Trace smiled. “It’s got one other way out. I tossed up a gate right quick, here and on the other end, and slick as that I had started in the ranching business.”
He leaned his arms across the top railing and enjoyed the clouds skimming by overhead, hiding and revealing the moon. Then he asked the question he really didn’t want to know the answer to. “What made you ask me to come out here?”
Deb rested her arms on the gate and, because she was shorter, it was the perfect height for her to rest her chin. “What made you say ‘if’?”
“If? What?” He couldn’t remember.
“You said, ‘If Deb, Gwen, and the youngsters leave, I’m not going to want to live in this house by myself.’ Are you thinking we might stay?” She turned to face him. “Is it something that’s . . . well, you didn’t say it as if you were dreading it.”
Oh, yep, he remembered that. Trace looked down at her. “I reckon it was my own hope talking when I said if. We had a moment together when I was giving you the tour of the new house. A moment when I came close to . . . to kissing you.”
Deb’s eyes dropped, and even in the dark he saw a blush on her cheeks. She remembered that just fine.
“Yes, you did,” she said.
“And since then I’ve had it in my head more than once.” He reached out for her hands. She took them and held on tight. “That we might . . . might spend this winter seeing if we suit each other. What I said to my men about living alone, I’ve been mighty lonely for a long old time. Adam’s who I hired first, and I’d been here alone for years. I hired Utah just a couple of months ago for the cattle drive. My hired men have made my life better. And then you came along. Are you helping because of the simple knowledge that we need help, or is there more? Could there be more?”
Deb’s heart pounded until she felt it in her ears. She certainly hoped he couldn’t hear it!
She swallowed. Then, because her throat was still bone-dry, she swallowed again. He looked at their clasped hands, very bold. She’d never held a man’s hand before, not really, and certainly never kissed one. Truth be told, it wasn’t that she was so upright and moral—something she might have believed once. Now she knew she’d never wanted to do such a thing. No man had ever compelled her this way.
“I’ve given very little time to thinking about marriage. For the last few years, since my mother died, I’ve been running the newspaper, and that’s long hours that never let up. As soon as one newspaper gets printed and spread around, I’m right back to work on the next edition.”
His fingers tightened on hers. “A hard job for a woman.”
That irked her a little. “It’s a hard job for anyone.”
“It sure as certain is.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “I haven’t been around women much, so if I say something that hurts you, I swear it’s out of clumsiness. I might be saying rude things to everyone I meet, my hired men, the folks in the general store in Dismal. I had a . . . a rough spell when I was left out here, and whatever civilized manners I had, and living mostly alone with Pa, I’m sure they were mighty scarce . . . well, I lost them.”
“It’s not you, Trace. Not exactly, anyway. I’m just so tired of working so hard for my pa and for the men of businesses who bought ads from my paper, and getting no respect from them. I’m a little sensitive on the subject.”
“Sensitive?”
“Okay, I want to crack someone over the head.”
Trace laughed. “That’s a little more than sensitive.”
She scowled at him, but there was a twinkle in his eye and it lifted her spirits. “I’ll try to be less sensitive—also less furious—at least to you.”
“I hope you can, because I have nothing but respect for the strong and steady hand it took to run that newspaper every day. And I’m so blessed by all the help you’ve given me, all while caring for two children. I can see how you try to lift burdens off Gwen’s shoulders.”
“She does the same for me.”
“You are wonderful, loyal sisters. You’re never alone so long as you have her.”
It was almost impossible to resist Trace’s kindness; she’d had so little of it from a man. But how did she dare go from service to her father to another man who, she sadly feared, was interested in her mainly because she could cook and he was lonely?
“Trace, thank you so much for saying such kind things to me. I am sure we will spend the winter getting to know each other better, but I want you to think about a question I have. Are you really interested in me? Or are you interested in any woman’s company?”
Frowning, Trace said, “I’m not planning to wait until you say no and then toss the idea at Gwen, if that’s what you mean. I never gave a moment’s thought to a woman before I met you.” A light blush appeared on Trace’s cheeks. “Well, I mean, sure I’ve given women a few thoughts, but never a specific woman—not until you. Gwen is a wonderful woman, but something in you . . .” His blush deepened and he shrugged.
For a time Deb didn’t think he’d go on. “Something in you draws me. I suppose that sounds stupid, but it’s true. It’s you I want to take walks with. It’s you I want to talk to. I know we’ll get to know each other over the winter, so you can just forget what I said about thinking of me in a special way.”
She seriously doubted she could.
“We’ll just let things—” he stopped, swallowed
