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“What are you doin’ here?” Garret asked him.
“Eh, I figured after the drama yesterday, I’d give you two newlyweds some time alone.” Burke stopped in front of them, removed his hat, and bowed gallantly. “Mrs. Shaw.”
“Ridiculous man. Stand up,” she said, self-conscious. Passersby were staring, but she couldn’t help being flattered by his swift and apparent acceptance of her.
“We’re picking up supplies, and then we’ll head back. You can ride back with us if you want.”
Burke nodded and replaced his hat. “I’ll be drunk, but you got it, Boss.”
As he strode off, movement by the dressmaker’s shop and stifled laughter on the wind caught her attention. A trio of women shot her catty looks and snickered. One was Anna Jennings.
Her smile faded, and she imagined balling her fist and punching that atrocious woman right in her jaw.
“Come on, ya little hellion,” Garret said as he held the door of the general store open for her.
While Garret talked to a short man with glasses behind the counter, she browsed the store. When she’d lived here before, the town had barely existed, much less a store, which had been more of a small and smelly open market. The little town of Rockdale had come leaps and bounds since then, no doubt due to the railroad and the illustrious new designation of cattle town. The store even boasted a small assortment of curtains to decorate cabin windows.
There were so many colors and different fabrics for the curtains. She slowly fingered through the options.
“Do you like those?” Garret’s voice sounded close to her ear, and his soft breath tickled the fine hairs on her neck. He was deliciously near, forcing her to take a moment before she answered, so he would think she was unaffected by him.
“I was just thinking of how far this place has come since I lived here last.” Bravely she turned and faced him, and he only pulled back a little.
“I was thinking—” he started.
“Oh no, a dangerous pastime to be sure.”
He graced her with an arched eyebrow and continued. “The cabin could use a woman’s touch. Not too much, mind you, but it could use better curtains over the front windows if you want to pick some out.”
“How about this one?” She held up a gaudy, bright pink, floral-printed length of fabric.
Garret’s mouth flattened into a grim line. “I changed my mind.”
“In seriousness, I like these,” she murmured softly as she showed him a pair of baby blue curtains in bombazine fabric. “And perhaps a length of white ribbon from the dressmaker’s shop to use as a tie for them,” she told him.
Garret nodded slowly. “If that’s what you want.”
He added the curtains onto a growing pile of provisions on the counter, and threw a distracted look at the list of what the ranch would need between now and their next trip to town.
“I’m going to the dressmaker’s shop,” she announced. “Do you want to accompany me?”
“I’m almost finished here. Do you want to meet me back at the wagon after you are finished?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t get in any fights with the townswomen,” he warned as he handed her a few coins to cover the cost of the ribbon. His bright-blue eyes were dancing.
“I make no promises,” she teased. She exited the store, the tinkling bell above the door announcing her departure.
“Hey,” he said, stopping her from her departure.
She was on the porch of the general store, and he was hanging out of the open door. “Don’t start anything.”
She turned to face him. “Why not?” she asked curiously. “I can handle myself.”
Garret came out of the store, and the door swung closed behind him. He squared up to her, his head canted and his eyes lighter. “Because if I think you’ll start something, I won’t be able to focus on anything else. I’ll be like Sammy on that snake, you hear? We don’t need that attention.”
Her stomach bottomed out, and she inhaled slowly as butterflies filled her stomach. Oh, she knew what he was saying. He would go after anything that threatened her, and he needed a quiet day in town. They didn’t need the townspeople chasing them back to the ranch with pitchforks.
