Page 21 of Fairest of Heart

Rowdy. A man most people thought was crazier than a loon. She’d kissed him as if he were her knight in shining armor.

No one could fake that level of good-heartedness. Could they?

Rowdy’s ears turned bright red, and he raised a hand to rub the spot her lips had touched before snatching his hat from where it dangled down his back and fit it back onto his head.

To make sure she didn’t kiss him again? Or to keep the feeling of that kiss from escaping into the air?

Titus dug his heel into the ground. Keeping a kiss from escaping into the air? Really, Kingsley? That’s where your mind went? He needed to turn this girl over to Doc and get out of range before she turned his brain to complete mush.

The gentle tinkle of her laughter over Rowdy’s antics didn’t help matters any, nor did the smile beaming across her face as she pivoted back to the main group.

She held out her petticoats as if they were a fine silk skirt and curtseyed to the old cowhands huddled around her. “I’m Penelope Snow, and I’m honored to make the acquaintance of such a fine group of gentlemen.”

Titus stumbled back a step.

Her name was Penelope?

He gave his head a small shake, trying to dispel the eerie sense of destiny that name instilled. It was just coincidence. It didn’t mean anything.

Nevertheless, the words his father spoke to him on the day he joined the Rangers rang loud in his memory.

“If you do this, son, it will change things. It’s a noble calling to fight for justice, but it will make it harder to find a woman to share your life. A woman who will wait at home while you serve the law. A woman whose loyalty never wavers in your absence and whose spirit won’t grow embittered when work calls you away again and again. A woman like Odysseus’s Penelope. Faithful, clever, and brave. If you are to be a warrior, that is the type of wife you should seek. Find a Penelope, son, and never let her go.”

9

Penelope had never felt more like a princess than she did in the moments leading up to their departure. Heaven knew she looked more like a scullery maid who’d taken a tumble down a mountainside than royalty, but that didn’t seem to make a bit of difference to the cowboys catering to her every need.

Ike and Dusty set off at a trot to announce her impending arrival like heralds of old. Angus and Coy dragged over a log and steadied it as she sat down. Jeb folded blanket strips into thick pads while Titus finished tearing apart the final wrappings. And Rowdy . . . well, he provided entertainment as she tried to make sense of his actions. His search consumed him, yet the items that made it into his pocket didn’t fit any particular pattern that she could discern. They didn’t seem to generate much excitement on his end either until he found something at the base of the tree where she’d been tied amid the remains of the rope that had bound her. His eyes lit, and his gaze immediately shifted to her.

What had he found? An oversized acorn? A hollowed-out bird’s egg? Whatever it was, it had him excited. She smiled at him, sharing the delight of his discovery even though she had no idea what it entailed. It pleased him, and that was enough to please her as well. He shoved his hand into his pocket, then pulled out enough other treasures to fill his palm. He pushed the items around with a finger, his brow knitted, until he pounced on the one he wanted. Clutching it in his opposite fist, he returned the rest of the bounty to his pocket, then marched up to her. He extended his left hand and peeled back his fingers to reveal a round gray rock crossed by a glittery band of quartz.

“For me?”

Rowdy nodded.

Moisture pooled in Penelope’s eyes. Foolish, really. But she couldn’t seem to stop the sentimental spillage. Outside of Edith’s pragmatic affection, she’d never been treated with such kindness and acceptance as she had been by this ragtag bunch of cowboys. Miss Wyndham might have allowed her to be educated alongside the girls whose families paid for their education, but Penelope had never been allowed to forget that she lived on charity. While the other girls chatted and played, she scrubbed classroom floors and scoured kitchen pots. She took satisfaction in her work, whether at the Wyndham School for Girls or in Madame LaBelle’s employ. But it wore on a person’s soul not to have a place where her value lay in herself alone instead of in her work. A place rich in the love of family or friends, where dry reservoirs could be refilled and flagging spirits restored.

How dry her well must be if the gift of a rock brought her to tears.

“Thank you,” she said, stretching her smile extra wide in an effort not to confuse the dear man with her watery eyes. “It’s lovely.”

“It’s a rock.”

Penelope twisted away from Rowdy to find Jeb and Titus standing in front of her, strips of blanket held in their hands. Jeb’s look of consternation nearly made her chuckle aloud.

“It’s not a rock,” she countered, turning to wink at Rowdy. “It’s a gift of friendship. A treasure.”

Rowdy shot Jeb such a look of triumph that several muffled guffaws rumbled in the chests of the men around her. Before Jeb could grow too cross, Penelope opened her arms wide to encompass all the cowboys.

“Just like the gift of this bench and the fine new shoes you made for me.”

The slashing line of Jeb’s left brow arched upward in disbelief. “No wonder you took a shine to Rowdy’s rock,” he muttered under his breath as he passed his folded fabric over to Titus. “You’re as crazy as he is.” He turned his back with a wave of his hand and picked up his walking stick from where he’d left it resting against one of the nearby trees. “I’m gonna head back. Y’all don’t need me slowin’ you down once you get the gal’s new shoes figured out.” Shaking his head, he started muttering again. “New shoes, my eye. Strips of nonsense is what they are. I better tell Doc to get a footbath ready. Fool woman is gonna need it.”

How could someone manage to be sour and sweet at the same time? Penelope pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. What a character. Jeb might put up a gruff front, but only a tender heart would think about preparing footbaths for foolish women.

She glanced up at Titus to see what the Ranger made of all the muttering. She expected to find eyes filled with exasperation or maybe amusement, but what she found instead was compassion as he tipped his head and shot a glance at Coy. The big man nodded and left his end of the log in order to saunter after the departing cowboy.

“Hold up, Jeb. I’ll come with ya. I need to whip up some more flapjacks for our guest.”