weren’t careful.
“If it means that much to you, I’ll stay.” She made sure her voice sounded good and grudging.
He eased out of the bed and took the warmth with him.
“But only this one night,” she clarified.
“Guess that means I’ll meet you here in bed tomorrow night and every other one you try and spend outside.”
“You ought to be locked up. You’re just a crime short of being a criminal.”
For whatever reason, her insult made him laugh and mention the Travers way again. He kept on laughing, too. She listened to the disturbing timbre of his voice while he walked down the hall then descended the stairs.
A gust of wind hit the window, shook it like a fist. She snuggled into her pillow grateful to be in her bed with her blankets over her. What made her think that she could survive outside with the cold weather coming on?
Pride in all its foolishness, she reckoned. Still, she wasn’t ready to let go of it entirely. Self-respect counted for something.
That meant in order to save face she’d have to act out some sort of objection to remaining in the house. She only hoped the price was not beginning each night in bed with Colt Travers.
“How great a folly is it to lie to one’s own self?” she asked the wise old owl who circled the night sky beyond the window.
* * *
A couple of things had kept Colt from getting more than a few moments of sleep last night.
He walked across the yard in the predawn listening to the crunch of his boots cut the crisp, quiet morning. He thought about those two things.
One of them was the barn, big and red in the distance setting on top of the rise of a gentle green slope. It had been a long time since animals had lived in it. William had sold off the stock when he became ill.
Colt had been sorry as hell to learn of his friend’s passing. But because of William’s eagerness for him to have the place, he didn’t feel guilty for taking it over.
They had discussed his plans for the horses on those quiet nights they had shared by the fire. If folks could reach down from eternity, he figured William was walking beside him, as excited as he was for the revival of the ranch.
Too bad he couldn’t tell him that a dozen horses, the parents of many to come, were waiting for him at a ranch only a day’s ride away. He would bring them home in plenty of time to settle in before the first snowfall of the year.
He only had a week to get the barn ready for them. It would be a challenge, but one he had never really hoped to have. If it hadn’t been for William, he would still be sweating for the railroad with only the next payday to look forward to.
A side door of the barn opened then closed. The second reason he hadn’t slept last night was now stepping out into the dim light of dawn.
Holly Jane lifted her face to the morning breeze. Her chest rose and fell with the deep breath she took.
Because of her, he hadn’t wanted to doze. Each time he closed his eyes he dreamed of her plush little body wriggling in his arms and the sweet brown gaze of a virgin blinking at him with her first stirring of sexual interest. He’d been around women often enough to know when this was the case.
The trouble was, his interest had stirred right back. He’d bet the farm that William hadn’t intended him to seduce his granddaughter.
Apparently, Holly Jane hadn’t noticed him walking toward the barn. She reached down and patted Lulu on the head, then turned and took the path that led to the bridge, then the lane that went to Friendship Springs.
It took some effort not to laugh and alert her of his presence, but hell and damn, the pig wore a bow of the same blue dotted fabric as Holly Jane’s dress. The bow bounced in the piggy ear in time with the sway of Holly Jane’s skirt.
Since Holly Jane didn’t see him watching, he looked his fill. She wore her hair loose this morning; it shivered over her back, catching the first rays of sunshine.
A raccoon rustled out of the bushes and waddled up to her. She patted its head. Then the pig touched noses with the critter.
“What the hell, Bo Peep?” he murmured. He’d never seen anything like that.
He shook his head. Maybe when the time came, he wouldn’t have to go through the sweat of rounding up his herd, he’d just ask Holly Jane to give them a whistle.
He swung the big barn door open wide then stepped inside. Sparkling dust motes chased each other in the dawn light that began to peek through the wood slats.
Five stalls lined one wall, and he would add two more to the wall opposite. He meant to have his mares deliver in the safety of the barn rather than on the open land.
A flock of fat hens pecked at seed in a dim corner. Holly Jane must have fed them before she went to work at The Sweet Treat.
Smack in the center of the flock was Sunday dinner. He could nearly taste the crunch of a fried wing right now.
With more work to be done than time to do it, Colt set himself to the task of making the barn his own.
In no time, it seemed, Aunt Tillie came by to bring him the noon meal.
He sat beside her on a bale of hay and gobbled down a hunk of bread with blueberry jam spread all over it.
“How’s Grannie Rose this morning?” he mumbled around the bite of crust.
“Mind your manners, boy.” Aunt Tillie slapped his wrist.
He grinned at her and winked. He didn’t ordinarily eat with his mouth full of food, but his aunt needed someone to fuss over.
“Considering she saw an alligator in the flower garden this morning, she’s doing well.”
“Is she getting worse, do you think?” It hurt, watching his grandmother’s mind falter.
“Sometimes, maybe. Other times she’s as sharp as the both of us combined. She still understands when I tell her that the unreasonable things she sees are in her mind...and the main thing is, Colt, she’s happy.”
“What about you? Will you be happy here?”
She didn’t speak for a minute. She sighed then smiled at him.
“Thank you for bringing us here. It’s paradise compared to the viper pit you took us out of.”
“Too bad Holly Jane had to lose the place for us to get it.” He did feel bad about that.
“Your grandmother heard you last night when she got out of bed to use the chamber pot,” Aunt Tillie arched a brow at him. “Once you marry the child, she’ll feel at home again.”
“I ain’t getting roped and tied,” he said between bites of an apple. “Especially to Little Bo Peep.”
“Bo Peep, is it? You seem
