As she listened to Adam tell funny stories about his childhood, warmth spread through her body. She laughed heartily and her eyes became wet at some of his tales.
When the picnic finally came to an end, she was sorry to leave. She and Adam had to get back to work.
“We should do this again soon,” Adam said when he walked her to the gate after helping her from the wagon.
“Definitely.” She was more than up for it.
“Thank you for a wonderful time, Olivia.”
Lowering her head and shyly swirling the skirt of her dress around, she replied, “Thank you, too. I enjoyed myself.”
Olivia’s lost her breath when Adam leaned closer and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Her face instantly turned red.
“Goodbye,” she hastily said and fled into the compound.
Afraid that the children would ask her why she was looking flushed, she ran into the house, straight to her room.
She leaned her back against the door when she reached her room. Placing a hand on her rapidly beating heart, a smile covered her face.
Chapter 16
Feeling as if he was on top of the world, unlike when he had woken up that morning, Adam rode the wagon back into the town.
If anyone had told him before he went to the orphanage that he would have such a nice time with Olivia, he wouldn’t have believed it.
Even while he rode the wagon to the orphanage, he had kept on doubting that she would agree to see him. He had sat outside for minutes on end before he summoned the courage to go inside.
When he found her in the classroom and called her name and she didn’t answer him, he had felt bad until he realized she hadn’t heard him.
His smile widened when he recalled how she had laughed with gusto at his childhood stories. Olivia was such a delight to be with, he felt like turning the wagon around and going back to the orphanage.
And what about your job?
Adam grimaced. He hadn’t wanted to think about his work just yet. There was a lot that needed to be done. More than ever, he was certain that a conspiracy was going on.
The Sioux had told him the raids had something to do with their lands. But he hadn’t believed it. Why would the townsfolk be interested in their lands? He had assumed that the people didn’t want Indians around them.
After his conversation with both Henry and Olivia, he was sure now that it had something to do with their lands. Was it that someone wanted to acquire all the lands? The same person that everyone seemed to be afraid of?
Adam released a tired breath. When he accepted to be a marshal in Ruby Rock, he hadn’t thought that it would be this tedious. He was equal to the task, though, after all, his first assignment had been for him to find out about the attacks.
However, he hadn’t thought that he would meet someone like Olivia in Ruby Rock. Now his attention was divided. He had always prided himself as one who focused solely on his work. But that wasn’t the case now.
“I’m slowly beginning to see that it’s not bad to have her in his life.”
Olivia brought him peace and joy. The only problem would be focusing wholeheartedly on her and having his job suffer for it. He would have to find a way to balance both.
Adam’s grin wiped off his face when he reached the town. The thought of going to question the sheriff about the attacks changed his mood.
Joe Tate was a hard man who cared about no one but himself. He was amazed that with such a wonderful man like the last sheriff, the town had elected him to be their sheriff.
It was a huge shame when someone like Amos Sanders would have done a better job.
Adam exchanged pleasantries with the townsfolk that talked to him. He stopped the wagon in front of the sheriff’s office. He reckoned that it would be a waste of time. But he wanted the older man to know that one day soon, he would get to the bottom of the matter.
“I might as well get it over with,” Adam muttered and climbed down from the wagon after sitting there for some minutes.
Adam was afraid that one of these days, he might come to blows with the sheriff. The man always looked for one way or the other to rile him.
