Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,69

gave her a perplexed look.

“This makes no sense. It says they’ve no word of them. Assumed they were coming in today.”

“This isn’t good, August.” Seylah’s heart was thumping wildly in her chest. The force of it making it difficult to breath, to think, to do anything other than worry herself over where her fathers had vanished to. The Frontier was a wild place, a hard one, but the men that had raised her had mastered it.

If they had not arrived in Butte City as scheduled then something else had befallen them. Someone else.

“Don’t get that look on your face, Seylah.” August held out a hand to her and hurriedly shoved the missive into his pocket when he saw the resigned look settling over her features. “I know what you’re thinking and the answer is no.”

“Ha! You think a ‘no’ is going to stop me?” She asked, already storming across the office to where the guns were kept. “Then you don’t know me, which gives me concern as to our pending nuptials, darling.”

August nearly tripped over his feet at the endearment. “Darling?” He asked with equal parts awe and confusion.

“That’s right,” she hummed giving him as saccharine a smile as she was able to. The big man looked like he’d been punched in the stomach and would fall at the barest touch, which Seylah fully intended to exploit to carry out her plan.

“I aim to go after my fathers and you are welcome to accompany me, but whether you decide to or not, I will not be stopped. Do you understand me, August?”

Her voice was stern enough to snap August out of his love addled stupor and he snapped to attention. “Now, Seylah. Patience might serve us well in this.

She yanked down a shotgun and turned to him. “Patience? Will patience be there to comfort me when my daddy and papa are put in the ground?”

August’s brows drew together at that. If he was right then they were simply engaging on an overzealous outing, but if she were right then the entire world as they knew it was in jeopardy of being destroyed. He rocked back on his heels and then nodded to himself.

“Oh, all right, get the spare ammunition from the back and I’ll get to saddling the horses up.”

Seylah’s mouth dropped open. She had thought she would be embarking alone, but August’s presence was a godsend.

“Truly? You mean to come with me?” she asked unable to keep the shock out of her voice. When August raised an eyebrow at her surprise she schooled her features into one of confidence, or rather what she assumed passed as confident in such a moment. “I mean, of course, you are. I’m glad to have you as a companion for the journey.

August scoffed but kept moving towards the door. “Make sure you grab an extra duster for yourself. Your clothing as of late isn’t right for this sort of undertaking.”

“My clothing is just fine!”

He dropped his eyes to look over the verdant green skirts, and lace white blouse she wore courtesy of Rose and Mrs. Rosemary’s fitting all those days ago. She pursed her lips when she saw that he was right. She would have to change immediately if they were to be on their way before nightfall.

“Fine, you do have a point there. I’ve got a set of clothes here I can change into so we can leave immediately.”

August gestured to the back store rooms. “There’s supplies ready for us to take as well. No sense in wasting time if we can help it. I’ll send word to your ma and sisters that we mean to track Forrest and Will. Do what I can to let Wallace and Tom know what we mean to do.”

Seylah’s heart sank. Her mother would be devastated at the news. “Please, let her know that things will...they will be okay.”

“I’ll keep her spirits up. You focus on getting ready for the trip.” He turned then and left the room. Seylah sprang into action the second the door slammed shut, and she rushed to the backroom. She needed to get changed into more appropriate clothing if she hoped to find her fathers. Never in all her life did Seylah get changed as quickly as she did now and the familiar feel of the worn cotton and denim beneath her fingers was reassuring to her.

She paused when it came time to pull on her gun holsters, the thick supple leather of it in her hands a reminder of her