to invite you to First Christian Church. Services start at nine o’clock.”
“Thank you.” Anna’s gaze darted to her brother. “I’ll be there.”
At the door the bounty hunter stepped aside, letting his sister precede him, then turned to Carly. “I’ll be back.” He flashed a smile. “Don’t let the anticipation overwhelm you.”
That towering hulk of a man threatened the harmony Carly prized. Yet as she stared into those eyes, an unwelcome thrill of attraction slid through her, shooting heat up her neck and into her cheeks. She groped for a rebuke that would conceal the turmoil churning inside her. “One thing I can say for certain, Mr. Sergeant. Nothing about you overwhelms me.”
He arched a brow and had the audacity to wink. As if he had read her mind and found her claim amusing.
Carly shut the door behind him, leaned against it and took a deep breath. No matter what she’d said, Carly had never felt more overwhelmed. And of all things, by a bounty hunter.
A handsome bounty hunter, her heart whispered.
She pulled away from the door and steeled her spine. A handsome, strong-minded bounty hunter who would stop at nothing to see that his sister owned this shop.
The yellow mutt Nate had seen yesterday sprang from where she’d been napping on the cabin’s front stoop, as if she somehow knew where to find her next meal.
“Oh, is the dog yours, Mr. Mood?” Anna said, running a gentle hand along the dog’s ruff.
The stray leaned into her. If Nate didn’t know better, he’d say the dog was smiling.
“Well, she’s been hanging out at the livery, but from the looks of it, she’d like to be yours.”
Nate frowned. “A dog underfoot could trip you, Anna.”
Ignoring the warning, Anna lowered herself to the step and gazed into the dog’s eyes. “Do you want to live with Nate and me, girl?” The wagging tail and short yip put a wide grin on Anna’s face. “Do you know her name, Mr. Mood?”
“Nope. Been calling her ‘dog.’”
“She needs a proper name.” Anna ran her fingers through the dog’s thick fur. “Her coat’s the color of corn, of maize. I’ll call her Maizie.”
“Well, now, that’s a purty name. I’ll leave you and Maizie to get settled,” Mr. Mood said, grinning from ear to ear. “The Good Lord is working it all out, like only He can do.”
Mood had also seen Nate’s construction skill as God-sent. Now he was suggesting God had brought this pooch to their door. As if every little thing fit into a master plan.
Nate’s hands fisted. If the liveryman believed God was sovereign over every aspect of their lives, how would Mood explain Anna’s handicap and Rachel’s murder? Two women who’d never done a cruel thing in their lives.
Nothing in his life made sense except finding Stogsdill.
As soon as he got Anna settled in, Nate would make some inquiries. See what he could learn about Stogsdill’s rumored girlfriend. With the hope she’d lead him to the outlaw.
As Anna preceded Nate into the house, he averted his eyes from the rise and fall of her gait, a constant reminder of what his carelessness had cost his sister.
He owed Anna his life. She’d saved him, a careless ten-year-old boy, from the stomping hooves of runaway horses. And paid a high cost. Saving his life had ruined hers, had limited her choices. Probably the reason she’d married Walt.
Anna turned back and clapped her hands for the stray waiting in the doorway. “Maizie, aren’t you coming?”
A wag of her tail and the dog slipped in at Nate’s heels.
“Do you mean to make her a house dog?” Nate asked. “She’ll shed all over everything.”
“She’ll mind her manners and stay on the floor. Nothing I can’t sweep up in a jiffy.”
In the parlor, the afternoon sunshine flooded the room through tall windows on either side of a brick fireplace. The coat of white paint on the walls was in sharp contrast to the floor’s dark wood planks, the cracks wide enough to slip a dime between the boards.
“Isn’t this nice?” Anna gushed as she surveyed the room. “Why, the floors and tables don’t have a trace of dust. Someone’s cleaned the place. My braided rug, Mother’s Currier and Ives prints and one of Grandma’s quilts draped over the sofa will make this place homey.”
“You could make a jail cell cozy.”
Anna cocked her head at him. “Sometimes I wonder if you perceive settling down as a prison sentence.”
“Of course not.” He shifted on his feet. “You know why catching Stogsdill’s important.”
“Could you let it go? Leave his capture to lawmen?” She raised a gaze begging him to reconsider. “We’ve lost them all, Nate. Promise me I won’t have to bury you, too.”
Nate shot her a smile. “Don’t worry, sis. I’m good at what I do.” Still, if Max Richards’s bullet had been accurate, his sister would be alone now, fending for herself. “Once that shop is yours, I’ll have peace knowing that whatever happens, you can make a living.”
“What about Carly Richards? She’s a widow with a child. How can I live with myself if I take the shop away from her?”
“I’m not happy about Mrs. Richards’s plight, but you didn’t take the shop. Max Richards lost it to Walt. Walt paid for it with his life, a high price. The shop will be your future.”
That is, if the circuit judge saw things as Nate did.
Nate trailed Anna to the kitchen. Simple cupboards, large cookstove, small potbellied stove, a table and four chairs. He walked to the window over the sink with a view to the back and the alleyway beyond.
Anna clapped her hands. “Oh, look, Nate, an indoor pump!”
“Good. When I leave, you won’t have to haul water.”
“I thought you were certain I’d be living behind the shop.”
“I am, but if I should have to leave before the ownership is settled—”
“Enough of that talk. Let’s look at the rest of the cabin.”
They moved on to the bedrooms, both small but adequate, each with a double-paned window, brass double bed, built-in clothespress and chest of drawers. Not fancy, but nicer than Nate had expected.
“I’ll take the room next to the kitchen, if that’s all right,” she said.
“Fine by me.”
He walked to the window and
