Page 22 of Cowboy Mountain Man

“I’m learning.”

I stand, gathering the blanket around me.

At the hall, I turn back. He’s still on the sofa, elbows braced on his knees.

“Harlan?”

He looks up.

“Tomorrow, when I’m dry and rested and the road is open?”

His gaze holds mine. “Yes?”

“We’re going to revisit that decision.”

For a moment, he says nothing. Then he leans back, one hand passing over his mouth. “Go to bed, Hope.”

I do.

Smiling.

Chapter

Four

HARLAN

Hope has been in my bed for forty minutes. I know because I’ve checked the clock six times. I put another log on the fire, then move her clothes farther from the heat.

Her jeans are almost dry. Her pink sweater needs at least another hour. And the olive puffy jacket and wool socks? God only knows.

Outside, the rain eases enough that I can hear the horses shifting in their stalls. I checked them before Hope went to bed. Both have water, feed, and a dry place to spend the night. They’re doing better than I am.

I stand at the kitchen window with my phone raised until a message goes through to Alden.

Client secure at my residence. Road still blocked. Request a second agent once access clears.

His reply arrives a minute later.

First thing. Keep me updated.

I look toward the hall.

My bedroom door is closed.

There’s nothing complicated about the assignment. Keep her safe. Find out who threatened her. Help her finish her work if the sheriff and the owner agree it’s safe.

I’ve handled worse situations. I’ve also managed to do it without kissing a client. I rub a hand over my beard. She touched me like she’d already decided I was worth the trouble. Then she told me we’d revisit the decision.

I want to hear her say that again when there’s daylight, an open road, and a car she can drive away in.

The bedroom door opens, and I turn. Hope stands in the hall wearing my sweatshirt and carrying her tablet. Her hair is loose now, falling around her shoulders. She looks like a fucking angel. A sting hits the back of my throat.

“Before you tell me to go back to bed,” she says, “I found something.”

I straighten. “What?”

She comes to the table and sets the tablet beneath the lantern. “I upload the camera files to this as I work. It helps me match the pictures to the inventory entries.”