Page 11 of Chasing Trouble
Whitney dropped her gaze, and a pink flush began to spread up her face.“You can’t possibly be serious about...about...”she stammered, unable to finish the sentence as her tongue wrapped itself in knots.
“About getting married?”
She nodded.“Yes...that.We don’t even know each other, and I’m not ready for that.”
“I’m serious,” he replied decisively.He surveyed her shiny hair, the color of a rich, pale honey as it straggled out of the loosened braid.He lifted the shiny strands between his fingers and worked the braid open, wanting to feel the softness in his work-worn hands.“There’s something about you that I like, Whitney.I like you a lot, and I think we could make a marriage work.I need a woman, and you need a man, someone to help you with Luke and Amelia.I could do that.Will you at least think about it?”
***
WHITNEY’S GAZE TRAVELEDfrom the square jaw above her, up past the nose that looked as if it had been broken a few times, and on to the green shimmering eyes of the man who held her.His dark hair was almost black, longish, and curling at the ends.It was a rugged, handsome face that stirred something in her belly.His eyebrow arched upward under her inspection, and a lazy grin curved his firm lips slightly upward.His natural arrogance irked her independent spirit, but she couldn’t really fault him for exacting a penalty for her thieving.
“I don’t even know your full name,” she said at last, “or anything about you.”
“My name is Maclede Cane Wainwright, I’m 25, and I’ve lived in the Ozarks all my life.I have a sister named Adeline who lives with me, as well as my mother, Caroline.My father died in an accident with a horse four years ago.I own 50,000 acres, give or take a few, and I raise cattle, horses, and turkeys, one of which we just ate, and I like collies.Anything else you want to know?”
“What about my father?I can’t just get married without him,” she pointed out.“At least not until I turn 18 in February.”
Mac frowned.“How long has he been gone?”
“Dad bought this land last year in the summer, but nothing has worked right since he did,” she tried to explain.“My mother got sick this spring and passed away, and then Dad was never the same.He decided to go into town to look for work and buy the things we need.We put in the garden and then he said to keep it up and that he’d be back in a few months, but it’s been almost six.I hope something awful hasn’t happened to him.”
“And he just left you with the kids to take care of,” Mac added flatly.“He shouldn’t have done that.”
Whitney twisted her fingers back and forth, but she defended her father.“He didn’t plan to be gone this long.I told him I would take care of Luke and Amelia while he was gone, but to hurry back.He said he would, but he still isn’t here.I’m worried.”
“So, you’ve been doing the best you can while you’re waiting for him,” he grunted.
She nodded, feeling miserable.“I know we need help, but my biggest fear in trying to get help is the possibility of losing Luke and Amelia.I won’t let that happen,” she added vehemently.
“Don’t worry about it anymore,” he soothed.“I’ll send out some inquiries.I have friends around Bolton and beyond.What’s his full name?”
“It’s Daniel...Daniel Lucas Johnson.It frightens me that he’s been gone this long, Mac.I can’t believe he would forget about us; he loves us.”
“I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten about you, but like I said, I’ll put out some inquiries.What is your full name, Whitney?”
“It’s Whitney Ann Johnson.”
He touched his fingers to the back of his head and realized the bleeding had stopped.It wasn’t much of a scratch, but his fingers still came away with a bit of blood on them.He showed them to her.“Well, Whitney Ann Johnson, where did you learn to punch like that?And what do you think I should do about it?”
She stiffened.“Like I said...I’m sorry I hit you.But you’ve done nothing but boss me around since you came here, and then you told me I had to marry you and...and...it was just too much...bossing,” she finished with a scowl.“I’m not a helpless little girl that needs to be taken care of; I can take care of myself.”
He nodded ruefully.“I’ll agree that you’ve done an amazing job, Whitney, for as little help as you’ve had to do it with.But you also have to admit that it’s not enough.You have about a fifty/fifty chance of surviving the winter without any help.”
Whitney’s temper simmered.“But there is the chance that I can, you have to admit that.”She poked him in the chest.“I do have a little money for supplies in town, and for more ammunition.I know how to hunt deer and was planning on cutting up the meat and storing it in the stream under the ice.Or in the woodshed.Food would not be an issue.”
“Maybe,” he relented.“But you need firewood to keep from freezing to death.You don’t have enough.”
“Ha!Didn’t you notice the dead trees that Luke, I, and Abraham hauled out of the forest behind the house?Right near the back door, where I wouldn’t have to go far to bring limbs in and chop them up?And right there in the cabin if I had to.I could clean it up in the spring,” she boasted triumphantly.“Just because the woodshed is full, doesn’t mean I don’t have a wood supply.”I also have a metal locker to store the meat in,” she finished.
His eyebrow shot up.“Who’s Abraham?”
“The mule,” she replied.“And if I had to, I could always butcher Beulah.”
“Storing meat in the woodshed would not be a good idea because of the animals.Even frozen, predators would smell the meat.”
“I also have a metal locker to store meat in.It would take a bear to break into the woodshed and into a metal locker.Not that they couldn’t, but I heard they hibernate in the winter,” she snarked.
This time, he just stared with disbelief and admiration.“You know, I believe you would butcher that cow.”
