“Leave the girl alone,” Max said. “We’ve got things to do. We needto get going.”
The men left the cabin, and Libby blew out a breath. She’d been right about those two. They were more secretive, more unapproachable than the other guests. They hadn’t tried to make friends, just stayed off to themselves. She’d noticed Vince watching her a couple of times, but she was used to that. Now that she’d stood up to him, she figured he wouldn’t give her any more trouble.
Just to be safe, next time she’d make sure they were gone before she went in to do the housekeeping.
Libby made the twin beds, cleaned the bathroom, finished straightening up and left the cabin. She hadn’t done this kind of work since she’d left the farm, but it wasn’t that bad, and it made the time pass swiftly. She hadn’t had a chance to see the miniature goats yet, so she headed inthat direction.
As she passed the barn, she noticed one of the stalls stood open and Big John knelt on the straw inside. Changing course, she wandered over just as he was rising, a small blanket-wrapped bundle tucked into the crook of his thick, powerful arm.
“What happened?”
“It’s one of the barn cats. Looks like she ran into trouble last night. Probably a coyote. She got away, but the damage wasalready done.”
“You mean...she’s dead?”
He nodded, his heavy black braid shifting across his broad back. “I’ll take care of her and the kittens she left behind.”
Libby’s gaze swung to the stall, and she saw a tiny squirming mass in the straw. “Oh my God, she has babies!”
John stopped in the opening, the mother cat still in his arms. “They’re too small to make it. It’s kinder just to get rid of them.”
She dropped to her knees, and her eyes filled as she looked down at the tiny gray bodies. “They just need someone to feed them. I can do it. It won’tbe that hard.”
“You’ll be up all hours of the night,”Big John said.
“I don’t care. You can’t just kill them. Please, John, let me takecare of them.”
John said nothing, just stood there staring as if he was trying to read her thoughts,then he nodded.
“What’s going on here?” Sam strode up to the open stall door.
Libby put herself between the two men and the kittens. “I won’t let you take them. They deserve a chance to live.”
Big John looked at Sam. “One of the barn cats died. She just had a litter. They may be too small to survive, but Libby wants to try. I said it was okay.”
Sam’s gaze swung in her direction. He must have noticed her mutinous expression. “They’re going to take a lot of work.Are you sure?”
“I’ll take care of them. I can still domy other jobs.”
Something moved across his features. “All right. We’ll all pitch in ifyou need help.”
“I won’t,” she said firmly.
Sam nodded. “I think Clara has some doll bottles. She’s done this kind ofthing before.”
Libby felt a wave of relief. “I just need to get themup to my room.”
Sam found a cardboard box and lined it with straw. They placed the minuscule newborn kittens in the box, and Sam carried it upstairs.
Libby had never really thought about backing out of the conditions of her uncle’s will and returning to New York, but if she had, the kittens would have ended the notion.
They needed her. It had been a long time since anyone had needed Liberty Hale.
Chapter Seven
With Clara making preparations for the three-day pack trip coming up tomorrow, Sam had no choice but to drive Libby intoCoffee Springs.
The small community, just a little over a block long, had a narrow redbrick post office at one end and Rocky Mountain Supply at the other, and a mercantile and gas station that serviced the area for miles around. The only other businesses were the Coffee Springs Café, the Elkhorn Bar and Grill, Murray’s Grocery, the Coffee Springs Bed and Breakfast, and Fred’s Gun Shopand Dentistry.
