Mom's The Word. Roz Fox Denny
in the distance, still far enough off that he could change course without her ever knowing he’d been there.
He still had plenty of time to skirt her encampment.
And he did kind of go around it for a few hundred yards. Then he dismounted and covered the remaining distance on foot. All the while his heart slammed against his ribs. For crying out loud, did he want her to shoot at him again—and aim truer this time?
Of course he didn’t. He wanted to know if she’d found anything worthwhile in her trek over the hill today. Jake had walked to within shouting distance before he admitted that what he really wanted was to see that she’d made it safely back to camp.
Something shifted ever so slightly in his chest the moment he saw her kneeling next to a blazing fire pit.
“Hayley!” he called. “It’s me, Jacob Cooper. I don’t mean to scare you. I’ve been to the Westin ranch and thought I’d stop to say hello before I head home.”
Hayley jerked and went white at the sound of a male voice. She’d been a million miles off in her mind, planning tomorrow’s assault on the hillside she’d settled on to start her mineral explorations. Jacob Cooper was the last person she’d expected to see again today.
Yet his walking in on her with no warning sent shivers down her spine. He might have been anyone. She shouldn’t drop her guard. Especially after the sun had set.
“Mr. Cooper,” she said with a hint of unsteadiness in her tone. “Were you this much of a pest to my grandfather?”
Jake laughed as he looped Mojave’s reins over a limb. “Ben always had a hot pot of coffee on the fire—and an occasional shot of rum.” Thumbing back his hat, Jake moved closer. “If he thought I was a pest, his good manners kept him from mentioning it. I always had the notion that Ben got a kick out of my stopping to talk.” Jake bent and patted the collie’s heaving sides. He pulled a sack of kibble out of his saddlebag and, after sweeping a clear place on the ground, put out a handful.
Hayley dusted her hands along her thighs to wipe away the sweat dampening her palms. She didn’t doubt that Cooper was telling the truth. Her grandfather, like most lonely prospectors, loved a captive audience. He didn’t always waste time talking to her, though; he was a man’s man. Hayley could well imagine him exploring a wide range of subjects with a local cowboy.
If she were to be honest, she’d admit that she, too, liked her long evenings broken up by lively conversation. Tonight might be the exception. Her stomach had felt queasy for a good part of the day. She’d brewed a pot of chamomile tea to go with her light evening meal, but she didn’t know if this was because of the pregnancy or if something she’d eaten for breakfast hadn’t set well. At any rate, she didn’t feel much like entertaining. She particularly didn’t feel like spending time with someone who might see more than she wanted him to see. Jacob Cooper struck her as a man who’d harbor strong opinions about what pregnant women should and should not do.
“You might want to start carrying a thermos, Mr. Cooper. I prefer herb tea to coffee.” She slanted her gaze toward the pot sitting on the grate over her fire.
“Tea, huh?” Jake wasn’t able to hide his disappointment. “My sister-in-law serves herb tea to her customers. Must be a woman thing.” He stripped off his hat and raked a hand through his matted hair.
“Your sister-in-law runs a café?”
Jake shook his head. “She designs jewelry. In Tubac,” he added, although he didn’t know why. Hayley hadn’t given him any reason to think her polite question had been an attempt to strike up a real conversation.
“I’ve never been there. To Tubac, I mean. Well,” she said breezily, though she felt far from breezy as her stomach had begun mixing it up again, “don’t let me stop you from going home to supper. I was about to douse my fire and turn in.”
Jake’s roving gaze lit on a nearly full plate of food she’d left on the small table that had earlier held her mineralogy books. He wasn’t usually the type to stick around where he clearly wasn’t wanted, but something perverse in him made him dig in his heels. Perhaps it was the tense look that brought an aura of fatigue to the Ryan woman’s expressive face.
“Truth of the matter is, anything hot would go down well at this stage in the game. I hate to trouble you for a cup of that tea, but my animals could use a break. While you pour a neighbor a cup, I’ll water Mojave and Charcoal at the spring.”
Hayley opened her mouth to object. Then she bit back a sigh and reached for the pot, and the mug Jacob had drunk coffee from earlier. “You’ll have to take it without milk or sugar. I’m short on some items.”
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