Free Unexpected by Lietha Wards

about him.  She could also be completely wrong about him. Yet, she always prided herself on her instincts, and nothing about him seemed to worry her.
    “Suit yourself,” he said looking down at her. “We’ll leave after supper. I’ll hitch up the buckboard.”
    That gave Josie enough time to finish her chores. Again she was thankful for Hattie who did the housework and cooking and now played nurse to her brother besides being a surrogate mother to their little brother.
    After supper was served, Hattie had excused herself from the table to take Ryker his meal and most likely stayed to visit him.  Josie had forbid him to come downstairs for another few days because the doctor said so.  She was just thankful he was listening.  It wasn’t often he listened to anyone.  It also showed her that he was probably in more pain than he let on. He refused to take the laudanum to help him out because it made his head cloudy. She knew he was worried that something could happen while he was under the drug’s influence, so it was for their sake he suffered.  She tried to reassure him that Cogan could manage, but he still refused.
    During their meal, Thomas talked a mile a minute to Cogan.  Josie could see that he was in awe of their newest ranch hand.  She couldn’t blame him.  She was finding herself in that position too.  Furthermore, Cogan actually had the patience of a saint when it came to her ten year old brother.  He seemed interested in everything he said and he really didn’t need to be.  Several times his dark eyes shifted to hers and there was clear amusement in them over Thomas and his eagerness.  However, he never discouraged him and she couldn’t be more thankful for his tolerance.  Not many men his age put up with a child, even if it was their own.
    After supper she changed into a blue striped walking gown, matching bonnet and a parasol. She never went to town without dressing like a lady.  Around the ranch she wore older clothing and when she rode on the range, she would wear pants.  Yet, she was raised proper and in public she preferred to feel like a woman.  At least that’s what she kept telling herself, knowing that their new ranch hand had something to do with her taking that extra time to look ladylike.
    Thomas met her when she was leaving the house and asked if he could come.  She reluctantly agreed and he raced upstairs with a whoop to get washed up.  Normally she wouldn’t take him, but they’d have Cogan with them and it’s not like Butch would risk anything in front of a town of witnesses.  She already knew that word had gotten around about him.  It was a small town.
    When she emerged from the house she saw that Cogan had the mare hitched up to the buckboard and his stallion tethered to the back of it.  He’d also managed to change into decent clean clothes of black pants, blue shirt, and a matching grey and black striped vest.  He tossed a black overcoat on the back of the seat.  The thing she’d noticed the most was that he’d strapped on his gun belt. 
    He was strikingly handsome in black, but Josie did her best to push that thought out of her mind.  Cogan was far from the marrying kind.  He was wild and there wasn’t anything about him that said he was going to settle down and have children in the near future. The fact that she found her thinking that made her pause. There wasn’t once in her eighteen years that she’d even had a fleeting thought of marriage.
    Thomas ran past her and climbed eagerly into the back of the wagon while Josie came down the steps.  He turned and saw her with a glint of approval in his eyes that she didn’t miss.  Then he held out his hand and without a word she took it, lifted her skirts, and allowed him to help her into the wagon.  It shifted with his weight when he climbed in next to her and took the reins.
    “How’s your brother?”   He’d meant to ask over dinner but Thomas occupied his time. The boy was keen for some