“I’m sure they’ll appreciate that,” Rafe replied, even though the thought of Lina and Hannah discussing him made his stomach turn.
Hawk was quiet. After a moment, Rafe couldn’t take the silence any longer. He looked up to find the sheriff considering him.
“I know you weren’t game for this, but is it that bad?” Hawk asked. “I thought you’d come around.”
Rafe forced himself to let out a breath. “It isn’t,” he said carefully. He wished Hawk would go back to keeping an eye on Carringer’s Saloon across the way.
Hawk gave him a few seconds to elaborate, but Rafe stubbornly kept his mouth shut. Reliving Hannah’s reaction to his kiss was worse than having that tooth pulled when he was thirteen.
“You know it took a while for Lina and me to get comfortable with each other. Give it some time,” Hawk said.
Rafe nodded and pretended to look at the mail again. Lina had married Hawk under false pretenses. Rafe didn’t have that to worry about—or so he hoped. Instead, he had a wife who recoiled from his presence, which might have actually been worse.
It didn’t matter, he told himself. He hadn’t wanted to be married anyway, so what was he missing? He’d at least get some home-cooked meals out of the arrangement, and someone to keep up with sweeping the dust off the floors.
“Speaking of it,” Hawk said.
Rafe glanced up again, just in time to see his friend greeting someone just beyond the door. Before he could put two and two together, Hawk stepped aside to allow Hannah to enter.
She looked just as pretty as she had earlier at the wedding. Her light red hair escaped in gentle wisps from its pins, she still wore that dress with the little flowers on it, and she smiled at him as if she were happy to be here.
It was incredibly confusing.
“I’m sorry to bother you while you’re working, but I went through the pantry and found . . . well, not very much. We need to do some shopping.”
Rafe stared at her a moment, trying to figure out if she was asking him to go with her. It seemed like she was. Against his better judgment, hope notched up a rung in his mind, but as he opened his mouth to reply, she spoke first.
“I didn’t mean you needed to leave your work,” she said quickly. “I’m happy to go alone. It’s only that I don’t have any money.”
Of course she didn’t need him. Rafe pushed away the disappointment with pressed lips before he stood and reached into his pocket. “Take this and ask Warner at the general store to open up an account for you.” He handed her a few bills.
Her fingers closed around the money, grazing his. It had been nice for a moment at their wedding, before the ill-fated kiss, when he’d held her hands in his. Rafe still hadn’t been fully committed to the idea of marriage, but in that moment he had thought that maybe he’d been wrong. That it would be worth the risk of keeping her safe, of giving up the life he’d grown accustomed to, for someone who appreciated his presence.
The idea hadn’t lasted long. But it still clung to his mind with stubborn claws.
Rafe pulled his hand away quickly and sat back down.
“All right,” Hannah said, carefully tucking the bills into her glove.
“Don’t you have a . . . a . . .” Rafe gestured at his shoulder.
“A reticule? I don’t,” Hannah said. “We didn’t have much for spending at the orphanage.”
“I see.”
She watched him with those clear blue eyes, but try as he might, Rafe couldn’t see what was going through her mind. So he turned his attention back to his desk.
“Thank you,” she finally said.
He nodded, not looking up as she stepped away.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Garland,” Hawk said. “It was nice to see you again.”
“The pleasure was mine. Good afternoon, Sheriff,” she replied in a sweet, innocent voice.
The seconds ticked past while Rafe opened another envelope.
“You might consider acting warmer toward her,” Hawk finally said.
