“No, but I’d sure like to see that sketchbook,” Claire answered.
Zaylie clapped her hands. “Can I draw too?”
“Sure you can.” Levi brought it down from the top bunk.
Expecting Claire to work on her designs at the table, he picked up a well-read Louis L’Amour novel from the fireplace mantel and sank down on the sofa to give her plenty of space. She fumbled around in a tote bag and found a couple of pencils and a small ruler. Then she sat down cross-legged on the floor between him and the fireplace. She tore one sheet from the book and gave it to Zaylie along with a pencil, and then she went to work.
Levi read a couple of pages, but he couldn’t keep his attention on the book. He kept peeking over the top to see what Claire was doing. She’d measure and work, sigh and erase, and then repeat the same thing.
“What’re you trying to draw?” he finally asked.
“This house to show my daddy,” Zaylie said before Claire could answer. “Aunt Claire can’t take a picture of it ’cause her phone ain’t workin’.”
“I see.” Levi smiled and nodded toward Claire. “And what about you?”
“A log cabin pattern using yellows and blues. It will remind me of this experience.”
“And how’s that?” Levi asked.
“We’re in a cabin,” she answered shortly.
“I got that much,” he shot back.
“Blue is a cold color and yellow is warm. So the blue is for the snow, and the yellow is the fire that keeps us warm,” she explained.
“Why are you erasing so much?” he asked.
It looked like an abstract painting to him, done in black and white. He cocked his head to one side and frowned. Maybe it was more like a stained-glass window with no color. How on earth that could be a quilt someday was beyond his comprehension.
“I’m trying to decide how big it will be and where the colors will fit best. Do I want them to be a small size, like maybe for a throw instead of a full-size or king-size quilt or larger? And do I start with yellow in the middle to illustrate hope at the center or with the snow in the middle and then the fire like it really happened?”
“In our part of the world, this kind of weather won’t last very long. Fire melts snow, so it could go either way you want to design it,” he said.
“You aren’t much help,” she said.
“Well, darlin’, designin’ quilts ain’t my expertise,” he told her.
“Evidently not,” she said.
He bit back the grin that tickled the corners of his mouth. “Sassy, ain’t you?”
“Been accused of it a few times. I’ve decided that this should be a king-size quilt. Darker blue calico in the middle with the colors lightening by degrees out to a blue and yellow print just before a more solid yellow at the edges.”
The only thing that Levi knew about quilts was that they kept him warm in the winter, and he knew even less about design and art. He went back to his book, but he still couldn’t focus on it. Finally, he laid it on the end table.
“So do y’all live in town or out in the country?” he asked.
“In town.” She didn’t even look up from the sketch pad.
“We were up that way last year to a bull sale. Bought a big old Angus that’s been a good breeder for us,” Levi said.
Zaylie looked up from her drawing. “What’s a breeder?”
“Well, that would be a—” He stammered trying to find a simple way to answer a four-year-old. With those big blue eyes staring at him, he couldn’t begin to find the words to explain in simple terms. “Uh…”
“It’s a bull or a boy cow,” Claire explained simply.
“Okay.” Zaylie went back to drawing.
“Thank you,” Levi whispered.
“Always keep it simple when it comes to explainin’ anything to a four-year-old.” Claire nodded and turned her attention to Zaylie. “Are you going to put a sun in your picture?”
“Nope, there ain’t no sun out there, so I can’t draw it. And”—Zaylie frowned—“I’m almost five.”
“Yes, you are,” Claire said.
“I’m going to draw lots of snow, but now I’m going to turn it over and draw the inside of the cabin,” Zaylie said.
“Great idea,” Claire told her. “Do you plan on putting people in your picture?”
“Maybe,” Zaylie answered.
“Then please don’t make me shorter than you.”
Zaylie giggled. “I drew that one for Daddy because I wanted him to see how much I growed.”
“Did you say that he’s coming home by Christmas?” Levi would never want a job that made him leave his child for weeks on end even if she was in amazingly good hands.
“Yep.” Zaylie nodded.
“When did you draw the one where Claire was shorter than you?”
“Last time he went away. He was gone a long time.” She sighed. “This time he’s on a mission not a ployment. I like them better because they ain’t as long.”
“Does your mama go on missions too?” Levi asked.
“Nope, she went to heaven when I was a baby. She got a neurasm in her head and the angels took her away,” Zaylie answered as she drew a fireplace.
“Aneurysm,” Claire explained. “Zaylie was less than a year old.”
“That’s terrible.” Levi could sympathize with Zaylie since his own mother had taken off with her new husband when Levi was only three years old. Since both Skip and Mavis worked at the Longhorn Canyon Ranch, he’d spent his days there with Cade and Justin even before they ever started to school. By the time he was thirteen, he was on the payroll. Even though Skip and Mavis had given him a wonderful life, there’d always been something missing that he couldn’t put a finger on. Maybe it was because he was so close to Justin and Cade Maguire they were like brothers—and yet they weren’t. If he’d had a sibling perhaps that would have filled the empty hole that he felt in his life but never talked about.
Zaylie’s chin jacked up a couple of inches. “No, it’s not. The angels love her. My daddy said so.”
She was as full of sass as her aunt. Levi bit back a grin, not wanting her to think he was making fun of her. Being a big kid in school and not playing football or even basketball, he’d had his share of folks making fun of him, and he’d never do that to anyone.
“I meant that I’m sorry that she couldn’t stay with you.” Levi stumbled over the words.
“Someday Daddy is goin’ to get me a new mommy. But I got a picture of my mommy so I don’t forget her. I bring it with me when I stay with Aunt Claire,” Zaylie said.
“I bet she was beautiful.” Levi wanted to hug Zaylie but feared Claire might stab him with her pencil. Despite falling asleep earlier, she still hadn’t relaxed around him. Hopefully, when she got to know him better, she’d see that he just wanted to help her, that he would protect her and Zaylie.
“Yep, she was.” Zaylie jumped up and went to dig around in a tote bag. In a few seconds she was back with a box of crayons and a small, framed picture. “This is me and my mama.” She handed the photo to him.
Levi held it up to get the glare off the glass. The woman had blond hair, big blue eyes, and delicate features. The woman in the picture gave off the same confidence as Claire had when she’d pointed that gun at him.
“You look a lot like her.”
Zaylie’s smile showed that she hadn’t lost a single baby tooth yet. “That’s what Aunt Claire says. Daddy likes for me to color my pictures. He says it makes them real.”
“I agree with your daddy.” Levi handed the picture back to her and watched her start to color the picture she’d drawn. “You color in the lines really well.”
“I’m not a baby,” she scolded as she chose yellow for the fire.
“That’s a pretty sassy tone, young lady.” Claire wrote something in the quilt square she’d made on the paper.
Levi held up a palm and chuckled. “It’s okay. I kind of waded into that one.”
Zaylie frowned. “I have to
make it pretty for Daddy.”
“Yes, you do,” Levi agreed.
Claire shut her eyes and visualized the bolts of fabric she’d bought in San Antonio that were now stacked neatly in the back of the van. The colors would be perfect for the new project. She could get all the pieces cut, and when she got home, she’d be ready to start sewing the top together. If only the ladies in Randlett were interested in quilting, she wouldn’t be looking around for a place to put in a small quilt shop. She’d tried twice in the past three years to start a quilting bee at her church, and once she’d bought an advertisement in the local paper offering quilting classes for free. Neither had worked—the women there just weren’t interested.
Suddenly, the vision of a dozen bolts of fabric lining the shelves of her new shop faded and was replaced with one of Levi standing in the doorway earlier that day. She still wasn’t ready to let her guard down completely, but it was nice to have an adult to talk to. She blinked away the picture in her head and opened her eyes. He’d gone back to reading, and Zaylie was busy coloring. If someone peeked in the window they’d think a young family had taken up residence in the cabin.
Are you going to trust him enough to get some sleep tonight? Her brother Grant’s voice was clear in her head. Who knows what he’s capable of? And you’ve always been gullible.
I am not gullible. I’m a grown woman who’s vigilant, and besides I have a gun. I’ll keep it at my fingertips, and Zaylie will be right beside me in the bed. I’m a big girl. I can take care of us. Like always, arguing with her brother put a frown on her face.
She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and noticed more than a dozen pictures lined up on the fireplace mantel. “Who are the people in those photos?” Ha! That was one way to find out if Levi really was who he said, and it would take her mind off her brother’s smart-ass remarks.
She stood up and walked across the room to get a closer look herself. “This is you. Who are these other people?”
“That’s Cade and Justin with me in that picture. The one next to it is Retta and Cade on their wedding day. The event was held outside in the front yard last month with the reception right here in the cabin.”
“And this one?” She picked up a picture of Levi with a young boy. “How old is this boy?”
“He’s twelve. That would be Benjy, the boy I told you about who can draw so well,” Levi responded.
That much pride in his tone said that Benjy had to be his son. She slid a sideways look over at Levi and then back to the picture. The kid didn’t look a thing like Levi, but maybe he got his looks from his mother. She set the picture back on the mantel.
Levi went on, “We open up the ranch every summer for about five or six weeks for city kids to get to experience ranch life. We always have four girls and four boys, and Benjy was here every summer for three years. Last summer his granny died and there was no one to take care of him, so my adoptive parents, Mavis and Skip, decided to take him in. The formal papers will be signed right after the new year if all goes well,” he explained. “That will legally make him my little brother, even though we don’t have an ounce of shared DNA.”
She had no doubts now that he was telling the truth, but there was still something unsettling about the man. What kind of person offered to take in a complete stranger and a child? She might be there to rob him blind—not that she would, but he didn’t know that, did he?
To take her mind off all the questions, she handed him the picture and said, “Tell me about this boy.”
“Benjy is a really good kid, but he’s what they call high-functioning autistic—” Levi touched the picture as if he were brushing back Benjy’s hair. “He’s great help on the ranch with small jobs, and he loves to be here. He remembers everything he reads and sometimes spouts it off at strange times, but he’s got the sweetest nature of anybody in the whole state of Texas.”
She decided that anyone who had that much compassion for a child couldn’t be a bad person. She’d still keep her little gun handy, but she wasn’t nearly as uneasy about spending the night in the cabin with Levi as she’d been a few hours earlier.
Chapter Three
Levi awoke the next morning to blaring sunshine reflecting off the pictures on the mantel straight into his eyes. He rolled out of the bottom bunk, stretched, and started for the kitchen area to make a pot of coffee, when he heard the familiar sound of a tractor. Forgetting about everything else, he hurriedly pulled on his coveralls and stomped his feet down into cowboy boots.
“What’s that noise?” Claire sat up and covered her eyes with her hands. “Oh, the sun is out.”
“Are we being rescued?” Zaylie knuckled her eyes and yawned.
Levi pulled the face mask over his head. “Yes, ma’am, we are. Y’all get dressed as warm as you can, and we’ll have breakfast at the ranch house.”
He had to push back several inches of snow to open the door, and a blast of icy wind hit him in the eyes, but he could see the tractor. He stepped outside, shut the door, and threw up a hand to wave.
Justin parked as close to the porch as he possibly could, and he hopped down out of the biggest tractor on the ranch. Levi and Justin had gone through school together, best friends since they were in the church nursery. But down deep Levi had always known that Justin and his brother Cade would someday be the owners of the Longhorn Canyon Ranch, and all he’d ever be was the foreman, just as Skip had been. Not that he was jealous of them or that they didn’t treat him just like family. But Justin had always had the good looks, the confidence, and the swagger to get any girl he wanted.
He clamped a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “I hear you’ve found a damsel in distress and don’t have a white horse to bring her to the ranch.” He motioned toward the four-wheeler. “Seriously, is everything all right? Is anybody hurt? Is she one of them tall blondes that me and you both like?”
“The woman’s name is Claire, and her niece is Zaylie. They say they’re fine, but I wouldn’t call her a damsel in distress by any stretch of the imagination,” Levi answered. “She carries a gun in her purse, and you’ve heard that dynamite comes in small packages. Well, she’s living proof. So to answer your question, she’s a short brunette, but with her attitude she could probably put out a forest fire by spittin’ on it.”
“Scared you, did she?” Justin’s eyes twinkled.
“Let’s just say, I’m real glad to see you and even happier that she didn’t shoot first and ask questions later,” Levi answered.
Justin had a way with women. They flocked to him like flies on honey. Cade was a big flirt, or at least he had been until last summer when Retta arrived. Justin went beyond that. He had a reputation around Montague County for bringing home a different woman every weekend for a one-night stand.
“I thought you were kiddin’ me. A real gun?” Justin picked up two shovels from the trailer hitched to the back of the tractor and handed one to Levi.
Levi nodded. “A .38 pistol, looks like about a five shot, but the way she handled it I reckon she’d only need one to put a man down. And it’s equipped with a laser sighting. That little red dot on my chest damn sure made me take notice. But you should know that she’s definitely not your type. Short, not tall. Brunette, not blond. And real sassy.”
“Sounds like she ain’t a damsel in distress at all. And I like a sassy woman as much as a sweet tall gal,” Justin said.
“I’m tellin’ you, I wouldn’t mess with her or her niece,” Levi said.
“You already got a thing for her?” Justin teased.
“Nope, just givin’ you some advice,” Levi answered.
“Advice noted. Now, let’s dig that four-wheeler out and get it loaded, and then we’ll take y’all home. Retta’s makin’ a big breakfast, and she says we’re supposed to be there soon as possible.” Justin sank the blade of the shovel deep into the snow.
“Think this stuff will melt by Thanksgiving?” Levi asked as they worked on the snowdrift covering half the four-wheeler. He couldn’t help noticing
that Justin kept glancing back toward the cabin.
“Probably not. The weatherman says not to expect temperatures above freezin’ for several days,” Justin answered.
“If this is what the whole winter is going to be like, we’re in for a cold one,” Levi said. “I told Claire they could stay on the ranch until this stuff melts. You think Cade and Retta will have a problem with a couple of guests for a few days? I would’ve asked first, but we didn’t have cell service.”
“What are you so nervous about, Levi?” Justin asked. “We’re family, and you know it. You’ve brought home strays all your life. You work as hard as we do. This ranch might belong to us on paper, but we couldn’t run it without you.”
“I’ve never brought home…”
“Bullshit! You and I both have brought home women for the night.” Justin laughed. “And besides, Retta’s got the girls’ bunkhouse ready for them. Let’s get a path cleared from here to the trailer so we can push this four-wheeler onto it.”
Levi hefted the first shovel full of wet snow to the side. “You could have parked a little closer.”
Justin was right—he and Justin hadn’t spent many weekends in an empty bed. Saturday night was for beers and dancing at their favorite honky-tonk. Levi was no slouch when it came to sweet talking women, but Justin? That cowboy was a pro.
Snow flew to the side as Justin created a pathway. “This is hard work. You could’ve offered me a cup of coffee.”
“Just got out of bed and haven’t even made a pot yet,” Levi said. “But if you want to suffer the wrath of Retta, I’ll go inside and put it on to brew. Or the pretty boy prince of the Rusty Spur can keep workin’ and stop whinin’ so much.”
“No, thank you. Retta’s been a little touchy here this past week, so I’m not going to get on her bad side. But it looks to me like you’ve been lazy this mornin’. Next thing you know, you’ll be wantin’ to sleep in every morning until noon. And I don’t see you sittin’ in the corner at the honky-tonk all alone. It’s a wonder they don’t have to put in one of those machines for the ladies to take a number and wait,” Justin said.
Cowboy Honor--Includes a bonus novella Page 3