Josie laughed, a hollow sound that seemed to echo about them. The horses shifted their feet, and Turnip looked up from where he was sprawled across the ground. “That isn’t how it works. Show me a man who doesn’t wish to own property in his own name.”
“The right man wouldn’t care so much about that as he would about you and what would make you happiest.”
Josie’s breath stuttered in her throat. Was he speaking about himself? Or some hypothetical, non-existent man? “I have yet to find one of those,” she said, struggling to keep her voice even. Why did he have to look at her with such seriousness? And why, for all that was good, did she want to reach out and run her hand over that hard jawline, the one with just the faintest hint of a beard beginning to show again? She clenched her hands to control the impulse.
“But perhaps you have.” He didn’t look away, didn’t give any sort of indication he wasn’t telling the truth. But hadn’t he said the reason he’d come was to own property?
None of it made any sense, and Josie’s mind couldn’t parse out the details at the moment. Not when he held her gaze the way he did, and certainly not when she was sure she could feel his breath on her face.
The only other man she’d ever been this close to was Vincent, her first husband. And he’d certainly never made her stomach twist like this. She’d never found it hard to breathe in his presence. And he’d definitely never looked at her the way Arlen was looking at her now.
Vincent was nice, but that was about all Josie could say about him.
Arlen was something else entirely. Something that made her so angry she could scream, and yet something that made her heart beat so hard in her ears that she couldn’t hear anything else.
Something that made her lean forward and press her lips to his.
He stiffened, and she paused, alarm momentarily arising inside, but then he relaxed and kissed her back. Josie could have stayed there forever, but the second his hand touched her shoulder to pull her closer, her more intelligent senses kicked in.
Her eyes flew open.
What was she doing? Oh my goodness, what did hethinkof her? Was she that quick to give up everything she’d worked so hard for?
She yanked back and scurried to her feet.
“Josie!” He jumped up behind her, but she didn’t look back as she hoisted herself up onto Gretchen, called for Turnip, and immediately rode away, leaving Arlen alone among the waving grasses and the dead rattler.
And with every movement of the horse, Josie tried and failed to forget the feel of his lips on hers—and of the way he looked at her as if she were someone perfect just as she was.
Chapter Nine
Arlen worked as fastas his mind spun the next day. Josie had kissed him.Shehad reached for him, not the other way around. It had taken him by such surprise, he’d been frozen for half a moment. But she hadn’t pulled back, and he finally realized that what he’d wanted was actually happening.
And then just as he’d tried to take her in his arms, she’d backed off like a frightened deer, eyes round and face terrified. And then she’d left without a word.
This morning, she’d acted as if nothing had happened. She’d prepared eggs and ham, and gently teased him when he slipped a piece of ham to Turnip. All seemed well, and that served to make him feel even crazier.
