’s shoulders, he pulled her close. “Stay calm, Midge,” Baxter said, his voice steady and reassuring. “I’ll find her.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes flashing with panic.
“Berry, where did you see them?”
“In the wagon by the side of the barn. We were playing hide and seek.”
“Stay here with your sister,” he instructed and with a turn of his heel his boots kicked up dirt as he headed back outside. Baxter pulled the collar of his coat tight around his neck as he turned the corner. Puffs of white fog escaped from his mouth with each breath, a clear sign of the chilling temperature. He approached the line of wagons stretched out along the wooden fence.
The laughter and music from the harvest dance seemed to fade away as his focus narrowed, his eyes scanning the back of every wagon.
“Petunia!” he shouted again, only to have his voice swallowed by the revelry. Panic clawed at him, threatening to overtake his usual stoic demeanor. He rounded the corner near a second stable where Weston kept injured animals for his daughter to nurse back to health. There was a wagon filled with hay where the light barely reached, and that’s when he saw them.
Tommy Moore pressed himself against Petunia. Their mouths collided in a frantic kiss as Tommy wove his fingers through Petunia’s short hair. Baxter felt a roar bubbling up inside him.
Every muscle in his body tensed as he balled up his fists, his knuckles turning white. How dare that young man even think of taking advantage of a chaste girl? The white-hot rage consumed Baxter.
What if this was Midge?
He’d be in jail waiting to be hanged.
But this was Petunia. Someone who was innocent in the ways of the world. What would his pa do if it was Annamae?
He’d probably be in jail waiting to be hanged.
But Baxter wasn’t his pa, and Petunia wasn’t his daughter. That didn’t mean he wasn’t responsible for her. He had feelings for Midge, and with those feelings came a responsibility to the rest of her siblings.
Grabbing Tommy by the back of his shirt collar, Baxter pulled him off the wagon with a hard jerk. Tommy let out a surprised yelp as he hit the cold ground with a loud thud.
