He named a figure that was much more than she earned at the Emporium, considering that Cousin Arnold kept decreasing the hours she worked. With that much money every week, she’d be able to save a good deal toward The Plan. Excitement bubbled inside her that her dream was much closer now, but that feeling was overpowered by the warmth of his gaze. “Yes, that will be fine.”
“There might be occasions where you’ll have to stay late. Is that all right with you?”
“Of course.” She shifted Avery’s slight weight as the girl sat on her lap and tightened her hold on her. “I would never leave Avery alone. I’ll just wait for you to come home. I have a roomat Mrs. McMurty’s boarding house so I’m close by. Actually, you can see her place from your back porch.”
He visibly relaxed, the tension easing from his stiff posture. “You’re hired. Can you start tomorrow?”
“I’d like nothing better.” She removed Avery from her lap, then rose from her chair as he did the same. “I’ll see you both in the morning.”
“By the way, the rest of our belongings should be arriving tomorrow. Will you take care of Avery’s things when they do?”
She watched as Avery slipped her little hand into his big one. She really was smitten with the girl. “I’d be happy to.”
He walked her to the front door, then pulled a key from his pocket. There was a look in his eye as he handed it to her, as if he was saying he trusted her with his most prized treasure—his daughter. She understood better than he might think. She slipped the key into her drawstring purse, then pulled the strings tight. “Everything will be fine, Marshal. Avery and I will have a wonderful time together.” She tried to reassure him but wasn’t certain if he believed her. She’d just have to prove it to him.
He said nothing as he opened the door, simply nodded in response to her statement.
She turned her attention to Avery. “I’ll see you tomorrow, all right?”
The little girl nodded with enthusiasm, those bright eyes of hers gleaming, but she remained silent.
As she stepped off the porch and into the street, she was aware of the marshal’s gaze on her and felt the thrill of it settle in her stomach. Despite that feeling, the next time she saw Lucy, she’d have a word or two to say to her!
CHAPTER 2
Devlin watched the woman walk away, the scent of her honeysuckle perfume lingering in the air. Mrs. Morgan was not what he expected. Not at all. When he met with Lucy Hart earlier, as he’d been instructed to do, and let her know he needed someone to watch over Avery, he had expected an older lady—one with gray hair twisted into a tight bun at the top of her head and a face full of wrinkles. He had not anticipated the tall, slender, vibrant young woman with rich auburn hair and kind violet eyes who just left his house.
He admitted, if only to himself, he’d been surprised to see her standing at his front door, but thought he recovered his shock fairly well. She had appeared startled, too, given the widening of her eyes and her sudden gasp. And then she’d fallen into his arms. She was all kinds of soft and warm and his body’s reaction to her touch made him question his own sanity.
He made the decision to hire her not on the fact that she could cook and clean but based solely on his daughter’s reaction to her. Avery never took to a person that quickly. In fact, he’d never seen her sit on a person’s lap aside from his or her mother’s, not even with her grandmother, but after what she’d been through—what they’d both been through—over thelast eleven months, if Avery felt comfortable with a complete stranger, then so be it.
“What do you think, Avery? Did you like Mrs. Morgan?”
The little girl nodded, making her light brown curls bounce, though she didn’t speak, which still worried him. The passing of her mother had affected her in so many ways, but it was the propensity to talk as little as possible that hurt him to his soul. Before Hannah died, Avery was a regular little chatterbox. Maybe spending time with Mrs. Morgan would help in that regard.
He tore his gaze away from his daughter and glanced down at the loose threshold. “Do you suppose there might be a hammer somewhere in this house?”
Avery shrugged.
They’d only been in the fully furnished house, the one provided for them by the town, for less than an hour before Mrs. Morgan had shown up. He hadn’t had time to explore everything as he’d mentioned to her, but what he’d seen so far, he liked—it would suit his and Avery’s needs perfectly. And that was more than he could ask for at the moment. Already, he felt a comfort here, a solace that had been missing from his life for an extraordinarily long time.
Now, to get settled, and start their new life, one without Hannah. The pain in his heart made his breath seize in his lungs and he paused for a moment to let the ache subside, though it never truly went away. He didn’t suppose it ever would.
He looked down at his daughter. “Will you help me?”
She nodded once again then scampered off to the kitchen. He could hear drawers opening and closing, her little feet going from one cabinet to another. He looked in the hutch in the formal dining room and anywhere else tools might be hiding. He came up with nothing and walked back to the open door and the offending threshold.
Avery joined him after a few moments, empty-handed.
“You didn’t find one?”
She shook her head.
“Me, either.” He grinned at her. “Well, I guess there’s no help for it.” He took off his boot then bent down.
The boot heel, as far as he was concerned, made a terrible hammer. Didn’t matter how much he pounded, the nail that protruded and made the threshold loose wouldn’t stay down. Every time he thought it would, he was mistaken. He even tried pulling the loose nail out and moving it to another place, but that didn’t work either.
He heard chuckling, but it was deeper, richer, and certainly not coming from Avery. Standing on the top step of his porch, a huge smile on his face, a cowboy hat shading his face, was an older man dressed in a gaudy plaid jacket and matching trousers that might have been better suited to a horse blanket.
