Page 100 of Love’s Silver Bullet

“And flirt …” Sheridan reminded him with a smug smile, pretty sure Professor McCall’s pretty third-year college-student housekeeper harbored a crush on Gray.

Despite the blazing fire, Sheridan felt a shiver, and hurrying into the cozy parlour, she stood as close to the hearth as possible. She briskly rubbed the arms of her white shirtwaist while her thoughts turned to Jake’s last letter, where he talked about a run-in with a gunslinger as the new marshal of Virginia City. Another shiver rattled her body at the thought of Jake in harm’s way, but she shook it off with a quick prayer for his safety as usual since he’d written her about his new career.

“Cold?”

She whirled around, not expecting Gray back so soon, toting a tray with two steaming cups and a plate of cookies. “A little, but I suspect that hot cocoa will warm me up fast enough.”

“Or the fire.” Setting the tray down on the table, he snatched a cream knitted throw from the blue floral Victorian sofa and spread it out in front of the hearth before setting the tray down beside it. Dropping down, he stretched his legs out with a low groan, then patted the blanket beside him. “Or me …”

“Gray.” She offered him a patient smile, head dipped in maternal mode. “When are you going to realize that we are better as friends than a couple?”

He peered up beneath thick dark lashes as he patted the blanket beside him. “When I see a wedding band on your finger, Miss Donovan, and not a moment sooner. Sit, Sheridan. You have my word I will behave, and I never break my word.”

Releasing a quiet sigh, Sheridan sat as close to the hearth—and as far away from Gray—as she could, relaxing in the warmth of the fire because she knew she could trust him.

Gray Carmody may be an insatiable flirt and womanizer, but he was honest to the core, something he didn’t show to a lot of people. But he had to her, over and over, throughout the year and a half she’d known him. She closed her eyes as she sipped Cecilia’s cocoa, the creamy concoction absolutely the best she’d ever had. “Mmm … this is delicious.”

“It is,” Gray agreed, taking a sip of his own. “And the cocoa is too.”

She couldn’t help it—she grinned. “Goodness, my friend, you certainly know how to woo a woman.”

His smile was wry. “Apparently not, Miss Donovan, or we’d be more than friends.” He set his cup down to offer her a snickerdoodle cookie from the tray, wrinkling his nose a tad. “Snickerdoodles are good, I suppose, but Mexican wedding balls would be better, Sugar Lips.”

Sheridan examined the cookies with great focus, looking for the lightest one she could find. “You do realize you aged my uncle ten years with that nickname, don’t you?”

“Yes, and Jake too, I hope,” he said with a wink. “Because then he’d be pushing forty and way too old for you.”

She paused, snickerdoodle to her lips. “Gray?”

He glanced over with a leisurely chew of his cookie. “Yes, Sheridan?”

She studied his handsome face, thinking he was, if possible, even more handsome than Jake. “I’m glad we’re good friends, because I can tell you what I really think.”

“Uh-oh.” He brushed cookie crumbs from his lips with a sheepish grin. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, not at all, you goose. I love both you and Grace like siblings.”

He winced.

“Gray.” Her tone was tender as she laid a gentle hand to his arm. “Grace told me you flit from girl to girl because it all comes so easily to you—catching a woman’s eye—and you just get bored because there’s no challenge.”

Knees bent, he crossed his arms on top as he stared into the fire. “That’s true, I suppose.”

“In fact, my friend, she told me the only challenge you’ve ever had is me.”

He slid her a sideways peek tipped with a smile. “That’s true too.”

“Well, don’t you see?” Sheridan shifted to face him. “If I were to fall for you, too, the challenge would be gone, and I’d lose one of my dearest friends forever because you would just flit away.”

He stared at her for several moments, his gaze searching her face as if deciding how to respond. “I don’t think so, Sheridan,” he said quietly, the boyish Gray suddenly nowhere to be found, “because I didn’t fall in love with you as just another woman, my friend. I fell in love with you as a dear friend I’d do anything for.”

Sheridan blinked with a sudden sting of tears, reaching to touch his hand. “Oh, Gray …”

“Okay,” he said with a quick squeeze of her hand, promptly letting go to offer the plate to her for another cookie. The affectionate sparkle was back in his eyes as he gave her a wink, masking his deeper feelings so well, she might have imagined them. “This whole conversation has gotten entirely too serious. I suggest you stay here to finish your cocoa while I go ‘torment’ Cecilia into packing up a bag of cookies for Grace, so we can go ‘torment’ my better half.”

Sheridan grinned, her heart expanding in relief—and gratitude—for Gray’s sensitivity to an awkward situation. “You mean flirt her into it, don’t you?”

Grinning back, he jumped up and brushed crumbs from his lap. “Exactly, because believe it or not, Sheridan Marie, it actually works with some women.”