“I suppose that’s true. The Bible does say we should guard our tongues.”
“Yes! Proverbs twenty-one, twenty-three. ‘Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.’” Rosie smiled. “I memorized that one.”
“It’s a good one to know.”
“I had to memorize it because I can’t read. But Emma’s trying to teach me.”
“I didn’t know you couldn’t read. I would be happy to helpyou too. I could come over in the evenings and work with you on your reading.”
“That would be nice,” Rosie replied, knowing that she would truly enjoy having Rob come over and see her.
“Rosie, Emma’s looking for you.”
Rob dropped his hold on her hands, and Rosie looked over her shoulder to see Colton frowning. She didn’t know why he was frowning, but he looked mad. She waved him over.
“Remember Rob Vogel? He’s going to help me learn to read.”
“Go on and see Emma,” Colton said, his gaze never leaving Rob’s face. “I need to have a little talk with Mr. Vogel.”
Colton waited until Rosie was well out of sight before punching Rob square in the nose. “Stay away from my sister.”
Vogel landed on his backside, and blood immediately poured from his nose. He grabbed his handkerchief to stave the flow but didn’t bother to get up.
Colton stared down at him. “You know she’s naïve and simple. You can’t be sweet-talking her and taking advantage of her. She’s not smart enough to know when people are taking liberties with her, but I am, and I won’t tolerate anyone trying to trick her.”
“I wasn’t trying to trick her. I happen to like her very much, and when she said that Mrs. Benton was teaching her to read, I told her I’d be happy to help. I think she’s probably smarter than you give her credit for.”
“You want me to hit you again?”
Rob got to his feet and held his bleeding nose with one hand and dusted off his trousers with the other. “I didn’t want you hitting me the first time.” He looked Colton in theeye. “I think your sister is wonderful, and I’d like to know her better, but all of my intentions are good.”
“I don’t want you to have any intentions toward her. She isn’t able to judge such things, and I won’t have you hurting her.”
“I have no desire to hurt her.” Rob took a step closer. “I’m not some dandy who wants to dupe your sister and steal her innocence. You really should get to know a fella before you go judging him.”
“What’s going on here?” a man asked.
Colton turned on his heel ready for a fight.
It was Edward Vogel. Colton forced himself to relax, but before he could speak, Rob answered.
“Nothing’s going on, Pa. We were just having a discussion.”
Vogel continued to look at Colton as if to force the truth from him. Without even glancing over at his son, he continued to pry. “What happened to your nose?”
“Ran into something.”
His father’s lip gave just a hint of a curl. “Or someone?”
“Everything’s fine, Pa. Don’t make something out of nothing.”
Vogel held Colton’s gaze a moment longer, then nodded. “We’re heading home.”
“I’ll be right there.” Rob waited until his father walked away and then started for the front of the church.
Colton frowned. “Just leave her be.”
He watched Rob go, wondering exactly what had transpired between him and Rosie. He seemed sincere enough regarding his thoughts toward her, but Colton didn’t want to encourage his interest. He hoped Emma would decide to move back to Dallas, and Rosie didn’t need to be caught up in the complications of romance.
