managed to mumble.
“Well, he's no kin of my side of the family. I'd have remembered someone with that much hair. With the wind blowing, I thought he was a walking willow come to call. So, if he's not your brother, or from your wife's kin, why do the girls call him ‘uncle’?”
Daniel forced the words out slowly. “He's my brother Adam's wife's older brother.”
“Oh.” Karlee nodded as if his words explained everything. “I guess that's why he never shaves and lurks about the back door after dark. Being a brother to your brother's wife must be a trying job with no time to visit a barber or learn manners.”
Daniel looked at her then. Her face was front-row serious, but her bright green eyes danced with mischief. He wasn't sure if she were attempting to tease him, or a concentration of the “odd” traits had cursed her double in a family where everyone was half-off. He used to tell his wife that he'd definitely got the “pick of the litter.” This wife's cousin seemed more likely the “bottom of the barrel.”
Lifting a bucket from below the pump, Daniel moved across the room, thinking he'd tell her as soon as there was time that he had no sense of humor left. It was buried with May. If… if he ever had a moment's peace with this redhead shadowing his every step.
He splashed first a little, then all of the water over the huge man on the floor.
Wolf jerked and roared loudly. He scrabbled from the waterfall, then shook his head like a wet dog and looked around for answers.
The twins giggled at him, then darted beneath their blanket tent.
Karlee slowly moved the frying pan behind her skirt and stayed well protected at Daniel's back.
“What happened?” Wolf asked as he took Daniel's offered hand.
“You just met my wife's cousin. She's used to folks who knock.” Daniel glanced at Karlee. “Miss Whitworth, I'd like you to meet Wolf Hayward. He's a friend and the best Ranger Texas ever had.”
Wolf took a wide swipe of his hand over his shoulder-length hair and full beard before making a deep bow and erasing any improvements he might have made in grooming. “Thank you for not killing me, Miss Whitworth. You are right, a man oughta knock before poking his head in a home. I'd been drinking some tonight, I must confess. You sobered me right up.”
The Southern drawl to his voice made Karlee smile as he continued, “My mother always said drinking would lead a man down the path to Hell, but I swear when you hit me I saw the Pearly Gates of Heaven there for a minute. You may have given me the only glimpse I'll have. For, unlike the reverend here, I'm not a peace-loving man.”
Karlee laughed. She'd expected anger, or maybe even an attempt at reprisal, but not appreciation.
Wolf pointed to the twins playing beneath the blanket. “Did you come to help out with the wee wild ones?”
Karlee stared at Daniel. “We haven't had time to talk about it, but if the reverend will allow me, I'd like to help. I haven't been around children much for the past few years, but I'm sure I could learn.”
Daniel started shaking his head before words could come out. “I don't think so. I can manage fine without assistance.” He'd look somewhere else for help. He didn't need Karlee scrambling up his household. He was a man who lived with order. He doubted she'd ever heard of the word or its meaning.
Wolf looked at Daniel as if he'd been the one whacked with the skillet. “Now, Danny boy, wait just a minute. With Willow married and in a family way, she don't have the time or the energy to chase after them two. You've got your hands full with this town. You can't cook and clean and take care of them while you're trying to settle things with a town full of men used to fighting. There ain't enough hours in the day.”
Wolf glanced at Karlee and winked, obviously considering himself a great orator. “I've been in the McLain family a long time, since before the twins were born. Danny's smart with books and strong as an ox, but he don't take to change well. That's one of the reasons I had to sign on as the third big brother, the kid needs a lot of looking after.”
“I do not.” Daniel frowned. “And I think I'm a bit old to be referred to as ‘the kid.’ ” Wolf was more irritating than Wes or Adam. At least they'd been born to the big brother role. Wolf had adopted it and, like every role he'd played as a spy in the war, he played this one well.
Wolf walked across the room as though pacing off the space between his thoughts. When he returned to the same spot, he looked past Daniel straight to Karlee. “Miss Whitworth, do you suppose you could use that skillet to make up another batch of pancakes? I haven't had food worth eating in a week.”
Karlee nodded and went to work. Daniel groaned, thinking it was almost too obvious what Wolf was planning. But a few home cooked meals wouldn't change his mind. He'd seen enough of the spinster to know she didn't belong here. He wanted an older woman who'd cook and clean and take care of the twins… and stay out of his way.
An hour later Wolf finished off his plate. He tried to smile his thanks, but Daniel knew he'd have to wait another day for any “food worth eating.” Somehow she'd managed to make a dozen pancakes without any of them cooking up round. Two had been stuck together in the flipping, and Daniel had almost laughed aloud when Wolf pushed his fork into the pair and batter oozed out around his plate.
Several of her creations had jumped skillet into the fire. They were now burning on the coals, generating a smoky, sweet smell throughout the kitchen. He thought the odor blended nicely with the smell of burned coffee beans caused when she'd returned an empty pot to the fire by mistake.
“I could cook up another plate,” Karlee offered as she removed the empty one from beneath Wolf's nose.
“No, thanks,” Wolf forced down the last bite. He had his cup halfway to his lips, before he reconsidered and sat it back down. “I couldn't eat another one or take another swallow of your coffee if there was a gun at my head.”
Daniel stood suddenly and stormed from the room.
Karlee and Wolf stared at one another, then watched the door leading to the rest of the house as if he'd return momentarily. But Daniel's footsteps sounded on the stairs. A door closed somewhere on the second floor with a slam.
Wolf frowned and Karlee felt her hopes sink. Daniel didn't want her here. He'd probably pay to send her back to the aunts when he discovered she'd arrived penniless. After the meal she'd fed Wolf, the hairy man would no longer be on her side. They'd likely take up a collection to have her on the first boat so there would be no chance she'd cook breakfast.
Karlee forced herself to face Wolf. The least she could do was thank him; he'd given her a chance, which was more than the reverend had done. “I…”
Wolf's raised hand stopped her. When he moved his finger to his lips, she heard a strange sound. Low, rumbling, like thunder trapped in a faraway canyon.
The eerie sound continued, growing louder.
“What is it?” Karlee whispered.
Wolf smiled as the sound rattled from above. “It's laughter,” he whispered. “Laughter from a man who hasn't laughed in far too long.”
The hairy man winked at Karlee. “You're staying, Cousin Karlee,” he mumbled. “If you're still willing. I think you might just be the medicine this family's been waiting for.”
“I'm willing,” she answered, wondering if she might be wiser to think about it for a while. This was unlike any household she'd ever been in. Guns behind sliding doors, drunks arriving unannounced, a Ranger who thought of the place as home.
But one thing seemed blended in the very air here… adventure. To Karlee, who'd spent the past few years taking care of aging aunts, the desire to breathe deep overwhelmed her.
An hour later the twins were tucked into bed and the kitchen was clean of all but the smells. Daniel had returned and talked to Wolf, but he hadn't said a word to Karlee. By the time the men left, she was starting to believe she was invisible.
She'd been a fool to hope, she thought. A fool to dream that this place would be where she'd stay for a while. When would she learn that all places were temporary?
She moved out the back door and welcomed the darkness of the moonless night. When she'd been a child, she really believed that she could stand in a room full of people and be unseen. After her parents died, she moved from relative to relative. A few, she soon realized, never took the time to learn her name, but simply counted the days
