“What about at night?”
She shook her head. “Jedidiah roams at all hours. I hear him and Father talking sometimes about things he’s seen and heard when he decides to take a stroll because he can’t sleep. I think it happens often.”
Frustration churned in Gil’s chest. There had to be a way. Could one of them watch for Jedidiah while the other searched the cave?
“Maybe…” Her word trailed off.
Hope lifted its head within him. “Maybe what?”
She looked hesitant. “Both of them usually accompany me to town to guard me. I could say I need an urgent trip to the store before we set off. But I doubt Father would let you stay here while we go.”
The hope eased its head down as he mulled through all angles of that idea. “I’d be surprised if he allowed a trip at allwhen we’re getting ready to leave. Wouldn’t he just say you can stop at a mercantile in the first town we come to?”
Her gaze turned sly. “He would. But I’ve learned through the years how to talk him into what I really need.”
He raised his brows. “Like?”
She tucked in her lips, looking a little nervous. What had she done?
He hoped she would tell without him nudging her along.
She shot him a nervous look. “When I was sixteen, Father arranged for me to marry. It was someone he knew, a man he’d done business with.”
Gil’s middle churned, pulling so tight he could barely breathe.
How could a father do such a thing to his daughter? Only sixteen? Too young to be married off to a man she didn’t love.
Maybe it wasn’t her age at the time that bothered him most. The thought that she could belong to another man ignited a fire of jealousy inside Gil.
But she wasn’t married—Thank You, God.How had she gotten out of it?
She stared at the flowing creek. “I didn’t know the man, and I sure didn’t want to marry him. I guess that was the first time I realized my father might see me as something other than his daughter. That I was a possession to him, someone he could use for his advantage.” Her mouth formed a pained smile.
“Anyway.” But her voice shifted to a forced lightness. “I was allowed to meet him once, a few days before our wedding. He was…” She wrinkled her nose, sliding a quick look at him. “…not what I was hoping for. He reminded me of Jedidiah a little. Taller, but just as conniving. Older than me, of course, maybe by fifteen years. Which might not have been a problem.” She shrugged, as though she wasn’t speaking of a very narrow escape that might have changed her life forever. “I could’ve lived withit if he were someone I could respect. But I would have been a possession for him, too, something he’d paid good money to obtain, to be used when and how he wanted.”
Her mouth pinched. “I knew I had to get out of it. So I convinced my father I was too young to marry. That I hadn’t yet reached womanhood…” A blush turned her cheeks and ears pink. “That my husband would be unhappy with me and likely demand his money back. I described how much worse things would be for him, how he’d lose respect from those he does business with.”
She let out a breath. “It worked. He called the marriage off. I think he even got the fellow to carry on with one of the schemes they’d planned to do together anyway.”
Gil’s mind whirled.
How could any man not treasure her? Especially herfather, the one man she should always be able to depend on. The man who should make her feel protected and cherished.
Anger burned in his belly.
He had to get her away from Mick McPharland, no matter what else he accomplished on this mission. And he wouldn’t send her off into the wilderness to fend for herself, either. If he could talk her into staying at the ranch, he’d do it.
Dinah would welcome her into their home, he had no doubt. As would any of the other women.
Jess needed to know what it meant to feel safe, tobesafe. To be part of a family who cared abouther, not what she could do for them.
And was it too much to hope she might one day fall in love with him? Because he was more than halfway in love with her. He didn’t want to confuse love with concern, but she ignited something deep inside him. Something solid that hadn’t been there before. Like part of him had been searching and had finally found its perfect match.
Jess smiled, the look almost sly—but in a sweet way.
If that even made sense.
“I think I could convince my father to take me to town if I had to. I could make him think there’s a way he’ll benefit from the trip.” Her voice turned hesitant. “If you think that would be helpful.”
