The Shepherd's Heart Series: A Boxed Set Book Bundle Collection Volumes 1-4

by Lynnette Bonner

The song ended and Victoria abruptly pushed back from Jay, said something to him, then lifted her skirts and stalked away. Jay leaned back into his heels, slid his hands into his pockets and scanned Ria from head to toe as she stormed off. Turning with a smirk on his face, he met Rocky’s gaze and stilled.

  Rocky deliberately narrowed his eyes and stood erect.

  Jay’s smile faltered, then broadened. He gave Rocky a two-fingered salute and then headed jauntily for the door, disappearing into the sunlight outside.

  Sharyah stepped up beside Rocky. “What was that all about?”

  Startled, he looked at his sister’s worried frown.

  Sky chuckled and adjusted Sierra on his shoulder. “Just a couple dogs struttin’ around a tasty bone, Sharyah. Don’t let it worry you. Rocky’s gonna see any day now that if he wants that bone, he’d better stand up and start fighting for it.” Sky pierced him with a look and arched a meaningful eyebrow.

  “Really! Men!” Sharyah picked up her skirts and started off in a huff, tossing over her shoulder, “Victoria is much more than just a tasty bone and if Rocky can’t see that then he doesn’t deserve her!”

  Rocky rubbed his jaw, angled Sky a glare, and headed over to say his congratulations to the new bride and groom. His shoulder had had enough of this day. He would have to talk to Victoria another time.

  Clarice and Doc were talking with Miz Hannah Johnston. All three looked up as he approached.

  Doc stood to his feet. “Well, speak of the devil!”

  “Now, Dale! More like an angel, wouldn’t you say?” Clarice pulled Rocky into a motherly embrace.

  Rocky gritted his teeth against the shards of pain jostled loose by her squeeze and hoped his face looked normal as he stepped back.

  “Well now, yes, I think you’re right,” Doc replied. But his attention never left Clarice.

  Putting both her hands on Rocky’s cheeks, Clarice looked up at him. “Honey, thank you for honoring me by walking me down the aisle. It means a great deal to me.”

  “Sure, anytime. The honor was all mine.”

  “Now,” she stepped back, “we were just talking about you before you walked up. Would you mind helping Victoria get my trunks from the house into Hannah’s buggy and then bringing them over to Doc’s place?”

  “Sure.” He winced inwardly at the thought of having to lift anything heavier than a coffee mug, but the smile on his face never faltered. So much for some rest. “I’ll head over there right now. You two have a good trip.”

  “I’ll jus’ go on with him,” Miz Hannah said. “That way my buggy’ll be right there an’ he won’t have to do no waitin’.” She pulled Clarice into her plump ebony arms. “Doll, you go on and have yourself a wonderful time.”

  Clarice smiled. “You know we will.”

  Miz Hannah turned to him. “Come on, Darlin’. Let’s go move some trunks.”

  As they approached Hannah’s buggy Rocky’s footsteps slowed, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. He had no desire to be driven across town by a woman. But if there was one unspoken rule in the little town of Shiloh it was this: No one touched Miz Hannah’s buggy but her.

  He cleared his throat. “I’ll just walk on over and meet you there, Hannah.”

  Hannah threw back her big head and let loose with a laugh loud enough to draw the attention of several people down the street. “Honey chil’, ain’t nobody never died from being driv around by Hannah Johnston. You jus’ climb on up there. I got somethin’ needs discussin’.”

  Reluctantly, Rocky did as he was told. And Hannah set the buggy in motion with a smart snap of the reins and her characteristic, “Come on now!” call.

  Rocky clenched his jaw and closed his eyes against the shooting pain. The consistent dull throbbing was much preferable to the stabbing shards that shot through him now.

  Hannah huffed. “Honey, heaven knows you ain’t gonna be liftin’ no trunks, as much pain as you in. You do a good job o’ hiding it, but I sees it. Not much gets by Miz Hannah. No sir, not much. Clarice woulda seen it too, ’cept for her head bein’ in the clouds and all. But don’t you worry none, I done sent Cade over already. He’s gonna meet us there.”

  Rocky looked over at her. “He’s back in town?”

  “Yes. Said he done got a right smart price for them hosses. Right smart.”

  “That’s good. Can you just drop me at home, then? I am about done for.” He gave her a sheepish smile.

  “Wisht’ I could. Really I does. But I’m gonna need you to talk some sense into Victoria ’fore this day is through. ’Sides,” she angled him a knowing look, “I was there last night when you asked her mama for permission to call. Ain’t no time like the present.”

  Rocky frowned, wondering why she needed him to talk some sense into Ria. “What do you mean?” His mind flashed to Jay and heat surged through his chest. “What kind of crazy thing is she doing?”

  “Don’t get all het up, now. She ain’t doin’ nothin’ what she ain’t been doin’ for the past several years. And that’s goin’ to the train station in Salem to pick up the straggler orphans what don’t find no home.”

  He relaxed, easing back into the seat. About once a year an orphan train came through Salem. The children on it were from large cities back east, usually New York. Their parents were either deceased, or unable to care for them for some reason. Since Salem was one of the last stops on the route, any orphans who did not find a home here, had to travel all the way back to New York. Several years ago, Victoria had taken it upon herself to make sure every last child left at the end of the day would find a home. She met the train, and brought any unchosen children back to Shiloh, housed them in the orphanage, and worked tirelessly until she found good stable homes for them.

  “She does that every year. What’s different about this time?”

  “What’s different is, I don’t gots no more beds down to the orphanage. Any chil’ she brings home, ain’t gonna have a bed to sleep in. I done tol’ her she needs to leave things in the Good Lawd’s hands this time. Truth be tol’ I was hopin’ with the weddin’ and all that she wouldn’t notice the ad in the paper. But you know her and her obsession with helpin’ them children. She’s bound and determined to go.”

  “If she didn’t listen to you, what makes you think she’d listen to me?”

  Hannah bellowed a laugh and slapped her thigh. The horse twisted back his brown ears at the raucous sound and snorted, jangling the bit in his mouth. “Honey chil’, she’ll listen to you ’cause she cares right smart what you think.”

  Rocky didn’t allow her words to take him down a path of hope. “Who does she have taking her to the train?”

  Hannah angled him a look, chin tipped down, her widened eyes a stark white against the ebony of her face. “Usually she has Doc take her, but seein’ as how he is indisposed today, she done asked Jay Olson to take her.”

  “Jay Olson?!” Rocky sat forward with a start.

  Hannah gestured for him to calm down. “But he done somethin’ she didn’t like, though I don’t rightly know what it was, and now she plans on goin’ by herself.”

  “Well at least she has some sense,” he muttered, settling back against the seat.

  “I gots Elsa watchin’ the children down to the orphanage whilst I come up to the weddin’ but I cain’t leave her alone long enough to run Ria down to Salem and back.”

  Even though it was most likely more sensible than having Jay Olson escort her, the thought of Victoria travelling the 20 miles to Salem and back by herself, sent a coil of frustration rushing through Rocky. Anything could happen to a woman alone on the trail these days. Especially with Salem growing like it was. He sighed. “I’ll have a talk with her, but I can’t promise you it’ll do any good. You know how she gets when she has her mind set on something. Mules have nothing on her when it comes to stubbornness.”

  Hannah shook her head. “Ain’t that the truth. Yes sir. Good Lawd’s truth you just spoke.”

  A moment later she pull
ed to a stop in front of Victoria’s house and Rocky wearily climbed from the seat. Hannah got down from her side of the carriage before he’d even thought of moving to help her and he gave her an apologetic look.

  Hannah’s face softened. “You’s about done for. Want I should look at that shoulder?”

  Rocky consciously relaxed his jaw as he started for the house. “My shoulder will be fine as soon as I get some rest. Thanks, though.” He knocked on the kitchen door.

  Victoria answered, a look of curiosity on her face. “Oh, hello. Since Cade stopped by, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  Rocky tried not to frown as he removed his hat. Had Cade compromised Victoria’s integrity by going into her house while she was alone? Rocky clenched his fists at the thought of what something like that could do to Victoria’s good name. Cade, of all people, should know what gossip fueled by a bit of truth could do to someone’s reputation. But he was so easy-going, the gossip about him and his numerous courtships generally had about as much effect on him as rain did on a well-oiled slicker. On the other hand, the girls involved weren’t able to so lightly dismiss the pronged tongues of the town’s busybodies. Rocky had seen that on several occasions. And he didn’t want Victoria facing similar backbiting through no fault of her own. If Cade has thoughtlessly maligned her by his careless actions…. “Cade’s inside?”

  Victoria nodded and stepped back, motioning him and Hannah inside. “Yes, he stopped by with Sharyah several minutes ago. Said Hannah had asked them both to come by and help move Mama’s things over to Doc’s place.”

  Rocky eased out a breath of relief as he followed Hannah through the door.

  Hanging her shawl on a peg, Hannah slanted him an amused look.

  He smiled softly. Good ol’ Hannah. She thought of everything.

  Victoria smoothed her hands down the sides of her skirt. He most definitely liked her new dress. Somehow the yellow of it drew his attention to her red curls. Right now, he wanted to reach out and wrap the one caressing her cheek around his finger.

  She blushed and glanced down, and he realized he’d been staring. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the floor. “Got any coffee?”

  Hannah huffed and flapped her hands at him. “No coffee for you, now. You jus’ go sit yourself down and I’ll bring you some willow bark tea.” She poured water in the kettle. “Ria, I ain’t gonna hide nothin’ from you. I done brung Rocky over here to talk some sense into you. So you jus’ go on and have a talk with him. Cade, Sharyah and I, we’ll take care o’ Clarice’s trunks.” Victoria opened her mouth to say something but Hannah held a finger in her direction as she clunked the kettle down on the stove. “I mean it now. You and I done all the talkin’ we gonna do on the subject.”

  Rocky suppressed a grin. Victoria was none too pleased at being dismissed from her own kitchen. She had a way of holding her mouth just so when she was about to let someone have a piece of her mind. He held his hand out towards the small sitting room. “Let’s sit.” He nodded his head, encouraging her to let it go.

  With a tiny huff, Victoria complied.

  “Cade!” Hannah bellowed as they left the kitchen. “Buggy’s here!”

  As Rocky and Victoria headed through the small dining room of the house, Rocky could hear a low-voiced conversation between Cade and Sharyah in the sitting room. Suddenly, the sound of a resounding slap cracked through the air.

  Victoria darted him a glance, her mouth dropping open in surprise.

  “Don’t you ever say something like that to me again, Cascade Bennett!” Looking for all the world like she was running from a fire, Sharyah stormed out of the sitting room, skirts lifted. She bolted past them, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Rocky and Victoria watched her brush past Hannah, bang through the kitchen door, and slam it behind her. The walls of the old house rattled with the force of her anger.

  A moment later Cade stepped into the doorway, his serious blue gaze fixed on the closed portal, one hand thoughtfully rubbing his cheek.

  3

  Victoria winced. Sharyah had been mooning over Cade Bennett for as long as she could remember. She wondered what he’d said to her to earn a slap. Sharyah wasn’t the type to fly off the handle for no reason.

  “Cade?” Rocky took a step towards him, anger radiating from every inch of his stance as he instinctively came to his sister’s defense.

  Victoria laid a hand on his arm. He glanced at her and she shook her head. Cade was still staring off after Sharyah. Maybe this would be what it took to make Cade realize how good Sharyah would be for him. Victoria sighed. Cade needed to settle down sometime, but she didn’t want Rocky to lose his friend over a confrontation that could come to no resolve.

  Whatever Cade had said to Sharyah, Victoria knew it couldn’t have been anything inappropriate. He would never do that. Probably it was just an off handed comment that had hurt Sharyah’s feelings. Cade was a good man. He would settle down, and sooner than later. But for now, she could sense he needed some space. “Cade, Mama’s trunks are to the right of the door in the first room down the hall.”

  Cade dropped his hand to his side and headed back through the sitting room and down the hall without another word.

  Rocky glared at his retreating back and spoke quietly. “If he were any other man….” A muscle in his jaw pulsed as he repeatedly clenched it.

  “You know he wouldn’t have said anything suggestive to her.”

  Rocky thought for a moment then seemed to relax. “Yeah, you’re right.” He pierced her with a look. “Speaking of suggestive, what did Jay Olson say to you?”

  Victoria felt her cheeks flame and led the way across the sitting room, gesturing to the settee.

  He didn’t sit. Instead, he studied her with his dark, long-lashed eyes slightly narrowed and a look of determination firming his jaw. He slid his hat through his hands, crimping the brim, and never looking away.

  She glanced at the floor and squeezed her forehead with one finger and her thumb. “It was nothing.” She flipped her hand as though batting away his concerns.

  “It was enough of something to make you decline his offer to escort you into town.”

  “It wasn’t so much what he said as the way he said it.”

  He made no comment, only waited, brow lifted, the unanswered question still on his face.

  She sighed. “All he said was that he’d be honored to escort me into town. But there was something about the way he said it that made me feel… uncomfortable.” And the way he lowered his hand from my waist. Uncomfortable was not a strong enough word to describe how that had made her feel. Repulsed was more like it.

  Rocky seemed to relax a little and she thanked her good fortune that he didn’t seem set on pushing the issue further.

  “So Hannah wants you to talk me out of going to Salem today?”

  Apparently taking the cue for a change of subject, Rocky eased himself down on the settee with a soft release of breath and tilted his head back against the seat, eyes closed. “Pretty much.”

  He must be in a lot more pain than he wants us to know about. Fear scurried through her veins. “Rocky, are you okay?”

  He met her questioning gaze. “So tell me about this trip to Salem today. What is it all about?”

  Not liking the way he’d dodged her question, Victoria sank into the wing chair and dusted at an invisible fleck on the brown velvet trim of her skirt. She shrugged. “It’s the normal trip I take every time the orphan train comes to Salem. I just want to make sure that any children who are left there have a shot at finding a good home out here.”

  Rocky sat up and she noted that he was careful to keep his right arm pressed tightly against his torso as he moved. “You have a great big heart, Ria. But Hannah tells me there are no more beds at the orphanage right now. What are you going to do with the children?”

  She lifted her palms by her sides, gesturing around her. “I can bring them here. There’s plenty of room here.”

  “Hannah t
ells me she’s been having trouble finding homes for children through the orphanage. What are you going to do with them if you can’t find a home for them?”

  She shrugged, swallowing down the pain of that thought. Not because she might have to take care of some children for a really long time, but because of how the children might feel if no one wanted them. “They’d be welcome to stay here indefinitely.”

  Elbows planted on his knees, Rocky sighed, dropped his head down next to his left hand and squeezed the back of his neck. Just then, Hannah bustled in with a tea tray and pressed a large mug of steaming tea into Rocky’s hand. By the smell it was willow bark.

  Victoria took up her own cup and sniffed it, happy to find that it was regular tea and she wouldn’t be forced to drink the bitter willow bark brew. She sipped quietly as Hannah hurried off calling directions to Cade on the loading of the trunks.

  Rocky tasted his tea, his dark brown gaze meeting hers over the rim of his cup. “You know once you bring children into your home you’re going to fall in love with them and won’t want to give them to someone else.”

  She waved a hand. “No. I’ve helped lots of children find homes before. I’ll be fine.”

  He crossed the ankle of one foot over the knee of his opposite leg. “This will be different. You bring children here and you’ll be living with them day in and day out. You know you won’t want to part with them.”

  A lump formed in her throat. “I’ll just have to deal with it. I obviously can’t take care of children on my own for long.”

  “What are you going to do if they are all fifteen-year-old boys?”

  She couldn’t stop the smirk that tipped the corner of her mouth. “Then I’ll invite them all back here and send them over to your parent’s place to board in your room.”

  He grinned and leaned towards her speaking softly. “If our place gets too crowded, I might just have to see if any of the single ladies in town will have me. I’ve had my eye on a certain pretty red-head for quite some time.”

  Her eyes widened and heat rushed to her face as she looked down into her lap and rubbed a pinch of golden satin between her fingers. Rocky had never once flirted with her in the past. He’s a lawman! The quelling reminder had little effect on her racing pulse. Surely she hadn’t understood him correctly. There was a way to find out. She glanced back up with feigned innocence. “Saying something like that could get you slapped.”