Cowboy of Mine by Red L. Jameson

son’s shoulders who was already taller than his father. “My son has a sniper’s eye. Best in my family.”
    “And I have a gun, God damn it.” Laura’s voice was beyond incensed. “Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I don’t know how to shoot.”
    Jake held a palm out to her. “I was getting ‘round to askin’ ye.”
    “Good.” She snorted. “Sorry to have been so rough with you.”
    Jake smiled. Couldn’t help it. If that was rough, then, aye, he’d give Laura another chance.
    Tom snaked an arm around his wife’s waist and pulled her closer. “Honey, I love it when you talk so coarse.”
    She smacked his chest. “Stop it, you silly man. People are watching.”
    So it was decided: Laura and Chen were on their way to Meredith’s before Jake had much time to think of anything to say. He’d considered asking Laura to give Meredith some sort of code for his undying affection. But he and Meredith hadn’t known each other long enough to have such a code. Ah, but they would, he told himself. Mayhap after he’d help negotiate some sort of peace between the miners, he’d talk to Tom about where to buy a ring.

 
     
    Chapter 6
     
    M eredith tried not to read Jake’s note a thousand times but couldn’t quite stop herself. His handwriting was lovely, the words sparse.
    Dearest Meredith,
    Use the Colt if in trouble. I’ll be back soon. Needed more ammunition.
    Yours,

Jacob Cameron
    P. S. You bake a hell of a pie.
    P. P. S. Don’t argue with me about this. You’re beautiful, and that’s all there is to it.
    She also tried not to let her heart swell in the glow of the words, or press his letter against said offending four-chamber muscle that kept beating and warming whenever she thought of Jake.
    Oh, this was going to end badly.
    She’d tried to tidy herself and the house, but there was only so much scrubbing a woman could do before she sat down again and read his note.
    What if—what if he wouldn’t throw her away?
    Remembering the way he’d touched her didn’t help any. She’d feel hot and tingly one second, the next about ready to explode from...what was this? It had to be just a simple case of lust. It had to be.
    But when she heard the clip-clop of horse hooves on her drive her heart fluttered, and she flew to her cabin’s front window to see whether it was him, handsome, wonderful Jake. She chided herself for becoming too excited. Besides, she needed to contemplate more about her well-being. Someone had been on her porch, maybe doing something disturbing, staring at her.
    Wait. The big man hadn’t been looking in her cabin at all, she suddenly realized. Well, then what had he been looking at?
    Before she could think any further, the rider came into focus. She was dressed unlike any lady in Montana. At least none that Meredith could think of. This woman was refined in a maroon riding habit and matching bonnet that was more like a feminized top hat with maroon tool veiling it. Or wait—a lady of this time wouldn’t call the color maroon. Far too pedestrian. It was a dark coquelicot.
    The woman rode sidesaddle, and as the stranger approached Meredith’s heart pitched at the color of a stray curl escaping the bonnet. That hue was decidedly blue. Not blonde, red, or brown. Not even so black it looked blue. This was sky-color, cerulean blue. Not natural blue. At least not natural on a head.
    Although, Meredith couldn’t quite make out the woman’s face, she bolted for the gun Jake had left behind. The stranger had to be a muse or a friend of the muses who had kidnapped her and placed her here months ago. That was the only explanation for the blue hair.
    And it was completely irrational, crazy even, but Meredith didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to go back to her time. Not now. Not after meeting Jake.
    But he would surely throw her away, she reminded herself as she wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and hid the Colt behind her back.
    Meredith opened her cabin’s door. The