glared back.
His frown slipped, then pulled into an amused half smile. “I wondered if you’d have a temper to match your hair.”
She let out a confused breath, then caught an escaping lock of her rich strawberry-blond hair and vainly tried to tuck it into place. “What do you mean?”
“Not a thing I didn’t say,” he said seriously, but his eyes held hers teasingly.
Kate found herself momentarily distracted by him as she suddenly became aware of his strong yet dangerously handsome features. She took a small step back, feeling a telltale warmth spill across her cheeks. He eyed her for a long moment, then gave his gun a small spin before tucking it safely into the holster. He tipped his Stetson to introduce himself, “I’m Nathan Rutledge.”
She lifted her chin. “Miss O’Brien.”
“Rutledge,” he reminded with a nod.
Didn’t he just say that? she wondered. “Yes, I know.”
Unnerved by the friendly grin her statement caused, Kate glanced away. “Thank you for your help. Unfortunately he still got away with everything.”
“Oh, he hasn’t gotten away with anything yet.”
She glanced up to survey the determined glint in his eye. “You’re going after him.”
“Of course I am,” he said. “Delilah’s been with me more than three years. I’m not letting some little thief get away with a horse of that stock.”
“Delilah?” she asked, unsuccessfully denying her curiosity.
The man nodded. “Yes. Delilah.”
Uncomfortable with his warm gaze, she glanced down at her dress. “That’s an interesting name for a horse.”
“One of a kind,” he admitted.
Kate frowned.
He stepped closer.
Surprised, she looked up and couldn’t seem to look away. She closed her eyes against the searching, his and her own. What is going on here? This is not normal. No one should have this sort of rapport with a total stranger. I may spend most of my time alone on the farm when Sean and Ellie are in school, but I can’t be that lonely. Can I?
“Kate,” he said, and her eyes flew open at the sound of her name. Snapped from whatever spell held her, she lifted her chin and stared at him. She hadn’t given him her Christian name. Perhaps she’d met him before and forgotten? She allowed her gaze to sweep from his dark brown eyes and past his blue checkered shirt. His dark gray pants fit loosely against his long legs, and the dark metal of his gun rested against his thigh while his low-slung gun belt stretched across his hips. Meeting his gaze, she shook her head. If she’d met him, she would have remembered.
She opened her mouth to question him but he was already speaking. “I have to go after him. May I use your horse?”
She managed to nod, then watched him hurry toward the barn. A few minutes later, he reappeared on her horse and went in pursuit of the thief without a backward glance. Kate watched him disappear into the distance and vainly tried to sort out what just happened.
An hour later, back on Delilah and with the thief secured on Kate’s horse, Nathan Rutledge rode down Main Street, noting the curious stares from the citizens of Peppin, Texas. He had been on the receiving end of a town’s stares before, only they hadn’t been so friendly. But this was his new beginning—the fresh start he’d prayed for. He tipped his hat toward the young women who watched him shyly, then nodded at the older man sitting on the feed store steps.
The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously, then sat up in his chair to spit a stream of brown chewing tobacco juice on the ground in Nathan’s direction. He smiled wryly. Now, that was more like what he was used to. He was ready to put that life behind him as sure as he was breathing.
A “howdy” broke into his thoughts. He glanced down to find a man with graying hair and a belly that overlapped his belt watching him suspiciously.
“Can I help you with something?” the man asked.
Nathan eyed the star on the man’s chest and nodded. “I’m looking for the sheriff. Is that you?”
The man gave a single nod. “That’s me.”
He dismounted. Tipping his hat back, he nodded toward the person who had really been drawing all the attention. The young thief sent him scathing glares from where he sat with his hands bound and tied to the saddle horn of Kate’s horse. “I found him trying to steal from the O’Brien place this morning. He took off with my horse when I tried to stop him. He’s just a boy so I’m not sure what’s to be done about it.”
The sheriff’s suspicious gaze went from him to the boy and back again as the man obviously tried to discern who was guilty of what crime. “Is that so? What were you doing out at the O’Brien’s in the first place?”
“With all due respect, sir, I reckon that’s my business.” He wasn’t sure how much Kate had told the town about him, but he wasn’t about to announce his presence to strangers without even a proper first meeting with the woman.
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Nathan held the man’s gaze, looking him straight in the eye without shifting or backing down. Finally, the sheriff nodded. “Let’s get him down from there and we’ll sort all this out.”
Nathan cut the boy free, then waited for him to slide off the horse. The boy looked as if he might try to bolt but the sheriff put a hand on his shoulder and steered him toward the jail. Though his stomach tightened in dread, Nathan had no choice but to follow. The sheriff directed the boy to a chair in front of the desk, then sat across from him.
Nathan’s gaze nonchalantly surveyed the walls of the office until he found the “wanted” posters. He was relieved when only the grizzled faces of strangers stared back at him. Movement to his right caught his eye. He nodded at the young-looking deputy who rose from that side of the room to watch the proceedings curiously.
“This man says you tried to steal from the O’Brien place. What do you have to say about that?” the sheriff asked.
The boy glared at them defiantly. “I gave it all back. Let me go!”
The sheriff sighed. “You know I can’t do that. Are your parents around here?”
“No.”
“Who’s taking care of you?”
“I am.”
The sheriff grunted. “Deputy Stone, take him in the back for now.”
“What’s going to happen to him?” Nathan asked after the boy was led away.
“I don’t rightly know. He isn’t from around here and it doesn’t look like he has any family.” The sheriff eyed him carefully. “You aren’t from around here, either, are you?”
Nathan tensed but played it off with a shrug and an easy smile. “You can tell that easy?”
“You
