The Cowboy's Baby by Linda Ford Page B

cherished— an acknowledgment of something warm and sweet between them.
    He grinned, happy he’d managed to bring a smile to her lips. Even happier because of what he’d seen—she felt something toward him though she might not be willing to admit it yet.
    He enjoyed the rest of the meal even though Anna’s gaze darted away from him each time he looked her direction. Her actions only made it plainer that she had feelings for him but they frightened her. He silently promised he’d never again give her reason to fear opening her heart to him.
     
    In the next few days, Alex found excuses to check on Colby and offer help if the work interested him. He sauntered over again as Colby prepared pieces of lumber to fix the roof. “Whatcha’ doing?”
    Colby explained how he had to repair the structure. “Want to help?”
    Alex gave the lengths of lumber a dubious look. “Is it hard?”
    “I wouldn’t think it would be for a boy your size.” He’d already noticed Alex avoided anything challenging. “Besides, hard work builds muscles.” He had his sleeves rolled past his elbows. He shoved one higher and flexed his biceps to show Alex. “I’ve been working hard since I was twelve. And it hasn’t done me any harm. Isn’t that about your age?”
    Alex shoved his hands behind his back as if ashamed of his lack of muscle. “I’m fourteen.”
    “Only one way to get muscles—build ’em with use.”
    Alex hesitated about ten seconds. “What do you want me to do?”
    “I’m going up the ladder. You hand me these one at a time.” It wasn’t hard work. A six-year-oldcould handle most of it. “It will save me a pile of time not having to run up and down.”
    Alex did as Colby suggested. When the boards were all up top, Alex climbed the ladder and started to join him.
    “I don’t think Anna wants you up here.”
    “Yeah, she’ll get mad if I get on the roof.”
    “Anna gets mad?” Did she still struggle with a temper that made her slam doors? “I don’t believe it.” She always seemed so calm and in control. “What does she do?”
    “She tweaks my ear.”
    Colby choked back a laugh at the injured tone in Alex’s voice. Little did he know how innocent a tweak on the ear sounded to Colby and what a mercy that was the worst Alex experienced.
    Until he’d found his way to this family he had no idea how gentle life could be. He’d wanted a share of it. Had found it for a time. He’d left for what he figured were pretty good reasons. But no matter how far he went, how bad he was, how hard he drank, how loud he roared, he could never get away from wanting that sort of family, and the belonging he’d experienced nowhere else but here. Even if Anna never let him back into her life, at least Dorrie was in the sort of family he ached for. He consoled himself with that fact. “You can hand me nails as I need them.”
    He and Alex worked in companionable silence as he nailed the new pieces into place.
    A door opened and closed next door.
    Alex groaned. “I forgot I’m supposed to be getting Anna coal.”
    “Run along and do it. And if you’ve caused her any inconvenience, the manly thing would be to apologize.”
    “I will.” He raced off to the coal shed.
    Colby returned his attention to roof repairs. Suddenly he got the feeling someone watched him. He sat back to check the surroundings and stared straight into Anna’s face—just inches away at the edge of the roof. His heart burned up his throat and he reached to steady the ladder. “You shouldn’t be up here.”
    “Why not? Didn’t you say it was perfectly safe?”
    “Yes. No.” For a man. Not a woman. Especially not a woman who owned a large portion of his heart.
    The past few days there existed a tension between them—a not unpleasant sense of anticipation, as if things were about to change.
    He prayed it was so.
    “Are you here to help?” He sounded as doubtful as he felt. This was not her work. She had her hands more than full running her