Page 40 of The Rancher Who Swore Off Love
“Uh-huh.”
“Uh-huh,nothin’. He laid out the terms, and I shook on ’em.”
“Gracie.”
“The man needed a housekeeper. I needed a roof. That’s the whole of it.”
“Grace Marie Linton.”
She bristled at the sound of her full name. He only pulled the whole thing when he aimed to pin her, and it got under her skin every time.
“You are sittin’ in a tent in the woods wearin’ the man’s shirt with a baby on your chest, and you just walked out on the best situation you ever had because he hurt your feelin’s.” Jonah leaned forward. “Now, I love you more’n my own skin, darlin’, but don’t sit there and tell me this is justbusiness.”
Outside the tent, the fire popped. A log shifted and sent sparks curling past the flap, orange flecks that spun upward and burned out against the black.
“You like him.”
“I do not.”
“Nah, you do. You like him a whole lot, and it’s eatin’ you alive ‘cause you didn’t plan on it. You planned on a roof and three squares and a clean floor, and instead you went and got yourself tangled up in the man.”
“Jonah, I swear on Ma’s grave...”
“What?” He raised both eyebrows. “You’ll hit me? Go on, then. Take a swing. But it won’t change what’s plain as the nose on that baby’s face.”
Miriam gurgled in her sleep.
Grace pressed her forehead to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut.
Behind her lids, the dark filled up with Logan. How he’d knelt in the dirt beside her, pulling weeds without being asked. Cradled Miriam that first time, so carefully, like the baby might shatter if he breathed wrong. Dropped his voice low on the porch that night. Spoke her name.Grace.Just the one word, and the sound of it had lodged behind her ribs and dug in deeper every day since.
“It don’t matter.” She lifted her head. “A man who sees you as staff don’t change his mind on account of roses and flower beds. He told me where I fit. I heard him clear.”
With a grunt, Jonah shifted the baby to his other arm and worked the kink out of his neck. “You know what I think?”
“I know you’re gonna tell me whether I want to hear it or not.”
“I think the man’s runnin’ scared. Same as you. And when two people runnin’ scared get close enough to, well, tofeelanythin’ worth feelin’, they start swingin’ at each other ‘stead of at whatever spooked ’em in the first place.”
“What, are youwisenow?”
“Been wise my whole life, Gracie. You just don’t listen.”
She started to laugh and choked on it. Just a breath that shook at the edges.
Gently, Jonah handed Miriam back, supporting the head the whole way, and Grace tucked the baby into the sling. Through the flannel, the baby’s weight pressed into her ribs and warmed the whole front of her.
“Get some sleep.” Jonah unbuckled his rucksack and pulled out a wool blanket as old as the tent. “I’ll mind the fire.”
“On theground?”
“On the ground. Like adventurers.”
“Adventurers got bedrolls, Jonah.”
“We got us a blanket and the whole dang sky full of stars. That’s more’n plenty for one night.” He spread the blanket along the flattest stretch of the tent floor and bunched the rucksack into a pillow. “Come on, now. Lie down.”
So she did.
