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“And where am I taking you?”
She cleared her throat, offering a tentative smile. “Would you be willing to put us up for a day or two?”
“And how much is the rent?”
“I believe...” She moistened her lips, plump, damp, delicious lips. Lips still carrying his taste, he was willing to bet. “I believe you offered to have us as your guests.”
“Now was that so hard?”
“I’m not used to having someone else in control. I’m usually the one who manages everything.”
“You think I’m trying to take over, is that it?”
“It sure feels that way.”
“Well, I’m not. Iadmire strong women. Hell, Willie’s about as tough as they come. The only time you’ll get a fight from me is when you’re choosing the most difficult path just to be ornery.”
“Going to a motel was not—” One look in his direction and she broke off what she’d been about to say and closed her mouth. Skirting the tree, she grabbed her precious rosebushes from the trunk of the car and trotted toward his pickup.
“At least life will never be dull,” he muttered to himself.
Depositing the potted bushes in the bed of Ty’s truck, Cassidy glanced at him over her shoulder, offering a dazzling smile. Uh-oh. “I have an idea. Ican help around the ranch in exchange for room and board. How about that?”
He restrained himself from responding. It was tough, but he did it. “Nope,” he said beneath his breath. “It’ll play hell with my self-restraint, but it won’t be the least dull.”
Ty stoodat the door of the cabin, his arms folded across his chest. “How did this happen?”
“I’m sorry, Ty,” Hutch said with a big show of contrition. “I musta left the door open when I took our clothes over to your laundry room. Iguess the stupid critter snuck right in. Thank goodness we hadn’t unpacked your pickup yet.”
Cassidy sniffed, her expression clearly one of disgust “A skunk!”
“Don’t scrunch up your face like that, Mom,” Hutch whispered. “It’ll give you wrinkles.”
Ty’s foreman, Lorenzo, stuck his head in the doorway then swiftly withdrew. “Damnedest thing I ever heard of boss.”
“Isn’t it though.” Ty pinned his gaze on the shuffling ten-year-old besidehim.
“There are six different types of skunks indigenous to Texas, you know,” Hutch volunteered, ahint of anxiety creeping into his voice. He fingered his glasses, nudging them higher on the bridge of his nose. “It coulda been a western spotted skunk. They favor rocky bluffs like this area around here.”
“Think so?” Ty asked very, very softly.
“Maybe.” The boy blinked rapidly. “I know it wouldn’t be the eastern spotted. We’re too far west for them. Or the hoodedskunk. They’re pretty darned rare. And they tend to be farther south, as I recall.”
“You seem to recall quite a bit.”
“Well, Ido remember a few facts from the books I’ve read. Like...” He swallowed, darting Ty a nervous glance before doggedly continuing. “Like it could also have been a striped skunk. ’Cept they’d rather be in the woods.”
“You read some weird books, kid,” Lorenzo offered “Ever tried comics?”
“No, sir. Not since I was three. As for the skunk, it could also be the common hog-nosed.”
“Don’t have any rooter skunks around here,” the foreman explained kindly. “Wonder what made him spray?”
Ty fixed his gaze on his soon-to-be son. “Or why he’d be out exploring during the day. Most skunks are nocturnal.”
Hutch swallowed visibly. “Gosh. Who knows? Maybe he has insomnia. That might have made him upset enough to spray.”
Ty glanced at Cassidy, his mouth tightening into a grim line. She looked like hell. No doubt she felt like it, too. Right now, she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders and this latest incident was one more crisis she didn’tneed.
