Page 72

“Not yet. A letter takes more than a day to travel from Missouri.”

“Right.” He shifted his hand back to the blanket. “You worry about what he’ll say?”

“Yes.”

He waited. Jesse had become remarkably good at that when the question concerned someone other than himself.

“I keep remembering a stranger at our gate,” she said. “Father turned him away. Two weeks later Josiah was hurt. That doesn’t prove anything, but I can’t stop wondering.”

“What did the fellow look like?”

“His boots were polished. He offered Father a peppermint from a paper twist. I didn’t see his teeth.”

“Crowley likes peppermint.”

“I know.”

“Could be him.”

“Could be. I won’t accuse a man until I know more.”

Jesse’s eye moved to the notebook. “Write what you remember. Do it the same as you did for me.”

Eden drew up the chair and opened to a clean page. It was a sensible suggestion, and she disliked she hadn’t thought of it herself.

She wrote the stranger’s clothing, the visit, her father’s refusal, and the date as closely as she could recall it. Jesse asked questions without urging her to guess. When they reached the end, her page held fewer lines than she expected.

“That’s all,” she said.

“It’s a start.”

She closed the book. “You sound like your brother.”

“Take that back.”

“Never.”

He grinned, and Eden caught herself studying the shape of his mouth. The bruising around his mouth had begun to fade. She’d been so occupied with the threats against him she hadn’t noticed until now.

Now that the swelling had gone down, she could see the strong line of his jaw and the way his cheek creased when he smiled. His dark brown hair had grown untidy during his confinement, falling across a broad forehead. Beneath his still-bruised brow, the eye that wasn’t swollen was a warm hazel, with flecks of green that caught the light.

She tried to picture him before the attack. Broad-shouldered and tall, with a face browned by the prairie sun and that troublesome grin offered far too freely. He must have been quite a sight sitting tall in Buck’s saddle.

Eden glanced down at her hands before Jesse caught her staring. She was beginning to understand why Emily had thought he might make someone a fine husband.

“What?” he asked.

“You look better than when I arrived.”

“That’s a poor compliment.”

“It wasn’t intended as a compliment.”

“Pity. I could use a compliment.”

Eden gave him a considering inspection. “Your manners have improved. Slightly.”

“Careful. I’ll get vain.”