LITMIR.BIZ

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want to respect him, but she couldn’t help it. “Aren’t you going to tell me?”

      “I could, but it would make a better story over dinner. Maybe Friday next week?” Although she couldn’t see more than a hint of his silhouette, she knew he was smiling. She just knew it.

      “Will you ever stop?” She was not about to fall victim to his charm.

      “Not until you say yes.” The thing is, he didn’t sound charming in that flattering way insincere men did. Without her prior assumptions about him, he came across as an honest, solid guy. He lowered his voice a note and drew his horse closer. “Here’s a warning. I can be persistent.”

      “Then I would be smart to keep you at arm’s length, wouldn’t I?” Tempting not to. Very tempting.

      “Then that’s a no go for Friday? I could make it Saturday night if that’s better for you.”

      “Awfully confident, aren’t you, city boy?”

      “I can sense you weakening.”

      Strange, because she could sense it, too. Without her eyes to deceive her, she saw more of him in the dark than she’d witnessed in broad daylight. He rode bareback like a pro. He hadn’t once commented on how unladylike it was to pack a Winchester and track rustlers.

      Careful, Autumn, or you’ll start liking him, and you know where that leads. She rubbed her hands to keep them warm. Her insulated gloves were not doing their job, which meant the temp was falling fast.

      “Well? Can I pencil you in for Saturday dinner?”

      “That’s the night before my brother’s wedding.” She was surprised at the hint of regret she heard in her words, and more surprised at the twist of regret she felt.

      “Wedding, huh? Do you need a date for that?”

      “You are persistent.” She was rolling on the floor laughing, or she would be if the ground wasn’t covered in wet, icy stuff. His laughter joined hers rising on the wind, and her heart lightened. Yes, it was very tempting to like the man, but did she dare?

      “I’m a fair shot because I did time on SWAT and a hitch in the army out of high school.” His voice changed, grew richer and deeper as if with memories both good and difficult. She would have given anything to be able to see his face, to read the emotions revealed there.

      “You were in the army?” She couldn’t say why that came as a surprise to her. Maybe because from the moment they’d met she had wanted to keep him at a distance.

      “I learned to shoot on my granddad’s property in Kentucky.”

      “Kentucky?” As in horses?

      “He was a trainer, but he kept his own stable. It’s where I learned to ride.”

      She had leaped to far too many conclusions. A small twist of shame spread through her, something that not even the bitter cold could dull. “And when you and your grandfather would sit and read Westerns together, it was in Kentucky?”

      “Technically in his house in Kentucky.”

      Impossible to miss the amusement in his voice. Embarrassment flooded her. “You didn’t know anything about cattle. What was I to think?”

      “You were relying on what you knew of me. I’m sure Tim, the mayor, had no problem telling everyone I was from a big city.”

      “It caused a big ruckus at the town meeting, since all the ranchers on this end of the county showed up demanding the council hire someone sympathetic to our needs. I was in that room, so I know.” She remembered how outraged several ranchers had felt when the new hire had been announced. “My dad said we ought to give you a chance, and I can see he was right. I guess I expected someone much different from you.”

      “And you can admit you were wrong about me?”

      “It appears I’m going to have to.” They crested a hill, and the wind picked up, whipping with a frenzy and driving ice through her clothes. Ford’s phone rang. For a moment there she’d forgotten they weren’t alone.

      Chapter Five

      His call done, Ford flipped his phone shut and jammed it into his pocket. He could have used some good news since he was frozen. Even his bone marrow was officially iced over. When he’d been cozied up in his old apartment near Chicago’s Chinatown considering a change, being a small-town sheriff sounded nice. Friendly. Warm. Especially since he’d interviewed in September when the temperatures had hovered in the high seventies.

      He was glad it would be exciting, too. Nothing like chasing cattle rustlers to liven up things. Might as well start his new career off with a bang. It had a huge perk, too. Maybe lovely Autumn Granger was looking at him with a new perspective.

      “Sheriff Benton said they lost the trucks. Because of the storm, they had to put down.” He hated to have to deliver the news.

      “I’m thankful no one was seriously hurt this time.”

      He heard that catch in her voice, the grip of emotion she probably thought she could hide. “This time?”

      “We’ve had rustlers before. Didn’t the mayor fill you in?”

      “He mentioned a little trouble now and then.” Now that he was clued in on the definition of trouble in these parts, it all made sense. Trouble at the Green Ranch last spring, a few incidences of it through the year. First thing Monday morning he would be in the office going over old files. “What happened?”

      “My dad.” Her voice wobbled, betraying her. He didn’t have to ask to know it had been a serious hit. He waited for her to clear the emotion from her throat, wanting the rest of the story.

      “He was in the ICU for six weeks. For the first two we didn’t know if he would live or die. I stayed at the hospital with him, and I can’t tell you how terrifying it was to wait through every minute of those two weeks praying he would survive.” She took a shaky breath, batted snow from her face and turned her horse cross-ways into the wind. “Come to think of it, I shouldn’t have let him come out tonight. Next time I’ll remember to hogtie him in the kitchen.”

      He heard a tad of humor in her words and a daughter’s love. “You wouldn’t do it, and he wouldn’t want you to.”

      “True. Plus, he’s a good shot. He brought down the helicopter, so it’s good I allowed him out of the house.”

      “Something tells me you know how to use that rifle you’re carrying. You’re just as good a shot.”

      “Sure, because my dad taught me.” More warmth and way too much affection to measure. A shadow rose out of the storm—the roofline of a stable. She dismounted clumsily, a little frostbitten. “This probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but I was a tomboy. I loved being outdoors with my dad riding horses, mending fences, feeding the cows.”

      Daddy’s girl. It was easy to picture her trailing after Granger, her red hair up in pigtails, riding the fields and hills just as she’d ridden them tonight. He tried dismounting and found that his right leg didn’t want to move. After some encouragement he managed to swing it over the horse’s rump and land on the ground, not that he could exactly feel his feet.

      “You’ll thaw,” she informed him breezily as she whistled and the horses followed her. Light and warmth beckoned through the fierce storm. When he closed the stable door behind them, he discovered he couldn’t feel his hands as well as he’d thought. The Lord was busy in this world full of strife, but Ford really didn’t want to lose a finger. It was his fault he didn’t have a better pair of gloves with him. A mistake he would not make again. He peeled off his mittens and blew out a sigh of relief. Pink skin, not white.

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