Chapter 5

“You’ll stay in the spare bedroom next to Bliss’ room. That way if any trouble comes about, you’ll be able to hear it.”

Bliss watched as her father led Mr. Slade back to where he would stay, but she remained seated. It began sinking in that it would more than likely be many months before she had her freedom back. From now on, Clint Slade stood in the gap where her liberty used to be. She wouldn’t be able to sneeze without him knowing, she wouldn’t be able to have a simple conversation with Colt anymore without Clint being privy to it.

All this with a man who acted as if he didn’t want to be friends with anyone. She would be completely miserable if they didn’t end up getting along.

“Are you okay, Bliss?” Grace asked from where she had been standing silently off to the side.

Bliss slouched down in her chair, crossing her arms and looking down the hall after the men.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled.

Grace sighed. “He’s definitely a peculiar man.”

Bliss pursed her lips and looked at Grace. “Very peculiar.”

“I know that look. What are you thinking?” Grace asked.

Bliss shook her head, but a million thoughts were raging through her mind.

She wasn’t going to be miserable for the entire time Clint Slade was here. She would carry on with her life as she normally did. If it was too much for him, then he could quit.

Then, a thought popped into her mind and blew up like dynamite, taking over her entire thought process.

What if he did quit?

*****

Clint threw his saddlebags with the only things he owned onto the bed in the corner of the guest room in the Cooper’s house. The window beside the bed gave him a perfect view of the same mesa that had led him here. It was strange how he could see the mesa from the house, but not the house from where he stood beneath it.

Taking off his hat he placed on a peg beside the bed and heaved a sigh. This wasn’t like his normal job. He didn’t even know what he was thinking when he accepted the job. There was only a slight chance that he could find the unknown person who threatened Miss Cooper’s life. What did he have to go on?

Nothing.

The more he thought about it, the stupider his decision became.

Clint felt he was losing his mind. If the dime novelists knew of this…

A knock came from the closed door to his right “Mr. Slade, supper’s on the table in five minutes,” the cook said from the other side.

“Thank you,” was all that Clint said.

Supper was a talkative occasion for the Cooper family, Clint found out.

Mr. Cooper was enveloped in one of his war stories that the rest of them didn’t seem very interested in.

“The fog was so thick you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face. I stood at the base of a tree line concealed by a tree trunk. Lo and behold, there was a Yank on that far rise. I settled my sights on the scalawag and…” Mr. Cooper held his hands up as if he were brandishing a rifle and paused for effect. “Bang!” he yelled.

Miss Cooper didn’t even flinch.

“He fell to the ground and two more came up in his place. I shot them, too. I was making my way through the hail of gunfire and the fog when suddenly, two of them burst out in front of me! I shot one and the second one stormed at me, throwing his fists as if wanting to crack my head open with his bare hands.”

Miss Cooper mouthed the next words with him. “It was an epic battle that day. He would swing, and then I would swing. Every once in a while he would land one on me. That’s where I got this scar.” Mr. Cooper motioned to the inch-long scar just beneath his eye, faded slightly over time. Miss Cooper mimicked his movements, her eyes dramatizing the action. If Clint had been in a better mood, he would have laughed. However, he hadn’t laughed in years and didn’t plan on starting now at a childish reenactment of an exaggerated war story.

He did find it inwardly amusing that Miss Cooper would know every word her father would say. He must tell them his war stories often.

Clint pitied them.

“I finally got to by gun and blew a hole in his head,” Mr. Cooper continued. “His blood splattered onto me and I had to burn my clothes to get the stains off.”

“Daddy! We’re eating!” Miss Cooper scolded.

She looked down at her plate and eyed the stew left on it warily. Pushing the plate away with her fingertip, she took a long drink of water.

Clint lightly shook his head as Mr. Cooper laughed at his daughter.

Apparently hasty to change the subject, Miss Cooper looked up at him.

“So tell us a little about yourself, Mr. Slade.”

Clint stilled. “Why?”

Miss Cooper gave him a strange look. “I suppose that if we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, we might as well get to know each other.”

Clint sighed. “The only important thing you need to know about me is how many bullets I’ve got in my chamber.”

Miss Cooper cocked her head slightly to the left and pinned him with a glare. He could tell that his answer bothered her.

The woman gave away too much.

“Then do tell us that,” she said.

“Six.”

Miss Cooper nodded and smirked, taking another sip of water.

*****

Bliss lay in her bed that night, unable to sleep. Mr. Clint Slade was a rude and mysterious man. He was completely secretive and wouldn’t reveal a thing about himself.

He stayed mostly silent at supper and would only listen to them and her father’s war story of the night. Someone who was that quiet was either two things: Plotting something or hiding something. Whichever it was, she didn’t plan on having him around long enough to find out.

In the morning, she would start carrying out her plan. She would make that man miserable. She would find any and every reason to get him to ride with her. She would have to make the quarterly ride to town and back in a few days as well. Colt usually accompanied her, and they would have a lot of fun on those trips - at least they used to before Seth had forbade it.

Quickly refocusing her mind on her plan, she figured how Clint would have to accompany her on the long ride this time. Of course, propriety wouldn’t let them go alone, so Colt could come along with them.

Oh, she was going to make the man miserable.

Bliss banged on the door to Clint’s room and held back a smile. She had rose earlier than usual for her ride this morning just so Clint would have to get up earlier.

No answer came from the room, so she banged harder.

Finally, the door swung open and Clint stood there, his shirt hastily and crookedly buttoned and his hair in a terrible state. His eyes narrowed at her.

“Is there trouble?” he asked groggily.

“No, it’s time for my morning ride. You’ve gotta accompany me now, you know.”

Clint groaned and locked back out of the window in his room. “It’s still dark, Miss Cooper.”

“It’ll be dawn in a few minutes. Hurry up and get dressed. We’ve got a day to start!” Bliss made her voice sound joyful.

With that, she left him and walked down the hall toward the kitchen where Grace was starting to prepare to cook breakfast.

“You’re up awful early,” Grace observed.

Bliss nodded and pulled on her riding gloves. “I figured to get an early start.”

Clint came dawn the hall, buckling his gun belt and holding his hat between his body and his elbow. His hair was somewhat back in place, and Bliss couldn’t help but notice how it complemented the rest of his features. He slammed his hat down on his head and rubbed his eyes before pinning them on her. Bliss wished she knew what he was thinking, but didn’t take the time to try to find out. Instead, she walked out of the back door beside the stove and heard him following her.

They walked to the barn and Bliss took Butterfly Kisses to saddle her.

“What are you doing up this early, Bliss?” Colt asked from where he was mucking the stabled on the other side of the barn. He liked to get an early start on the dreaded chore so he could get out with the herd.

“I figured I’d take a long ride today since I haven’t been in a few days. I knew that Grace would throw a fit if I missed breakfast, so I decided to go early,” Bliss explained to him.

“How does Mr. Slade feel about the early hours?” Colt asked with a smile.

Bliss looked to where Clint was silently saddling his horse. Clint glanced over at Colt and shrugged.

Colt looked at Bliss and made a face when Clint wasn’t looking. Bliss smiled and slipped the bit into her horse’s mouth.

*****

I know it's shorter, but I just had to update because it had been days! I might not get to update much this week. I'm turning sweet sixteen guys! Anyway, I have a lot of planning and tissue pom poms to make and clothes to go through to find something suitable to wear! Anyways, I'll stop boring you now. Thanks for reading!