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

moving with the sound of her giggles as she spun through the flowers, around and around, a purple bloom clutched to her chest. Mary was spinning, too, and when his gaze landed on her, he couldn’t look away.

Her hair was down, flowing, a midnight veil taking flight as she spun. The dress she wore clung to her body, molding against lithe legs and rounded hips. Her face tilted to the sky, eyes closed, lips parted, her arms rotating with her body.

And then the little scene was over. Both girls collapsed on the ground, laughing on their backs as their world no doubt tilted perilously from one side to the other.

Lou swallowed hard, backing up. He felt like an interloper. An intruder on their carefree fun. The image of Mary burned in his mind. The woman he’d considered a sister...

The lump in his throat seemed to magnify and with a sudden decision he pivoted and marched back to the house. But the speed of his walk did nothing to erase what he’d seen. What he felt.

One thing was for sure: whatever he felt toward Mary was far from brotherly.

What was he going to do about that?

Chapter Eight

Mary found out about the invitation to the quilting bee approximately two hours before she was to arrive. Lou showed up on her doorstep as she and Josie slid the final batch of cookies into the oven. Damp tendrils stuck to her neck from the hair she’d pinned this morning but that had escaped in strands during baking.

She wiped her hands on a towel as Josie ran to the front door.

“Mister Lou,” she shouted, her voice’s pitch making Mary wince.

To his credit, Lou didn’t back away but managed to give the girl an awkward pat on the head. Then he turned his startling blue gaze on her. Since the other day when they’d argued over when to take Josie to Portland, he hadn’t brought up the subject with her again. In fact, she’d barely seen him.

It was almost as if he was avoiding her. Frowning, she finished rubbing a towel over her fingers before setting it on the little table she’d inherited from Trevor.

“Do you need something?” she asked Lou.

“Nope, not on your day off.” He gave her a crooked grin, lounging against the wall near the still-open door. Sunlight from the rising sun surrounded him and a strange catch crowded her throat.

Josie scampered past Lou, stopping in a square of light. “Can I go outside, Miss Mary?”

She nodded her assent and the little girl was gone.

“Miss Alma wants you to join a ladies’ group today. I’m sorry that I forgot all about it until James reminded me. If you get ready now, we can be there early,” said Lou in a penitent voice.

“We?”

His arms crossed. “I’m going to drive you.”

“A horse would serve me fine.”

“Not for me. There are things we should...discuss.” He pinned her with an electric smile, his gaze sliding from her eyes to her mouth.

She wet her lips. “What things? I have said that which needed to be said.”

He left where he stood, his smile widening as he advanced. She backed up, though what she felt in her belly was not terror but a rather more alarming emotion.

Edged against the wall of the kitchen, she could go no farther. Lou trapped her, moving so close she smelled the mint of Wrigley’s on his breath.

“I saw you yesterday.” His fingers crept to her neck, and his touch was feather soft against her skin.

She suppressed a shiver.

“With Josie, in the flowers. And I realized that—” A pained expression crossed his face. His words cut off, and his hand left her neck, leaving her skin cold and lonely.

“Realized what?” she asked, her voice as tremulous as the state of her knees.

His gaze shuttered, growing distant as he backed up. “If you want to go, be ready within the hour.” He spun and left her against the wall, more shaken than she’d been in a long time.

Nerves aflame, she set about gathering her quilting supplies. She put them in a basket and then made a smaller basket for Josie. As she calmed, her mind turned to the event ahead.

Miss Alma had always been generous and kind, a woman of great wisdom. But she couldn’t help wondering how wise this outing might be. How would the other women react to her presence? She had no desire to be subjected to the ill-mannered treatment her mother’s people often experienced. Even though the people of Burns had been good to her in a distant way, she’d never actually interacted with the townsfolk in a companionable, talkative setting like a quilting bee.

But the trip into town would give her another chance to inquire about her mother’s whereabouts.

Lou arrived promptly at eleven. James scooted out of the passenger side of Lou’s automobile, but her employer remained inside, a scowl visible on his face.

“I’m here to watch Josie. Where’s that wild thing at?” James chomped his tobacco.

“She’s here somewhere.” She tore her gaze from Lou and turned to the house. “Josie, it’s time to go.” She stepped toward the corner of the house. Maybe Josie had scampered out back. “I’m taking her with me. You don’t have to watch her, James.”

“Figured I’d take her shooting.”

Mary whirled. “I think not.”

“But he promised.” Josie popped out from the corner of the house. “I don’t wanna go sew. That’s boring.”

Mary sighed and closed the front door. She stepped onto the grass, moving toward the little girl, whose face was set in a stubborn yet adorable pout. “Every girl should know how to use a needle, Josie. It will come in handy.”

The skill had kept her out of the brothels.

Josie’s head tilted. “Do I have to?”

Mary looked at James, who shrugged. There appeared to be a slight curl to his lip, as if he was amused. Well, that was that, then. She would not force Josie to quilt. Times were changing and women had more options these days. Even she’d taken shooting lessons from