“Colt!” Kati’s shriek ripped through him like a bullet. The razor in his hand jerked upward, nicking a chunk from his chin. A drop of blood oozed out, but he ignored it. After three months of living with Kati, he knew she didn’t scream without reason. Something terrible had happened. He threw the razor at the mirror and tore out of the bathroom.
“What’s wrong, Kati?” he bellowed, head throbbing from the adrenaline rush.
“It’s Evan. Hurry.”
Good grief almighty, the baby!Something was wrong with his boy.
Colt galloped down the hall toward the sound of Kati’s voice. Where was she? The den maybe? Far in the back of the house?
The pounding in his chest expanded until he thought he would explode. He raced around the end of the hall and burst into the den, ready to fight tooth and toenail to protect what was his.
Kati stood in the middle of the room, hopping up and down, excitement emanating from every pore.
“Look, he’s crawling. Evan is crawling.”
Colt nearly fainted with relief. His family was safe. Nobody was bloody or unconscious. He collapsed in a chair, trying to calm the sledgehammer bashing at his rib cage. Suddenly the whole episode struck him funny. He’d thought one of them was dying, and here they were happily playing in the den.
“Quick, get the camera.” Kati whirled toward him. One hand flew to her lips as she smothered a grin. “I take it you were shaving?”
Colt laughed, reached out and clasped her wrist, pulling her onto his lap.
“Oh, Kati, Kati.” She was so cute when she got all worked up about something. He couldn’t help himself. He kissed her.
When he left remnants of his shaving cream on her face, he laughed again. Teasingly, he went back for more, smearing the white suds over her face and neck. She felt so right in his arms that he never stopped to consider how normal, how comfortable they’d become as a couple.
“You’re something, you know that?” He nuzzled her neck, and the relentless desire leaped to life.
Kati felt it, too, he knew, for she shivered, then sighed softly and pulled away, forcing her attention to the little boy. “The baby, Colt. Look at him.”
Keeping an arm around her waist, Colt let her sit up, relishing her happiness, pleased that her lost-kitten look disappeared every time she smiled. Together they watched Evan’s chubby legs and arms propel him across the thick carpet. Colt’s throat swelled with pride. The little guy had come a long way since that first day. He was happy, healthy and pretty darn smart. Part of the credit was his, he knew, but most of it was due to Kati’s constant loving attention.
She was a natural with babies, instinctively knowing what to do and when to do it. That’s why her child-care idea made good business sense. And he felt a lot better knowing she had an adequate means of support after their marriage was over. Not that he was responsible for her. Not at all. But he wasn’t a heartless devil, either.
Kati raised her glowing face to his, and their gazes collided. The truth struck Colt right in the belly. He wasn’t just trying not to be a heartless devil; he cared about her. Cared a lot, although the word love wasn’t in his vocabulary so he couldn’t possibly love her. But he’d come rushing in here like a wild man the moment she’d cried out, and thinking back to that split second when she’d called his name, he’d thought of Kati and Evan as his. Stupid, stupid, stupid. By forcing his way into Kati’s bed, he’d put himself into this situation and upped the chances of an emotional entanglement.
Dumbstruck and confused, he sat there staring into the eyes of his make-believe wife while every fiber of intellect told him to get away and get away fast. Grappling for a lifeline, he blurted out, “How’s the center coming?”
Kati’s face lit up, and Colt mentally gave himself another kick in the pants. He no more cared about that center than a bull cared about a hen. But Kati’s Angels was much safer ground than the aberrant thoughts tormenting him.
“Kati Winslow, you are a fool.” The bathroom mirror bounced the words back to her. “Look what your wild scheme has caused.”
She’d waltzed into Colt’s life thinking she could keep her emotions aloof and her heart safe long enough to build Kati’s Angels. Somewhere along the line, her plan had backfired.
She brushed her hair, smoothing it back into a simple ponytail in an effort to keep it out of Evan’s grasping fingers. There was no point in putting it up, no matter how hot the weather or how grabby the child. Colt always took it down again.
Colt, Colt. Every waking thought was of Colt. He was fully, deeply entrenched in Kati’s heart and mind. The foolish nanny had gone and done the unthinkable. She was so in love with her temporary husband that she could think of little else. Why, oh, why had she agreed to the dangerous idea of sleeping in the same bed with him? Night after night of lying next to him, being touched and kissed and held only to have to turn away before reason was lost in love.
She replaced the hairbrush in the drawer and tidied up the counter. Colt’s razor and toothbrush lay to one side. His lime-scented soap now occupied the dish beside her facial cleanser. Over the months of their unconventional marriage, he’d gradually moved more and more items into her quarters. He hadn’t asked her to move to his, though the master bed and bath were much larger, and Kati took that as a sign of their temporary arrangement. Colt would live with her in her room, and after she was gone, there would be no trace of her in his. He could close this door and forget he’d ever known her. One more reason to keep their marriage in name only. Losing her heart was bad enough, but if she gave him her body, she wasn’t sure she could walk away when Kati’s Angels was completed.
The completion of her dream business and all those little ones waiting for her loving care was the only thing that kept her sane. Soon she would possess something that was permanently and completely her own that no Social Services could whisk away. Though Colt had said nothing, she strongly suspected he’d pulled some strings, because the loan process had sailed through with unexpected speed. Not that she was surprised. He’d been very clear that he wanted her gone, and Kati’s Angels would set them both free. She would, at least, be an independent businesswoman who needed nothing and no one but her career.
Today Colt had agreed to go with her to check on the construction’s progress. He’d never done that before, and in spite of her self-recriminations, anticipation buzzed in Kati’s veins. Spending time alone with Colt was heavenly torture.
Colt gazed at the long brick building surrounded by bare Texas earth and wished to heck he hadn’t come. The blasted thing held no appeal for him. He wasn’t interested in child-care centers, and he was already a little sick of hearing Kati carry on and on about how wonderful the place would be.
He figured he should be glad to see the center coming along so well, and he was. Of course he was. It was just that Kati seemed so all-fired pleased about the progress that his ego suffered a bit. She couldn’t wait to get away from him.
“Hard hats, Kati.” A man in white coveralls came toward them carrying the safety equipment. Colt grimaced but tossed his Stetson back inside the truck, exchanging it for the hard hat.
“Colt, this is the construction foreman, Will Benton. He’s the man making my dreams come true.”
The foreman grinned. “She’s always sweet-talking me like that, Mr. Garret. Got every one of these old construction workers at her beck and call.”
For some reason Colt didn’t see a bit of humor in that. He shook the man’s hand, mumbled something about being in a hurry, and guided Kati toward the center’s interior.
Inside, a half-dozen carpenters pounded away at rows of what looked like tiny closets.
“Look over here, Kati,” another man in white coveralls called to her. “See what you think of this.”
Kati hurried toward him, excitement all over her face. She smiled and joked with the man, complimenting him profusely about his work.
“What was so spectacular about a cabinet door?” Colt asked grumpily when Kati came back to where he stood.
“Everybody needs encouragement.”
“Yeah. I suppose.” Did she have to behave as if the guy was right up there on her Christmas list?
“They are doing a fabulous job.” She pulled at his arm, unmindful that his original reluctance had grown to belligerence. “Look over here at the sand table.”
He went sullenly, listening as Kati flitted from place to place, describing how the center would look when completed.
“This area is the kitchen.”
“Uh-huh.” The bare walls didn’t look like much of anything to him at this point. Pipes and wires poked from the Sheetrock walls without a stove or sink in sight.
“And this is the dining room where the kids will get a real home-cooked meal at little bitty, cute tables, just their size. I’ll have colorful curtains on the windows and cartoon-print cloths on the tables.”
“Great,” he said without enthusiasm. The hard hat, among other things, was starting to annoy him. The blasted thing shifted from side to side and banged against his ears.
“And in this part, I want to set up learning centers. Things like building blocks, puppets, an art table.”
He heaved an impatient sigh. “Are we about done here?”
Hurt registered on her face, setting off a reaction in him that wasn’t pleasant to witness.
“Look, Kati, I don’t give a flying cow chip about learning centers or coat cubbies.”
“But I thought you’d be glad to know how well things are coming along.”
“I am, but I have a ranch to run. If you want to stay here all day and chitchat with Will and David and whoever the heck all these guys are, then do it. Just make sure you mention that you’re a married woman.”
Bewilderment clouded her face. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He poked a finger at her. “Ours may not be the real McCoy, but as long as you’re Mrs. Colt Garret, I’d appreciate you acting like it. I don’t want people laughing behind my back because my wife is running around with some hard hat. Once we’re divorced you can do what you want, but until then, you promised to behave like a married woman.”
Kati’s eyes grew round and moist. She wasn’t going to cry, was she?
“Forgive me for forcing you to come here.” Blinking rapidly, she averted her gaze, squared her shoulders and murmured, “Let’s go home.”
She sailed out of the building, stepping over piles of boards with her head held high. Colt knew he’d insulted her, hurt her even, but something about this place set his teeth on edge. He should never have come here.
If she was the crying kind, Kati would have bawled all the way home. Gazing hot-eyed at the passing prairie, she sat against the passenger-side door, her body turned away from Colt. Still uncertain as to what precipitated his bad mood, she didn’t know whether to apologize or fight.
In the end she did neither. Colt dropped her at the front door, then squalled the pickup toward open pasture.
“What bee got in his bonnet?” Cookie asked, coming down the hall with Evan in his arms. The smiling baby reached for her, sending a spear of happiness into Kati’s heart.
“I’m not really sure.” She gathered Evan close, inhaling his sweet baby scent.
“Well, don’t worry. All couples have spats. You two will work things out.”
“No, Cookie,” she admitted. “Things won’t ever work out between Colt and me.”
“Why, sure they will. You love the ornery cuss, don’t you?”
There was no point in denying the truth to Cookie. He’d believed she and Colt were a perfect match all along.
“Am I that obvious?”
“You light up like a firefly every time that boy wanders in the door.”
So that was the problem. She’d tried so hard to keep her feelings a secret, but if she was transparent to Cookie, Colt must also know. And he’d warned her from the start that he didn’t believe in love.
Forcing him to go to the child-care center made him feel trapped, tied down, like an old married man. He was straining at the bonds of their agreement. Regardless of how friendly and comfortable they’d become, his behavior today was a warning that she expected too much from their make-believe marriage.
Colt felt like the biggest heel in Texas for hurting Kati’s feelings. During the drive home that afternoon, she hadn’t said a word and neither had he. Then the minute she’d climbed out of the truck, he’d wanted to call her back and apologize, a senseless move that would only make matters worse. So he’d stormed off like a teenager and let the bad feelings fester.
As a result their relationship had undergone a subtle change in the days since, and he didn’t quite know what to do about it. If he had a lick of sense, he’d leave the situation alone and be glad for the thick wall of reserve she’d thrown up between them.
He didn’t know what she was so all-fired upset about in the first place. He’d gone to that blasted center with her. And hadn’t he offered to send some of the ranch hands to help clean up around the place to speed up her move? But instead of appreciating his peace offering, she’d looked at him as if he’d slapped her.
Now, when he crawled into bed at night, she scooted away, turning a rigid back to him. If he tried to touch her, she scooted another inch. Her reaction should have angered him. Instead, he just wanted her all the more.
With a beleaguered sigh, he stepped out of the shower, dressed, slapped on a bit of aftershave and slipped down the hall to visit Evan. This little ray of sunshine always lifted his spirits.
The baby lay in his crib, hind end in the air, sleeping like—well, sleeping like a baby.
Toys and books covered the floor, an indication that Kati had been reading to him again. Lucky kid. Personally, he would enjoy books a lot more if she’d snuggle up and read to him every night. ’Course he’d like to choose the books—something sexy and romantic—but, considering Kati’s state of mind, if he thought along those lines too much, he’d likely implode. Pushing a brightly colored copy of Noah’s Ark off the rocker, he started to sit. Evan awoke, whimpering.
“Hey, squirt.” Colt smiled down into the child’s face.
When Evan responded with a smile of his own, Colt’s belly did a flip-flop. It did another when the boy reached his chubby little hands upward.
Colt scooped Evan into his arms and set him on the floor. Colt joined him, lured by the child’s adoring look and constant babble. Already the little tike was into everything, crawling halfway across the room if he wanted to. As the baby started an impromptu game of patty-cake, Colt grinned and joined in.
“You’re getting in way too deep, big brother.” Jett entered the room, hat in hand, and slid down beside them. “Any word on the mama?”
Colt’s gut clenched. “Jace called today. The P.I. found somebody down in Austin who thought they’d heard of her. He’s following the lead.”
“What will you do if they never find her?”
Colt wound a musical bear and handed it to the smiling baby. He massaged the knot that rose on the back of his neck every time he thought about Evan and Natosha Parker. He’d asked himself that question a thousand times in the last few months, and was as stumped now as ever. Evan was a perfect boy and Colt hated thinking of the time when Natosha Parker would come to reclaim him. Whether he liked to admit it or not, giving him up now, after all this time, would hurt.
“She has to be somewhere, Jett, so we’ll find her. The sooner the better.”
“But what if you don’t? You gonna keep him indefinitely?”
“Kati wants to go on caring for him after her center is finished.” The knot got bigger, and he rolled his shoulders to loosen it. “She loves him, and he adores her. We can work something out.”
Jett laughed softly, humorlessly. “That’s another fine mess you’ve gotten into.”
“Kati?” Colt shook his head. “Nah. Kati wants out of this predicament as badly as I do.”
“You think?”
Colt avoided Jett’s piercing gaze. “Trust me, little brother. Kati wants no part of me. She spends more time at that blasted center of hers or with Juana Rodriquez than she does here.”
“She’s hanging out with the foreman’s wife?”
“Yeah. Did you know Kati speaks Spanish?” He’d been furious to discover this from Cookie. Why hadn’t she told him herself? “And now she’s over there half the time, helping Juana with her English, talking about babies, doing all that female stuff women do when they have babies around.”
He got mad just thinking about all the ways she avoided him. Maybe she’d been telling the truth about not finding him attractive.
“So there’s nothing between the two of you?” Jett asked.
“Nothing worth talking about.” Lately, discussing Evan and Kati stuck in his craw like a chicken bone. He swiped a piece of fuzz from Evan’s mouth and steered the subject to safer ground. “How’s the shoulder?”
Gingerly, Jett rotated it. “Nearly ready to grab hold of another wild bull.”
“How soon?”
Jett laughed. “Why? You trying to get rid of me?”
“Nah, just thought if you make that rodeo in Mesquite next week, we could come up and watch.”
“We?” He quirked an eyebrow.
“Me, Cookie, Kati, Evan. All of us.”
“Cookie hates rodeos.”
“Kati likes them.” Why the heck had he mentioned that?
Jett gave him a funny look. “Does she, now?”
Evan whacked at Colt with the silent stuffed animal. Absently he rewound the bear and handed it back to the child. “Did you know she’s a pretty good horsewoman? She doesn’t think so, but she is.”
An ornery grin lifted Jett’s mouth. “Is that a fact?”
“She learned in one of those group homes. Seems they had a program for foster kids where some rancher took them riding during the summer and on weekends.”
“Kind of sad, ain’t it, for a nice girl like Kati to grow up that way, without any family, I mean.” Jett slapped his brother’s knee. “You ain’t much, but I’m glad I have you.”
“Yeah, I agree. I think that’s why Kati’s so protective about Evan.” He swiveled around and pulled the crawling Evan away from the open doorway. “Do you know what she suggested? She wants me to start a program out here like that for foster kids.”
“You mean, teach kids to ride?”
“She says those were some of the best times she can remember.”
“You gonna do it?”
“Ah, I don’t know. Things are kind of busy right now.”
“Kati would be good at something like that. Shoot, it would be a great way to use those college kids in the summer, and Billy Joe and some of the other boys could help out. You ought to give the idea some thought.”
Kati would be long gone before he had time for such a program. If the project happened at all, it would be without Kati’s help.
Jett pushed up from the floor and strolled to the door, sliding his hat into place. “Speaking of Billy Joe, I better get moving. The two of us are gonna check out the new band over at the honky-tonk and give all the women a thrill. You want to go with us?” He slapped his hand against the door frame. “’Scuse me, bro, I forgot. You’re a married man, now. No more good times.”
He laughed and walked out.
“Hey.” Colt jumped up from the floor and barreled after him. “Wait a minute, Jett.”
Jett paused, his cocky grin daring Colt to come along.
He wasn’t really a married man. Heck, Kati wouldn’t even kiss him anymore, much less let him make their marriage real. Why shouldn’t he go out with the boys? He’d been stuck here on the ranch for months, first with a baby, then with a wife, neither of which he’d asked for. Kati didn’t want him around, anyway. He was cleaned up and ready to go, so why not get back to living his own life right now?
“What time are you leaving?”
“He went where?”
“Him and Jett and Billie Joe went to that beer joint over in Rattlesnake. Anyways, that’s what they said.”
Kati sat at the supper table staring at the chairs left empty by Colt and his brother. Never once in the months since she’d arrived had Colt gone anywhere without telling her. That he’d gone to a country-Western bar shocked her no end.
All through the meal, Cookie shot her anxious glances as though expecting her to break into a million little pieces for him to sweep off the terra-cotta tile. For that reason alone, she stiffened her spine and chattered away about the day care, Evan and anything else that popped into her head. Anything to keep from thinking about Colt dancing the night away in some other woman’s arms.
Though the food tasted like cardboard, she forced it down, then pretended all was well while helping Cookie clear away the dishes. Once the last plate was dried and carefully stacked away, she fed Evan, then turned on the television. Nothing there held her attention as thoughts strayed to Colt, in a bar, holding another woman. A heavy sickness lay in the pit of her stomach.
She’d always been alone, but tonight she was lonely. Lonely for the one man who fulfilled her in a thousand ways. No matter how busy she’d tried to be in the past week, every waking thought had been of Colt and of how much she missed his kisses and his arms around her. Only self-preservation and the knowledge of how badly he wanted her gone had kept her from turning to him in the night.
Clicking off the TV, she gathered Evan into her arms and kissed him. Even this precious baby would be gone before long, and another piece of her heart would shatter and crumble.
“I wasn’t supposed to love you, Evan,” she whispered, gripping him in tender-fierce desperation. “Any more than I was supposed to love Colt.”
She reluctantly put the sleeping child in the crib, thankful for the peaceful way he rested, secure for now in her love—and Colt’s.
She stepped to the hallway and listened, but the house was quiet without the teasing voices of the Garret brothers. Around midnight, when Colt still hadn’t returned, she turned off the lamp and went to sleep in the too-big, too-empty bed, regretting all the times she’d turned away from him.
Colt tiptoed into the room sometime around two in the morning, blurry-eyed and exhausted, grateful to be home at last. Undressing without the light, he slipped into bed and wrapped himself around Kati. She made a soft mewling sound and stirred. Taking that as a good sign, he nuzzled her neck. Man, oh, man, she smelled delicious, like flowers blowing on a summer breeze.
He pulled her closer, pressing into her exquisitely soft flesh, and let his hands roam beneath her T-shirt, caressing her awake. She rolled toward him, murmuring something, and he closed his mouth over hers.
Mmmmm. She tasted as sweet as honey.
Suddenly, with no warning, she gave a great shove and sent him tumbling out of the bed.
“Hey!” he blinked in surprise. The room spun crazily as the lamp clicked on, blinding him for a second. Kati leaned over him, her hair hanging in glorious disarray. She looked madder than any woman he’d ever known. And much sexier.
“Get out of my bed,” she said through gritted teeth.
“I am.” His head wouldn’t be still, but he was fairly certain he was on the floor, not in bed with his warm, soft woman.
“You know what I mean. Get out, Colt.”
“What are you so mad about?”
She yanked the fallen sheets from his grip. “I’m not mad. It’s just time you started sleeping in your own bed.”
“But I want to sleep with you,” he said piteously.
“You smell like beer.”
“Is that what you’re mad about?” He scooted away from her frightening stance, levered himself against the wall and stood up. The room circled above him. “I’m not drunk if that’s what you mean.”
“Get out.” She picked up a fuzzy house shoe and whacked him on the arm. “Now.”
“Hey!” He edged toward the door, keeping one eye on the shoe that he fully expected to come sailing in his direction any minute now.
Sure enough, she let fly with the slipper. He ducked, then darted out the door and down the hall to his own room.
Confounded woman. Let her sleep alone. See if he cared. His room was bigger, anyway. He didn’t need some flowery-smelling woman getting her hair all tangled around him so that he couldn’t even roll over, and he wouldn’t have to suffer all night from terminal frustration over a woman who wouldn’t let him love her.
He flopped onto the king-size bed, closing his eyes. His head spun crazily. Three beers. Well, maybe five or six. That shouldn’t make his head spin like the Tilt-A-Whirl at Six Flags.
He turned onto his side. Hell’s bells, this bed was hard as a rock. Had it always been like this? He flipped his pillow over and pounded a fist into it. Caesar leaped onto the bed, sniffed Colt’s mouth, then turned around and sat on his face. Blasted smart-aleck cat.
He was in for a long night.
By the time he stumbled to the breakfast table the next morning, he was sorry he’d lived through the night. His head hurt. His mouth tasted like a cow smelled. And his stomach pitched like a bucking bronc. He slithered into the chair, dejected and grouchy.
“Throwed you out, did she?” Cookie sloshed a mug of coffee in front of him.
Colt didn’t bother to lift the cup. He bent his head and sipped at the scalding brew.
“Serves you right. A married man’s got no business gallivanting off to honky-tonks with a bunch of rowdy cowboys.”
Colt leaned his throbbing head on the table and mumbled to the tile floor.
“I’ve told you, we are not married. Not for real. Not forever. Strictly business.”
“Tell it to that sweet little gal.” The cook slapped a plate of greasy eggs in front of his boss. The sound reverberated through the wood and nearly ruptured an artery in Colt’s pounding brain.
With a grimace of pain, he raised his head.
“The whole thing was her idea.” Stomach lurching, he averted his gaze, pushed the disgusting plate away and covered it with a napkin.
“Hmpf. Then how come her eyes was all red and puffy this morning?”
Colt’s heart stopped beating for a full second. “She’d been crying?”
Cookie’s accusing glare served as the answer.
Colt frowned. He wouldn’t have gone if he’d known she’d get upset about it. Heck, fifteen minutes after he got to the noisy, smelly place, he wanted to come home. Why would any man in his right mind choose a smoky barroom over Kati?
That was a good question. Why had he gone there in the first place?
“I’ve never seen Kati cry before.”
“That’s ’cause she does it where nobody can see. Tries to pretend like she don’t care. All bottled up inside, she is. Scared to death of being hurt.”
Colt couldn’t fathom Kati crying, but then, he couldn’t imagine her throwing him out of bed last night, either, and she’d done it.
“Maybe she’s sick.” God, he hoped not. He’d take her to the best specialist in Texas.
“Sick of you.” With a flick of his wrist, Cookie whipped the napkin from the greasy eggs and shoved them under Colt’s nose. He grinned malevolently when his victim bolted from the table.
“Cookie, you’re fired.”
“No, I ain’t.”
“How come?” Colt stood at the far end of the table, rubbing the back of his neck, wondering what he could do to work his way back into Kati’s good graces.
“Jett’s way ahead of you. Said you’d most likely fire everybody on the place today, but for us not to pay you no mind.”
So Jett had known he’d had a miserable time last night. “Bunch of smart alecks.”
“You gonna feel up to that big doin’s this afternoon?”
The sudden change of subjects drew a moan from Colt’s aching head. He’d completely forgotten about today’s town-wide festival.
One more strike against him. Though Kati’s Angels wasn’t complete, Kati had thought the annual Lonestar Celebration in Rattlesnake would be a perfect time to get better acquainted with the townspeople and to do some simple advertising. She’d hired a couple of teenagers to walk in the parade, pushing an antique baby carriage loaded with literature and balloons. They’d hand helium balloons to the children and pamphlets about the center to the adults.
The plan required little or no action from Colt. Trouble was, by getting involved with the parade Kati had gotten herself all wound up over the whole celebration.
She’d entered Evan in the beautiful baby contest, which she was certain he would win. Furthermore, Colt was required, according to Kati, to record the entire event on video. Fact of the business, he’d looked forward to squiring Kati around, until she’d thrown him out of bed.
To make matters worse, Cookie had been prevailed upon to enter his “famous” chili in the chili cook-off. Colt knew darn well if he didn’t show up to eat chili and vote for Cookie’s recipe there would be a steady diet of beans and corn bread for the Garret household next week. His stomach rolled at the mere thought of hot, spicy chili.
The entire day was set aside by the citizens of Rattlesnake for fun and socializing. All that was fine and dandy except for one problem—Colt had long ago promised to take Kati and Evan. And he wasn’t exactly Kati’s favorite person anymore.
“Would you consider shooting me, Cookie?” Colt asked.
“It’s crossed my mind,” Cookie answered, arms crossed over his aproned belly. “But shootin’ you wouldn’t do no good. You’re too ornery to die. Besides, it’d break Miss Kati’s heart, and I ain’t about to give that child no more hurt. You’ve done plenty enough as it is.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
“Never you mind, boss. But you better learn to appreciate her before it’s too late.”
“I do appreciate her,” Colt argued. “If not for Kati, you and I would still be trying to figure out how to get those little shirts over Evan’s head without breaking his neck. And we’d be loco from walking the floor when he had the colic.”
“That ain’t what I mean and you know it. One of these days some cowboy with a brain between his ears instead of in his britches will ride in here and carry her off.”
“Like hell!” Colt jerked his head up so fast his brain ricocheted against his skull.
“Well, la-de-da. Maybe you ain’t as thickheaded as I thought.”
Cookie waited long enough to enjoy Colt’s befuddled expression before retreating to the kitchen to begin a batch of chili.