Chapter 4 #2
The blankets had been pulled up to her waist and the nightgown his sister had given her covered her decently enough but even so, her cheeks flushed with color as he entered.
She was lovely, even with bandage wrapped around her forehead and the smudge of shadows under her eyes.
He wondered about the expression on her face, one that displayed not pain exactly, but perhaps sadness and worry.
“Brought your breakfast,” he mumbled as he stepped to the bedside and placed the tray on her lap. “You feeling better this morning?”
“A little bit, thank you,” she replied. She looked up at him. “Your mother didn’t have to go to all this trouble. I could’ve come downstairs.”
“She wouldn’t hear of it,” he said. He recalled his mother’s words as he sat down in the chair next to the bed, trying to smooth his expression as she eyed her breakfast uncertainly before fingering the spoon beside the bowl.
Her fingers were long, her fingernails well-tended to.
Her hair had a healthy, soft sheen to it.
She appeared tired and vulnerable, but not …
shifty. It was the only word he could think of.
After she swallowed her first bite, she turned to look at him.
“You don’t trust me, do you?”
The question caught him off guard. While he believed his position in town gave him the right to be wary of strangers, he wasn’t sure how he felt about her. She was an innocent traveler. She was injured and helpless, at least at the moment, having lost everything she owned.
Besides, Lillian was wrong. It wasn’t that he was suspicious of her. He just wanted more information. Not only that, but he also admired her courage and direct gaze. He found it difficult not to stare, as those captivating light blue eyes of hers were mesmerizing.
“Well?”
He blinked. “It’s not exactly that I don’t trust you, Chloe, it’s just that I don’t know you.” He shrugged. “It comes with the job. Perhaps if you told me a few things about yourself that would change.”
She lifted another spoonful of porridge her lips, chewed thoughtfully for a moment, and then swallowed before turning to him again. “Actually, I had planned on visiting the area on the recommendation of a friend.”
“What friend?”
She frowned, her lovely arched eyebrows lowering for a moment as she glanced down at the bowl. She didn’t answer right away. “You wouldn’t know her. You see, I worked with her in the Dakotas for several years. Her family came from these parts, and she said it was a nice area.”
His own eyebrows rose. “Really? It’s hot a good part of the year.
A lot of people passing through claim it’s downright ugly, mostly plains, a few deep, rugged canyons, and lots of farms and ranches.
In the spring we have thunderstorms, vicious winds, and sometimes even a tornado or two.
In the summer, it’s very hot and dry. There’s not much to say about fall, and winter can get freezing, but it’s fairly short. ”
He paused, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. “Towns out here are few and far between. Some are growing, sure, and there’s outlaws about from time to time, but it’s not exactly a place that I would think a young woman like you would find appealing.”
“You’re not me.”
He admired the direct way she looked at him, chin slightly lifted. “Well, to each his own, I suppose.”
“You don’t want me to stay here at the boarding house,” she said, glancing at him. “Why? You afraid I’m going to steal something from your mother and run off?”
“Are you always this blunt?” he asked. She shrugged.
“No, I don’t think you’re going to steal anything.
Frankly, there’s not that much to steal.
My mother gets by, and at the moment we don’t have any boarders, but tonight we might.
” It was his turn to shrug. “I just don’t know what to make of you, Chloe Whitfield. ”
She lowered the spoon into the bowl. She hadn’t touched the toast. “Then that makes two of us, Sheriff. I don’t know what to make of you either.
” She eyed a piece of toast, lifted it from its plate and took a bite, and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before she swallowed.
“I can tell you’ve got questions, so just ask. ”
He did so. “Where you from?”
“Everywhere,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ve moved around a lot. The longest I’ve stayed anywhere in the past few years is Dakota Territory.”
“What’d you do there?”
“Worked in a bakery.”
“Why’d you leave and how did you end up way down here in the Panhandle?”
She put the toast down and turned to him, her gaze direct. Those eyes … “Chloe?” a flush of color rose in her cheeks, then quickly faded.
“I … it’s like I told you before,” she stammered. Her hand trembled, the spoon striking the side of the porcelain bowl. “I’m just traveling a bit, looking for a new life, a new place to start over and maybe put down roots.”
“Here in Cedar Bluff?” He couldn’t avoid his disbelieving tone. “Why not a larger city somewhere in between? Like Kansas City or Wichita, even Dallas, where there are more job opportunities?”
“I don’t want to live in a large city,” she answered simply.