Page 64 of Destined for the Cowboy

“I thought we could at least…try.”

“Oh, we’ll do better than try, Logan Fox.” She almost purred it as she put her arms around his neck. “Thank you. For asking.”

He gave her the crooked smile she’d come to love. “Thank your brother.”

“Jackson?”

“He’s the one who told me he wished I would…help you build a new ship.”

It was so like her brother her eyes stung with tears for a moment. Then, smiling through it, she said, “Well, at least you don’t have to go ask for his approval, since he’s already given it.”

“Thank goodness,” he said, rather fervently.

To her the next week flew by. They spent it all together, alone, savoring the isolation that she knew would drive some mad. Logan postponed two routine appointments until the next week, just so they didn’t have to emerge from this wonderful cocoon they’d built together.

This new ship we’re getting ready to launch, Jackson.

She thought briefly of the other scars she’d found on him, besides the one that was always visible on his face—which was from a laceration when his mother had tossed him in that dumpster, he’d finally told her—and the one he’d said had been a hot iron learning experience. Smaller, round marks that she knew all too well from one of her students who’d been pulled out of an abusive home. Cigarette burns. Longer, thin marks across his back, which told her he’d been whipped until he’d bled at some point.

She had kissed and stroked every one of them, and told him in every way she could think of, both physical and verbal, what they meant to her as proof of just how strong he was.

One morning she woke up to find him gone from what she was now thinking of as their bed, and for a moment she felt a qualm. But she remembered something he’d said yesterday, almost to himself, about going back out to the workshop to finish…something, she didn’t know what since the words hadfaded away as he looked at her, and they’d ended up on the couch in the great room.

But he had been out there a few times, although not for long, and she’d thought it best to give him that time alone. She’d decided before she’d even moved in here that she was never going to assume there was a problem. She knew he needed time alone, just as she did, and she wasn’t going to be offended if he took some of it. She was just glad that for him, as for her, simply being quiet in the same room together was enough. He’d told her that, just last night, that she soothed him as much as that quiet time did.

She got up, smiling at the memory. They were indeed building, and building well. She quickly dressed, ran a brush through her hair before she pulled it back in a tail at the back of her neck. She went for the coffee he’d put on earlier, and thought about going out to the workshop, wondering if it would be intruding.

Even as she thought it she heard steps on the porch. A moment later the front door swung open. Logan stopped when he spotted her up and at the kitchen counter. He had something in his hand, and it seemed almost like he was trying to hide it.

“Logan?”

She saw him take a deep breath, then he said, “It’s kind of silly, but I know you love them and…you said maybe I should try something like this myself…”

His voice trailed off, and at last he lifted the thing and held it out to her.

It was a bluebonnet. A Texas bluebonnet, forged in gleaming Texas steel yet as delicate as the real flower that exploded across the Hill Country every spring. Her very favorite flower. She stared at what he had done, more than a little stunned. The belt buckles had been a hint at what he could do, but this…this was genius.

The main stem was sturdy, the blossoms that burst all around it looked impossibly graceful, as if they would move in the slight whiff of air. The tiny petals curved perfectly, like the sun bonnets they were named for, and the overall shape was the same familiar cylinder with the burst of blossom at the top. He’d even managed to show the change in color pattern on each petal by a change in the texture of the metal.

“I thought you might…like it.”

Only when he finally spoke did she realize she’d been staring, motionless, in wonder. She reached out and took the stem, the weight of the piece reminding her that no matter how delicate and fragile this looked, it was not. And she let every bit of that wonder echo in her voice when she shifted her gaze to his face.

“You took my breath away, Logan. It’s…wonderful. It doesn’t even look possible, but there it is.”

“It…reminds me of you. Beautiful. Fragile-looking, but underneath as strong as steel.”

That easily, she melted inside yet again. And she spent the rest of the day telling him how much she loved it. And him.

And spent that night showing him.

It wasn’t until she got a text on Thursday evening that reality intruded on their bliss, but in a good way. It was from Nic, and it was more along the lines of a demand than a request.

Meet us at the saloon tomorrow for the Friday night get-together. BOTH of you!

A moment later that was followed by a second text.

Do it or Jackson will be out there pounding on the door to check on you.

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