Annie And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 3) Read Free Page B

quick nap and then he would need to ride out to help Caleb and Hardy with the herd. It was the calving season, and that meant all experienced hands were welcome. The boys now had such large herds, and by running them together it saved them a lot of trouble most of the year. But calving could be dangerous and having as many eyes as possible was a luxury most couldn’t afford, though Hardy probably could if he asked his wife – but he was a proud man and wanted to make his ranch profitable on his own efforts. Edward had unwittingly admitted to being a rancher’s son one night in the Saloon, being a little worse for wear, and the words had been out his mouth before he had known it. He didn’t often drink, and so it hadn’t taken much to make him lose his inhibitions and tell a little of his past, thankfully he had become aware before he had admitted to everything, and had made his excuses and staggered home to the silence of his tiny cottage.
    Edward had run from his home in South Dakota seven years ago. He had no idea if he was a wanted man or not, but he had been unable to bear the guilt of his involvement in the unintended shooting of the mother of his fiancée. He hadn’t shot the gun, but he had been part of a group of foolish, idealistic young men who thought they could change the corruption in the state – and it had all gone so horribly wrong. He had never liked Gable Forrester, and his last minute involvement had changed everything. His fear had made his judgement questionable and his actions too swift to ever be put right. Now he knew there were better ways to advocate for change in the world, ways that wouldn’t cause anyone around him pain.
    He had spent his life since trying to be a good man, trying to hide from who he was and for a time he had managed. His work as an apprentice to a newspaperman in Dallas had given him skills and knowledge that meant he never needed to admit to his past on the land. He had found a way to expose wrongdoing at all levels of society, and had used his position to make Dallas a better place.  He had cultivated a new persona, Edward Cole, and David Evans had been buried forever. When he had returned to Silver City one day - just to see from afar how his family was, how Annie was - he had been almost glad to see that they had decided to bury him too. He had stood at the grave that bore his name, and felt relieved.
    Life seemed to have gone on as normal for them all, though he was sad to see that Annie had taken over her Mammy’s role, and seemed trapped in a life that clearly put too many burdens on such young shoulders. He wanted to run to her, to tell her how sorry he was, that it was all his fault. But he didn’t dare face her wrath, her sadness – or the possibility that she could never forgive him. He had blown her a kiss, and then gotten back on the train and returned to his new and lonely life.
    But the city had often seemed so empty, and so he had jumped at the chance to come here to Stephenville. Mariette had made it sound so warm, so wonderful. And it was. He had felt welcomed from the moment he had arrived, and now he hated himself for even more reasons than before. Now there were people here that he cared about deeply that knew nothing of his past, nothing of who he truly was. People who believed he was Edward Cole.
    A little later he was waiting on his porch, watching the world go by. “Hey Ted, thanks for helping out. You will never know how much we appreciate it,” Caleb said as he pulled up outside the tiny cottage Edward had been renting since he arrived in town.
    “No problem my friend, though I wish I could turn back the clock, find I’d never told you I had any knowledge of the rear end of a cow!” he joked. Caleb grinned at him. Edward had been surprised at how easily he had been welcomed into the community of this warm little town. The indomitable Miss Mariette, who had only recently married Hardy, had brought him here to run the presses of the brand