Page 56 of Cloaked in Beauty

“Philip! It’s me, Letty.”

Hazel eyes blinked up at him. Eyes he recognized. Eyes that made his heart ache and his head swim. Something was wrong. His grip loosened. He shook his head, trying to put the jumble of his mind back into order, but before he could make sense of things, an enraged fur ball rammed him from the side.

Philip tumbled away from the woman with the magic eyes and raised an arm to ward off the fanged creature snarling at him. Teeth clamped onto his forearm.

“Rusty, no! Leave him.” The angel wrapped her arms around the wolf’s neck and tugged him away.

Arm free, Philip sat up and scrambled backward, then cradled his arm in front of him. The woman extended her hand toward him as if she wanted to help. Her voice crooned, soothing his panic. He knew her. Knew both of them. Friends, not foes.

“It’s all right, Philip. No one’s going to hurt you.” She stepped closer, a cautious smile stretching across her face.

His heart rate calmed as some of the confusion began to clear. “Letty?”

Her smile doubled in size as her head bobbed up and down. “Yes. That’s right.” She hunkered down beside him and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I found a place for us to shelter. A place with a stove and four sturdy walls to keep out the storm. A place where we can get you dry and warm.”

Warm. Warm was good.

“It’s not far.” She spoke close to his ear, her voice shimmering through him. Such a pretty voice. Pretty face too.

She pulled a handkerchief from somewhere inside her jacket and wrapped it around his arm.

“Let’s get you up,” she urged, placing a hand under his left elbow.

She pushed on his arm, but he was too busy staring at the small red dots on the white bandage to pay her much heed.

“Come on, Philip. I need your help. Stand up.”

He blinked. She needed him? Philip set his jaw. Letty needed him. The red dots could wait. He pushed to his feet.

“That’s it,” she praised. “Good job.”

His chest expanded. He liked making her happy. Which was why he didn’t put up a fuss when she shoved his arms back into his slicker and fastened the buttons he’d worked so hard to undo. He frowned when she looped his gun belt over the horn on her saddle, but then she smiled at him again, and he decided he’d let her keep it if she liked it all that much.

She returned to his side and led him toward his horse. “Do you think you can mount?”

He jutted out his chin. “’Course I c-can.” His head might be a muddled mess at the moment, and his entire body might be quaking worse than a spiderweb in a windstorm, but he’d not let such paltry problems keep him from acquitting himself well in front of a lady. Especially this lady.

It took three tries to get his boot in the stirrup, but once he did, heaving himself into the saddle proved a simple-enough task. After finding his seat, he turned to gain her approval, but she no longer stood beside his horse. Apparently, she’d decided that reclaiming the tarp from the trees was more important than admiring his manly accomplishment. He exhaled a sigh and let his back slump as he tucked his arms close to his chest in a quest for warmth.

She packed up the tarp, took charge of the packhorse that he’d forgotten about, then mounted her own horse and positioned herself at his side.

“Stay close to me, all right?” Her gaze radiated such concern that his heart squeezed as he nodded.

Staying close to this woman felt like a plan he could build his life around.

“Good. Let’s go.” She urged her mare into a trot, and his mount followed without any prodding on his part.

The farther they traveled, the harder it became to keep the mental fog at bay. He counted trees until his eyelids drooped and he forgot what number he was on. After prying his eyes open and straightening in the saddle, he turned his attention from trees to the woman in front of him.

Letty. He couldn’t see much of her from this angle. Just the yellow slicker and the soggy red hood plastered to her head. Philip frowned. Why didn’t she have a hat? He should get her a hat. But if he did, he’d not be able to watch the sun turn her hair from brown to fiery auburn. What he wouldn’t give for a little sunshine right about now.

Letty twisted in the saddle and smiled at him.

And there was the sunshine.

That smile made him feel special. Like she actually cared about him. Couldn’t remember a woman outside of family who’d ever looked at him that way.

“You doing okay back there?”