Never Love a Cowboy by Lorraine Heath

her eyes, similar to what he’d seen the night she’d delivered the baby. Micah, the youngest boy, shoved his shield in front of her face. She laughed and hugged him.
    He wondered if she thought of her own child every time she hugged one who belonged to someone else.
    “So how did things go between you and Jessye this past month?” Kit asked.
    “Things went…not well enough.”
    “Has she decided you deserve to be a full partner?”
    Harrison sliced his gaze to Kit. “That arrangement does not bother me. Why in the bloody hell must it drive you to distraction?”
    “Because you deserve better.”
    “So does she. She’s a remarkable woman, Kit.”
    “Have you fallen in love with her?”
    “Don’t be an ass.”
    Kit nodded with an irritating smirk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are these all the men you hired?”
    “Yes. That Dan Lincoln is a good man, a natural leader. I think he would make an excellent choice for trail boss.”
    “I’ll trust your judgment on that. We have overnineteen hundred cattle. If we hire more men and continue to scour the countryside for the next two months, we should have an impressive herd to take north.”
    “Impressive, yes.” Harrison studied the amber liquid in his glass. “Actually something did happen while we were away. Jessye delivered a baby.”
    “Good God! She was with child? She didn’t look it.”
    Harrison rolled his eyes. “No, you dolt. We came to a farm where a woman was in labor. Jessye helped deliver the baby.”
    “Ah, well, that’s a different matter entirely, isn’t it?”
    “Of course, it is. The dilemma, however, is that a bond developed between us that night that I can’t explain, a bond so strong that we’ve shared a bit of our pasts.”
    “Danger lurks in secrets revealed.”
    “Must you always be so damned philosophical? I’m trying to understand. All I know of love, I learned from you.”
    “A shame, since my experience resulted in tragedy.”
    “Still, I thought perhaps you could explain to me what I am unable to comprehend.”
    “Love cannot be explained. It cannot be taught. It cannot even be understood, but when it touches you, when it takes hold of your heart and your soul…you are the better for it.” Kit’s gaze circled the room. “Perhaps you should try again to convince Jessye not to travel with us.”
    “I could just as easily turn back the wind.”
    Kit released a melancholy sigh. “You know, my trusted friend, it is not Jessye’s heart that concerns me, but yours. You have known the pain of hatred, but not the pain of love. It is far, far worse.”
    “That’s just what I want to hear.”
    “’Tis better to be forewarned than to be caught unawares.”

Chapter 8
    Spring, 1866
    A s dawn hovered beyond the horizon , Jessye stood and looked with pride at the herd she’d helped round up. With diligence and the additional men they’d hired after they’d returned to Fortune, they’d managed to increase the size of the herd considerably in the two months since Christmas.
    She’d noticed, however, the way a few of the men studied her, and her confidence in her ability to handle them had faltered. She’d stuffed her hair beneath a beat-up broad-brimmed hat and wound strips of cloth around her chest until she was almost as flat as a flapjack.
    The cattle would stretch out for miles, the men along with them. She closed her hand around the gun she wore strapped to her hip, although she knew in her heart that it was unlikely she’d find the courage to use it against a man—regardless of the circumstances.
    She heard a horse whinny and spun around. She forced bravado into her smile as she faced Harry. “Ican’t believe we’re finally ready to take them north.”
    His gaze slowly traveled from the brim of her hat to the toes of her boots. “Have you lost weight?”
    The heat of embarrassment scalded her face. “No, I…I bound my…” She cleared her throat as his gaze captured hers. “I thought it best to