HOLDING KATIE’S GAZE, TREB’S HEART FELT FULL TO bursting. Pride filled him as he watched her. She was a fighter. She came one hesitant step at a time into the house. He’d never seen a more beautiful, stronger woman—or man, for that matter. The courage it took for her to make these steps humbled him. After witnessing her fear the night of the storm, he knew the depth of control the tornado held over her.
He wanted to reach for her. To pull her close again and take these steps with her, but the kiss had cost him too much.
He was leaving. He was.
He’d never planned on staying. He wasn’t the kind of man to stay and give his heart away . . . Because what if he lost her?
He couldn’t bear it.
So instead, he smiled and he waited and willed her to hold his gaze and hopefully draw strength from him, too, as he prayed for her to conquer the fear.
She’d made it four steps into the room. A sunbeam danced across her and she looked so very lovely. Her eyes never wavered from his but suddenly she halted, and the saddest look he’d ever seen crept across her expression. Her eyes hardened.
And then she spun and stalked from the house.
What just happened?
Katie was sashaying across the yard toward the barn. He jogged after her.
“What’s wrong, Katie? You were doing great, darlin’.”
She stalked straight over to the coiled whip that hung around a nail on the outside of the barn. Startled, Treb yanked to a halt as she took the ominous weapon into her small, competent hands. “What are you doing, Katie?”
Chin up, she walked to the back of the barn where a tree stump for chopping firewood sat. She picked up a tin bucket and sat it on the stump, then backed up and swung the whip wide.
Treb knew to stand back. With the precision of a master, Katie snapped the whip and the tip pinged against the bucket and sent it flying. She repeated the action again and again. He stood back and watched.
Finally, breathing hard, she spun, her gaze fierce. “I thank you for coming to work for me, Treb. You have helped me in more ways than just building my house. You got me inside it. Our deal was for you to build my house in return for wages and a horse. Now that the house is done, I’ll pay your wage. You go on and saddle up your horse and get on your way toward Galveston or New Orleans—or wherever you plan to go. I don’t want to hold you up any longer.”
That speech delivered, she marched over to where a heavy rock sat against the barn and she pushed it hard. The rock moved, and there beneath it was a hole. From the hole she pulled out a tin can. Treb was speechless as he watched her pull money from the can, count it, then march over to him.
“This should cover your wages. And the horse is waiting and ready. You go now.”
He pushed the money back at her. “Whoa, hold on to your money. I’m not done yet,” he snapped, finding his voice at last.
Eyes flashing, she shoved it right back at him. “I’m the one who did the hiring and now I’m telling you the job is done. Go. I don’t need you here any longer.”
“But you do.”
“I don’t.” She spun away, grabbing the whip again. She strode back around the barn, the skirt of her yellow dress flouncing with each step.
Treb slowly trailed her, his thoughts rolling like a tumbleweed. Myrtle May eyed him sharply as he passed by her pen. He started to tell the horse not to look at him that way. That he was trying to talk sense into the stubborn woman in front of him—then he realized that would mean he was talking to a horse. He clamped his mouth shut and quickened his steps.
Katie was strapping on her gun when he rounded the barn. What had gotten into the woman?
Hadn’t she liked the kiss they’d shared? From her reaction it sure seemed like she had when she’d joined in the moment his lips touched hers.
He’d felt as though he’d died and gone to heaven.
Treb had never felt so good as he had in that moment kissing Katie. And Katie kissing him back.
“See, I don’t need you anymore, Treb. I can take care of myself. I’m not the same batty woman who hired you over a month ago. I’ve got a roof over my head—thanks to you—and now I have a ranch to run. And you—you have places to go and things to see.” Her eyes softened. “It’s what I want. It’s why I hired you, because I knew you would be leaving.”
He’d forgotten that. Completely.
Forgotten that his leaving was the main reason she’d hired him. “I thought you might have changed your mind.” His words were softer. “I hoped—”
“Nope. I don’t need you around any longer, and I don’t need any more kisses. I’m not the marrying kind—I told you that early on—and neither are you. So kissing won’t do anything but blur the line I’ve got drawn for my life.”
What she said was true. That was their arrangement. What could he do but honor it? Torn, he nodded and went for his saddle. His mind was twisting like a tornado as he went into the pen and saddled his horse.
Katie watched him but she said nothing more. She was right in saying he wasn’t the marrying kind. Even if he loved Katie—and had for a while, the stubborn woman. It would break his heart to lose her like he’d lost his family. All the more reason for him to ride out of here today.
He headed straight over to her, cupped her face with one hand, and looked deep into those amazing, cornflower-blue eyes. “You—” His voice cracked. “You’re right, Katie Pearl. You’re doing good.” He dropped a gentle kiss on her lips, backed up, and swung into the saddle. “You take care of yourself.”
That said, he drank in one last look, then turned his horse and rode out of the yard for open ground, focusing his eyes on the horizon.
It was better this way, and he knew it.
Folks might have called her crazy, but she had more sense than anyone he’d ever met. And more heart too.
He made it over the rise, and it hit him that he needed to go see the preacher. He needed someone to check on her every now and again and make sure she was okay. Her being out there all alone needed to stop, and worry pressed in on him. What would happen to her? The preacher seemed like a decent sort, and it seemed—with his influence on his congregation—that he was the right person to get the town to change. Surely he would check on her some. Treb couldn’t leave until he had asked.
It was the least he could do.
It took every ounce of willpower Katie had to watch Treb ride out toward the horizon. Though her heart was breaking in half, she wanted him to move forward with his dream.
She was torn with loving him, wanting to hold him, and wanting to see him go. Wanting to see the world with him. And wanting to carry on with her ranch.
A person shouldn’t have to make choices like that. Then again, when two people were involved, there were different wants . . . and if Treb had wanted her more than he wanted to see the world, her whip and her gun wouldn’t have stopped him from staying.
She stood there for the longest time watching the spot where he’d disappeared over the horizon. The breeze ruffled through her hair and she touched her lips, thinking of his leaving kiss. It had been as soft as the breeze.
Her heart twisted and her throat clogged. She blinked back tears. “Don’t you cry, Katie Pearl, don’t you dare cry.”