The Charlotte Series: Book 3: The Pretender's Gold

37

Chapter 37

"Think there was trouble?" Richard asked as they started forward.

"It's possible. But I think they saw us coming and ran off. Freddie, stay with the family in case anyone is still here."

Freddie nodded and climbed up into the seat Stu just left. Summer handed him the reins, which he took with a nod. With his other hand, he pulled his pistol free of his holster and rested it on his lap in easy reach. He was a good shot, and he'd survived two duels. But he was no fast gun like Wyatt Earp*!

Freddie seemed to transform. Since she'd known him, he was always a gentleman. Now he was hard and she sensed he wouldn't hesitate to use that pistol if he had to. He sat alert and ready as he watched his friends moving forward but his eyes kept flitting around them.

She looked to her husband and observed their interaction. She'd been told the tales. They had boarded many a ship and they knew how to conduct a proper search. She sighed as the children cuddled into her and dropped another kiss on Beck's head.

Several minutes later Stu came down the stairs and met Richard as he came out from the kitchen.

"Whoever was here left in a hurry. The bed's been slept in and the wardrobe's been ransacked." Stuart announced.

"I found a little bunk off the kitchen that's been used recently. And the pantry's been rummaged. They broke a jar of preserves. They left in a hurry, all right, and not more than half an hour ago or that jam would be dried."

"Well, they've lit out. Let's get everything inside and settle the family in. We can set up a watch for tonight and tomorrow the three of us can take a little ride around. Maybe we can figure out where everyone went off to."

---

"Don't worry, Poppet." Stu kissed her on the forehead. "We'll be all right. And we'll be back before supper so you and Summer make us something tasty, okay?"

"Promise?" Autumn's big brown tear-filled eyes tugged on his heart.

"Promise."

"Be careful." Summer smiled after he placed a quick but tender kiss on her lips.

"Always."

With another quick kiss and a nod toward Lane, Stuart mounted up and rode off with Freddie and Richard.

"Think we'll find anything?" Freddie asked.

"I hope so." Stu frowned. "Summer doesn't think it was her brother that was here. I'm hoping they might enlighten us. If the place was empty when they arrived, we know to keep looking."

"I can handle that." Richard confidently stated without hesitation.

"And if they chased her brother off?" Freddie asked. "Then what?"

"I know how to handle that too." Richard answered.

It was a testament to his having grown up exposed to the Windes that Freddie didn't bat an eye. Mr. Windes, Stuart's father, was larger than most men Freddie knew, his own father included. Freddie knew his reputation to be a hard man, but an honest one, and fair. He didn't go around looking to start fights, but he never backed down from one either—and he rarely lost.

It wasn't any wonder, then, that Stuart was cut from the same cloth. And if Richard was a friend and comrade in arms* then Freddie had no qualms about their abilities. Their threats were not idle ones and Freddie was glad that these two were on his side of any trouble they might encounter.

"How does Summer know that wasn't her brother staying there? The room was slept in and there were cigars in the ashtray."

"She said those were her father's cigars. Hank didn't care for them. And the room was her father's too. Hank's letters indicated that he never used that room until he married."