Wolf Creek Father (Wolf Creek, Arkansas Book 3) by Penny Richards Page A

Ellie’s. Colt hadn’t heard him come in the back door. Blast it all! He hadn’t intended for anyone to know about the list. Now Dan would no doubt blab it all over town.
    “Not a word about this, Dan,” Colt growled.
    “What’s to say?” the burly older man demanded, a cross expression on his craggy face. “It ain’t like everybody in town don’t already know you’re huntin’ for a wife. I’m just curious about why you crossed out Gracie. She’s a fine woman, if you ask me.”
    “I agree,” Colt said. “She’s one of the finest. She’s just not the right one for me.”
    “Oh.” Big Dan cleared his throat and shuffled his weight from one foot to the other. “Well, since you marked her off your list, you won’t mind if I ask to call on her, will you?” Dull color crept into his lean cheeks, which bore several scars from his years spent boxing for a living back East.
    Colt grinned at his assistant. So that was the way it was. “Not at all.”
    “Well, all right, then.” Big Dan started to walk away.
    “I had no idea you were interested in Gracie,” Colt said, stopping him.
    “I don’t tell you everything, you know,” Dan said. “The fact is, I’ve liked her a good long while, but everybody knows she won’t tolerate anyone squiring her around who’s in the habit of tyin’ one on now and then.”
    He shrugged and continued. “I thought about it, and decided that she’s a good woman and deserves the best. Not that I am, of course. Far from it. But you have to admire a woman with principles like that. So I been workin’ on things for several months now. I’m even readin’ my Bible and such, since I know that’s important to her.”
    Colt stared at the man, impressed, as he often was, by just how far a smitten man would go to win a lady’s hand. Pretty potent stuff, love.
    “That’s great, Dan,” Colt said, and meant it.
    “So you gonna be here a spell? If you are, I think I’ll go talk to Gracie.”
    Colt smiled again. “What’s the hurry?”
    “If other guys are considerin’ her for matrimony, maybe I’d better not let any more grass grow under my feet.”
    “I’ll be here,” Colt said with a laugh. “Go do your sparking.”
    “Thanks, boss. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
    “No rush.”
    Big Dan turned at the door and held up a rough finger. “Don’t forget Ellie and her sister,” he said, and then, with another foolish smile, he almost danced out the door.
    Ellie and her sister. He’d already established that Ellie was out of the question, and her sister... Colt frowned. Sighed. He’d said he’d consider every eligible female he could think of, and Miss Grainger certainly fit the bill. After another moment’s hesitation, he wrote
Allison Grainger.
    Thought a moment and wrote
Smart. Educated.
    It had been very kind of her to buy the things Cilla would need to begin her embroidery.
    Thoughtful. Caring. Likes kids.
    She’d proved that by writing to her professors and making arrangements for Cilla to learn some feminine pursuits.
    What about the attraction, Colt?
    Well, he certainly didn’t find her unattractive. In fact, she was more than all right, he supposed. Frowning, he kicked back, swung his feet to the desktop and laced his fingers together behind his head, his habitual thinking position.
    He stared up at the ceiling and recalled how different she’d looked when he’d taken the children to apologize. There was no doubt that her hair made a tempting sight hanging free down her back. It made a man’s hands fairly itch to test the springy curls to see if they were as soft as they looked.
    He sat bolt upright, the front legs of his chair hitting the floor with a thud.
Tempting? Soft?
A humorless chuckle escaped him. A man would have to be crazy to use those two words in the same breath as
Allison Grainger.
He picked up the pencil, determined to add her other good features to the list. She might be a tad plump, but she had nice skin, a nice nose, really