Free Silver Thaw by Catherine Anderson Page A

then swallowed. “Anyway, they both called me sonny and followed me around, spouting off likeretired female drill sergeants. I almost cleaned my ears to make sure I was hearing them right. I left my ‘sonny’ days behind years ago.”
    “You can’t be that old.”
    “Thirty as of last July. I’ve quit counting birthdays. Makes me feel ancient.”
    “Thirty isn’t old.”
    “Spoken like a person who hasn’t gotten close yet. When you arrive, it’s a shock. You wonder where all the years went since you turned twenty-one.”
    “I turned twenty-five in September, so I’ll be there before I know it.”
    “Don’t be in any rush. Once you hit that landmark day, your friends will wear black armbands to your party, and your cake will read, ‘Over the Hill.’”
    Amanda was too nervous about bedtime to muster another smile. As for a party to celebrate her birthday, she hadn’t had one in years.
    When they finished eating, she cut circles around Jeb as she helped to tidy the kitchen. They touched hands once, the contact sending a jolt up her arm. Then they bumped into each other, which set her off balance and prompted him to grab her arm to steady her. Again, she felt an electrical tingle dart over her skin.
Not good
. But she was stuck here, at least for tonight. The only positive things about it were that she finally felt warm and her brain was working again. Now she understood why she’d forgotten the SD card, which she guarded with almost as much diligence as she did her daughter. She’d been too cold to think.
    After they finished cleaning up from dinner, Jeb brought in a leather sling of wood and started a fire in the adjoining family room. “This woodstove will keep thewhole house toasty overnight. The heat rises and makes all the upstairs bedrooms cozy, no matter how cold it is outside.”
    He went to the living room to grab Amanda’s pillowcases and led the way upstairs. Though there were four large, unoccupied bedrooms, Amanda decided to use only one. She’d sleep better with her daughter next to her and the butcher knife under the mattress. The queen bed, already made up in case one of his family members came to stay, would be large enough for both of them. There was also an adjoining bath, so Amanda could barricade the door without worrying that Chloe might need to relieve herself during the night.
    Jeb put their things on a dressing bench. Then, placing his hands on his hips, he turned to face her. “Amanda—I hope you don’t mind me using your first name, but calling you Ms. Banning seems over the top at this point.”
    “No, I don’t mind.” She just wished he’d stop looking at her as if she were a tasty morsel that he might enjoy for dessert.
    “Anyway,” he said with a wave of his hand, “I couldn’t help but notice how nervous you were of me in the kitchen. And while carrying the pillowcases, I also noticed that you packed a butcher knife.”
    Amanda glanced at the bags, trying to think how she could explain. “I sleep with it for protection,” she admitted.
    He nodded. “I figured as much, but under my roof, you aren’t going to need it. I present no threat. I give you my word on that. And no one else can get in this house at night without waking Bozo. He sleeps with his ears pricked.”
    “And what will Bozo do, lick an intruder to death?”
    He smiled. “Bozo is very friendly but not dumb. He knows the difference between friend and foe. If anyone enters this house uninvited, he’ll wish to God he hadn’t.”
    Amanda’s skin prickled under Jeb’s sharp gaze. “What will Bozo do?”
    Jeb winked at her. “I’m not sure because no one has ever broken in, but I’ve been told that a lot of mastiffs will grab a man by his gonads, back him into a corner, and bite down a little harder each time he dares to move.”
    “That’s comforting to know.”
    He laughed and moved past her. “The thought gives me the heebie-jeebies.” He paused in the open doorway and turned to look