Free Outlaw Cowboy by Nicole Helm

he…”
    Baffled didn’t begin to cover his response, but then again, she’d been a little baffled at Mr. Shaw’s response herself. Which was why she’d laughed.
    â€œWhy were you letting him order you around at all?”
    She shrugged and turned to face Caleb fully now, because he felt safe again. Because she felt safe again, and because it was so hard to deny the stupid affection she felt for him. “He was hurt. He was embarrassed and…” She probably shouldn’t say it, probably shouldn’t offer a piece of herself like this, but something about the day was wreaking havoc on her good sense. “He reminded me of you.” She’d seen that goodness both men seemed so determined to keep hidden and deny.
    Caleb looked at her for the longest time, and she couldn’t begin to make sense of it. A kind of surprised bafflement, mixed with hurt and fear and pain and… Oh, the poor idiot was so damn lost, and she wished she could help him.
    Which probably made her the poor idiot.
    â€œI have work to do,” he said, abruptly turning away from her. “Go back to the cabin and stay there.”
    â€œCan I help?” she blurted before she had time to swallow it down, to temper the panic at being alone again. She hated the silence and the dark and the lonely depression that skittered along the edges of everything. She’d prefer him threatening her. She’d prefer Eddie. She’d prefer any damn thing if it meant not being alone anymore.
    â€œHelp?” He said the word like it was so foreign he didn’t know the meaning of it.
    â€œA payment of sorts. If there’s a chore or work I can do…” She felt stupid for offering, both because he was looking at her with such baffled suspicion and because offering help would only give him the impression she owed him, and even if she did, she didn’t want him thinking she thought she did.
    If that made any sense.
    â€œYou’re supposed to be hiding. To be keeping out of sight.”
    â€œI can do all that. If your dad and Summer already know I’m here…” That’s when it all dominoed in her head. Who Summer looked like. Mel. An uncanny resemblance, really, and if Delia had spent any time around Mel recently, she might have recognized it right away. “She’s related to you?”
    Caleb jerked a shoulder. “Yeah. So?”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œI don’t have time for this. I have work to do.” He stalked out of the room, and against every sensible thought in her head, Delia scrambled after him.

Chapter 6
    Caleb shoved his feet into his boots. He ignored the way Delia stopped on the last stair and simply watched him.
    He hated the way she did that. Because unlike Mel or Summer, he wasn’t sure he was fooling her at all. It felt like she could see beyond the bravado, the anger, the intimidating looks, and see all the fear and confusion underneath.
    Worse, every once in a while he felt compelled to lay it at her feet, half convinced she’d know what to do with it.
    Luckily, he wasn’t a total fool—just half of one—and he kept it to himself.
    â€œWhy won’t you tell me who she is to you?”
    He was relieved the smallness in her voice was gone. The wavery way she’d spoken to him after he’d… Fuck, he’d threatened her like some kind of monster. Proving yet again what he was. “What does it matter?”
    â€œI don’t know.” She sounded genuinely confused. He shoved his arms into his coat. He was an hour off schedule, and cows waited for no man’s problems. The last time he’d tried that, one had escaped and Mel had stopped speaking to him for days.
    He threw the door open and pointed outside. “Go.”
    â€œSo…” Her dark, wide eyes stared at him. “I can’t help?”
    She made it sound like he was denying her water, when he was providing her shelter and had