Cowboy Cavalry. Alice Sharpe

up the downstairs room...”

      “No, thank you,” she said firmly, her grip on her pack growing tighter. “I’ve got this.”

      He held up both hands and laughed.

      “Sorry,” she said and smothered a yawn. “It’s been a long day.”

      “Of course,” his father said. “Frankie, get our guest settled. I’m off to bed. I know you have your hands full,” he added, “but I was hoping you’d have time to help me tomorrow morning. Pike and Chance rode out yesterday to the high pastures to check things out and they called to report seeing one of the mares with a brand-new foal. Not sure how she slipped by us, but I’d appreciate your bringing her and the baby closer to the ranch. They’re out near Bywater, somewhere around Ten Cent Creek.”

      “No problem,” Frankie said. He turned his attention to Kate and added, “Would you like to come along?”

      “No thanks,” she said quickly.

      “Saving your riding legs for the ghost town and the...hanging tree?”

      “It’ll give me a chance to sleep in,” she said after a moment.

      He gave her a double take. All this woman did was sleep. Was she ill?

      Harry Hastings wandered out of the kitchen and Frankie, careful not to even glance at Kate’s backpack, led her down the hall to the open door of a modest room with twin beds.

      “Is there anything else I can get you?” he asked.

      “No, everything looks very nice.”

      He nodded as he gazed down in her eyes. He could not shake the feeling something was wrong or deny his desire to try to get her to open up.

      “See you tomorrow,” she said, still holding on to her pack.

      “It shouldn’t take me long,” he said. “I’ll be back before noon.”

      “Noon,” she repeated as though committing it to memory.

      “Yes. Well, good night,” he said, and damn if he didn’t feel a pull toward touching her lips with his and double damn if she didn’t seem to broadcast the hope he would do just that.

      They both stepped back at the same time. As he walked down the short hallway back to the kitchen, he heard the door close and the lock click behind him.

      He’d never been around a woman who sent so many mixed messages. In her unguarded moments, he liked her—she was amusing and interesting and so beautiful it was hard not to stare at her. That hair! Like gold, smooth and long and framing a perfect oval face. But when she got tense, whoa, back off. She’d all but bitten his father’s head off. Why?

      Was it just nerves at finding herself in what she considered the enemy camp? His dad could be formidable. Maybe that’s all it was.

      Or maybe it was something else....

      * * *

      AFTER A RESTLESS NIGHT, Kate found that her window looked out over the ranch yard affording a decent view of Frankie leaving the house and crossing to a picture-perfect barn. It was the first time she’d really had a chance to watch him from a distance.

      He wasn’t nearly as burly as Luke but easily twice as striking. Luke had had a gentle nature to go along with his brute strength. She put him out of her mind, determined to stay strong.

      Frankie came out of the barn a little later leading a saddled horse. He walked it over to a horse trailer attached to a big white truck. Once the horse was tucked safely inside, he drove the rig out of the yard. She knew little of how ranches operated, but she had to assume he was driving to a certain point and then riding the rest of the way on horseback.

      A pang of desire hit her hard. How desperately did she want to be in that truck with Frankie, free to go looking for a horse and her baby? Who didn’t love a baby horse? Free to do ordinary things, free to just be herself. The pang was immediately followed by shame. She spent the next fifteen minutes braiding her shower-damp hair and dressing, then strapped on her backpack and left her room.

      A pleasant-looking woman of about fifty turned as Kate walked into the kitchen. Kate had assumed no one else was awake and so she was caught off guard and stumbled to a halting stop. But this was good. She’d been worried about taking a horse without asking and this way she wouldn’t have to do that.

      “Harry had to leave. Some trouble with the dang water pump. I’m Grace, Harry’s wife. I assume you’re Kate?”

      “Yes,” Kate said, shaking the woman’s hand.

      “Sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived,” Grace continued. “My daughter had a few twinges.”

      “I thought it was Frankie’s brother having the baby,” she said.

      “That’s right, but Gerard is married to my daughter.” She laughed. “It’s a long story. Get Frankie to tell it to you.” She poured a mug from the coffeepot and set it on the counter in front of Kate. “I heard you were going to sleep in today. Frankie left a bit ago. I’m afraid you missed him.”

      “I just couldn’t sleep anymore,” Kate said, which was the truth. She looked at the cup of coffee, debating whether to be polite and take a sip or admit she didn’t drink the stuff. Politeness won, but one taste later, she put down the cup. Her face must have reflected what she’d tasted because Grace winced.

      “I brew it strong for this crew. I’ll make a new pot—”

      “No, that’s okay. It’s such a lovely morning. Would you mind if I borrowed a horse? I spent my teenage summers working at a dude ranch so I’m comfortable with animals.”

      “That’s a grand idea. There’s a red mare out in the barn that Pike’s girlfriend, Sierra, adores.”

      “That sounds great. Thanks.”

      “You’re welcome.” She paused for a second before adding, “If you’re riding out to the ghost town, you’ll need directions or you’ll get lost. And listen, dear, don’t feel embarrassed about wanting to come here and get a feel for things. I think your concern for your forefathers’ reputations is admirable.”

      “Thank you,” Kate said, uncomfortable with the unwarranted praise this kind woman gave so generously. “For now, I’ll just stay by the river. That way I can’t get lost.”

      As if she wasn’t already...