The Sheriff's Widow (West of Second Chances Book 2) by Desiree Banks

Author:Desiree Banks [Banks, Desiree]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-05-23T03:00:00+00:00

LYDIA REFUSED TO GIVE into the fear. At least, that was the mantra she kept repeating to herself as she stripped the bedding off her and Josie’s mattress and put on new. The men remained at the kitchen table talking in hushed tones. She knew they discussed the details Nathan had been wary of divulging in front of her. Part of her chafed that they hadn’t seen fit to include her in the discussion; the other part of her was completely grateful. Because if she were honest, she really didn’t want to know.

She slipped the new sheet on the tick mattress and hefted the front half of it in her hands as she slipped quietly toward the bedroom door. She’d come into the room a few minutes before with every intention of going to bed, but she’d let down her hair and combed through it only to realize that her hands still shook from the shock of nerves drumming through her veins.

That’s when she’d decided the marshal deserved to sleep on something comfortable for the night and not the hard, wood floors and his bedroll. From the conversation she’d listened to at the dinner table, Nathan, Owens, and Boden had watched each others’ backs for many years. The three were brothers of sorts.

Lydia hefted the mattress a few steps closer to the bedroom door, but stopped short when Josie stirred on the pallet she’d removed her to earlier. When her daughter settled once more, Lydia continued battling the heavy mattress. She opened the door and eased out of the room, awkwardly turning the mattress on its side and giving it a tug, even as she tried to remain silent.

Hands slipped around either side of her and came to rest on the mattress, causing Lydia to start. She looked up and into Nathan’s face which was only centimeters from her own.

“Whatcha doin’, Lydia?” That crooked smirk of his played across his lips and the deep gravel of his voice rumbled from his chest.

She swallowed hard. How was it that after days on the trail he could just smell so right? “I-I”—Oh, dear heavens, was she stuttering?—“thought the marshal might appreciate more comfort than our wood floors.”

“I see.” The crow’s feet at the edges of his eyes crinkled with his obvious amusement. “Think you’re taking over my bed again?”

Lydia blushed. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She’d just needed to get up and do something. Thought hadn’t really figured into it.

“I-I-” She hadn’t stuttered a day in her life and now she sounded like an addlebrained fool. She heaved a frustrated sigh. “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.”

Thankfully, he lifted one arm and gently pushed her out of the circle of his arms as he gripped the mattress and firmly tugged it through the door, past an equally amused Owens, and into the parlor. Lydia followed after him.

“Think he’ll be comfortable here?” Nathan asked.

That cheeky smile again, but now his eyes drifted from her face to her hair. It had fallen wildly about her shoulders as she’d fought with the bedding.

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