In the light of a pale half-moon, he could see her throat work as she struggled with the possibility that she had judged him unfairly. It was clear she didn’t have an answer for him, and just as clear that she didn’t like that about herself.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said in the same coaxing tone he’d use to gentle a wild horse. “You get to know me. Spend time with me. If you still think I’m a scoundrel and a thief, I’ll walk away and not bother you about the land again. If I prove otherwise, you’ll sell the ranch to me and get on with that traveling you’ve always dreamed about.”
“I can’t,” she said, her voice a little breathless.
“Why not? Don’t you trust your own judgment?”
“Of course, but—”
“It’s a fair deal, Karen. You know it is.”
“I still can’t do it,” she said.
She said it flatly, but Grady thought there was a slightly wistful note in her voice for the first time.
“Suit yourself. I’ll just come up with some other way to go about this,” he said with an indifferent shrug, and started to walk away. He didn’t get far.
“This experiment of yours,” she called after him, sounding resigned. “How long would it last and what would it entail?”
He turned back to face her. “As long as it takes and whatever’s necessary.”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. It’ll only work if there are rules and we both agree to them.”
“Okay, then,” he relented. “A month and we’ll only share a few meals, a little conversation. Nothing more. What’s the harm in that? We got through dinner last night without the world coming to an end, didn’t we?”
“I suppose.”
“So, what do you say? Is it a deal?”
“Two weeks,” she countered, her defiant gaze locked with his.
“Two weeks,” he agreed, seizing it. He bit back his desire to utter a whoop of triumph. “Lunch and dinner.”
“You’ll be satisfied with that?” she asked, gaze narrowed as she studied him. “Whatever my decision at the end of two weeks, you’ll live with it? You’ll accept it if I say you haven’t convinced me of anything?”
“That’s the agreement.”
She held out her hand. Grady clasped it, felt her tremble, and knew he’d just made the smartest deal of his life.
As he walked away, he murmured under his breath, “Two weeks is a start, darlin’. That’s a real good start.”
CHAPTER 5
What had she done? Karen rested her head on her arms and groaned as she considered Grady’s trap and the way she’d neatly stepped into it with virtually no hesitation at all. She had invited the enemy into the camp and promised to break bread with him. She had to be out of her mind.
But somehow, in the quiet stillness of the night, she hadn’t been able to resist what he was offering—a chance to end this battle once and for all.
More, it was a chance to unravel a puzzle that was increasingly complex. Why she cared so much about that didn’t bear thinking about. She feared it went beyond fair play, beyond curiosity. In fact, she had a terrible sense that it had to do with a yearning that had started in the pit of her stomach and hadn’t let up since the day he’d appeared in her kitchen.
It could be as simple as a yearning for companionship, something she’d missed desperately in the weeks and months since Caleb’s death. A worrisome voice in the back of her mind told her it was something more, something specific to Grady, the allure of the forbidden.
She hadn’t been the rule-breaker all those years ago. That had been Cassie. But, oh, how Karen had longed to be just like her, to shake things up, defy convention. Spending time with Grady would certainly qualify. There would be talk. Her in-laws were likely to be outraged. Deep down, even she disapproved of the choice she had made.
But it was done now. She couldn’t go back on her word. It was only a few meals, she reminded herself. How difficult could that be? How much trouble could she get into by spending an occasional hour in Grady’s company?
* * *
She found out when lunch turned out to be a daily ritual and dinner slipped into the schedule six nights out of seven. By the end of the first week of their agreement, she’d almost grown comfortable having Grady around. She’d almost forgotten why he was there. The wicked danger of it all faded when he continued to behave like a perfect gentleman.
Then came the Saturday night that snow started falling while they were sharing a meal of beef stew and homemade bread. Karen wasn’t aware that the weather had changed outside as Grady beguiled her with stories of his grandfather.
As the tales unfolded, it became evident that Thomas Blackhawk was an amazing man, one who fought to preserve his Native American heritage while getting along quite well in a white man’s world. He was mayor of his town in the northwest part of the state and there was some talk that he might run for a position as delegate from the region to the state legislature.
“The first time I ever saw him dressed in a suit and tie, I couldn’t believe it was him,” Grady said, his eyes twinkling. “I’d seen him most often in jeans and flannel, but there he was speaking to a crowd at a town meeting, wearing this fancy black suit, his lined face filled with pride. It was quite a transformation. When I commented on it afterward, do you know what he said?”
“What?” Karen asked, fascinated.
“That all the fancy clothes in the world couldn’t make a man respect you. It was actions that did that.”
“You love him a lot, don’t you?”
“It’s more than that,” Grady said. “I love him and I admire him. He lives a very simple life in the middle of nowhere, in a house he built
