Page 10 of Rocky Mountain Home

“She was pretty brave,” Jesse offered. “But Sasha said it hurt too much for Emma to walk on, and I didn’t think she should hop all the way to the house, so I offered to help.”

“Because you just happened to be hanging out on my front lawn?”

“Little Ranch on the Prairie? Yeah, I was hanging out pretty hard.”

Dare pressed her lips together, but she smiled. “So… Hey. You found me.”

“Hey. I did.” Emma squirmed in his arms, and he lowered her to the floor. “You okay, cowgirl?”

She nodded, one hand drifting to her mouth. She chewed on the side of her fingers as Dare dropped to her knees so they could talk face-to-face.

“Does your knee hurt lots?”

The little girl shook her head.

“She needs a Band-Aid, though.” Sasha’s suggestion. “Maybe two.”

“Hmmm.” Dare looked over the teeny cut again. “Let’s see after we get it cleaned up. No use putting anything on that’s going to fall off right away.”

Emma dipped her chin.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea. How about a bath before supper instead of after? That way your scrape will get clean, and we’ll knock all the road dust off at the same time.”

“I want a bath too. Emma wants me to help her. And she wants to wear her new pyjamas, right, Emma?” Sasha had her sister by the hand as they walked backward toward the hallway. “And I want to wear my pyjamas too. Only we don’t want to go to bed early. Emma wants to watch movies.”

“Bath, yes. Pyjamas, yes. Movies—not until after your homework is done. I’ll come help get the water started.” Dare pointed down the hallway. “Hurry up. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Is Jesse staying for supper? Emma wants to sit beside him,” Sasha tossed over her shoulder.

“Bathtub.”

The one word quickened the girls’ steps, and Jesse chuckled as they vanished around a corner. “Well done, Auntie Dare.”

“They’ll take every advantage they can get.” She glanced at him. “Give me a minute to get them in the water?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised.

Jesse strolled around the room after she left, a million questions darting through his brain. Emma hadn’t made a sound since he’d seen her fall, not even to cry. She’d defaulted to her big sister speaking for her—there had to be a reason for that.

In the meantime, though, he looked for clues to his mysterious woman, glancing at the pictures scattered everywhere. There were a few with a redheaded little girl, maybe Dare, but far more of Emma and Sasha. It was a comfortable room, like in any ranch house. Could have been the one he grew up in, although his mom kept things a little more spit and polished.

Then again, he had no idea what it had been like when he and Joel were little and his mom had been wrangling a houseful of boys.

He glanced out the window toward the lake and the outbuildings neatly arranged east to west. Arenas, paddocks—the Silver Stone ranch was impressive. Something extra was going on today. A whole lot of trucks were parked over toward the barns, and a group of men had gathered beside one of the split-rail fences.

Jesse double-checked to the west, but his truck was far enough to the side of the main drive to be out of the way. He’d seen the little girl fall, and he’d been out from behind the wheel before he’d thought it through. He figured carrying her to the house would cause less trouble than loading her into his truck.

“Hey.”

He turned to face Dare as she reentered the room. “All settled?”

She wiggled her fingers. “For now.” She broke her gaze from his to stare past him. “We need to talk.”

“We do. Plus, I have something of yours.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Yeah, I have something you left behind too.” She pointed him toward the side of the house. “We can sit on the porch.”

“Hello? Dare?” A new voice.