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He grinned. “How did you know it was me?”
“Because I’ve had this conversation with Ben so many times I know he isn’t eager to have it again.”
“Neither am I.”
“Then don’t.”
“Can’t do that.”
She made a sound he almost wanted to call a growl. “Just let it go, Aaron.” She picked Samuel up and cradled him to her chest.
Aaron watched her and held his tongue, thinking before blurting out the first thing to pop into his head. She was going to be stubborn for no other reason than she could be. He could tell by the set of her shoulders. “Do you like working there?”
“What difference does that make? It’s work. It helps buy the food we put on the table. Liking it has nothing to do with needing the money.”
“How much do you make?”
“None of your business.” She stood and brushed past him and headed back to the other room.
He sighed and followed. She was at the stove, Samuel in one arm, a spoon in the other. Her jaw was still clenched and he knew now wasn’t the time for a fight. He’d come over with the intentions of courting her, not starting an argument so he crossed the room and reached for Samuel. “Let me have him.” Surprisingly, she handed the baby over.
He took a seat at the table while she finished preparing supper and he let his mind wonder how best to go about courting her and getting her to quit working at the saloon at every week’s end. He’d have to do some hard thinking, maybe even ask Noah his advice on the matter.
Supper was about as uneventful as it had been all the other times he’d eaten there and he and Ben spent the majority of the meal talking about what was going on over at the Avery ranch. By the time they’d finished eating, got the dirty dishes washed and put away, he was so tired his eyes started to burn and water.
Samuel fell asleep after Betsey had fed him and he’d watched them like he’d never seen anything more interesting in his whole life, and maybe he hadn’t. Knowing the girl he secretly felt more for than he was willing to admit hold their baby as he suckled, made his heart clench tight. It gave him thoughts of seeing her do that every night for years to come with other babies they made together.
He nodded off to sleep and finally told Betsey he was leaving. He knew he was tired and imagining things when he thought he saw a bit of disappointment flash in her eyes as she got up from her chair. She let him put Samuel to bed and waited for him at the front door.
The flower he’d given her was still behind her ear, forgotten as the evening wore on. It had wilted, the bloom drooping and tangled in the strands of her hair. He pulled it free and brushed it over her lips before looking into her eyes. “Can I kiss you?”
She gave a surprised jolt, then blushed and took the flower from him. “Why would you want to do a thing like that?”
“Because I’ve not kissed a pretty girl in over a year and it’s all I seem to think about when I’m near you.”
A bent finger under her chin brought her head back up.
She sighed and leaned against the doorframe. “Why are you doing this, Aaron?”
He moved closer, invading her personal space as if he had a right to do so. “Because I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I want to make things right.” The wind kicked up and blew a strand of hair across her face. He tucked it away behind her ear and ran the back of his finger down her jaw. “If you want me to leave you alone and just set up a time for me to come visit Samuel every week, then I will, otherwise, I’m not going anywhere.” Leaning toward her, he brushed his lips against her mouth. “Tell me to leave, Betsey, and I’ll not bother you again.” Her silence made his pulse leap. When he leaned in and brushed his mouth against hers a second time, she laid a hand to his chest and licked his bottom lip. Every nerve in his body fired at once, heat filling his limbs as he cupped her face in his hands and pushed his tongue between her lips.
Every single second they’d spent together out by the creek came rushing back as if it had happened yesterday. The scent of her skin and the smell of the rose scented soap she washed her hair with filled his senses, the soft rasp of her tongue brushing against his own caused all the blood in his brain to rush immediately south. Her arms slipped around his waist, pulling him in tight against her and all thoughts of going home and sleeping were gone in an instant. He wanted her underneath him, her long limbs wrapped around him as he sank deep inside her. He wanted her to whisper his name as she clung to him, feel her tongue against his flesh and feel her shudder against him.
He broke the kiss and laid his forehead against her own and panted out deep breaths as his cock thumped with every beat ofhis heart. “Much more of that and I’ll be begging you to let me stay.”
She didn’t say anything but the way she was still holding on to him, he wasn’t so sure she would have refused. He kissed her again then backed away. “You up for visiting Sunday? Heading out to the house and over to Alex and Jesse’s?” The look on her face told him she was going to refuse. “Come on, Betsey. I just want my family to spend some time with Samuel and you said yourself you wanted to see Alex and the twins. It’ll just be a few hours, I promise.”
She sighed and looked out over the moon washed prairie for so long he thought she was still going to refuse. “All right, but I have to be home before five. I work on Sundays.”
Not for long you won’t. “I can do that.” He took a few steps backward. “I’ll come by after breakfast Sunday morning.”
She gave him a small nod of her head before going inside and closing the door. The moment he turned his back to the house, he grinned and had to restrain himself from jumping into the air while screaming, “yes!” It was only lunch but it was a start. She was still angry with him—her short temper when he was around was testament to that. It would take time for her to trust him again and time was something he had plenty of now. If it took a year for her to let him back in, then he’d spend the next three hundred and sixty-five days giving her soft kisses and whispered words under a starlit sky. And once she’d forgiven him, he’d do what he should have done a year ago. He’d make her his wife.
Chapter Eleven
Betsey smoothedthe wrinkles in her skirt for the tenth time and knew she was fidgeting but it was unavoidable. Since the moment Aaron showed up at her door, her heart had been fluttering like a caged bird inside her chest.
She’d gone to bed three nights ago so torn about what to do, she’d barely been able to sleep. Aaron asking to kiss her and telling her he’d not kissed a “pretty girl” in over a year had hit her hard. If she believed what he said, then it meant in all the time he’d been gone, he hadn’t turned to someone else. It meant the Indian girl was just his friend, as he’d told her and it made her foolish heart whisper “what if’s” until she’d nearly driven herself crazy with the wondering.
