He squeezed her once.
“That they’ll stare at you,” he whispered again.
Again, she nodded.
He lowered his head, his jaw brushing her temple as he brought his mouth close to her ear.
Tucked up against him, her shivers had started to lessen.
“Do you know what I see when I look at you?” He was barely speaking, voice low and hoarse and right in her ear.
This time she barely moved, shaking her head, the motion rubbing against his cheek, they were so close.
“I see a beautiful woman strong enough to survive a wreck that could’ve killed her.”
He shivered as the thought struck him, and he had to close his eyes. She’d almost died.
And it was his fault. The words pressed against the inside of his chest, but now wasn’t the time to tell her, not when she was already upset.
“I see a woman who might be scared, but isn’t willing to let the loss of her arm dictate how she’s going to live her life.”
He put his hands to her shoulders and pressed her slightly away from him, until he could look down into her face. A few rays of light from one of the windows shone down on her so he could read her.
“I see you. A survivor. Beautiful. Daisy.”
Her eyes were luminous, and she blinked once slowly.
He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and keep kissing her until she believed what he’d said. But he heard the jingle of a harness and the soft clop of hooves in the dirt-packed road. Someone was coming.
He let her go, and cold rushed in against his chest where she’d been.
She looked up at him and he moved beside her, in front of the boardwalk stairs. He let his hand rest on her lower back, this time a casual touch.
She took a deep breath and stepped up the first step. The second. The boardwalk.
She hesitated slightly at the door. She looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled a trembling smile. He nodded.
And she went inside, leaving him to follow.
*
Daisy stepped over the threshold, and the noise of multiple conversations instantly muted.
She felt the sharp prickle of eyes on her. Just as she’d thought.
But also the warmth of Ricky’s presence behind her.
She could do this. Because he was here with her.
Smells of hot coffee and sugary-sweet punch and baked goods threatened to upset her stomach. Her eyes flitted to the left, to the right. Landing only briefly on the curious gazes of people she’d known all her life and some she didn’t know at all.
“Daisy Richards!”
Her head lifted to meet the familiar voice, her friend Ethel. The brunette had her arms full of a blanket-wrapped bundle. Her baby girl, the one Daisy hadn’t even seen yet.
She was followed closely by Mary. All three girls had been as close as sisters since their school days.
Daisy hesitated, afraid of what they would say. She’d been avoiding them at all costs, even the day they’d come out to the ranch to see her. She hadn’t been a good friend at all.
But they didn’t hesitate before enfolding her in a three-way hug, the baby tucked in Ethel’s arms and right in there with them.
Tears rushed to the surface, filling Daisy’s throat and eyes. She blinked them away.
Ethel pushed back, exclaiming, “Look at you! You look so good!”
Daisy was glad she’d allowed Belinda to talk her into borrowing one of her sister’s newer gowns with its sleeve pinned up. The cut was more fashionable, and the color favored her. The other women’s dresses were stylish, new to Daisy, who had been isolated on the ranch for months.
“I’d like you both to meet Ricky White.” She moved aside so that Ricky was more visible to the girls from where he’d been standing behind her. “He’s one of my father’s hands. And a...friend.”
She had looked from Ricky back to her friends in time to see a warm smile appear on Ethel’s face, but Mary’s frown was a surprise.
“Evening. I don’t suppose we’ve got you to thank for getting Daisy to attend the event tonight,” Ethel said.
Ricky’s eyes came to Daisy and held. “No, ma’am. That was all Daisy.”
Warmth infused her. Maybe it hadn’t been too forward of her to invite him. And maybe it had been her idea. But she would never have made it in the door without his steady presence.
Just remembering his whispered words from outside sent shivers down her spine. I see you. Beautiful.
She wasn’t beautiful, not anymore, but that he had said so meant so much to her.
“Come sit with us,” Ethel invited, and to Ricky, “My husband is over there...”
Daisy allowed herself to be pulled through the crowded restaurant. After the initial surprise of her entrance, now everyone had gone back to their own conversations.
For the most part.
She was conscious of a whisper as they passed one of the tables. She couldn’t help the turn of her head. An acquaintance, not someone she knew well. The girl’s eyes cut away, and Daisy couldn’t help the flush that spread up her cheeks.
Ethel’s husband, Harry, rose from his chair as they approached, offering a warm smile to Daisy. They’d only been married for about a year, and he was from a neighboring town, so Daisy didn’t know him terribly well, but she liked him well enough.
But Harry’s smile didn’t extend to Ricky, in the same way Mary’s hadn’t. She was momentarily confused, but pushed it away as she settled at the table with her friends.
There was something she needed to say immediately. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you when you came out to the ranch a few weeks ago.”
Ethel’s eyes lowered, but it was Mary who reached across the table to touch the back of her hand. “We understood. We didn’t like it, but we understood.”
“How have you been?” Ethel asked. “You look in good health, but how have you really been?”
“Better,” Daisy said with a glance and half smile at Ricky. “My body has healed, but some of the tasks I am having to relearn are...difficult.”
Compassion flitted across her friends’ faces. But she didn’t want to dwell on her challenges. Not tonight.
“I haven’t gotten to see the new baby. Audra told me you named her Ruth.”
She leaned forward as Ethel tucked the blanket down lower beneath the baby’s chin so Daisy could see her face. The little one slept peacefully, even in the midst of the noisy atmosphere, her lashes a dark slash across her cheeks and the tiny bow of her lips suckling in her sleep.
There was a slight hesitation before Ethel asked, “Do you want to hold her?”
She did. But the baby was so new, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it correctly with only one arm. “Perhaps later.”
She probably imagined Ethel’s small sigh of relief.
“I’m going to grab some punch. Be right back.”
Ricky excused himself and stood, weaving through the tables toward where a punch bowl and light refreshments had been set up at the back of the room. Harry also excused himself.
Daisy couldn’t help following her cowboy with her gaze, feeling somewhat empty without him next to her.
She saw two girls she didn’t know approach him and say something, saw his feet shift as if he was uncomfortable.
Across the room, Belinda chatted with a group of friends. Where was Beau?
“You seem quite attached to your cowboy,” Mary said, bringing Daisy’s attention back to the table and her friends. Her expression was closed, hard to read, which was unusual for Daisy’s usually expressive friend.
“We’re not... He hasn’t asked if he could come courting,” Daisy said. “We’re friends.”
Ethel shook her head, her dark curls bouncing around her face. A new hairdo? “You don’t look at him as if he’s just a friend. It’s more than that.”
“What do you really know about him?” Mary asked quietly, tracing a pattern on the table with one fingertip. “He’s not from around he
re, is he?”
“His family is from Bear Creek. I met his father over Christmas, when everyone was ill.”
“Yes, but...what about him? The cowboy? Who is he? What’s he doing in town—” Mary’s words cut off.
Daisy saw Ethel shift as if she’d kicked her friend below the table. “I think it’s delightful that you’ve found a friend.”
But Mary wasn’t smiling. What was wrong? Did her friend know something about Ricky that Daisy didn’t know? How could she?
“I can only guess that he’s encouraged you to get out of the house,” Ethel said with a sly smile.
Daisy blushed. It had been rather the opposite. “He’s certainly helped me see how I could accomplish tasks around the house. I’ve spilled so many things and made so many messes—I feel like a little child again. You have no idea...”
Ethel’s attention was diverted. Daisy looked over her shoulder to see Harry motioning to his wife.
“Oh, he’s talking to Delilah—I’ve got to go over there.” But Ethel didn’t sound thrilled about it.
Daisy knew the other girl had fancied Harry when he’d first come to town but Ethel’s quick upset reaction made her wonder what she’d missed.
But Daisy wasn’t ready to stand up and become the center of attention, especially if there was an altercation brewing.
“I’ll go with you,” Mary offered. Both women bustled to their feet.
“Thank you.” Ethel sounded genuinely thankful. “Daisy, would you please take the baby?”
Before she could get a word of protest past her lips, Ethel had settled the sleeping baby against her breast and brushed past.
Daisy clutched Ruth, her own breath coming in pants and gasps. What if she dropped the baby?
But the slumbering cherub only cooed in her sleep, settling her cheek against Daisy’s shoulder.
The noise all around seemed to dim as she looked down on the baby.
Wasn’t this what she’d wanted all along? A husband and baby and life on the ranch, their own flocks and their own place.
As her eyes slid to half-mast and her imagination soared, it was Ricky beside her on the front porch.
And then the man was there, sliding into the chair at her elbow. “Did they abandon you?”
He sounded offended on her behalf, and thunked a mug of what looked like cider down on the table in front of her. Not that she could do anything with it since she was holding the baby, but she smiled at the gesture anyway.
“They’ll be back. Ethel left this little one...”
His eyes took in the baby and his entire expression softened, the tension around his mouth easing and a deep warmth entering his eyes.
He didn’t say anything, but their connection seemed to expand, filling the space between them until she was buoyed by the hope and anticipation swirling through her.
And she had to look down on the baby again, to keep from bursting out in song.
Then the baby coughed. Her tiny head wobbled and Daisy adjusted to try and steady her, but the baby coughed again, her face scrunching and turning an alarming shade of red. Baby Ruth threw her head back, the movement wild and unexpected.
Daisy clutched the baby, trying to stabilize her. The infant coughed again, face going blotchy and then she let out a squall that silenced the conversations around them.
Panicked, Daisy jerked her head to the side, looking for Ethel, but she couldn’t see her friend.
Her frantic movement upset the baby even more, and it squirmed.
Half afraid she would drop Ruth, she cried out, “Take her!”
And Ricky was there, his wide hands scooping up the baby. He tucked her against his chest, patting her back and jiggling her. She quieted some but then let out a piercing scream.
The conversations around them had gone from frozen silence to murmurs and whispers.
Daisy’s face flamed. Were they all talking about her? How she couldn’t do the simplest things, like hold a baby?
“Is she all right?” she asked, breathless and hot. Upset.
“She’s fine.” He said the words without looking up at her, his focus on the baby.
Hot prickles went up her spine. People were watching her. Judging her. She knew it.
She wanted to escape.
“What happened?”
There was Ethel, rushing in with Harry just behind. Ethel took the baby from Ricky with shaking hands.
“Just a little cough,” Ricky said, in that same calm manner that Daisy recognized.
Harry had somehow got a shoulder between Ethel and Ricky. He said something to Ricky, but with the surrounding conversations buzzing louder and louder—or was that only in Daisy’s head?—she couldn’t hear what it was.
Ricky’s expression tightened.
She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. She needed to get out of here, now.
She stood up, her chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor.
Ricky glanced over Harry’s shoulder, and he seemed to see her distress, because he edged past the other man and met her with a hand at her waist. On her bad side.
She closed her eyes briefly, trying to stem the emotion threatening to swamp her. When she reopened them, nothing was better.
Several people nearby were looking at her with open curiosity. Voices buzzed around her; she was so upset she couldn’t make out the words.
“You want to get some air?” he asked.
She couldn’t answer him, but she managed a nod.
Chest tight, she allowed him to usher her through the snarl of tables and booted feet and long skirts in the way.
They closed in on the door and she pulled ahead of him, almost running in her haste to escape.
Finally, she burst out into the cold night air. Her shoes clicked against the boardwalk. Alone.
The quiet was a welcome relief, and she sucked in breath after breath of the biting air.
The door opened behind her, sending a shaft of bright yellow light and a louder murmuring of voices inside.
Were they all talking about her?
*
The door closed behind Ricky, cutting off the light and putting him into darkness. He stepped toward Daisy, bootsteps muffled against the boardwalk.
“You didn’t even grab your coat,” he chided gently.
She glanced at him very briefly over her shoulder but allowed him to help her into the garment. He saw her trembling and wanted to clasp a hand on her shoulder or something, but a glance to the side revealed several curious onlookers just inside the café window.
He didn’t want his reputation to tarnish hers. So he shoved his arms into his coat and shrugged into it, then came beside her at the railing. They stood shoulder to shoulder, overlooking the darkened street, the clapboard buildings and the sleepy horses tethered to several wagons. Down at the very end of the street, piano music wafted out into the darkness from the town’s saloon.
“That was awful,” she whispered.
“Was not.” He hadn’t thought it had been that bad. She’d lit up when she’d seen her friends, and they’d clearly been happy to see her.
Her friend Mary and the other gal’s husband had been tight-lipped when they’d greeted him. Likely they knew of his reputation.
Then when the baby had been crying and he’d tried to help, the friend’s husband had crowded into Ricky’s space.
Frustration and anger still coursed through him at the intrusion, but he tried to shove it down deep inside. Daisy clearly needed a friend.
She shook her head, a strangled sound coming from her throat. In the darkness, he couldn’t tell if she was crying, but she hadn’t sniffled.
He really wanted to clasp her hand in his, offer her what comfort he could.
But he didn’t.
He had to protect her.
“Want me to round up Belinda and Beau?” Inside, he’d seen Belinda chatting with a group of men and women, with Beau hanging slightly back from the conversation. Ricky hadn’t really talked with the other cowboy i
n a few days and didn’t know if he had gone to the social with Belinda as a friend or a potential suitor. If it was the latter, Ricky feared the boy was in for a rude surprise.
“No. No, not yet.”
“Do you want to go back inside? You didn’t get to talk to your friends very long—”
“No!” Her quick exclamation came on a harsh breath and then she took a deep inhale. “No. I’ll—I’ll catch up with them later.”
“It’s cold,” he said quietly. “You can’t just stay out here.”
It wasn’t as bitterly cold as it had been during the recent storms, but with night having fallen, it wasn’t warm, either.
“I can bundle up in the wagon, with the blankets.” She still didn’t look at him. “If you want to go back inside and visit—” Now he was sure he heard the threat of tears in her voice. She inhaled sharply. “I know there are plenty of others in there you might want to talk to—other girls—”
He didn’t know if she really thought he might be interested in someone else or was just saying that because she’d been embarrassed.
He didn’t really care.
“I’m right where I wanna be,” he said firmly.
Then she did sniffle. She reached up and touched her face as she might’ve brushed away a tear and he could just imagine the tremble of her full lips.
He couldn’t resist.
He slid his hand against her lower back and turned her a little into his chest. It wasn’t a full embrace. He made sure it was completely innocent.
Because when she figured out that she was just as good as all those other girls, even without her arm, and decided she wanted to be around someone better than him, he didn’t want there to be any questions on her morals.
He started guiding her down the steps. Still tucked a little against his chest, but if they were moving, they couldn’t be doing anything untoward.
He boosted her up into the wagon. It creaked as he helped settled the blankets around her, tucked up behind the bench seat, where she’d get a little bit of a windbreak.
It would be warmer if he was snuggled up there with her, but he kept his boots on the ground and leaned his elbows on the side of the wagon instead. Kept it all innocent, in case any of those voices chattering inside decided to come outside and check on her. Right now, they were alone, the only two crazy enough to be out here in the cold.
A Cowboy for Christmas (Mills & Boon Love Inspired Historical) (Wyoming Legacy - Book 5) Page 16
