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Weston’s eyes stared into her own.

Maybe she was too close. It seemed a little… intimate. Paisley had a sudden urge to grab him by the collars of his plaid flannel shirt and place a big smack on those luscious-looking lips.

Nope.

She backed up a step. “I’ve got it from here. You worry about the boys.”

“Including the adult one,” he muttered, eyes rolling.

Whew. Her gut swam with a mix of relief and regret. “Yeah, well, I’ve got his wife, so we’re even.”

“Next time…” Weston caught her gaze again. “Not that there will be a repeat, mind you, but next time you make absolutely certain the chaperones have a clue what’s going on, do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, master.” She saluted and began to pivot away.

He caught her arm. “Don’t be like that.”

Paisley lifted her chin. “Then don’t order me around.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were.”

“Sheesh, where’s your sunny disposition when you need it most?”

Paisley stared him down, the impulse to kiss him barely a distant memory. “How would you know? You’ve never smiled once in your life just for the fun of it.”

She pivoted but caught the heel of her left boot on a protruding root. Somehow, she remained upright, but grr that ankle hurt. She stomped off, trying her hardest not to limp. “Okay, girls! Over here. We’ll be setting up these two tents on the other side of that log.”

The log where she and Weston had almost had a moment last week. She wasn’t going to think about that. There was no logical reason at all why she should be hung up on the surly cowboy. So… she wouldn’t be. She could manage her own expectations and execute her own plans, and Weston Kline wasn’t going to be part of them, anymore.

She picked up a tent while Susanna and Aryana picked up the other one. Good for the Littles. She’d make backwoodsmen out of them yet. Because backwoodswomen wasn’t a word.

Watch her.

Chapter

Nine

Weston slipped out at the first hint of light, careful not to step on any of the boys sardined into the tent. They’d been a restless bunch, elbowing and grunting at each other well into the night.

He just needed a moment of silence.

Stars still hung in the dark sky with a bare outline of the hills to the east proclaiming the coming dawn. He took a few deep inhales and exhales as he contemplated the day to come.

What had Eli preached on the other week? Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say rejoice.

Would the Apostle Paul spout the same mantra if he were stuck here with all these city kids? Because there wasn’t much to rejoice about.

Weston made the rounds of the horses, rubbing their shoulders and talking to them in a low voice. Tails swished lightly. They all seemed okay, but he’d have a closer look when the kids took them to water later.

He lit a match to the tinder and sticks he’d laid out before turning in last night and tucked his billy can full of water tight against it.

The glow in the eastern sky was a little brighter now. Fewer stars remained visible.

Weston pulled his phone out of his pocket. He’d turned it to airplane mode before they left yesterday to preserve the battery, but he also had a recharge pack along in case he needed it. Not that the kids were likely to leave him much time to read. If any.

For now, though… Philippians chapter four. There was an app for that.