Page 55 of Fairest of Heart

Eyes glistening, she shook her head.

“Hey.” He squeezed her hand. “Don’t underestimate the power of hope. The hope of gaining justice for my brother kept me sane in those first months after losing him. I’ve heard stories among the Rangers about men who persevered through deprivation, injury, and torture solely on the hope of seeing their families again. Hope can draw a man home, Penelope. It can draw Rowdy home.”

It could draw me home.

The thought snuck past his defenses and planted itself in his mind. Penelope waiting for him. Drawing him home with her love. Him aching to see her smile, to hold her in his arms after a long stint of Rangering. Her welcoming kiss erasing every ugly thing he’d seen since the last time he’d been home.

Whoa, partner. Better tighten those reins before things get out of hand.

Hard to do when she was standing so close, looking at him as if he was what she pinned her hopes on. He swallowed. He might have to dash her hopes about going with him now, but he’d do everything in his power not to disappoint her in the important things.

He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Tracking people down is what I do for a living, Pen. I’ll bring him back to you. I promise.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand for a moment before bobbing her head in a shaky nod.

A dog’s bark sounded outside, and Titus swiveled to peer through the kitchen window. “Maybe I won’t have to bring him back.”

“What?”

Still holding her hand, Titus led her over to the window for a better look. He tipped his head toward the shadowy figures in the distance led by a dog running toward the house.

“Pretty sure that’s Lucky, and I’m guessing Rowdy’s somewhere in that group of folks clearing the rise.”

“Oh, Titus!” She clutched their entwined hands to her chest and beamed a smile at him. “You were right. Hope did bring him home. Hope and prayer and the efforts of valiant men.” Her glance shifted from him to the ceiling. “Thank you, Lord.”

Before he could get his hat off to join her impromptu prayer, she switched things up again by planting a kiss on his cheek. He barely had time to register the sweet feel of her lips on his scruffy face before she pulled away from him.

“Your plate’s in the warming oven,” she called over her shoulder as she dashed for the back door. “I’ve got to go.”

“Hold up. I’ll come with you.”

There was no reining her in, though. She hitched up her skirts and ran past the corral. Titus followed at a more reasonable pace, enjoying the view. Lucky met her halfway, barking and jumping around like an excited pup. Penelope slowed long enough to pat his side and offer words of praise, then chased after the dog when he darted back the way he had come.

One would think Rowdy had been missing for a week instead of a day the way Penelope greeted him. She embraced him and wept and told him over and over how glad she was to have him home.

By the time Titus caught up to the group she was leading Rowdy by the hand back to the house, exclaiming over how hungry he must be and how she had food waiting in the warmer for him and lots of coffee on the stove.

It seemed Titus wasn’t the only fella she kept food ready for.

She tugged Rowdy along at a rapid pace. The old hand trailed after her looking bewildered and bewitched at the same time.

Titus grinned. He knew the feeling.

Dusty, Angus, and Ike broke away from the others to take the horses that had been plodding behind the group back to the barn. Coy and Jeb headed for the house, nodding to Titus as they passed. Doc drew to a halt at the edge of the corral. Titus joined him, bracing a boot on the bottom rail.

“She’s something, isn’t she?” Doc asked.

“Yep.” The woman had so much love to give, it just poured out onto everyone around her. Which made it awful hard for a fella to do his job when that job entailed leaving. Like his did. Tomorrow.

“She told us about the gems and the likelihood that Rowdy took them to add to his collection.” Doc finally pulled his gaze away from where Penelope was ushering Rowdy through the back door and turned to Titus. “We searched him when we found him out by the old caves. He doesn’t have them, Titus. At least not on his person. If he did take them, they’re either gone or hidden somewhere.”

Titus craned his neck to look back over the rugged country stretching between the ranch and the hills where the caves lay. Mighty big haystack for a man on a needle hunt.

24

Titus bided his time. Ate supper. Drank some coffee. Watched Penelope fuss over Rowdy as if he were some kind of visiting dignitary instead of a confused old man with sticky fingers. Eventually the crowd began to thin. The emotional stress and physical exertion brought on by the evening’s search had left its mark. After Angus nodded off for the third time and started snoring at the kitchen table, Jeb jabbed an elbow into his side.

“Come on, old man. Better to rattle the rafters upstairs where there ain’t glassware to shatter from all them vibrations.”