an overwhelming sense of tenderness. “Let me see.” She grabbed his chin just as he’d done with her and felt him stiffen. He wasn’t a lot different from his brother. Afraid of touches. Expecting them to be cruel. If he stayed here long he’d learn otherwise. Ma and Pa were the gentlest pair ever.
She saw no sign of stings on his face but detected three on his neck below his ear. “You have been stung. I’ll get some mud.” But when she tried to stand, he shook his head.
“There’s some here.” He pointed toward a clump that had fallen from his hands.
She loaded her finger with some and applied it to his bites. Beneath her fingertip his muscles knotted. She ignored his tension. Being this close gave her plenty of chance to study him more closely. Tiny white lines, from squinting in the sunshine, fanned out from the corners of his eyes. His black whiskers roughened suntanned skin.
When the stings were well bathed in mud, she wiped her fingers in the grass.
She turned her eyes toward him. His gaze jerked away as if uncomfortable with all the touching of the past few minutes, even though it had been impersonal for both them. Hadn’t it?
Swallowing hard, she put eight more inches between them.
“Are you feeling up to walking home?” he asked.
His tender look caused her throat to tighten. Then some little imp made her press the back of her arm to her forehead dramatically and wobble slightly.
His arm came around her shoulders and steadied her.
“Do you think you could carry me all the way?” She managed to make her voice quaver.
“I think I’ll go get my horse.”
She laughed. “I’ll walk. I’m fine.”
He nodded, a wide grin on his face. “I figured you were.”
They gave the area of the hornet’s nest a wide berth.
“I’ll be sure to tell the others its location.” She surely didn’t want anyone else to be attacked. Though, on second thought, if Ebner or some other troublemaking Caldwell cowboy got a sting or two, it sounded like justice to her.
As they neared home, she slowed her steps. “Wyatt, why would you leave Lonnie with your pa, knowing what he was like? I need to understand. I want to understand.”
He stopped, faced her squarely. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything more. I had to, and that’s all I can say.”
She sighed. It wasn’t enough and yet she couldn’t believe his reasons had been selfish. Or was she letting his taking care of her for a few minutes erase her sense of caution?
Wyatt kept his gaze straight forward as they returned to the farm. His fingers tingled from touching her tender skin. His neck muscles twitched at the memory of her ministrations.
When he’d seen the hornets attack her and then heard her head smack the ground, his heart had raced. He’d had to force himself to release her when he got her to the river. Something almost primitive had urged him to hold her and protect her.
He swallowed a snort. If Mr. Bell learned the truth about Wyatt, he would reveal his wrath. How would the man do that? In Wyatt’s experience the only way was with fists and boots.
Rose was in the garden when Wyatt and Cora tramped by. She looked up, saw the mud on her sister’s face and her mouth fell open.
Wyatt would have slipped away to avoid being questioned, but since Cora had banged her head hard he couldn’t leave until he’d informed her ma.
Rose trotted over to join them. “Looks like you fell into some mud.”
“I stepped on a hornet’s nest,” she said. “The mud takes out the pain.”
Rose turned to Wyatt. “You got stung, too?”
He nodded. “It’s nothing.”
“Ma will want to check on you both.” Rose hustled them toward the house. “Ma,” she called.
Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. “Lonnie will wonder where I am.” But before he could escape, the Bells crowded around them, all asking questions at the same time. Cora explained about the hornet attack and where the nest was.
“Wyatt rescued me.”
Mr. Bell eyed Wyatt closely.
Wyatt couldn’t tell if the man was grateful for the rescue or wondering if Wyatt had been too forward. He didn’t intend to hang around waiting to find out, and edged past Lilly.
“Did Ma look at your bites?” she asked.
“I’ve got to get back to Lonnie,” he mumbled.
“I’ll let him know you’ve been detained.” Before he could utter a single word in protest, Lilly trotted away.
He groaned. Lonnie would not welcome a visitor.
Mrs. Bell caught his attention. “You did the right thing in applying mud, but I have an ointment that will help even more. You wait here while I get it.” She hurried over to the shed near the garden.
Wyatt shifted from foot to foot and looked longingly toward escape.
Cora patted his arm. “Relax. Ma’s remedies are the best.”
He nodded. How could he hope for her or anyone to overlook the fact he’d been in jail? If the Bells ever learned the truth, Wyatt would be run off the place. And yet...yet...what was the harm in enjoying the ministrations of a loving family until they learned the truth? Perhaps they never would. The depth of his longing frightened him, and his mouth puckered with the anguish of such futile hope.
Mrs. Bell returned. “You two come in the house and let me take care of those stings.”
Cora smiled at his helpless shrug. “It won’t hurt a bit, I promise.”
He nodded. It might not hurt now, but it would eventually. There was no point in hoping for any other outcome. But he allowed himself to be shepherded inside, where Rose washed Cora’s stings. Mrs. Bell cleaned away the mud on his neck and applied the ointment while he stared at the floor. Every touch of the older woman’s cool fingers reminded him of Cora’s gentle touch and tightened the tender strands of hope about his heart.
Lilly burst into the house. “I brought Lonnie back with me.”
Wyatt jerked to his feet and stared at his little brother hovering at the open door.
Lonnie’s eyes were wide, his fists curled into white-knuckled balls.
“Come right in and join us,” Mr. Bell called from the end of the table where he watched the proceedings.
Lonnie slid in and plopped on a chair next to Wyatt. “Heard
