Madison still had the image of Callum at the forefront of her thoughts when she walked back inside the house and found Elly sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. She must have come in the back door from the training arena. Elly was making a run at the National Finals Rodeo in barrel racing, and she spent a good portion of her days practicing.
“You like him, don’t you?” Elly asked, startling Madison so much she stopped in the middle of pouring herself a cup.
She grasped for some type of reasonable response. “He’s nice. And I appreciate what he’s doing for Jason, giving him a job to keep him occupied.”
“But it’s more than that, right?”
Madison finished pouring her coffee and joined her friend at the table. “I’m attracted, yes, but I can’t act on it.”
“Because you’re going home eventually.”
“Yes. And I’ve got to focus on Jason right now.”
“You deserve to focus on yourself, too.”
Madison looked up at Elly. “You sound like him.”
“We Codys, we’re a smart bunch.”
Madison smiled. “Modest, too.”
“Sometimes I think Callum and Dusty are competing to see who can be the biggest flirt in the family, but they’re both good guys under all that.” Elly traced the rim of her coffee cup. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but maybe you should go out with Callum. Just for fun, nothing serious. It could be exactly what you need.”
“I’ve already told him no, twice.”
“If I know my cousin, he’ll ask again.”
Madison suspected Elly was right. Would she be able to say no a third time, particularly when her friend thought it was a good idea to say yes?
“So, how are things going for you at work?” Elly asked, steering the conversation a different direction.
“Good. Busy, of course.”
“You ever find a book project?”
Madison had told Elly how much she wanted to write books about her specialty, the settling of the West.
“Not yet. There never seems to be time to work on it anyway.”
“You’ve got time now.” Elly looked around the great room for a moment. “And I just had an idea for a topic.”
“Oh?”
“You know my family was some of the first white settlers in this area. What if you worked on a Cody family history and how it figures into the settlement of Wyoming?” Elly leaned forward, excitement lighting her eyes. “This would be great for our family, and it could launch that part of your career. I know Mom and Dad have tons of old documents, photos.”
Madison itched to get a hold of those pieces of the past. “What would your parents say?”
“Are you kidding? They’d love it. Come on, we’ll go talk to them now.”
As Madison followed Elly to her truck, a spark of the hope she’d been losing flickered back to life. Jason, Callum, this chance to do what she really wanted—it felt like things were looking up. She just hoped fate wasn’t being cruel and teasing her.
…
Callum didn’t know quite what to make of the jittery feeling in his stomach as he drove onto the Cottonwood Ranch at the end of the day. It’d been a very long time since a woman had made him feel like this, like he was living in a state of constant anticipation. He refocused his thoughts on the boy sitting on the other side of the truck.
“Harry tells me you did a good job in the barn today, particularly for someone who’s never worked on a ranch.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re a man of few words, aren’t you?”
Jason glanced at him before turning his attention back to the road in front of them. “Just don’t feel like talking much.”
Callum nodded. “I understand. Sometimes a man’s just got to be alone with his thoughts.”
“Madison wouldn’t agree with you.” Jason sounded one part frustrated, one part defeated. “She thinks I’m just a kid, that I need her hovering over me all the time.”
“You given her any reason to think that?”
Callum sensed a heated denial coming, but then something seemed to shift in Jason. His shoulders slumped. “Maybe some.”
“You want to know what I think?”
Jason looked at him, silently giving his answer.
“I think your sister is hurting just as much as you, maybe more. Only she has to be the strong one and can’t show it.”
“She say that?”
“She didn’t have to. Just look at her and you’ll see it. What happened to your parents isn’t her fault.”
Jason turned to stare out his window at a portion of the Cottonwood’s cattle herd. Callum left him with his thoughts the rest of the way up to the homestead. Madison was nowhere to be seen when he parked. Maybe he should leave, give Jason a chance to talk to his sister. But when Jason slipped out of the truck, he headed straight for where Elly was walking Jasmine, one of her backup horses. Ah, poor kid. That crush didn’t have a chance in the world, especially since Elly was a decade older than Jason.
He could drive away, but he didn’t. Instead, he headed up the porch steps, paused to knock on the door before pushing it open. “Anybody home?”
“Callum.” Madison spun in her chair at the table, surprise making her eyes wide. “I didn’t realize what time it was.” She looked back at the stacks of papers and photo albums strewn across the table.
“What’s all this?” he asked as he crossed the distance between them.
“Cody family documents and photographs. Elly convinced me to work on a family history of the Cody family in Wyoming.”
“Really?” He sank into the chair beside her.
“Yeah, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“My family’s history?”
“No, write books about the settling of the West. It’s my specialty, what I teach.”
He leaned a bit closer to her. “So, found any impossible rogues in the family tree?”
She laughed. “Just you.”
Callum shifted closer still. “So, Madison Gray, do you like rogues?”
Madison met his gaze, and he realized just how close they were to each other, close enough to feel her warm breath.
“Maybe,” she said softly, sounding dazed and unsure.
“Let’s find out.” He captured her delectable lips in a kiss.
