by Jillian Hart
“I have to be heading back.” She stood, a swirl of blue skirts and elegance, avoiding his gaze. “Mandy needs to go down for a nap soon.”
Cooper stepped closer. He could not seem to help it.
Laura elbowed him in the ribs and whispered, “Now would be the perfect time to hire her.”
He wasn’t going to hire her. He blushed, hoping Anna hadn’t heard Laura’s bold advice. But she was already turning to fetch her daughter in the stream.
“This is for you, Anna.” Katie, trousers wet up to her knees, ran barefoot across the grass. Something was fisted in one hand. “Since you came and stuff. And didn’t get mad because we didn’t tell you about Papa.”
“I suspected a plot.” Anna’s voice was merry.
“All the gold I found today. It’s probably a whole twelve dollars.”
“Katie, I can’t take your gold.” Anna knelt. So gentle, brushed by sun, caressed by wind. How his fingers ached to touch her like that wind.
“But Anna, I want you to have it. I never said I was sorry for what I done.”
“You keep the gold. Buy something nice for you and Maisie.” Anna reached out, as if to brush those errant curls out of Katie’s face, but held back.
“Are you mad at what I done?”
“How could I be mad at you? You were only trying to take care of your little sister.”
Her chin shot up. “I knew you’d understand.”
Cooper had never seen Katie so vulnerable. He swore the girl almost hugged Anna, then changed her mind. She ran away, not looking back, to the creek.
“Thank you.” He had to talk to her, had to tell her.
“For what?” She didn’t know what she’d done, or how much it meant.
“You forgave her. You just—” How did he say it? “You care for her, for her feelings.”
“Of course I do. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not harboring any secret hopes. It’s just that I left my home and traveled a long way. Stage travel isn’t the safest thing to do. I risked so much, just to know the little girls in those letters.”
“You wanted to love them.”
“Yes. But I’ll settle for friendship.” There was no blame in her eyes, just honesty as crisp as morning, as true as dawn. “Well, I have to go.”
“I need to get back to work, too.” What was it about this woman that drew him? Cooper didn’t know. He took a step closer. “Will you walk with me?”
She didn’t move away, but the polite regard vanished. When she smiled, it felt as warm as magic. “Yes. Just let me get Mandy and thank Laura for the meal.”
“No problem.” Laura sidled closer, as if she’d been listening. “I can keep Mandy longer, if you wouldn’t mind. She’s having so much fun with Maisie. I could drop her off at the hotel in say, thirty minutes or so?”
Anna tucked her bottom lip between her teeth, an innocent gesture that had Cooper’s heart pounding. She had such well-shaped lips, a full upper lip, and a generous bottom one. Just right for kissing.
“Yes, Mandy can stay. It will be so good for her to laugh and play. Let me go tell her.”
Cooper watched Anna hurry away with a swish of blue skirts. From behind he could see the delicate column of her neck, the slim set of her shoulders, the narrow cut of her waist. She knelt down to speak with her child. Mandy’s face brightened. Maisie sparkled like a gem. More happy than he’d ever seen her.
“Look how Anna affects them.” Laura didn’t miss it, either. “See how Katie opens up. And Maisie just beams. They need her, Cooper.”
Yes, they needed her. He could see that. But not as a mother. What he was thinking wasn’t a good idea, not a good idea at all. Would his daughters understand? No, it was a bad idea. They would always be wanting and wishing.
“Thanks again, Laura.” Anna caught up to them. “I guess I’ll see you in a little while.”
“And tonight don’t forget.” Cooper watched the delight on his sister’s face. “Anna has agreed to join my sewing circle.”
“Just in time to finish sewing on all those little doodads on your wedding gown?”
“Exactly.” Anna didn’t seem to mind. She waved goodbye to the girls, their answering calls loud enough to scatter birds from the trees. She fell in stride beside him as the clearing disappeared, and they were alone in the forest.
“I’m glad to see Mandy doing so well.”
“She’s nearly recovered. Thanks to you.” Wonder shimmered in her voice, such a high regard it made him feel bigger, better.
He was no hero, no man to look up to. He’d lost his honor once and it still haunted him. “I did what any of my deputies would have done.”
“But you did it.” She looked away. “I suppose I need to ask you something, since you and your girls are the reason I came to Flint Creek in the first place.”
He looked down at the ground, saw the clumps of bunch grass and new sprigs of buttercups. He knelt and snapped a stem off. The happy little flower gazed up at him. “What’s your question?”
“How would you feel if Mandy and I stayed here in town? Now, we could move on if you wanted, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay.”
“You don’t want to go home?” She looked so stricken, he softened the question. “I mean, you must have family and friends you left behind.”
“A sister. I miss her very much.” Affection filled her voice, sweet like honey. “But I have no reason to return. It was a struggle for me in Ruby Bluff.”
“I don’t mind if you stay. It would make my sister happy. She admires your needlework, you know. And your Mandy has found a friend in my Maisie.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m fishing for marriage.”
“I never thought you were.” She wasn’t manipulative. She didn’t use others, didn’t hurt them, wasn’t cold like a winter’s night. She was a spring morning, fresh and new.
He should ask her. He should just say it. Lay down the rules. Let her know he was asking for his daughters’ sake. If they couldn’t have a mother, then maybe they could have Anna for a housekeeper. If she would say yes. If he could make her say yes.
“You do know that all the women in Laura’s sewing group probably believe the rumors,” he found himself saying instead of what was on his mind.
“Janet and her friend Leslie at the mercantile both seem to think we’ve had some sort of an argument and the wedding is off.” Her laughter breezed over his, light and wondrous. “I think it came from my attempts to explain why there wouldn’t be any wedding.”
“So, that’s why Laura invited us both out here. And why she’s so eager to keep Mandy.” Fine, he could see the humor in it, too. “She thinks if we can talk it over, we’ll make up.”
“I had no idea. Why won’t everyone believe us?”
“Do you really have to ask?” He stepped forward and watched the pupils in her eyes darken. Watched her take in a small breath, lifting the curve of her firm bosom. “You’ve met Katie. I suspect she’s been part of the problem.”
“Time will prove us right.” Her lower lip trembled. He couldn’t seem to stop watching it, so pink, so lush.
He caught her mouth with his. Her lips were soft against his, just as he knew they would be. She tasted of lemon cake and sunshine, felt like heated velvet.
She wasn’t responding. He felt it, knew she would pull away. But she didn’t. Her hand touched his chin, a light touch. His skin sizzled. His chest ached deep inside, where his heart was pounding like a war drum. She tipped her mouth up. She needed this as much as he did.
He slanted his mouth over hers. He gently backed her into the solid trunk of a tree and curled his hand around the back of her neck. His tongue caressed her bottom lip. Then he dared to press it inside her mouth.
Desire twisted through his belly, low and deep. He’d been so long without a woman’s touch, without this heavy consuming need that made him ache, made him want.
“Cooper.” Anna broke away, already blushing. Tendrils curled around her flushed face. Her
eyes were wide. She laid one hand over her mouth, over lips swollen from his kiss.
“Anna, I never meant—”
She started walking, then running. He’d made a terrible mistake. “Anna.”
She didn’t turn around.
He caught up with her. She was walking fast. Her jaw tensed tight. Slender hands balled into fists. She looked ready to fight. She looked ready to cry.
“Leave me alone, Cooper.”
He couldn’t. He’d insulted her. He’d hurt her. “I usually have more control than that. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too.” She didn’t look at him. Couldn’t look at him. “I can see myself back to town.”
“But—”
She just kept walking. Heat flamed her face. She kept her gaze on the lane at her feet, dodging gopher holes and wagon wheel ruts. Graceful pines, solemn firs, happy cottonwoods with their whispering leaves surrounded her, but she could not enjoy the sight of them. Could not think of anything but how she’d behaved.
She’d let him kiss her. In a moment of weakness. She’d let her guard down, and look what happened. She may have answered an advertisement for a wife in the county newspaper, but she wasn’t desperate. She wasn’t. She had just been lonely. Had dared to dream of a happy home for Mandy. With sisters to play with and a pony to ride on.
She could still make a good life for Mandy. She was in a town where everyone believed she was a widow, not an unmarried woman with an illegitimate daughter. Not a woman whose family had turned their backs on her. If it hadn’t been for her sister, Anna would have had no place to go.
No, here in Flint Creek, everyone believed the lie she told, a lie for Mandy’s sake. If they were to stay, if she could find a job and a little house to live in, then Mandy could be happy here. When she played with other children, they wouldn’t call her a bastard. Other mothers wouldn’t pull their daughters away.
There was a lot to be grateful for. Anna knew that. They had a real chance for happiness here, on their own, without anyone to lean on. She couldn’t ruin it. Not by kissing a man who didn’t want her. Cooper was lonely. She could see it in his eyes. Sense it in the way he reached out to her. They had much in common, both raising little girls alone. But that was all. That was all there could ever be between them.
“Anna.” He must have decided to catch up with her.
She was still embarrassed. She didn’t know what to say.
“I don’t know how to do this, so I might as well come out and say it.”
“Well, I don’t want to hear it.” She really didn’t. She just wanted to forget her behavior, forget her mistake, and forget how easy it had been to give in to her feelings for him.
“It looks like I’m short a housekeeper.”
A housekeeper? What about the kiss?
“I have it on good authority you might know how to cook.” His dazzling smile muddled her thoughts, made it hard to believe.
“Somewhat,” she admitted.
“Then maybe we can work out a trade of sorts until your daughter is well.”
Work for him? In his home? “I already have a job. It isn’t steady, but it’s a start.”
“I need help. Some serious help. You’ve seen my daughters. I can’t get anyone to work for me. Mrs. Beasely was my last hope. No one else has answered my advertisements.”
“You want me to work for you?” First he kissed her, then he offered her employment? Now she was getting mad.
“I’m not working in your home, Cooper.” She had more pride than that. How was she supposed to feel? She was falling in love with him. How could she spend all day in his house, caring for his children, cooking his meals and washing his clothes and hide how she felt? It would give the girls false hopes.
“I’m not taking no for an answer.” His voice drew her gaze, a heady combination of strength and kindness.
Oh, his kindness only made her want him more. How foolish was that? “I would love to work for you Cooper, but I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I can’t.” She began to jog, refusing to look at him. She wanted to say yes. She wanted another kiss. She knew she had to get away from him.
Every once in a while she glanced over her shoulder. Cooper strode behind her, a respectful distance away, chin up, alert, watching the forest. For those robbers, probably. Despite how she’d acted, he still did his job. He still made sure she was safe from harm.
Town wasn’t far. She went straight to the hotel and was glad when there was work to do. She would keep her hands and her mind busy. She would not think of Cooper Braddock, not remember his kiss.
Chapter Ten
“Laura, I had a great time.” Anna didn’t know how to say what she was feeling. She’d been lonely for so long, with only her sister to call friend. She felt as if she belonged in Flint Creek in a way she’d never felt in the town she’d grown up in.
“I’m so glad you were able to come.” Laura waved Janet on, bid goodbye. “Anna will catch up to you. I want to keep her for a few more minutes.”
The last of the sewing circle ladies said goodbye, stepping out into the darkness.
“Your being here has been good for Cooper.” Laura drew Anna back down on the sofa.
“I don’t see why. I hardly know him.”
“He’s thinking about his future. Something he hasn’t done since Katherine left him. That was his first wife.” The fire snapped, crackling in the hearth. Laura lowered her voice. “He truly loved her. I mean, complete devotion. She was his world.”
“Cooper told me some of this.” Her stomach twisted. Really, it was not her business. She should not know something so intimate.
“When she left him, she nearly destroyed him. Katherine had been sleeping with an outlaw, and she had been feeding him information about when gold shipments were coming and going, how many deputies Cooper had assigned to the bank or to the stage. His reputation was ruined when she left. He was even brought up on charges.”
Anna turned away. “Were they dismissed?”
“Eventually. But it was a tough time. All the while he was caring for his girls. Katie was nearly destroyed by Katherine’s abandonment. Maisie was just a baby.”
“It had to have been hard.” Anna knew about dishonor. “At least he had you and Tucker.”
“Our entire family stood beside him.” Sadness weighed down her voice. “Cooper had never even suspected his wife. Would never have believed it if someone had tried to tell him. He had absolute faith in her. And she shattered it. She broke his ability to trust right along with his heart.”
“He’s a good father.”
“Yes. He has done everything he can for his girls. He loves them. It’s been because of his character and his strength that his daughters are happy. That they were able to make a family, despite Katherine.”
She only admired Cooper more. He loved his girls so much. It showed in everything he did. How much more he must have loved his wife, the mother of those children?
No wonder he felt so strongly against marrying again. No wonder he didn’t believe a woman could love a child not her own or a man over a lifetime.
“How did it go, big brother?” Tucker asked.
Cooper sat down on the front porch steps, too tired to go any farther. It was late. He’d had a hard afternoon and evening spent riding shotgun with the stage. Long hours spent thinking of Anna Bauer. “No sign of Corinthos. I know he’s out there. He didn’t try to break into the bank?”
“No. Everything was quiet.”
Well, they were lucky. But luck didn’t last. Cool night air breezed across his face. “I shot him. Right through the shoulder.”
“A nasty place to take a bullet.”
“He won’t be riding and robbing for a while. I just don’t know when he’ll pop up next. I want to be prepared.”
“You have the jail and the bank guarded. You are keeping guards on Anna and on your girls.”
“The outlaw threatened me. He could harm them.”
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��Won’t be the first time they’ve had a deputy keeping an eye over them. Or an uncle.” Tucker reached behind him. “Want some cookies? They’re Anna’s. She made them in Janet’s kitchen. Maisie says they are the best ever.”
“I’m not hungry.” He didn’t want a cookie. He wanted the woman. “Did the girls give you any trouble?”
“Katie had another nightmare.”
Cooper hung his head, stared down at his hands. “She hasn’t had one of those for a while.”
“With Laura getting married and leaving soon...” Tucker sighed. “I’m glad she has Anna. Maybe she’s what Katie has needed all along.”
That’s exactly what he’d been thinking.
Anna should have looked up at the violent jangling of the hotel’s front door. She should have known by the pounding footsteps. She was just troubled. She’d dreamed of Dalton last night, that he’d found her. Moreover, yesterday’s kiss still haunted her.
“Anna! Anna!” Katie and Maisie clamored up to her table. The teapot rattled.
“Hello, girls. Are you here for breakfast?”
“Papa already made us pancakes,” Katie said.
“You gotta come, Anna.” Maisie tilted her head.
Charmed, Anna had to ask. “Come where?”
His voice, inviting and rich, replied, “Come home with us. We need a housekeeper.”
“We really do.” Maisie affected a great sigh. “You gotta little girl so you know all about tea parties.”
“Unlike that awful Mrs. Beasely,” Cooper added.
She twisted around. His eyes glittered with humor. Oh, he thought he was clever. “I can’t say no to these little faces, and you know it.”
“I do.” His grin broadened into a full-fledged, heartstopping smile.
Her toes tingled at the sight. How easy to remember the feel of his lips on hers. Tender, oh, so tender. But she had a daughter to think about She could not work for a man she wanted to kiss. “No.”
“Please?” He said it low, rumbling. Enough to make her spine shiver.