She shot him an ornery grin.
He only shook his head. Trudged past her and through the hall.
He stopped on the bottom step and called over his shoulder, "You can take the darn dog up to your room."
What did he care? Keeping the dog outside had been Grandma Mackie's rule. And he was selling the place anyway.
Let Molly get some sleep.
Molly laid curledbeneath the quilt in the bed upstairs. Hound Dog was sleeping on her feet, creating an oven of heat in the bed.
The twin was barely big enough for the both of them.
It was late. She'd turned on a late-night sitcom rerun and sat through three episodes before she'd climbed the stairs to go to bed.
She drowsed on the pillow, feeling happier than she had in weeks. A little less scared of the darkness outside the window.
The wind was still blowing ice pellets against the glass. Sleet and ice had accumulated all day. There weren't any trees close to the house, but she'd been keeping an eye on the ones down the hill toward the barn. They were drooping from the ice that now clung to their unfallen leaves and bare branches.
She was worried about the tree that overhung the back of the barn. It was already sketchy, with one half-rotten limb. If it fell on the barn, the structure might be a total loss. Cord didn't need that.
She still couldn't believe he'd let her bring the dog upstairs. Hound Dog had spent ten minutes sniffing every square inch of the bedroom before he'd answered her invitation to join her on the bed.
Cord might try to hide it, but he was a good guy. She'd known it from the moment she'd met him.
She was drifting off to sleep when the memory of that one charged moment in the kitchen re-played in her mind.
For a moment as he'd looked down at her, she'd sworn his heated gaze had caught on her mouth.
Like he wanted to kiss her.
She rolled over, punched the pillow.Therewas an errant thought that needed to be erased from her mind.
Cord wasn't interested in her. He'd told her so, and even if she did catch an occasional heated glance from him, it didn't mean he was going to change his mind.
And she was a mess. Why would he be interested in someone with her baggage? Easy answer: he wouldn't.
The clock on the nightstand had to have the brightest display she'd ever seen. In the dim light, she could just make out the outline of the photo taped to the wall. She'd spent so long looking at it over the past few days that she didn't need the light to know it. In it, the two brothers covered in mud looked as if they could be twins.
What had happened to the little boy in that picture? He had no relationship with his brother. He kept himself closed off from her and, other than Iris, hadn't had one visitor since Molly'd been on the ranch.
Something had to have happened to drive Cord away from home; something had forced him to cut ties. Even though Molly should nip her curiosity in the bud, she couldn't help it.
The man was hurting, even if he wanted to hide it.
