“Good.”
“Good?” He grinned at her. “Some friend you are. You want me to live a loveless life?”
“No,” she said and turned away from him, facing the darkness. Then she smiled back over one shoulder. “I just don’t want you falling for Colorado girls. I’d prefer you look for love closer to home.”
Her words and smile were an invitation. He understood that. He just didn’t understand exactly what she was inviting him to do or say.
He was drawn to her—powerfully attracted, in fact—and suddenly, he hoped what his sister had said was true, hoped that Maggie, who was no longer a spirited child but a beautiful, intelligent woman, did have feelings for him.
Because he had feelings for her. Powerful feelings.
But what he had told her was true. He had no experience with women. And he hesitated, suddenly knocked off-balance in a way he wouldn’t have been by enemies pouring out of the darkness, firing their weapons.
Because combat, he understood. Women, he did not.
Yet.
By hesitating, he let the moment pass. He felt that—and a twang of loss—when Maggie turned back toward him, and asked in different tone, “Does this still feel like home to you?”
“Texas?”
“Texas, here, everything.”
“Sitting here, talking to you, listening to the bugs with night coming down, yeah, it feels like home.”
She smiled at his words. “It’s nice.”
“Yes, it is. But things have changed. This isn’t the Texas I left behind.”
Maggie glanced toward the charred heap that had been her family’s home. “No, it’s not.”
“I do believe Texas will rise again. But I can’t see how or when that will happen. The folks with money and power don’t want anything to do with the old Texas.”
“Will you go back to Colorado, then?”
He shrugged. “I’m a Texan. I plan on living here, having a family here, dying here. But right now, it’s hard to make a living here, and the folks in power don’t like people like me. If it was up to me, I’d take you all back to Colorado until this blows over.”
Maggie brightened. “You’d take me, too?”
“Sure. I said I’d take care of you, didn’t I? But it won’t happen.”
“Why not?”
“You know why not.”
“Your mama.”
“That’s right. Mama won’t leave Pa’s bones, not unless there’s no other choice.”
“It’s a shame he’s buried over there, on that carpetbagger’s farm.”
“That isn’t the carpetbagger’s farm. It’s mine. He’s just holding it for me. I will get it back, you mark my words.”
Maggie studied him for a moment. “I believe you, Will. I believe that you will get your old farm back.”
“In the meantime, you need someplace better to live than an old bunkhouse.”
“We get by.”
