Jordan hid a grin. Obviously his whole family had been taken in by this little con artist. “Did you manage to pawn one off on Cody?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. He said he’d take the two that look like twins. They’re black with little white noses.”
“Two, huh? You must have been very persuasive.”
“Not me,” she said modestly. “It was the kittens. I told you they’re really, really cute. I think you’re going to change your mind.”
“I don’t think so, but we can take a look after we help your mom.”
“Okay,” she agreed, and ran off, her tiny feet thundering up the stairs.
Jordan shook his head. Maybe kids weren’t so mysterious, after all. Maybe, like grown-ups, they just wanted someone to listen and take them seriously. More or less the way he wanted Kelly to take him seriously. Though she hadn’t exactly laughed in his face, she didn’t seem to think anything he had to say on the subject of marriage was worth listening to. He had to come up with some way to change that before this unexpected desire he’d begun feeling for her drove him out of his mind.
Before he could come up with a new twist on what already seemed like an old theme, Dani raced back down the stairs.
“Let’s go.”
“Do you know exactly where your mom’s working?” he asked, wondering a bit at Kelly’s willingness to leave Dani all alone.
“Sure. She’s right behind the barn.”
About a hundred yards away, more or less, easily within shouting distance. Which meant, Jordan thought dryly, she had definitely seen or at least heard him arrive. Which also meant she was deliberately avoiding him, he concluded with an odd sense of triumph. Kelly only hid out when she was uncertain. Her resolve must be wavering.
With Dani leading the way, they circled around the barn. He spotted Kelly less than a hundred yards along the fence line, the sunlight glistening off her hair. Despite the heat, she was wearing a long-sleeved blouse, jeans and heavy gloves to protect herself from the barbed wire. Even so, as they approached, he could see a rip in one sleeve and a tiny nick on her flushed cheek.
An irrational surge of anger boiled up inside him, followed rapidly by a tide of protectiveness. She shouldn’t be doing this. Even if she insisted on ranching, she should have a foreman and half a dozen hands to deal with the heavy labor. He knew in his gut, though, that she wouldn’t thank him for suggesting that. With that damned pride of hers, she wanted to do it all herself. It was as much a matter of principle with her as it was a financial necessity.
“Hi, Mommy,” Dani shouted, running ahead. “Jordan’s here to help.”
Kelly’s head snapped up at the sound of her daughter’s voice, then her gaze sought his. He could see the dark circles under her eyes and knew at once that he was responsible. Oddly, though, he didn’t feel the same sense of triumph he’d felt earlier when he’d suspected she might have spent the same sort of restless night he had. This was the reality. She looked exhausted. And on a ranch, people who were exhausted could make dangerous mistakes, as he knew only too well. A careless mistake was what had cost them his brother Erik, when his tractor had overturned at Luke’s.
“Damn,” he muttered under his breath. He should never have let this happen.
He approached her slowly, then hunkered down next to her. He touched a finger to the torn sleeve, but his gaze went at once to her cheek. The nick there was as tiny as he’d first suspected, but it had bled. “You should clean that out.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, avoiding his gaze. “I’m up-to-date on my tetanus shots. I’ll wash it out and put some peroxide on it when I go inside. What are you doing here?”
“I told you I’d be back to help with the fences.”
“It’s not necessary.”
“A promise is a promise.” He stood and slid his hands into the pockets of an old pair of jeans he hadn’t worn in years and rocked back on his heels.
She fell silent and, for the life of him, Jordan couldn’t think of another thing to say, either. He wondered why after years of having so much to talk about, they were suddenly so awkward with each other. The quiet serenity he’d come to count on had vanished. If it was lost forever, he had no one to blame but himself. He’d tried to change things between them and in doing so had cost himself the one thing that had mattered most—Kelly’s friendship.
With Dani assigned to walk along the fence line to look for additional breaks, Jordan was left alone with Kelly.
“Get much sleep last night?” he asked eventually.
“Enough,” she replied tightly, concentrating on her struggle to stretch the next length of wire taut.
Jordan leaned down to help her. “Doesn’t look that way to me,” he observed.
She scowled at him. “Thank you.”
He grinned at the testy note. “Not that you’re not always beautiful,” he told her.
She glanced up, her face just inches under his. The nearness was too tempting for Jordan to resist. He dropped a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
“Jordan!” she warned, casting a harried look in Dani’s direction.
“She might as well get used to it,” he said. “The same goes for you.”
“Not now,” she snapped impatiently, jerking on the wire. She lost her grip and the line snapped back, snagging her sleeve. She muttered a colorful expletive under her breath as Jordan reached for her hand.
“Let me see.”
“No. It’s nothing.”
He chuckled, suddenly recalling how often she had reacted just that way to any hint of sympathy whenever she’d taken a spill from a horse or scraped her knees when they were up to their childhood pranks.
“You never did want anyone fussing over you,” he said, capturing her hand despite her attempts to avoid his grasp. He couldn’t feel the warmth of her skin or its
