by Jillian Hart
But Katie just shook her head and mumbled about having manners. Anna smiled down at his daughter, affection glimmering in her eyes like a jewel too precious to touch.
Or too rare to believe in.
She made him realize what he’d lost long ago, what his daughters had never known. The loving touch of a woman—of a mother. The beauty of her affection in their home.
Since their meal alone together, the tension between them was less. Anna liked that. She liked that he gave her a smile when he left for work. But that smile warmed her heart, left her thinking of him through the long day of work ahead.
She was in his house; she could not avoid thinking of him. When she scrubbed the parlor from top to bottom and polished every piece of furniture, she spotted a book on the small table—The Last of the Mohicans. It took no imagination at all to see him sitting in the wing chair before the fire and reading by lamplight after the girls were tucked in bed.
Or when she stepped into his bedroom to change the sheets, how could she not think of him lying there with his head on the pillow, a shank of dark hair falling across his forehead? It was impossible.
Some evenings he made it home for supper in time to sit with the girls and listen to their cheerful accounting of their day. Mandy had become Maisie’s constant companion, climbing up into the hideout tree despite her splint. Katie recounted how she actually carted wash water or peeled the potatoes just because she happened to be talking with Anna at the time. Anna could see by the humor sparkling in Cooper’s eyes that he wasn’t fooled one bit.
When he sampled her dried-apple pie and moaned with pleasure, she blushed. Then his gaze kept straying to her mouth as if he were thinking of the pleasure of their only kiss. The memory still tingled along her lips, heated her blood.
It was harder and harder to fight how she felt. Harder to keep those feelings from showing. She hadn’t forgotten the kiss between them. She certainly hoped that he had.
Taking the tray she’d fixed firmly in hand, she headed outside beneath the shade of Maisie’s tree. “Are there any outlaws around here?”
“Shh!” Maisie’s voice. “Mandy, someone’s found our secret hideout. Could be the law.”
“But she’s got strawberry tarts.”
Branches rustled overhead. Two faces peeked out between soft green needles. “Are you the law, Anna?”
Anna chuckled. “I bring food, not handcuffs. I figured it was time for tea.”
“Outlaws gotta have parties, too.” Mandy was the first to climb down, almost as nimble as Maisie.
Anna set the tray on the porch where little enamel plates and cups sat in a circle. Harry Bunny, Mr. Bear and Molly the Dolly sat patiently before their empty cups, waiting. “What you girls need is a tree house.”
“How can you get a house up a tree?” Maisie dropped to her knees with a thud.
“One board at a time.” Anna laughed. “Do you want me to serve?”
So she poured cool apple cider into little play cups and set fresh strawberry pastries on small enamel plates. The bear, the doll and Harry Bunny got tarts and tea, too.
“Hello, girls.” His voice, rich and warm.
She hadn’t imagined it. Abruptly, she stood, her tray empty. “Cooper. You’re home early.”
“I have to ride shotgun over the pass tomorrow. The outlaw we captured when you came to town is well enough to travel. Two federal marshals are meeting us in Sandy, just across the pass. We figure Corinthos might make a move.”
“That sounds dangerous.” Anna remembered that day like a cold chill shivering across her skin.
“We’ve been keeping tight guard on the town, so Corinthos can’t bring violence onto our streets.” Cooper swept off his hat, looking less like the invincible sheriff when he knelt down beside his outlaw daughter. “Those look like mighty tasty tarts. Think Mr. Bear will mind if I steal his?”
“Mr. Bear is awfully hungry, Papa.” Maisie’s brow crinkled. “Try beggin’ some from Anna.”
Cooper tilted his head. His dark gaze settled on her. Anna’s heart flipped over. His laughter trembled through her.
She shivered but could not look away. “Can I get you some tarts? Katie picked the berries fresh this morning.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer. These outlaws won’t have nothing to do with me,” he said with affection in his voice.
“That’s cuz you’re the law, Papa.” Maisie took a big bite out of her pastry. “We don’t want you to arrest us.”
“I’ll go easy on you this time.” He gave Maisie a few tickles at her waist and she giggled. “But I’m taking in the lovely Miss Anna for questioning. She’s a known cohort of two wildly dangerous outlaws.”
“Don’t get throwed in jail, Mama,” Mandy advised.
“I’ll try to bribe him with my strawberry tarts.”
“I’ve a weakness for sweets,” Cooper confessed. “You might get away with it.”
So they were laughing when they reached the kitchen.
Anna reached down a clean plate and placed several pastries onto it. “I have cider.”
“I can pour it.” He still smiled with humor.
“I have supper ready in the cellar. Since it’s so hot, I thought you might like cool baked beans, cold fried chicken and potato salad. I made biscuits.”
“I’m hungry already.” His gaze brushed hers. Did he know how he made her want? She watched his hands set the pitcher on the counter. Studied the strength in those fingers, powerful looking but so gentle. What would it be like to be touched by him?
“I’ve got work I can do, but maybe you want to be alone with your daughters. I can leave—”
“No.” His answer came quick, almost harsh. “I mean, I don’t want you to leave. There’s no reason.”
“Papa! You’re home.” The back door slammed open. Katie, wearing her cowboy hat and boys’ clothes pounded into the room. “I’m goin’ berry pickin’. Davy and me found a really big strawberry patch out in the meadow. Wanna come?”
“We could all go.” Cooper suggested. “Would you and Mandy like to go with us?”
“Yes!” Katie took off at a dead run. “Maisie! Hurry up. Anna’s goin’ berry pickin’ with us.”
“I guess she decided for you.” On a grin, Cooper took a long drink of cider.
Anna couldn’t help but wonder what was in store for them this afternoon. It was never uneventful around Cooper’s daughters.
“Katie handles her pony well,” Anna told Cooper as the wagon rolled along the rutted road.
“I never said she couldn’t.” Humor glittered in his dark eyes and no small measure of pride. “I just would rather she pursued more safe activities like sewing.”
“Sewing is full of hidden dangers. Sharp needles. Pricked fingers. Cricks in the neck.” Anna laughed. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
“I’m afraid to hear it, but go ahead.” In front of the wagon, Davy and Katie led their ponies off the rutted lane. Cooper headed after them.
“How do you feel about tree houses?”
He cast her a sideways glance. “Tree houses?”
“You know, you take boards up into a tree and nail them together.”
“I’ve heard of it before.” Disapproval rang in his voice, but it wasn’t real disapproval. Humor hid beneath it, as if she surprised him. “You want me to build Maisie a tree house?”
“Yes. I think she would be safer with a nice sturdy platform to stand on, something with rails. I would feel better about Mandy being twenty feet off the ground.” Her voice rattled as the wagon rocked and jostled. The ground was uneven and rocky.
“It’s bouncy, Papa.”
“I noticed, Maisie.” He looked over his shoulder. “You girls hold on. I don’t need you pretending to be birds next, flying out of the wagon and onto the ground.”
“We ain’t birds, Papa. Really.” Maisie, still wearing her outlaw hat, shook her head.
Cooper’s laughing eyes met Anna’s. “After Corinthos is sa
fe in jail, I’ll have more time. I could start it then.”
“If you would allow me to get the lumber for you at the mill, I could build it.”
“You?” He crooked one brow. “No, I think I’d better do it. Constructing a building isn’t like making a quilt.”
“That’s right. Hammering is a manly art. Women should stay in the kitchen.” But she was laughing. “I know how to hammer, Cooper. I built Mandy her own playhouse back home.”
“You built a playhouse?”
“And it was square and plumb, too.”
“This I gotta see.” He halted the wagon, set the brake. “I’ll approve the lumber. But I will help you build it.”
“You don’t believe me.” She accepted the hand he offered and eased down onto the ground. “You just wait and see.”
“We want down, Papa!” Maisie held out both hands. “We gonna get lots of berries.”
“You’re going to eat lots of berries.” He lifted Maisie down. “I remember last time we went picking.”
“We ran into a bear then.” Katie knelt down to tether Bob to a wheel spoke. Davy did the same. “Hope we don’t run into no wild animals this time.”
“Don’t worry. I think we’re safe.” Cooper lifted Mandy gently to the ground. “You girls make so much noise, you’ve scared away half the bears in Montana Territory. They’re living up in Canada now.”
“Oh, Papa.” Katie grabbed buckets from the wagon. The patch of wild strawberries wasn’t far. Bees buzzed over fragrant blooms and birds scattered when they approached. Bright red berries glistened in the sunlight, sweet and plump.
Quiet Davy dropped to his knees and started picking. He had extracted a promise from his mother for a strawberry pie. Cooper tipped his hat brim low against the sun, crouched down by a plentiful patch and went right to work. Anna worked her way around the low branches of a thick fir. Strawberries grew on the sunny side, so fragrant, her mouth watered when she picked them.
“Hey, you’re stealing my berries, Maisie.” She caught the little scamp’s hand in her pail.
Maisie took a big bite of a berry.
“She always does that.” Katie rolled her eyes. “Maisie’s better at eatin’ than she is at pickin’.”
“It’s cuz I’m little.” Maisie explained.
“Come over here with me. There’s a patch right here. You and Mandy sit in the clover and you can eat everything you pick.” Anna tugged a low bough out of the way. Mandy and Maisie dashed into the hidden patch of berries, eager to eat all they could. A big cougar uncurled itself from its sunny nap.
Maisie screamed. Mandy shrieked. The mountain lion looked terrified. He snarled and then ran, crashing through the bushes, crying out as he went.
Cooper reholstered his drawn gun. “The poor cougar was just taking his nap and you girls terrified him.”
“Did we really scare him, Papa?”
“Didn’t you hear him roar?” Cooper reached out and hugged his daughter tight against his broad chest, clearly glad she was safe. “I bet he’s telling all the other cougars in the area, watch out for that outlaw Maisie. She sneaks up on a guy when he’s napping.”
“Oh, Papa.”
“He’s probably running for Canada right this minute. He’s going to go join the bears you scared off last berry-picking season.”
Anna’s heart had only just started to beat again. The girls were safe. And it was starting to be funny. Mandy was laughing, Katie was rolling her eyes. Davy looked completely puzzled.
“I’d best go check that there aren’t any more dangerous wildlife around.” Cooper winked, releasing his girl. He stood, all might and man. “I’ll be nght back.”
“Did you hear that cougar roar?” Maisie asked, eyes glittering.
There was no fear and Anna could already hear the story that could come from it, that would be told around the table that evening. Of the cougar that roared and how Maisie ate all the berries.
Lee Corinthos gritted his teeth against the pain in his shoulder. Damn that Flint Creek sheriff. “It’s my damn shooting arm,” he complained as he rolled a thin cigarette. “If I’m going to be in a gunfight, I gotta be able to use my best hand.”
“Then stay back and supervise.” Dusty reached for his well-oiled Colt and spun open its chamber. “We can’t let that marshal get his hands on our man Palmer. He musta been hurt pretty bad for them to wait this long to move him from that jail.”
Corinthos dragged deep, savoring the rich tobacco. “My plan stands. We take out the witness, the one who took the bullet to the chest. Then we set up an ambush in the pass. I want the chance to talk to our fine Sheriff Braddock.”
“Think our contact will come through?”
“He’d better. I pay him enough. Check on the men. Make sure their guns are loaded and they’ve got enough ammunition to take on an army.”
Corinthos blew out a ring of smoke and leaned back against the tree. Thunder boomed along the mountain peaks, echoing in the valleys. Dry lightning flashed against the low crest of the sky.
A storm brewed within him as well. It was time to bring the mighty sheriff to his knees.
Breakfast was a somber occasion. It was the day Cooper was leaving for four whole days. Anna had been doing extra work in the evenings for Janet, and had made arrangements to stay in the house with the girls.
Anna cleared the table as Cooper drew his daughters close to say his goodbyes. He didn’t need to tell her about the danger ahead. She was afraid for him, even knowing how competent he was, shoulders wide, guns strapped to his lean hips.
He stood from the table, all steely man. “You look troubled. Are you worried about staying with the girls so long?”
“No. I’m worried about you.” It was the truth, and personal. She shouldn’t have said it.
“This is my job. I’ve been facing this kind of trouble for a long time and lived to tell about it. I’ll be home, all in one piece. I promise.”
“I hope so, because your daughters need you.”
He laid his big hand against her jaw and tipped her head back. His lips hovered above hers, not touching, but hot and dazzling all the same. Every inch of her body responded.
The back door flew open. Cooper backed away from her.
Tucker burst into the room, all business. “We’ve got trouble. Meet me at the jail.”
Was it Corinthos? Did this signal more danger for Cooper? For her and Mandy?
She began shaving the bar of gray soap into the wash basin, but the sense of foreboding remained, cold and hard in her stomach.
“Damn.” Cooper rubbed his forehead, sick at what he’d seen. Campbell, who’d bravely helped him save Anna that day when Corinthos burst into the clinic, had been murdered.
“This means trouble.” Tucker led the way out of the room. “The outlaws are back on the move.”
Cooper squinted up at the sky through the front street window, the thunderheads already growing. A haze clung to the horizon, a fire from a lightning strike, no doubt. The storm last night had kept him awake. “Corinthos must be nearly recovered from that bullet wound I gave him. It’s lucky he can use his firing arm at all.”
“The badder they are, the harder they fall.”
“That’s the damn truth.” Cooper swiped the beaded sweat from his brow, then grabbed his hat. “Lemonds, thanks for letting us look.”
The undertaker fisted his hands. “Campbell was a dam good friend of mine. When is this crime against decent people gonna end? That’s what we pay you for. We want to be safe in our own homes.”
Cooper saw the grief in the man’s eyes. Campbell hadn’t wanted the deputy’s protection. He didn’t live in town. And he’d been killed in his cabin some time at night. When he hadn’t reported for his shift on the ranch, one of the hands came looking for him.
“Don’t let Lemonds’ words bother you,” Tucker said the instant they were out on the dusty street. “You’re doing a damn good job. Only a few of the stage runs have been hit on your watch. And the onl
y trouble in town was when Corinthos tried to take Anna from the clinic.”
“Still, one man’s life is too much.” Cooper clenched his teeth, grinding with fury. “That outlaw told me he’d be back. I suppose he thinks I’m going to look the other way, but I can’t. Anna’s next on his list.”
“You don’t know that.” Tucker stared off at the mountains where the gang roamed free.
“But I feel it. I want you to stay here and watch her. Take one of the deputies and rotate shifts.”
“Whatever you want, Coop.”
He’d failed once, and he knew the price. It would not happen again. He would keep her safe. He’d given her his word. “Let’s get the men mounted and ready. We’ve got a stage to defend.”
As he unlooped the reins and swung up on his stallion, he thought of Anna and the girls alone in that house. What would have happened if Corinthos’ men had targeted her or his family instead of Campbell?
He’d enjoyed her company yesterday. He had thought about her last night in the long hours when sleep would not come. He remembered that kiss, like a ghost on his lips, not quite tangible. He had been without a woman’s touch for a long time.
A cool wind blew from the north. He felt it brush his face, tangle his hair. He headed his palomino down the street, trying to run away from emotions he didn’t want to feel.
“I’ll be keepin’ an eye on you and the girls, ma’am,” Deputy Dickens said from the front porch. “Just in case. The sheriff ordered it.”
Even when he wasn’t here, he honored his vow to keep the girls—and Mandy—safe. Anna couldn’t help but admire the man. “I have some strawberry tarts leftover from yesterday. Would you like some?”
“I’d be mighty obliged, ma’am.” The young lawman grinned. “I haven’t had a woman’s cooking since I left home. Want some help with those boards?”
“No, thanks. I’ve got it under control.” Anna leaned each board up against the thick tree trunk. “Katie, did you find your father’s hammer?”