"Maybe, " he allowed. "I even thought about trying to get Cole riled
up enough to shoot me, but that was before I heard all the stories
about him. He's far more honorable than I am, " he added.
"Sheriff Sloan told me he shot a woman in Abilene. Is that true? "
"Ah, he just winged her, " Daniel replied.
She gasped.
"It was the only way he could get the man who was going to kill her, "
he said.
"Then it was necessary? " "Yes."
"Daniel . . . do you still think about . . . it? " He knew what she
was asking. "No, I don't think about it anymore.
Thoughts about doing myself in happened right after I buried my
family.
I was pretty much out of my mind then."
"Yes, I think maybe you were.
" "I figure there has to be a reason I'm still around."
"I think so too, " she whispered.
He was warmed by the fact that she was worried about him. It had been
a long time since anyone had been concerned about his welfare. The
world had been such a cold place for the past two years . . . until
Grace.
"When this is over . . . " "Yes? " He shook his head. "Never mind.
" She'd been sitting by Cooper's side for so long her back was
aching.
She moved the basin of water out of the way and stood up to stretch.
What she needed, she decided, was fresh air.
The window was on Daniel's side of the bed. As she tried to walk past
him, he reached out and took hold of her hand.
"I thought I'd open the window." He gently pulled her down onto his
lap. She was caught off guard and put her hands around his neck before
she realized what she was doing.
Then she pulled back.
"You don't want me to open the window? " "I want you to sit here with
me."
"It probably isn't very proper."
"And you're always proper, aren't you? " The yearning in his eyes was
her undoing. She gently stroked his cheek with her fingertips. "I try
to be, " she whispered.
"May I ask you something? " "Anything at all." He wanted to wrap her
in his arms and hold her for the rest of the night. He didn't know
what had come over him, but maybe it was all the talk about Kathleen
that made him melancholy and lonely. No, that wasn't true, he
admitted.
Grace made him feel this way. He had been wanting to hold her from the
moment he'd walked into Tilly MacGuire's kitchen and seen her standing
at the counter.
He was tired of fighting the attraction.
"Grace, what I said to you on the train . . . about wanting you. Does
that offend you? " [ She didn't answer him. He cupped her chin with