Page 113 of Love’s Silver Bullet

“Uncle Finn,” Maggie said quietly, the plea in her tone clearly an attempt to diffuse the situation. “Gray Carmody is very charming and very persuasive, with a wealthy family he adores on the other side of the country, so we could very well lose Sheridan altogether.”

“To a womanizing dandy who gambles,” Blaze pointed out, joining forces with the ladies.

“And I miss Jake.” Shaylee’s lower lip inched into a pout. “So if he married Sheridan, he would be around a lot more like before, right?”

“You’ve got that right, Doodlebug.” Dash scratched the back of his neck with an evil grin. “Besides, I miss Jake too”—he smacked the back of Blaze’s head in a jest—“because he’s a whole lot more fun than this clown, especially since Jake isn’t around anymore.”

“So.” Aunt Libby slipped around Finn’s desk to loop an arm to his waist, peering up with a plea. “Are you going to show this family just how much you love them and fix this?” She stood on tiptoe to press a gentle kiss to his jaw, lashes fluttering. “Or are you going to sleep in the spare bedroom?”

Titters circled the room as Finn seared his wife with a half-lidded glare. “I never stood a chance, did I?”

“No!” A chorus of dissent rose to the rafters.

Finn’s mouth went flat as he jerked Libby close with a hard hook of his arm. “I didn’t think so, but I’m telling you all right now that yes, I will present your case, but I refuse to put a gun to the man’s head, understood? Because in the end, it’s Jake’s decision, not mine.” He angled a stiff finger at Sheridan. “And you have to finish school and stay away from courting Gray Carmody no matter Jake’s decision, agreed?”

“Agreed,” Sheridan said with a cleansing sigh, blowing both Finn and Libby a kiss before hugging Maggie with a loud squeal.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Finn looked at his watch as Blaze jumped up to answer the door. “What now?” he muttered, huffing out a heavy sigh.

Deputy Wilcox rushed into Finn’s study with Blaze hot on his heels, both of them wearing the same grim press of their jaws. “Sorry to intrude, Mayor McShane, b-but there was a gambling g-game gone awry at the Bucket of Blood involving Slick Sikeston.”

Wringing his hat in his hands, he glanced around the room before fixing his gaze square on Finn with a hard bob of his throat. “And Jake has been shot.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

“So … you need anything else?” Sheridan said with a bright smile, fluffing Jake’s pillow for the tenth dad-gum time as he lay in the guest room at the Silver Lining Ranch. Checking her watch, she bent to press a kiss to his cheek before he could dodge it, the twinkle in her eyes not boding well for his efforts to keep her at bay. “Maybe Christmas cookies? A glass of milk?”—she clasped her hands behind her back like a little girl, giving a tiny shrug. “A wife?”

He rolled his eyes, lips pinched to keep the dad-gum smile away, but it wasn’t easy. She’d hovered over him like a mama hover fly for the last three days—changing his dressings, waiting on him, reading to him. Not that he didn’t like it deep down. Because he did.

That was the problem.

Especially when she applied liniment to his bare chest in slow easy circles that set both his skin and blood on fire. Bending so dog-gone close, the scent of lavender almost drove him out of his mind, hands twitching to just jerk her close and kiss her hard.

“I think I’ll sleep now,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut in what he hoped would be a clear dismissal.

Screeeeeeech!

His lids popped up and eyes spanned wide as she scraped a chair across the wooden floor, positioning it right beside his bed, complete with that blasted needlepoint hoop she was always toting around. He forced a scowl worthy of Blaze on a bad day. Which took some doing with those plump pink lips pursed in concentration while she worked. Wisps of gold-spun curls fluttering loose from her topknot, kissing her alabaster neck like he so longed to do.

A longing that rivaled his longing to escape from her care.

But Libby had demanded Jake heal here, and Finn had ordered him to stay. Till the bullet hole in his chest was completely healed.

The one Slick Sikeston had pumped into his body.

And the one that came within a breath of stealing his life.

Just like Sheridan had stolen his heart, only she had hit dead center, a silver bullet piercing clean through.

He blasted out a noisy sigh, thinking the sound of his frustration might deter her, but he didn’t hold out much hope. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” he snapped, figuring it was either grouchiness or attraction, and God knows he had plenty of both to go ’round.

Those thick lashes flipped up to reveal blue eyes on a mission. “You mean beside getting you to marry me?” She went back to her needlepoint, the faintest of smiles flickering across her lips. “Nope.”

“Come on, Sher,” he said with a low groan, figuring he’d never heal with her wearing him down like this. “I’m too tired to argue and I really need a nap. Besides, I already told you all the reasons we can’t marry, darlin’, so you need to let it go because I’m just trying to do the right thing and keep you safe.”

“The right thing, Jake Sullivan,” she said with another quick glance at her watch, is for you to admit to the entire family that you love me as much as I love you and marry me already.”