Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range by Danica Favorite (summer beach reads txt) 📕

a mess for both of us.” In truth, she hadn’t stopped remembering that kiss and doubted she ever would.

“Perhaps it was something that needed stirring.” His confident voice conflicted with the turmoil she saw in his eyes.

Unsettled, she shook her head. “That is unlikely. Romance is not what will make me happy, Lou. I don’t need a man’s kisses or even his love. God has given me so much—” She stopped because his brows lowered and, in the darkness, it almost seemed as though his eyes flashed.

“So no marriage in your future? You think you can live without baking for anyone ever again?”

“If I open a restaurant, I shall bake for many,” she inserted, trying to follow the train of his thoughts, why he’d jumped to marriage.

“And do you deny the way you felt caring for—for Josie?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Well, you need a husband to have a family.”

She whipped back as though he’d slapped her. “Perhaps I’d have someone to take care of if you’d looked into Josie’s family a little more. You know something is wrong. Someone in that family is dangerous. Don’t you care?” A surprising boldness took hold of her and she stepped right up to him, nose to chest due to her shortness, but it would have to do. He’d see her eyes and realize she wanted answers.

“Tell me, why do you avoid children? Why do you run from the ranch as often as you can?” A thought occurred to her as the realization of a pattern emerged. “And your stays at the ranch... You’ve always cut them short after we spent time together in the evenings. What are you afraid of?”

His glare deepened and he took her arms in his hands, pulling her closer than she’d ever been to him, save for that kiss.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, woman.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying. You’re afraid—”

“No,” he hissed. His grip tightened. “That’s enough. No more.”

“Then tell me,” she pleaded. When he tried to look away, she cupped his face and forced him to look down at her. “Help me understand why you dropped Josie with her mother like a hot ember in your hand. Does it hurt so much?”

She saw it now, the pain that tightened his mouth and crowded his eyes.

His throat moved, and then his head was resting in the crook of her neck. He groaned, and the sound caused hairs to stand on her skin. He let her go. She stumbled back, rubbing at her arms where his hands had clenched her.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he said at last. His gaze lifted. She stifled her gasp at the rawness of his expression. “It burns. It’s a searing ache that never leaves.”

Yes, she knew that kind of pain. “It can heal, if you let it.”

“How, with God?” That broken laugh of his echoed off the sidewalk. “Don’t you see? God did this to me. He killed my wife and Abby.”

Lou shoved his hands through his hair again, wishing he could wipe away the pain as easily. Mary’s eyes were shiny and he couldn’t tell if tears glistened or if the lamplight played tricks. He wanted to say something, but his throat hurt with the strain of containing his emotions.

Groaning, he pivoted and started back for the hotel. She walked quietly beside him. Every so often a hint of her perfume teased him. He could feel the questions burning in her. She expected an explanation. Who is Abby? You were married?

As though his thoughts had been spoken, she said, “You do not have to explain anything to me, but if you ever feel the need to speak of this again, I will be here.”

“Thank you,” he managed to say. At least his vocal cords had shrugged off their temporary paralysis. He held the door to the hotel for her and she glided inside.

Near the stairs, she stopped. “Thank you for dinner.”

He inclined his head, glad the rush of pain had drained away. “You’re welcome.”

“Are there specific plans for tomorrow?”

“Yeah, about that.” He tapped the railing of the stairs. “An agent will pick you up at your room at nine o’clock and escort you back to Burns.”

“I see.”

“Don’t give me that look, Mary.”

“What look?” But the obstinate disapproval on her face didn’t change. Or was it hurt?

He couldn’t tell, and the gut-spilling earlier had exhausted him. “Just be ready. Your breakfast and room will be taken care of.”

Her gaze lifted and she searched his face. “Will I ever see you again?”

“Sure. I’ve got to come back and handle this sale. I want to see you and James safely settled and—”

Her lips made a funny movement, as though she was holding back a smile.

“What?” he asked.

“I was just remembering how Miss Alma chased him out of the store. If she has her way, I believe James shall be quite all right.” Her smile lit up her face and unexpectedly, Lou felt the strangest wish that Mary would chase him into the road, too.

He shook his head. Focus. She wasn’t in the plans. Not even close. “James doesn’t know what hit him,” he said lightly. “I don’t think he’s ever settled down with a woman, and she seems pretty determined to snag him.”

He grunted. This conversation opened old wounds and he didn’t plan to let it continue. “Like I was saying, I’ve got to get things settled. I’ll be back.”

She bit her lip, studying him intently. Then her gaze skittered away.

He touched her arm. “Until next time, then?”

“Yes,” she said, backing away. The dress she wore glittered with her movements, and the attraction he tried to hold at bay surged again.

“Goodbye,” he said.

“Goodbye,” she answered.

And then she was gone, moving through the late-night guests, up the stairs and disappearing around the corner. Sighing, he settled at the side of the wall and waited.

He had work to do. All this internal caterwauling over the past, Josie, that kiss... It made a man’s head spin. He remembered Trevor getting all worked up over Gracie. They’d lived at the ranch