Page 17 of Mad About Her Cowboys

Gah! She was so confused.

She turned out of Connor and Franklin’s embrace, noting they let her go immediately—huge points in their favor for that. Deep in her thoughts, she paced to the glass slider overlooking the back patio and the field beyond it. Her eyes widened with shock, the sight momentarily erasing all her other contemplations.

“Holy snow!” she exclaimed. When she’d driven here, there had been some flurries. That small squall before dinner hadn’t been so small after all. With the outside light on, it looked as if they were inside a snow globe. Huge flakes swirled past the windows, and it appeared several inches had fallen while they’d been eating. With her back to the door, she hadn’t noticed a full-blown blizzard.

“Was this in the forecast?” she asked, distressed at the prospect of being stranded.

“Nope,” Neal replied for everyone. “I’ve got three weather apps on my phone, and none of them predicted this.”

“Wait…” That brought her up short for a second. She shook her head. “You have three weather apps on your phone?”

“He’s kind of a weather nerd,” Edison told her. “He used to have two more forecasting apps, but he deleted them to make room for audio books.”

The shy Quist was smart. Neal was quiet and intelligent—though she could tell they were all bright. She liked everything she was learning about these four. While Neal was the scholar, Connor was obviously the leader in the group. And trustworthy, too. He had to be. They’d all followed him here, knowing he wouldn’t steer them wrong, and they’d stuck with him. He seemed confident and determined, as well.

Edison… Without a doubt he was the smart aleck, jokester of the bunch. So far, he seemed quick-witted, with no filter whatsoever. She liked that a lot, his forthrightness. But he seemed kind, even while messing around.

Franklin was the hardest to grasp. He seemed a lot like Neal, but more confident in his skin and less shy. If there was an order of command here—and she supposed there must be an unspoken understanding for the household to work—then he was the second in charge. Even so, the other three men seemed protective of him. Maybe, that was because of his diabetes and its side effects.

As a whole, they attracted her. They each had irrefutable strengths, and she found herself interested in learning their weaknesses, too. Weird. She’d never wanted to know so much about anyone, even Martin. If she wasn’t showing caution because of past experience, she might jump in with both feet to explore this thing.

“I should probably head home,” she said with reluctance. “I hate to do that cliché eat and run, but this storm looks like it’s not going to slow up and will turn bad. Worse than it already is, anyway. Looks pretty crappy even now.”

“Then don’t go,” Connor said. “You can stay.”

“Connor, I—”

He held up a hand to interrupt her. “We have eight bedrooms. There’s plenty of room for you to stay over. No commitment and no pressure for anything beyond hanging out with us.”

“I’ll make waffles in the morning,” Franklin offered. “Maybe, this will pass by then, and we can plow out to the main road. We have to clear the path for our guests over at the lodge, anyway. The county truck probably won’t be through for the highway, though. That usually takes a while. I’m not sure how your little car will do, even with the few inches we have now. The drifts get pretty bad, real quick.”

Madison frowned, feeling as if she didn’t have much choice. With being pregnant, she didn’t want to take chances. True, her circumstances weren’t ideal. Some might have told her to get an abortion, but there was no way she’d do that. To that point, there was no way she’d do anything that might harm her child.

“Connor? What do you think?” she asked, still eyeing the snowfall. “Do you have a feeling about the storm and whether or not, I should drive?”

“Wish I could say yes, but I don’t. It’s not a psychic thing, and it doesn’t apply to everything.”

“Okay then.” She turned, putting her back to the glass and looking at Franklin. “Waffles sound good.”

He did a little fist pump, and Connor grinned, looking relieved. “Want to watch a movie? We have a couple streaming services. You can pick whatever you want?”

“Even a chick flick? You guys will sit through that?” She had a vision of the little boy from Princess Bride groaning about the kissing book.

“Our favorite kind!” Edison quipped.

“Uh-huh,” she said in disbelief. “Well, lucky for you, my favorites include natural disaster movies like Day After Tomorrow and San Andreas.”

“I downloaded San Andreas, but we haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. How about that, then we’ll get you settled?” Franklin said.

She glanced over her shoulder. Still snowing like wild. She nodded. “A movie it is. I hope one of you has a shirt I can borrow to sleep in.”

Almost as one, they all announced that yes, they’d get her one.

“I’ll get Madison a shirt and make sure the guest room is ready,” Connor said. “Franklin, cue up the movie. Edison, popcorn—don’t burn it this time! Neal, drinks.”

Edison saluted him.

“What about me, Commander?” Madison joked.

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