Page 38 of Fairest of Heart

Lucky yipped and ran a circle around her feet, nearly tripping her as she strolled toward the porch. When she reached the house, she pitched her voice low so as not to wake Angus, who snored peacefully in his favorite rocker, feet propped up on the railing and arms folded over his belly. Jeb’s arms were folded as well, though she wouldn’t classify his posture as peaceful. Perturbed seemed a better fit.

“Here’s your rope, Jeb.” Penelope handed it through the rail slats and set the coil next to Jeb’s chair. “Lucky is very sorry for the trouble he caused.”

Jeb grunted. “Uh-huh. The mutt looks real broke up about it.”

Penelope glanced the dog’s way and found Lucky chasing his tail. She bit back a sigh. “Well, I’m sorry that he misbehaved. I’ll try to teach him some—”

“Miss Penny! Come quick!”

She spun at Ike’s call, her heart fluttering in alarm until she caught a glimpse of the smile beaming across the man’s face as he ran up to the house.

Angus snorted, his snore cutting off as his boots hit the porch floor. “What’s goin’ on?”

Ike ignored him, his attention locked on Penelope. He took her hand and urged her forward. His eyes sparkled with secrets, piquing her curiosity.

“You have to see them. Hurry. They won’t linger for long.”

His smile was contagious, drawing a matching grin from her. “What won’t linger?”

He gave her arm a tug. “You’ll see.”

A laugh bubbled through her as she trotted after him. Past the laundry. Past his garden. What could he possibly . . . ?

Oh my.

Penelope’s hand slid from Ike’s as he drew to a halt. She continued forward, unable to stop herself from walking into the magic.

Ike murmured something about a fall migration, but Penelope’s mind couldn’t focus on mundane explanations. Not while inside a field of fairies.

Hundreds of monarch butterflies flitted like autumn leaves swirling on the wind. They danced above her, around her, everywhere she looked. She turned in a slow circle, arms outstretched, too awestruck to do more than smile. Then one landed on her skirt. Penelope stilled. Another alit on her hand. She tried to absorb the miracle by slowly bending her arm to bring the golden creature closer. It took to the air, but hovered near, flying so close to her face that its wings kissed her cheek.

Her breath caught, and her smile widened. Kissed by a butterfly. Could a moment ever be more perfect?

He couldn’t have arrived at a worse moment.

Titus gritted his teeth as he dismounted from Rex and slowly stalked the group of men hovering at the edge of the garden.

He hardened his heart, refusing to succumb to the enchantment holding the Diamond D men enthralled. Miss Snow might look the picture of innocence, but he’d not be taken in. Insects were drawn to beauty, not character. So the fact that they danced around her, alighting in her hair and on her shoulders, meant nothing. Neither did her soft, delighted laughter. It might ring with childlike purity, but it wasn’t real.

The telegram he’d received this morning from Captain Bill’s contact in Chicago burned through the fabric of his shirt pocket to brand his chest with its truth. Penelope Snow had been dismissed from the Carlisle household after attempting to entice the son of the house, Mr. Gerard Carlisle, into a compromising liaison. Mrs. Carlisle believed the conniving maid intended either to trap her son into marriage or to use the resulting scandal as blackmail fodder to get her hands on a portion of the Carlisle fortune.

Doc and the others had no fortune to speak of, but that didn’t mean Miss Snow didn’t have a reason for staying here. The Diamond D Ranch was the perfect hideout for someone trying to escape the law’s notice. Off the beaten path. Secluded. Although, why she would choose to stay when she knew a Texas Ranger had ties to the place didn’t quite add up, but she didn’t know he’d been assigned to her case. She probably thought she’d enchanted him as thoroughly as she had Doc and the others. That cockiness would be her downfall. His instincts might have steered him wrong initially, but he was on his guard now.

She could dance with butterflies all she liked. That wouldn’t stop him from clipping her wings if that’s what it took to see justice done.

“Miss Snow?” His words escaped his tight throat in a raspy growl. “I need a word.”

Angus and Jeb stepped aside to the left and Ike and Doc stepped aside to the right, all four of them sporting bemused expressions that fed his indignation. How dare this woman take advantage of these good-hearted men?

The woman in question twirled to face him. Her eyes lit as she recognized him, and her already bright smile somehow increased its gleam.

A momentary doubt pinched his gut, but he shoved it down. He would not be one of her gaggle of conquests.

“Titus! Isn’t it amazing?” She lifted her arms, and the butterflies swirling around her followed her movement. “It’s like a fairy story.”

“And you’d know all about fairy stories, wouldn’t you?”

Her smile dimmed at his sharp tone, and her arms lowered to her sides. A crinkle formed between her brows as if she were trying to puzzle out his meaning.