High Desert Haven (The Shepherd's Heart) by Lynnette Bonner

daughter of Ryan and Peggy Sanders, owners of Farewell Bend’s mercantile. Then Tilly giggled. “If he stopped in town, I bet she talked him into a corner. She always talks too much when she gets nervous.” She glanced at the man out the window one more time. “He does have blue eyes, doesn’t he?” Tilly’s nervousness over the gunfire was making her own tongue run from the middle.
    “Sí.” Nicki took another sip of coffee, trying to push the thought of those alluring blue eyes from her mind. “Pero, no es oro todo lo que reluce.”
    Tilly turned toward her with a puckered brow. “What?”
    “All is not gold that glitters. You don’t have any idea what he is like. Just because he is fine-looking doesn’t mean that he is kind and loving. Nor that he loves our Savior, no?” Nicki spoke the words to Tilly but inwardly realized she was preaching herself a sermon.
    Tilly wrinkled her nose. “I suppose you’re right.” But she quickly returned to high spirits. Her face brightened and she said animatedly, “It will give Janice and me something to talk about, though. It’s not often that strangers come through town, much less ones as good-looking as him. And the very day he arrives, you are shot at and he saves you!”
    Nicki smirked at Tilly’s adolescent romanticism. “Better than me being shot at and him not saving me, yes?”
    Tilly chuckled.
    Stepping over to the rag rug where Sawyer played with his pile of blocks, Nicki squatted down, ruffling his hair. For a time she closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his little head beneath her hand, thanking God she was still here to enjoy it. When she opened her eyes he was staring up at her. “How is Mama’s big boy this morning?”
    The eighteen-month-old grinned at her, banging two blocks together.“Mama! Watch dis.” He stacked the two blocks on top of each other, adding a third, his tongue held between his teeth in concentration, then joyfully knocked over the tower.
    “Wow!” Nicki said enthusiastically. “Can you do it again?”
    “No.”
    Nicki shook her head at his independent spirit. If she hadn’t asked for a repeat performance, he probably would have contented himself with doing the same thing over and over all morning. But since it had been her suggestion to do it again, it no longer seemed like fun.
    A knock sounded on the door.
    Tilly moved to open it as Nicki seated herself at the table, trying to compose her thoughts. What questions do I need to ask? I don’t know the first thing about running a ranch, so how do I know what to ask him? He might not even want the job after what he’s seen .
    Jason was taller than John had been. For where there had been plenty of room for John’s head, even in this low-ceilinged building, Jason’s hair almost touched. He curled the brim of his hat into one hand, tapping it against his leg. Tilly traded him the hat for a cup of coffee, and he thanked her warmly. A blush skittered across her cheeks, but he didn’t seem to notice. His gaze was fixed on the little boy playing on the braided rug, a sudden tenderness in his eyes.
    Nicki watched as his sorrow-filled glance flickered from Sawyer, to the floor, into his coffee, and then back to the baby, finally settling on her face. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Trent.”
    Nicki could barely speak around the lump that suddenly formed in her throat. “Thank you.”
    Jason looked back to Sawyer. “I lost my father when I was just a little older than he is, my mother a few years later.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    A sad light was still in his eyes as he pulled out a chair and seated himself. “It worked out. I don’t know if I would ever have come to serve the Lord if I hadn’t been raised by my grandmother.”
    Nicki heard Tilly give a little gasp from where she stood by the stove. So the glitter might have a little gold in it . “Well, I’ll be the first to admit that it eases my mind knowing you are a fellow Christian, but tell me what you know about