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“This was nice of you,” he said quietly. “I think I’d have gone crazy trying to stay at home tonight.” His dark eyes were sad. “I don’t know how to manage without her.”
Lucy came running back, her puppy in her arms. “Snow had some milk!” she said. “Now she’s all sleepy. Can she stay in my room tonight?”
“Of course she can.”
Lucy sat down beside Cody’s chair and looked up at him with soft, pretty eyes and a smile. “You can hold Snow anytime you like,” she offered.
“That’s really sweet of you, Lucy,” he replied, smiling back.
“I never got to have pets before,” she said. “We lived in an awful place. You couldn’t even have a cat. The people weren’t like they are here. It’s just super that we got to come and live on the ranch!”
Cody laughed in spite of himself. “I’m not much for big cities, either, Lucy.”
Hannah came into the room wiping her hands on her apron. “I’m just starting on the stroganoff,” she announced with a grin. “Just time enough to go out and see the barn cats, if you’ve a mind to.”
“Yes!” Lucy exclaimed. “They’re so cute!”
“I would love to see the barn cats,” Cody agreed.
“Super!” Lucy got to her feet and ran to the back door ahead of them.
“I might need a bit of support, if you don’t mind,” Cody said under his breath. “I’m not used to alcohol. I might have imbibed just a little too much.”
“Not to worry, Sheriff,” Abby said, getting under one muscular arm to help guide him. “Think of me as a warm crutch.”
He looked down at her with twinkling eyes. “Soft, too,” he teased, and on an impulse he didn’t understand, bent and kissed just the tip of her nose.
“Don’t let me trip over anything big, okay?” he asked, going right along as if he hadn’t done anything outrageous at all.
Inside, Abby was churning. Such a simple caress to make her go trembly inside. She wasn’t used to men. That had to be what it was. And the sheriff was strong and dishy and smelled of leather and a nice aftershave.
“If I see a steer in time, I’ll guide you right away from it so you won’t trip,” she promised.
He laughed. It was a rare sound, one she’d hardly ever heard from him. “I’m not that drunk. I think.”
She grinned. The wind was getting up. It whipped through her hair, lifting it away from her face and shoulders. She smiled, and closed her eyes, and lifted her face to it.
“You’re an elemental,” he murmured, watching her.
Her eyes opened. “What?”
“You like wind and rain and storms.”
“Well, yes.”
“So do I,” he said.
It was hard to breathe normally, especially when his arm contracted just a little.
“Big rock,” he said before she could decide what to do next.
She blinked. There was a very big rock, and she’d walked him right into it.
“There goes your guide-walking license,” he said.
She laughed. “Rub it in. I wasn’t paying attention. And yes, I do love wind and storms and rain.” She sighed. “And snow, most of all.”
“Good thing. We get more than our share of it every winter,” he pointed out.
