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“Me too.” Jen nodded, holding up the bag with her items from the gift shop.

“All right. See you downstairs. It’s the big room between the gift shop and the dining room if you get lost,” Blake explained, but concern lurked in his eyes.

Was he worried about her coughing and sneezing?

Blake and Bing had offered to pay for their selections, but they’d insisted on paying for their own purchases. Again, it had been gentlemanlike of them to offer. At least they had everything they would need for a sleepover.

A little while later, they all gathered around in the lounge, relaxing on leather sofas and chairs.

Blake had built another fire in that room’s stone fireplace.

Jen and Bing settled into a game of chess at a table for two while the winds howled and the rain continued to pour outside.

Blake had rummaged around in his office for a notebook and pencils, and now he handed them to Hensley. “So, you can sketch. ”

“Thank you.” She sneezed again, but that was sweet of him to think of her.

He crossed the room and returned with tissues for Hensley while Caroline perused the bookshelves.

“You are a lifesaver.” She smiled, accepting the box. She chose the corner of a sofa and sat with her sketch book, pencils, and tissues while Blake slipped out of the room and disappeared around the corner. He returned with a gift bag a few minutes later and handed it to her.

“What’s this?” Hensley peeked inside the cute paper bag but had to set it aside for a coughing fit.

“Open it,” he instructed, sitting in the chair beside her end of the sofa.

“Have you settled on names for all of those quarter horses?” Hensley asked as she pulled out a soft and fluffy blanket featuring a gallant horse with beautiful markings.

“Aw, thank you! You went to the gift shop. I saw this very blanket in your gift shop earlier. And cough drops, vaporub, a box of orange tea, and cough syrup. You’re the best. But you shouldn’t have. I would have muddled through.”

“You need all the help you can get. I can’t have you coming down sick on my watch while I stand by doing nothing.” Blake rested his hands on his knees. “And no, I haven’t settled on names yet for the horses.”

His face told her nothing about his feelings for her, but the gifts told her everything.

She spread the blanket over herself and popped a cough drop in her mouth to soothe her sore throat.

That was better. She began to relax, but Blake was quiet and aloof again.

His brows furrowed. Was he stewing about something?

Perhaps trying to figure out who would have broken into the dining room to mess up all of their hard work?

Worried about the thunderstorm and possible tornadic action?

Maybe concerned about his business? Concerned about her being sick?

Or aggravated about having guests in his care during the bad weather?

He could even be worried about the barn blowing down and the safety of his new horses, or a tornado picking up one of several pieces of construction equipment on the property and sending it crashing into something else.

She opened the spiral notebook as more thunder sounded.

Time to focus on something else to take her mind off the storm and her sore throat.

Bing had turned the big flat screen television on in the lounge too, so they could listen to the weather updates.

He kept the volume low but turned it up with a remote control when the weather host said a tornado had touched down on the other side of the county ten minutes ago.

The forecaster said they should be mindful that another tornado could hit before the night was out since another strong wall of stormy weather was headed their way.

Bing turned the volume low again when the update ended.

“All right. Suggest a name for Blake’s horses, everyone. I’ll write down the ones he likes.” Hensley tapped a pencil on the page of the open notebook, her brows furrowing. “You said four mares and four stallions, right? How about Rhett and Scarlett for two of them?”

Blake’s face lit up with a grin. “Perfect. Write those down.”

Jen twisted around in her seat. “Ahab and Jezebel?”

Blake chuckled, nodding. “Write those down too, please.”

Hensley wrote down the first four names.

Caroline settled on a book from the library collection and sat in the leather chair directly across from Blake.

She opened the book and leafed through it until she found a page of interest, running a finger along the lines as she scanned it.

“How about Poppy and Parsnip? These are flowers that are common in Wyoming according to this, and I know you loved your time there, even though we all missed you terribly.”

Was she flirting with Blake again? Lord, have mercy. Hensley tapped her pencil more firmly. Was it loud enough to convey her annoyance with Caroline ?

“Poppy and Parsnip. Write those down.” Blake nodded. “Two more ...”

At least he didn’t sound as enthusiastic about Caroline’s suggestions.

“How about Fred and Ethel?” Bing leaned forward while swiping Jen’s bishop with his rook.

Blake smiled. “Excellent. That takes care of our first eight. But we have four more mares and four more stallions arriving next week too.”

“Eight more?” Hensley’s mouth dropped open. “How about Fannie and Frank?”

“Nice.” Blake nodded and Hensley scribbled those names down.

“Huckleberry and Kaleidoscope,” Caroline said as she snapped her book shut and rose to find something else from the shelves.

“Good. I like those names as well.” Blake nodded and Hensley added them to the list.

“Pooh Bear was Bing’s favorite cartoon and book character when he was a child,” Jen put in, keeping her eyes locked on Bing.

“And petunias are some of Jen’s favorite flowers,” Bing mentioned, gazing at Jen.

“Pooh Bear and Petunia it is.” Blake waved a hand and Hensley scribbled those down too, a smile on her face.

Bing and Jen were adorable together and completely in love. Anyone could see it. But Caroline was rolling her eyes and wrinkling her nose. Ugh!

“We need two more. How about Sparky for a stallion and Midnight for a mare? Do you have any black mares coming?” Hensley leaned forward, her brow arching as she gazed at Blake.

“As a matter of fact, we do have one black mare coming. Sparky and Midnight. That’s perfect. Is that all sixteen names?”

Hensley counted. “It is.”

“Done. Thank you, everyone.” Blake released a sigh.

She imagined he had his hands full with everything else going on around the resort.

Not to mention, he’d told her of his dream to allow troubled teens to spend time on the property in the bunkhouse once it was finished being built.

Was that weighing on his mind too? It seemed to her that it was one of his main goals in building the property.

He’d mentioned it to her several times, worried about which group to invite.

She’d suggested that he contact a Teen Challenge group in the area.

They were nationwide, but logistically speaking, it was a good place to start.

He had perked up at her suggestion. But until the construction finished, and all of the landscaping was complete, it did not make sense to get ahead of the timeline.

He had much to do with acquiring everything the property required to run properly.

There would be an intense hiring and training phase too, plus marketing concerns.

And the grand opening to plan. He had a lot on his plate. No wonder his brows furrowed so much.

Finding names for sixteen quarter horses would be one less thing on his mind. She tore the page out of her notebook and handed it to him. He folded it and tucked it inside his shirt pocket. “Thank you, Blue Eyes.”

Hensley gave him a weak smile. If only she hadn’t come down with such a bad cold. She blew her nose into a tissue. Did it appear red and swollen? Not a very romantic look, but sometimes life just got in the way of romance.

“Well, that kept us entertained for about ten minutes.” Caroline had another book in her hands as she returned to her seat.

Hensley peeked at the cover. Gulliver’s Travels? At least she had good taste in books, but she turned her attention toward sketching another wedding dress design.

Caroline leaned toward her. “What are you doodling there?”

Doodling? If her nose wasn’t running, she might’ve stood up with her hands on her hips and given Caroline an attitude adjustment .

“She’s not doodling. Hensley is a fashion designer. She creates stunning wedding gowns. I saw some in her boutique’s windows.” Blake smiled at Hensley. “I’m only sorry I don’t have a proper sketchbook around here, but a spiral notebook will have to do for now until I remedy that.”

Was he really praising her work? And standing up for her to Caroline? He even seemed ... proud of her profession. That was a glimmer of hope.

“Oh, I had no idea. Hmm.” Caroline sank into her seat and opened the book she held.

Hensley bent her head over her sketch, concentrating on the pencil lines to make the skirt fuller. But her eyes were growing heavy. She might even fall asleep right there on the sofa while daydreaming about Blake carrying her off to her room in those strong arms of his.

Why did it seem as if she had a slight temperature?

If they’d truly fallen into some time warp of Pride & Prejudice , this was not the way it was supposed to happen.

Jen should be the one who was sick, and she should be well enough to stroll about the room and play a melody on Blake’s piano .

.. but no, she was the one who’d come down with a bad cold.

At least Caroline had been somewhat nice that evening.

Even helpful at times. Another surprise.

She was still snobbish, but a little bit nice was better than not nice at all.

It had been an interesting turn of events and eye-opening.

Her suspicions had been confirmed about Caroline hiding Bing and Blake away from her and Jen, bringing them dinners and planning their social calendars.

Would their boyfriends begin to include them again when the storm came to an end? Or would trouble in paradise resume at Caroline’s behest?