Kisses With KC (Cowboys and Angels Book 11)(16)

She softly moaned before she knew it. Then his lips moved back up.

He gazed into her eyes. His hand brought hers up to his cheek, and he leaned against it, closing his eyes as if he savored the warmth of the moment. She could imagine being with this man, loving him for a lifetime. His lips pressed into her palm, then he closed her fingers over it.

Her heart was racing, pounding. “That wasn’t a kiss,” she said.

“No. I supposed it wasn’t,” he answered, his words deep and breathy. “Goodnight, Eliza.”

Eliza went to bed but not to sleep. Each moment of the day revisited her.

The next day, she realized her parents hadn’t sent word yet. She didn’t think they’d be back for a week or two more, but she thought they might send a telegram about what was happening. She mentioned it at supper.

“I’ll go into Creede tomorrow and see Mr. Jameson about sending a telegram,” Eliza said. It should have taken about a week to get to Uncle Morris’s home in Sunrise, Texas. Even if they had a lot to do there, they might have had time to get to a town with a telegraph office by last week. She didn’t know how far from Fort Worth the ranch was. Maybe she was worrying for nothing, and everything was all right with them.

“I’ll take you,” KC offered.

Ellis shook his head. “I need to get some supplies for mending the fence on Uncle Ted’s place. You’ll need to take over my chores.”

KC nodded.

Eliza thought she saw a little disappointment. She felt some, too.

“I’ll need some time in the next few days to catch the train and make a quick trip to Salida. When can I go?” KC asked.

“We’re going to the land office there to file for our homesteads,” Ellis said. “I suppose we could make a day of it. Is this week soon enough?”

“Can I go too?” Kailin asked.

“Me go. Me go,” Rayna echoed.

“You’ll likely stay with Louise and Grant,” Eliza answered. She hoped her parents were back by then. It was as much their dream to see their children homestead as it was hers now. “You know, Mr. Murray, if you’re planning to stay around, you could file for a hundred sixty acres, too.”

KC dabbed his napkin on his lips. “That’s an interesting idea right there. I’ll have to think on it.” He gave her a brilliant smile.

Ellis’s head snapped. He looked hard at KC and then at Eliza a couple of times. They had both gone back to eating, and Ellis didn’t say anything. Eliza hoped that KC would want to stay and be a homesteader near their spread as well.

“I’m going to visit a neighbor tonight,” Ellis said. “Will you take my milking, KC? I’d like to leave while there’s still sunlight.”

“Sure thing. I’ll get on it right after dinner.”

Soon, Ellis left, and KC went to the barn. Kailin and Rayna settled into bed, and Eliza cleaned up the house. When she finished, she went to the barn and found KC sitting on a milking stool and singing softly to Clover, an ornery bald-faced cow. He left off the words that went to the tune and began to sing a conversation to Eliza. “If I stop singing, she’ll kick the bucket over. I’m nearly done, so you’ll just have to listen.” His head swiveled toward her, and he grinned. “What brings you to the barn this evening? Thinking about kisses, perhaps?”

Yes. “No.” She smiled back. KC continued to hum even though she knew he was listening to her. “You’re going to be busy.” Her voice sounded flat compared to KC’s. “I wondered what you thought about homesteading.”

His voice sang out, “I admit I’d never thought of it before, but there’s an appeal. I’d belong to a town. I’d have neighbors. I’d have roots.”

Eliza pulled the other milking stool over. “I didn’t want you to think I was being forward.” She admitted to herself that had been her intention.

“You’re part of the appeal of the idea. I’ve never even considered that kind of life for myself.”

When she tied Fancy up, she began milking her. “I was a little younger than Kailin when Pa and his brothers got the idea to get some property out west.” She could hear KC humming. If she looked around the cow’s rump at the same time he did, she could see his face, too. “We lived in a crowded neighborhood in Virginia. Pa took lots of jobs, but none of them paid him enough to own something he could call his. He’s made this dream work—for all of us.”

“You sound nervous about something. Care to tell me?” KC asked as he stood from the stool and moved the milk bucket to the counter.

He didn’t hum anymore, and Eliza found she missed it. Clover must have noticed, too, and kicked, sending the stool ten feet away.

KC took Clover to a stall and shut her inside. When he came back, he pulled his stool to the other side of Fancy. Fancy picked up her hoof and stamped the ground once when Eliza started, but then she settled down as they finished milking her together.

KC picked up the bucket and set it beside the other. “Ellis said there have been some problems with homesteaders lately.”

Eliza was reluctant to say her suspicions aloud and make them all the more real, but she wanted KC to know. “There are some homesteaders who have gone missing. Places have been burned and threatening letters delivered to others. I worry that trouble will come to our home, too.”