Page 58 of The Cowboy Comes Home

“Back when the Baylors’ foreman lived here. I came out to do an interview, about a theft he’d witnessed. Although he didn’t know it.”

Tucker blinked. “He didn’t know?”

She shook her head. “The kid had run right past him, but Clark didn’t know until he got into the store that he’d lifted some merchandise.”

“Whew,” Tucker said, in exaggerated relief. When her brow furrowed, he grinned. “Here I’ve been thinking this place was too good to be true.”

Emily laughed. “No, we’ve got problems like anyplace, but mostly smaller ones. Like a quick shoplift under a hundred bucks.”

“So not perfect.”

“Nope.”

“Good.”

“Why is that good?” she asked, curious about what his answer would be.

“Because if it was perfect, I wouldn’t fit.”

Several retorts to that raced through her mind. She finally settled on saying, “I wouldn’t like that.”

He didn’t say anything, but he looked pleased. More than pleased. She wished she could memorize the way he was looking at her now.

Up on the porch of the big cabin, she turned to look at the view, at her beloved Hill Country rolling out beyond seemingly to the horizon. Jeremy had already run inside, followed by his four-footed buddies. Tucker paused beside her.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she said.

“It is. I’d forgotten how much I missed the sight of such open space every day.”

“I’d hate a big city.”

“I did,” he said, his tone wry. He looked back toward the house. “I’d better get in there. Jeremy’ll have water all over the floor if he’s not careful.”

She turned to follow him inside. “You take this uncle thing really seriously, don’t you?”

“Probably more than if it was blood, because it’s by choice.”

That caused yet another tug inside her. After what he’d been through, that he could feel like this…it was amazing.

Jeremy was standing in the corner of the kitchen, where Lobo was drinking rapidly out of a large silver metal bowl. His brow was furrowed, as if he were thinking very hard.

“What, buddy?” Tucker asked.

“I think we need some bowls outside, like at the barn, for water for Maverick, and for Lobo when he visits.”

She watched as Tucker crouched down to be at eye level with the boy. “Well I think that’s a brilliant idea. Why don’t we head into town later on and pick up some more bowls. There must be a place?”

He glanced up at her then. And she was so captivated by those deep blue eyes it took her a moment to snap out of it and answer. “There’s a pet shop down at Main and Laurel.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Across from the church?”

She nodded. “They’ll have pretty much anything you need. Or if you want something bigger, the feed store carries some dog-related stuff, too.” She smiled. “I’ve learned a lot since I got Lobo.”

“Cool!” exclaimed Jeremy. “Do we get lunch now?”

“That depends,” Tucker said as he stood up again. “Let’s check that fridge.”

The two of them walked over and opened the door. Emily watched them, aware that it was making her feel rather odd. But she liked listening to them even more.

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