A Moment in Time (19 page)

      
Summoning what she hoped was a sultry expression, she slipped the tip of her tongue across her lower lip, then pursed her lips into a kissable pout and reached for her spoon.
 
He didn't move while she ate her beans and half a piece of cornbread.
 
She reached for her water and took a sip, peering at him over the cup's metal rim.
 
His Adam's apple traveled the length of his throat and back again, his blue eyes darkening to cobalt.
 
No doubt about it–Cole Morrison wanted her.

      
Heat suffused her as her flirtation backfired with a vengeance.
 
She wanted him, too.
 
Badly.

      
She was in big trouble.

      
Her sip of water trickled down the wrong way and she coughed, setting her cup aside and reaching for the square of blue fabric she assumed was her napkin.
 
Tears gathered in her eyes and Todd reached over to pound her back right between her shoulder blades.

      
"You all right, Miss Jackie?" the boy asked.

      
Jackie nodded and ventured a peek at Cole, who sat there grinning again, his expression far less intense now.
 
He folded his arms across his trim abs and leaned back, a smug, knowing glint in his eyes.
 
Then the man had the audacity to wink at her.

      
Oh, yeah, Clarke, you're in
really
big trouble.

Chapter 7

      
Cole retreated to the cabin's small front porch and gazed up at the stars.
 
The evening air was cool and still; an owl hooted in the distance.
 
From inside, he heard his son laughing again at the mystery woman's strange bedtime story about space travel and someone named Yoda.
 
Cole couldn't recall a character by that name in Jules Verne's most recent novel, and he'd read it three times.

      
Who was Jackie Clarke and how had she ended up as a very bad saloon singer named Lolita Belle?
 
Lolita was obviously a stage name and a successful one at that.
 
Recalling the miners' response to her singing, he chuckled quietly and shook his head.
 
There was just no accounting for taste.

      
"May the Force be with you, Grasshopper," Lolita-Jackie said from inside the cabin.
 
"Live long and prosper, and nanu nanu."

      
Todd's giggles approached the hysterical point, and guilt pressed down on Cole.
 
His son was being cheated out of his childhood.
 
Lolita-Jackie or whoever was a welcome change in the boy's life.

      
Imagine that.
 
A saloon singer had brought more joy to his son's life in one evening than Cole had in the years since Elizabeth's death.
 
He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against a post.

      
Cole hadn't planned for Todd to grow up so fast, but the boy had always insisted on helping.
 
Come to think of it, Todd might have learned to cook just to avoid his pa's lousy attempts.
 
A wistful smile tugged at Cole's lips and he sighed, determined to help his son learn to be a child again.

      
"He's ready for his dad to tuck him in," Lolita-Jackie said from the doorway.
 

      
Cole spun around on his heel and stared at her.
 
Lamplight spilled out around her from inside, igniting her red hair until it glowed.
 
He could barely see her expression, but he could've sworn he saw concern in her eyes.
 
She stepped onto the porch and Cole slipped inside, trying not to dwell on the cause of her concern.
 
If it existed at all.

      
Todd was tucked into his bunk, his hands folded across his chest and his eyes wide open.
 
Lying in bed with his hair tousled, the boy looked like the child he was, rather than the miniature adult he'd become since his mother's death.

      
"Thanks, Pa," Todd whispered as Cole bent down to kiss his son's forehead.

      
"For what?"
 
Cole tucked the quilt more securely around the boy's bony shoulders.

      
"For bringing me a teacher who tells funny stories."
 

      
As long as those funny stories weren't about saloons...
 
Cole straightened, gazing down at his son.
 
"You're welcome."
 
His voice sounded gruff and he cleared his throat again.
 
"Now get some shut-eye."

      
"Pa?"

      
"What?"

      
"Why don't you let Miss Jackie read some of your sto–"

      
"No."
 
Cole bit the inside of his cheek.
 
"Nobody wants to look at those."

      
"But–"

      
"No.
 
Now get some sleep."

      
"All right."
 
Disappointment dimmed the light in the boy's eyes.
 
"'Night, Pa."

      
Cole squeezed his son's shoulder, his heart racing and his gut clenching.
 
He'd never shared that secret side of himself with any outsider.
 
"I'll think about it.
 
All right?"

      
Todd smiled his mother's smile and Cole's heart broke all over again.

      
"'Night, Pa."

      
"'Night, son."

      
Cole blew out the lamp nearest the bed, but left the one on the hearth burning.
 
He had to make sure Lolita-Jackie understood where she was to sleep, and what would be expected of her starting tomorrow.

      
She was the one who'd told Todd she was his teacher.
 
Now, by damn, she'd have to live up to the boy's expectations.
 
Cole paused near the door, clenching and unclenching his fists.

      
And so help him, if the woman hurt Todd in any way...

      
"Cole, come look quick," she called from outside, her voice washing over him like a cool breeze.
 
"It's a shooting star."

      
Perplexing didn't begin to describe this woman, and he silently chastised himself for thinking she might harm Todd.
 
He knew without knowing why that she would treat his son well.
 

      
Cole joined her at the porch rail, but he didn't even try to see the shooting star.
 
Instead, he gazed at her profile bathed in moonlight and starlight.

      
She was looking up toward the sky, her small nose and full lips clearly defined by the silver moonlight.
 
Her hair appeared dark and colorless, thank goodness, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
 
He could almost forget her chosen profession and the circumstances that had brought her here when that red hair wasn't staring him in the face.

      
"Ah, you missed it."
 
She turned and smiled, her teeth gleaming in the darkness.
 
"I made a wish."

      
"Did you now?"
 
What would a woman like her wish for?
 
She probably had plenty of money tucked away somewhere, and he knew firsthand that the miners adored her.
 
What more could she want that she didn't already have?
 
He remembered her comment about wanting a child.
 
Was that her wish?

      
"I can't tell you what my wish is, or it won't come true."
 
Her voice fell to a faint whisper and she looked away again.
 
"Pretty stupid of me to be wishing for anything anyway."

      
He heard something in her voice he hadn't noticed since that first morning he'd dragged her out of the street in front of the Gold Mine Saloon.
 
Fear and futility.
 
He thought back to that morning, her insistence that she wasn't Lolita, and her plea for his help.
 
He'd turned his back on her then, and later he'd kidnapped her for pay.

      
You're lower than low, Morrison.
 
He couldn't undo what he'd already done, but he could try to make amends, especially since she'd inadvertently become his son's teacher and a houseguest rather than–he winced–a hostage.

      
"I want to apologize, Miss Lolita," he said quietly, not wanting his son to overhear.

      
"Call me Jackie, please," she said.
 
"Apologize for what?
 
Kidnapping me?"

      
"Partly."
 
He nodded and looked up at the stars.
 
"And for not believing you when you asked me for help."
 
He felt her gaze on him, but he didn't look at her.
 
"I'm still not clear why you needed help, or why you insist you aren't Lolita, but a gentleman doesn't turn away from a lady in distress."
 
Repentant, he faced her.
 
"I did."

      
"Why, Cole Morrison, are you calling me a lady?"

      
Her tone was light, but he heard the intense undercurrent she kept barely in check.
 
"Yes, ma'am," he said, remembering the way Todd had taken to her.
 
"I reckon I am."

      
"I'm flattered."
 
She turned away and looked toward the mountains, towering dark masses against the star-strewn sky.
 
"I probably don't deserve that distinction, though.
 
My great-aunt certainly never thought so."

      
"Well, maybe she doesn't know everything."
 
He touched her arm and she turned to face him again.
 
"And I thank you for being so good to Todd."

      
"He's an adorable little boy."
 
She smiled again, rubbing her hands along her upper arms.
 
"He has his daddy's killer smile."

      
Cole chuckled.
 
"Killer, huh?"

      
"At the very least."

      
He sighed.
 
"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry about...everything."

      
She nodded, tilting her head to one side to gaze up at him.
 
"Gee, maybe you can even start believing I'm not Lolita now."

      
One corner of his mouth tugged upward.
 
"Oh, I wouldn't say that."