Just remembering how many Christmases she'd spent hoping for a puppy beneath the tree sent a pang through her now.
Danna watched her avidly. "I'm afraid my brother is a little too fond of his dogs. He has two adult shepherds that sleep in the barn, but he's brought this pup inside." She shook her head as if she couldn’t understand it.
An outside door opened and closed, and footsteps came from the direction of the kitchen.
Moments later, Rob appeared in the doorway beside Danna.
His brows rose when he saw Liza on the floor with the puppy draped across her lap. He nodded to her.
She rubbed one hand across the dog's back. He was so soft. "Good morning."
She didn't know why she felt shy. Somehow the intimacy of riding on his horse with him last night—and maybe the softness in his eyes this morning—had changed something between them...
...for the better?
Liza's stomach gurgled noisily, and a blush rose in her cheeks.
Danna grinned. "Brother dear, I think you'd better feed your guest."
She shook her head quickly. "Oh, I don't want to—"
"—put me out, I know." But Rob said it with a smile that sent her stomach spiraling in a way that had nothing to do with food.
"The next train doesn't leave until late this afternoon," he went on. "And I wouldn't like you to starve in the meantime."
"Besides, Chas'll be hungry too," Danna said.
Liza set the puppy on the floor and stood. The ornery thing chased her boots as she followed the other two into the kitchen.
Rob looked back at her. "How's your foot?"
Her foot. She’d barely thought of it today. "Better."
* * *
Rob was both relieved and dismayed that Liza had recovered. Relieved that she was uninjured and dismayed that this meant she was free to leave. If she'd had a sprain or a break, he might've been able to convince Janie that the sisters should stay over for a day.
When he'd come into the house and seen her loving on his puppy, Brownie... The sun had been shining through the window just so and gilding her hair with golden tones. The simply joy on her face had made him want to bring back that expression again and again.
Things had ended badly between them before. But this morning, she seemed open and warm. He had maybe three hours to use what little charm he possessed to try and woo her.
And his sister was looking on. He'd confessed to fancying Liza, but Danna didn't know about the botched proposal. He would take that to his grave, if he could.
In the kitchen, he put the puppy outside and then rolled his sleeves to his elbows and washed up at the basin. He couldn't help his awareness as Liza passed by him to do the same, so close that their shoulders almost brushed.
"You're cooking again?" Liza asked when he pulled a cast iron skillet from its hook above the work counter.
"You don't want to eat anything that Danna's had a hand in preparing." He took a slab of bacon from the cool box and rifled through the drawer for his best knife to slice it.
Liza looked to his sister, probably expecting a rebuttal or exasperation, but Danna only shrugged. "I'm a horrible cook. Chas and I would've starved early on in our marriage without Katy. She was orphaned, and now she lives with us. We left our toddler with her back in Calvin. Good thing, after the wild ride last night."
Rob began cracking a dozen eggs from the basket on the counter, ones he'd brought in from the henhouse earlier. He was utterly surprised when Liza settled in next to him at the counter, rifling in the cabinet until she located the flour and then fetching the milk.
"It doesn't seem fair for you to have to cook for all of us," she murmured when he questioned what she was doing. "I can mix up some biscuits."
Danna sat at the nook table, and with Liza's back to his sister, she didn't see when Danna waggled her eyebrows.
Liza glanced at Rob, and he could only shoot a glare at his sister and her antics.
Chas banged in the back door, offering a hello and a nod to Liza and giving Danna a smacking kiss on her cheek.
Rob and Liza worked well together. It was almost like a dance the way she moved around him at the stove as he flipped the bacon. Her shoulder brushed his thigh as she bent to place the pan of biscuits in the oven.
When he'd removed the last piece of bacon from the pan, she was there to exchange the plate of bacon for his bowl of eggs, offering him a soft smile.
He could get used to this.
"Did your parents build this house?" she asked Danna, settling one hip against the counter.
Danna grinned. "Rob built it."
Liza looked to him curiously. "Maybe it’s an impertinent question, but—have you been married before?"
Danna outright laughed at that.
Heat fused in his face. "No."
"It's just that"—Liza gestured around—"this is a large house for a bachelor."
That heat remained in his face. "Um..."
"He built it for me," Danna said.
"It was a mistake," he muttered to the scrambling eggs.
"A mistake?" Liza asked.
Danna laughed again, and even Chas chuckled.
Liza looked between them, maybe trying to understand the interplay between them.
"Danna was married before,” he said. “Her husband was sheriff in Calvin and was killed in the line of duty."
"And when Rob heard that Fred had died," Danna said, "he started building this house, thinking I'd move back home."
"Only my sister is the most independent, stubborn woman I'll ever know." He tipped his egg spoon at her. "And the best marshal I know."
Danna flushed with pleasure. "I don't know about that last part."
Chas nodded his agreement. "She's smart as a whip."
"Well, I'll be doing my investigating from behind a desk again." She focused on Rob. "I'd meant to tell you later, but... we're expecting again."
He stood in stunned silence for a beat, then felt a wide smile cross his lips. He left his spoon in the pan and moved to sweep Danna up into a hug. "Congratulations. Another little terror to spoil."
She laughed into his shoulder. "No one is as much a terror as you when we were children."
"True." He let his sister go and clasped Chas's shoulder. The other man was beaming, watching his wife with a smile.
"Congratulations," Liza echoed softly. She'd moved to the stove to stir the eggs, making sure they didn't burn when he'd abandoned them.
Rob reached for the spoon to take over for Liza, unable to stop his smile. Another niece or nephew. He couldn't wait.
Liza's return smile, small though it was, lit him up. Had she ever smiled at him so softly before?
Chas and Danna spoke together in low tones, and Liza hovered nearby. She was probably waiting for him to mess up their meal, but he’d made enough eggs to know what he was doing. Not that he was complaining.
"So…” Her voice was gentle when she spoke. “You decided to construct the ranch house even though your sister wouldn't move home?"
He poured the scrambled eggs into a waiting bowl on the counter. "The project was already started." He shrugged. "I thought it would make a good place to raise a family." His face went hot again.
And he really didn't want to talk about his marriage prospects with the one woman he really wanted. "Danna and I grew up in a tiny cabin closer to the foothills," he rushed on. "I needed the bigger barn and so it seemed like the smart thing to do."
And then he was able to stick his face into the oven's heat as he pulled the biscuits out. At least that would give him an excuse for his flushed cheeks.
When he put the hot pan on the counter, Liza handed him a plate. Her gaze was considering.
He could only hope that after last night and this morning, she felt differently about him than she had before.
Because he was still as much in love with her as ever.
* * *
Nathan pushed the herd of cattle to the far pasture. Five weeks later, and he stil
l didn't have peace about how he'd left things with Janie.
He reined in his horse as the cattle dispersed from the tight knot of thirty to amble in the pasture, some of them already stopping to graze.
He waved off the neighbor boy he'd hired to help with moving the animals.
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
The way he'd left things with Janie felt... wrong.
He could hardly believe the things the woman on the train platform in Cottonwood Cove had said about her. But hadn't Janie herself hinted at a failed relationship?
He stared at the distant mountains, the sky purpling overhead as the sun sank toward the horizon. He didn't want to go home to his empty house and cook supper. Then sit in his empty parlor until it was time to sleep.
He wanted Janie.
That day spent with her in the boardinghouse... her laughter, her smile.
He couldn't imagine Janie trying to trap someone into marriage. So, what...? Had she been jilted then? That thought made him angry. Almost as angry as imagining her with another man.
He loved her.
He just needed to be sure.
He needed Rob's advice, but the man wasn't here.
But that didn't mean Nathan couldn't seek him out.
* * *
Rob accompanied them to the train station.
Liza was glad he'd come. Conscious of his every move, though there'd been no opportunity for them to speak privately this morning.
Janie, dressed but face still flushed with sleep, had wandered into the dining room as Liza and Rob had been setting the table.
The lively conversation had continued during the meal, and Liza had felt at home. Even Rob's puppy gnawing on the toe of her shoe beneath the table had made her happy.
Now he stayed close beside her as they navigated the busy platform, Janie slightly behind them.
Liza felt a stirring of hope. No private words had been exchanged, but Rob had caught and held her gaze several times throughout the morning. Was there a chance he might forget her disastrous refusal of his proposal?
Because after all of this, she wouldn't refuse him again.
Perhaps he would say something when they parted ways before she boarded.
She smiled at the ticket agent, but the man appeared frazzled and harried. He handed her the tickets to Calvin and then—
"Wait." The ticket agent pushed a piece of paper across the counter to her.
"What's this?" she asked.
He was already motioning to the person waiting behind her.
She stepped out of line and out of the flow of traffic. Rob was at her elbow.
"What is it?" Janie asked curiously.
"A wire." Liza's eyes ran down to the bottom of the page first. "From Mama."
If she'd heard about the train robbery, Mama's nerves must've been frayed.
But as Liza's eyes tracked across the page, the bottom fell out of her stomach. The wire wasn't about Liza and Janie at all.
Lydia ran away with Wickham. Papa has left to search. No idea where. Lydia is ruined.
No. No, this couldn’t be. Not her little sister. In a daze, Liza handed the missive to Janie with shaking hands.
She could barely bring herself to raise her eyes to Rob's face. "It's my sister—"
"No!" Janie's cry drew curious gazes from several nearby passengers.
A loud whistle from the train made Liza jump. It chugged closer to the station, noise growing.
Rob was close, his hand beneath her elbow to steady her.
He wouldn't want to stay close, not after she told him.
Liza licked her lips with a tongue that felt thick and dry. "Lydia has run away with Mr. Wickham." Tears rushed to her eyes even as she said the words, blurring Rob and everything else in her vision.
His hand fell away from her arm, and even without touching him, she felt his sudden tension.
She blinked and wiped at her eyes.
The train whooshed into the station with a squeal of brakes, swirling hot air and dust.
"Maybe they eloped," Janie said hopefully, though tears clogged her voice as well.
Danna and Chas came closer, concerned.
Liza laughed bitterly. "No chance. Lydia's reputation will be ruined forever. If she makes it home from God-knows-where."
Janie flinched, looking down. Liza understood her reaction. Janie knew well knew how words could be like knives when wielded by gossips.
A horrible thought rose. Would they have to leave Calvin? Would rumors swirl around the whole family? Again?
The conductor called for passengers to board.
Liza's feet and limbs felt leaden. She didn't want to get on the train. She didn't want things to end like this between her and Rob. This was... this was even worse than her refusal.
His face was white, his jaw set. His eyes were hooded and dark.
"We must go," Danna said softly. She sent a concerned gaze to Rob. The man was like stone.
Danna and Chas ushered Liza and Janie onto the train.
Liza looked back as they climbed the steps to the train compartment.
Rob hadn't waited. Hadn't said goodbye. He'd already turned to leave and was striding through the crowd, his broad shoulders set.
More tears blurred her vision as she settled into a seat next to Janie.
"This is a disaster," Janie whispered.
It was worse than hat.
Rob had warned her about Wickham in his letter. But because of her embarrassment about how things had ended—her foolishness in misjudging him—she hadn't shared any of it with her family.
And now Lydia had fallen victim to Wickham's charms.
Liza could only pray her sister hadn't been compromised, though it was a foolish hope.
For herself, she held out no hope.
She would likely never see Rob again.
Chapter 23
Rob was awake before dawn the next morning. He’d already dressed and was shoving a change of clothes into his saddlebags at the kitchen table while he gulped his too-hot coffee.
He was a fool.
He hadn't even attempted to comfort Liza at the train station yesterday, though it was clear the telegraph her mother had sent had devastated her.
He'd been stunned by her news, mind already whirling with what he might do to track down Wickham and fix things for Liza.
He'd also been afraid that if he reached out to comfort her, she would reject him again. With her sister looking on. And his.
All that wonderful morning she’d spent under his roof, he'd wanted to ask her to take a walk. Wanted to speak with her privately. Find out if her feelings toward him had changed.
They hadn't had a chance.
She'd spent time with her sister, sitting on his parlor sofa and whispering. Or chatting with Danna, who'd fallen into an easy camaraderie with her.
Each time he'd gotten up the nerve, she'd look away shyly.
Maybe that was his answer.
If her feelings for him had changed, wouldn't she have given him some sign?
He'd stalled out on packing his saddlebag, lost in thoughts of Liza, when Charlie banged in the back door, startling him.
"Your horse is saddled, boss. Sure you don't want me to come with you?"
He doubted it would be his finest hour if and when he came face to face with Wickham. He didn't need Charlie there to witness it.
"I need you here," he said. "To watch over the place." Rob secured the flap and lifted the saddlebag.
Charlie shifted his feet.
"You got something else to say?"
Charlie winced, like maybe he didn't want to say what was on his mind. But they'd been friends for years, so of course he opened his trap. "You sure you want to do this? Ride into the middle of the little gal's family drama?"
He had to. If there was any chance of saving the situation...
"Liza was devastated. If I can help erase that..." He knew she loved her sisters.
Charlie cleared his throat. "And
ah... if, after all this, Liza still feels the same as she did before?"
Rob didn't want to think about that. He leveled an even gaze on his foreman. "She shouldn't have to be afraid for her sister. And Lydia needs somebody to find her, to…help her." He couldn’t forget the devastation on Katy’s face last Christmas. Couldn’t forget how hurt and angry Danna had been.
Didn’t want that for Liza.
He strode past his foreman and friend and out in to the pre-dawn darkness.
His horse greeted him with a whicker, and Rob secured his saddlebags and checked his saddle cinch out of habit.
He swung up into the saddle, surveying the shadow of his barn in the darkness. Yesterday, it had been so easy to imagine Liza here. To think about coming inside after a long day working the cattle to be greeted by her pretty smile. They'd worked together seamlessly in the kitchen. He'd even made her laugh once, although it had been at his expense.
He loved her.
And whether she would ever return his feelings was a mystery.
But he'd never forgive himself if he didn't try to fix this for her.
* * *
Days passed with no word.
With Papa gone, Liza and Janie took over running the store completely.
Liza used it as an escape from Mama's constant vacillating between sobbing hysterically and falling into a restless sleep, still sniffling. In turn, she blamed Lydia for ruining their lives and feared for Lydia's reputation. In Mama’s darkest moments, she feared for her daughter’s very life.
Liza couldn’t find the courage to tell anyone what she knew about Wickham. There was always the chance he'd come to his senses and abandon Lydia unscathed.
It was a wild hope, but it was better than nothing.
With so many hours spent in the store, Liza used the opportunity to put into place what she'd learned working in the Collinses' store.
Boots.
It was as simple as that.
Papa had always insisted on displaying their finest work in the window. Saddles and tooled belts and coin purses. But Collins displayed nothing but boots in all shapes and sizes.
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