Page 34 of The Sheriff and the Outlaw

Ella smiled and gently squeezed her hand. “Only if you promise to come visit me, too.”

Then Josey bent down to Lillian now standing behind her beside the wagon. “It was a pleasure to meet you, too. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Okay?”

A broad smile spread across Lillian’s face. “I’ll see you then.” She waved a last goodbye to her father and then climbed up onto the seat of the buckboard. Colton handed her Hannah, while Ella held Blake.

“I’m sorry that I’m chasing her from her home.” Josey folded her arms over her chest, standing beside Daxton.

He looked down, knowing she was talking about Lillian. “You aren’t. She’ll be back tomorrow night.”

“Why did you take off from work this week?” Josey looked up expectantly.

Daxton cocked his head to the side. “I think you know.”

Josey sighed. “You shouldn’t have done that. I mean… after I rested, you could have let me go.”

A crease formed between his eyes. “Not in your condition. The first day you were here, you were so sick I was ready to go get Doc Morgan for you, whether you wanted me to or not.”

She smiled, gently patting his arm. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Josey was about to walk inside, but Daxton stopped her. “Josey, if you don’t mind, I want you to sleep in my bedroom and I’ll sleep on the sofa in the living room. But for tonight, I’ll sleep in Lillian’s bedroom, since she’s not here.”

“I can sleep in there—”

“If you like,” he conceded. “Usually, Andrew sleeps in the upper loft and then Lillian has the other bedroom downstairs. This way, they both have a room to themselves.”

Josey nodded. “A girl needs her own bedroom.”

“But when she comes back, you can have my bedroom, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Josey turned away, and raised her chin toward the moonlight, her blonde hair bathed in a blue hue. “I don’t want to put you out.”

Daxton never wanted to hold a woman so badly in his life, but she was married. Also, he couldn’t let himself get involved with this woman. Even if she didn’t go back to her husband, who was to say that she wouldn’t leave like Priscilla did? No, he couldn’t go through that again.

He placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “You’re not putting me out at all.” Then his lips curled into a smile. “Let’s go inside.”

She nodded and looked down.

Daxton sighed. “Don’t worry. Everything will work out. When you’re up to it, I’ll take you into town—”

“No, please. I can’t go into town.” She bit her lower lip, looking away.

“Hey.” He placed a finger under her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you. I’ll make sure of it.”

She turned away. “Let’s go inside.”

Daxton nodded, sensing there was more that she wasn’t telling him, but he decided not to push it. She would tell him in her own time… when she was ready.

He opened the door and stood back. “After you.”

When they walked inside, Andrew had a chess board set up on a small side table in the living room. “Pa, how about a game?”

Daxton smiled as he shook his head. “Maybe later. Let’s play a game of cards.” He turned to Josey. “Would you like to play?”

“Sure.” A broad smile spread across her face. “Would you like to ante or shall I? Do you have any matchsticks? Or we can play just straight Poker, Five Card Stud. Or we can play Spit in the Ocean or Follow the Queen, if you like.”

Andrew’s eyes widened as he looked back and forth between Josey and Daxton. “Sure!”

Daxton laughed. “Maybe later. I was thinking maybe Euchre, but we’d need four people, unless we play two-handed, but then we all wouldn’t be able to play. How about Rummy?”

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