Clifton County Fireworks Read Free Page A

that you’re too proud to let me touch!”
    “Never!  I’d rather die first!”   Jennie Rose spat at him, hatred flaring
from her blue eyes.   He raised his
fist to punch her, but the blow never landed.  There was a shot and the
vicious man fell on top of her, dead.  The other two released her arms and
went for their guns; they didn’t clear their holsters before dying.
    Jennie Rose looked at the man with the
smoking gun still in his hand and burst into tears.  “Get him off of me,
please!”   She begged.  The
rising sun was in her eyes and she couldn’t see who had come to her rescue.
    “Hold on, honey.”   He pushed the body off of her slight
form.  “You’re all right now.  He can’t hurt you.”   He said, lifting her into his arms and
holding her close.
    “Johnny?”   Jennie Rose whispered in shock,
recognizing his voice.  She’d never imagined her first meeting with him in
two years would be like this! 
How humiliating!
    “You’re safe now, Jennie Rose.”   Johnny spoke in soothing tones. 
“You’ve had a bad scare, but you aren’t hurt.”  He found a spot to sit
down under a tree and simply held her and let her cry, rocking her back and
forth and whispering to her that she was just fine, and promising that he’d
never let anyone hurt her.  He shuddered to think what would have happened
if he’d been a few seconds later.  Mace Adams was cold blooded and
vicious, and he would have whipped her raw before forcing himself on her. 
Johnny gave thanks that he was in time to prevent that.
    “Thank you for saving me.”   She finally pulled herself together
enough to speak.  “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come
along when you did.”  She was very lucky and she knew it.  “They were
kidnapping me, hoping to get money from my Father.”   She explained.
    “Yeah, Mace Adams and his two brothers. 
They’re wanted for robbery, kidnapping, and murder in about five states. 
They probably heard you were coming home and figured your Father was wealthy
enough to pay a ransom to get you back.”  He didn’t tell her that they
always raped and killed their victims.  She was already upset enough and
he didn’t want to distress her even more.
    “They didn’t intend to release me,
Johnny.  They didn’t try to hide their faces.  They were going to
rape me, and then kill me.”   She
said matter-of-factly, facing the truth.  “If you hadn’t come along when
you did…”   She shuddered and started
crying again.  “I’m so sorry to be so emotional.  I’m not usually
like this!”   She explained,
embarrassed to have him see her like this.  Why, she hadn’t carried on
this much when he spanked her in front of the entire town!
    “No need to be sorry, Jennie
Rose.  You had a really bad scare, but you’re safe, honey.  I promise
I won’t let anyone hurt you.”   He
kissed her on the cheek before he could tell himself that it might not be appreciated
by the feisty young lady.  He simply wanted to comfort her.  “We’ll
get you back to town, and to your Father.  This will all be a bad dream in
a few days.”
    “Oh, no!”   Jennie Rose suddenly realized that her
clothing was ripped and lying in shreds on the ground by that awful man’s body,
and her breasts were exposed!  She crossed her arms over herself and
started crying again, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her!  What
ever would she do now?  She couldn’t, and simply wouldn’t, ride into town
like this!
    Johnny quickly interpreted the source
of her distress and said calmly and softly, “I have a clean shirt in my saddle
bags, Jennie Rose, and I’ll fetch it for you.  Don’t be embarrassed.”
    “That man
touched
me!”   She wailed before she could help
herself.  She felt like such a big baby, but in spite of what people might
think of her, she was completely inexperienced with men.  Johnny was the
only one who’d dared to kiss her, and that was over