a nice model. My grandfather owned one, only his had a pearl handle.”
Alexander circumvented the horse and, once in the buggy, took hold of the reins. “I had quite the collection back home. You never know what or who you’ll encounter on the vast range.” He uttered a low command, and they were on their way.
Ellie tried to imagine him in cowboy gear. It was a stretch. His austere business attire fit his personality and role as café proprietor. “Tell me about Texas.”
His features shuttered. “I don’t like to discuss my—”
“Past. I know. I’m not asking you to divulge your secrets, Alexander.” It felt good to voice what she’d been calling him in her head. “I’d simply enjoy hearing about a place I’ve only read about in books and newspapers.”
He sent her a brief, considering glance.
“It’s only fair,” she tacked on. “You’ve had a front-row seat to my sideshow.”
A sigh gusted out of him. Once they were on the lane leading to town, he obliged her. “I grew up on a cattle ranch smack in the north central frontier of Texas. My father bought the land several years before he met my mother. He built the barns and workers’ quarters first. He didn’t bother with a proper house until later, when he found his bride and realized he’d need a place to raise a family. I was the first to come along. Next was Thomas, then Margaret.” He fell silent, his brow knitted in deep thought.
“How wonderful to have siblings. I always lamented my lack.”
Remembering her childhood longings, she wondered if her own child would ever have a brother or sister. For that to happen, she’d have to meet a man worth taking a chance on. Her marriage to Nolan had been such a disappointment. A trial, even. Ellie wasn’t sure she could take the risk.
“Yes.” He roused himself from his musings. “It has its advantages.”
“How long has it been since you’ve seen them?”
“Several years.”
“Any plans to make a trip home?”
He cast her a sharp look. “Texas is no longer my home. I will not be returning.”
“I see.”
Only, she didn’t. Whatever trouble he’d endured was linked to his home state. Ellie doubted he’d ever open up to her, but that didn’t stop her from wishing he would.
* * *
Sundays were Alexander’s only days of true solitude. The café was closed for business. Most of Gatlinburg’s residents attended church services in the morning and spent time with family and friends in the afternoon. He relished the quiet and the fact he had the building all to himself. No whining customers. No intrusions upon his time. No doe-eyed waif of a cook who poked and prodded his armor with disturbing regularity.
On his knees in the vegetable garden, pulling weeds and plucking beetles from his cabbage plants, he scolded himself for getting involved in Ellie’s troubles. He couldn’t seem to help himself, however...old habits reasserting themselves. Well, he was done. She had her belongings. She had a place to stay. She didn’t need a reluctant protector.
The knowledge didn’t keep him from getting angry every time he recalled her emerging from the woods after being sick. That awful gray outfit had washed out her complexion. Even her delicately-shaped lips had lost their color. She’d looked miserable. And he’d felt the insane urge to shelter her in his arms until she’d recovered.
And then there were her troublesome in-laws. He’d been tempted to deliver a scathing set-down to that woman, Nadine. Ellie’s goodness, her lack of bitterness, astounded him. Her bravery, too. Sarah would’ve jumped at the chance to let him take control of the situation. Not Ellie. Although anxious, she’d tackled her dilemma with reason and self-control.
“Good afternoon.”
Surprised to see the object of his thoughts at the edge of his garden, Alexander thumbed his old Stetson farther up his forehead and squinted into the late afternoon rays slanting over the mountains. His mouth dried up like the ranch’s creeks after a drought. Ellie looked different today. Gone was the nondescript outfit and perky ponytail. She’d paired a crimson, high-necked blouse with a sturdy navy skirt whose only nod to femininity was a wide ruffle along the hem. Dangly silver and amber earrings adorned her dainty ears. Her brown hair rippled about her shoulders, the top section pulled back and tied with a crimson-and-navy polka-dot ribbon. The hairstyle softened her gamine features, and the rich hue of her blouse made her coffee eyes shine. Bathed in the tawny light of approaching autumn, she was as pretty as a picture.
“How old are you?” he blurted.
Her brows lifted a notch. “Twenty-two. Why?”
“I assumed you were much younger.”
She adjusted the bundle in her arms. “How old are you?”
“How old do you think I am?”
She inspected him openly until he felt his ears burn. Did she realize how expressive her eyes could be? Admiration shone in the sparkling depths. No one had regarded him like that for a long time.
“Thirty.”
“Close.” Dusting his gloves on his pants, he stood and gathered the piles of weeds. “I’m twenty-eight.”
Ellie watched as he dumped the weeds in an old seed bag to be discarded later. As he walked to her side, a gentle breeze teased her loose strands, forcing her to shift her burden in order to dislodge them from where they’d snagged on her mouth.
“What’s this?” he said, indicating the mound of fabric.
“The new cloths and curtains. I thought I’d switch them out if you don’t mind.”
Alexander wasn’t as perturbed by her unannounced visit as he should’ve been. He stuffed his gloves in his back pocket and held out his hands. “Let me carry that inside.”
She released them into his hold, and he caught a whiff of her light verbena perfume.
“You finished these in record time.”
She fell into step beside him, her rosebud mouth curving in a bright smile. “June insisted on helping me. I tried to share my earnings with her, but she refused. Said I had to save up money for the—”
He shot her a side glance. “For the what?”
Moistening her lips, she said, “For the future.”
“You’re a widow like her. Makes sense she’d be sensitive to your position.”
“Yes,” she softly agreed.
They entered the unusually quiet café. Passing through the kitchen and hallway and into the dining area, he was very aware of her proximity, the differences in their heights, the way she walked and gestured and carried herself. Being alone with Ellie was becoming a habit, one he was growing too comfortable with and must take efforts to curtail.
When she started to drag
