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“Don’t need to do anything I ain’t interested in, and I ain’t interested in what you want.” He moved around her and made it to the door.
“I’ll pay you.”
He stopped and looked back over his shoulder at her.
“Well?” she said.
“I stopped, didn’t I?”
She seemed perplexed by that, though a degree of relief was mixed in. Still, her eyes narrowed.
“You’d take money from a woman in need?”
“I’d take money from just about anyone willin’ to give it away—as long as it don’t require me to be killin’, teachin’, or protectin’.”
She gave her head a little shake but inhaled a deep breath and retook her seat by the fire. She waited for him to follow. Great. It would be a long tale, then. He swallowed a groan and dropped back into his chair.
“Ever since my father and I moved here, Josiah Banff—he was the one doing most of the talking out there—has been trying his best to get his hands on this property. When we wouldn’t sell, he resorted to threats, in between the odd marriage proposal, which I of course always turn down. The sheriff… You know which one he was?”
Gray raised an eyebrow. “Squirrely little weasel with a badge on his chest?”
Her lips twitched. “That’s the one. Anyway, he’s not much help. Josiah pretty much runs the town unchecked and…”
The chair was the most comfortable thing he’d sat upon in weeks. He shifted his butt around, sinking into it deeper. Yes, that was almost perfect, and he closed his eyes. It took a minute to realize the woman had stopped talking, and he cracked his eyes open a bit. She stared at him, incredulous.
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I just can’t figure you out.”
Gray leaned back into the chair, getting even more comfortable. Hell, a man could sleep all day in this chair. “There’s not much to figure. What you see is what you get.”
Her eyes raked over him from hat to boot. The view did not appear to ease her mind.
“Don’t like what you see, darlin’?” he asked.
She grimaced at him. “I really don’t get it. A woman you don’t know declares you her fiancé and instead of protesting, or at least wondering why, you just walk into her house and immediately try to take a nap.”
Gray blew out a long breath. “I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”
The woman sat back, folding her hands across her middle. “That it has.”
“And you’re making it even longer.”
She ignored the comment like a champ. “I would have thought what I had to say would be interesting enough to keep you awake for at least a few minutes.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t seem too complicated. He wants your land. You don’t want to sell. Don’t want to marry him. Havin’ a man on your side stops the marriage proposals. Havin’ a man likemeon your side makes them hesitate to take matters into their own hands.”
She nodded. “So you’ll help me, then.”
“I don’t recall sayin’ that,” he drawled, pushing his hat back a bit. “Unless you’ve got a sack of gold hidden somewhere in this house, I don’t think you can afford my services. Seems a mite too involved for me.”
She threw her hands up. “If you weren’t interested in helping, then why did you bother following me down here at all?”
“Like I said, supper.”
…
Mercy’s mouth dropped open and her hands clenched the arms of her chair.
