Dark Knight neighed. Adam turned the horse around.
Worried that the men might still come after him stealthily when he didn’t have spare bullets with him, he nudged the horse into a fast gait.
Adam fought to bring his racing pulse to order. It wasn’t the first-time outlaws had chased him or given them chase. As a sheriff in his former county, he had been adept at bringing outlaws to justice. It was his resilience in searching for them and going after them even in thick forests that had earned him his respect there.
His heart leaped in his chest.
Olivia!
If the men could come after him, a lawman, surely they would go after Olivia, a defenseless woman. Gabe was shameless enough to do such a thing, but he didn’t think he would be as callous as to send his men to an orphanage. It would be overdoing it, but then again, Gabe was a dangerous man.
Adam questioned the wisdom of heading into town when the men could still come after him. But the thought of anything happening to Olivia filled him with so much anxiety, a shiver ran through him.
He realized then that he was in love with Olivia. There was no other reason to give why he felt so much trepidation at the thought of losing her.
Somehow his fondness for her had thickened into love. It worried him that he was just realizing it, mainly as the situation before him wanted utmost attention.
A smile softened his features. Olivia with her beautiful face and devotion to God had captured his heart. He knew then that he would beyond doubt die than have any harm come to her.
Adam wanted to shout it to the heavens that he loved a splendid woman. When all the drama with the case was over, he would tell her his feelings and ask her to marry him.
Anger surged inside him at Gabe’s audacity in sending people to kill him. He could have forgiven the banker if he had sent them to intimidate him, which would mean the man was afraid that Adam would bring him to book soon.
But as the men meant to deal him a fatal blow, Adam resolved to make sure he used his influence as a marshal to get Gabe Winters to spend a long time in prison. He would be old when he got out.
“You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Gabe Winters.”
Chapter 25
“Miss Olivia!”
Olivia jerked from her musings and smiled sheepishly at the children staring at her with worried eyes.
Yet again she had blanked out and delved into the incident that took place outside the orphanage two nights ago. Although she was still very much shaken by the men’s threats, she tried to hide it.
“I’m sorry, my darlings, where were we?” she asked the children, forcing a lightness in her tone.
“You were teaching us new words, their meanings, and their spellings,” the brightest child in the class informed her.
“Ah, yes,” she replied with rosy cheeks and opened the book she had been reading to the children.
The words muddled before her eyes as her heart raced when she saw the word ‘handkerchief.’ The frightening image of the men with neckerchiefs covering half their faces flooded her. Her face paled as she recalled their threats and the pungent smell of their breaths.
Pulling herself together, she lifted her head and pasted a fake smile on her face. There was no use wasting her time and that of the children. She had been a mass of nerves for the past two days. Concentrating on her lessons had become a hard task.
Everywhere she looked, she saw the faces of the men and heard their threats.
“Children, why don’t we call it a day with our English lessons? I’ll search for more extra words tomorrow. I’m sure the cook has finished baking the pastries for our afternoon snack.”
The children rose and shuffled out of the class. Ahela, the oldest child in the class, however, walked up to Olivia’s desk.
“Miss Olivia, is everything all right?”
Olivia smiled at the young girl and cupped her cheek. “I’m fine, darling.”
With a worried frown on her face, she said, “But you’ve been out of sorts since yesterday.”
Olivia let out uneasy laughter. It was hardly surprising. Ahela was an inquisitive girl. Olivia added watchful as one of the young girl’s traits.
