Free Into the Arms of a Cowboy by Isabella Ashe Page B

carried away,” he said, scowling. “These kits aren’t out of danger yet. And once they are, we still need to feed them five times a day, even during the night. It won’t be easy.”
    “I’ll do it,” Cassie volunteered. She was gazing through the wire door on the animal carrier with an expression of rapt tenderness. “I don’t mind waking up to take care of them.”
    Gus brightened at her words. “Does that mean you’ll stay with Jess for a while?”
    “Gus!” Jess shot his uncle a menacing look. “I don’t think she’s made up her mind yet.”
    Cassie nibbled at her lower lip. “I--that’s true, but -” She met Jess’s eyes, her expression so hopeful and vulnerable that he almost couldn’t stand it. “If it’s all right with Jess, I guess I could stay. Just for a short time, I mean.”
    “Well, I will need help with the raccoons,” Jess said. “All that getting up in the night. . . .”
    For a moment, as they gazed at each other, Jess forgot all about their audience. He lost himself in her clear gray eyes. Only the two of them existed. “With the raccoons,” he said softly, “you have to be careful. You don’t want to get too. . .attached.”
    Cassie tilted her head. “Why?”
    “They’re wild creatures. Their destiny is somewhere else.”
    “Don’t they, well, bond with you?”
    “Sure, until they’re weaned. Then you have to push them away. You have to teach them to go off on their own again. Because they don’t belong here with us, and you can’t let yourself forget that. . . .” He trailed off, unable to continue. He wasn’t warning Cassie. His words were a reminder to himself.
    Gus cleared his throat. “Well, kids, time for me to ride off into the sunset. I’ve got some chores that need tendin ’.”
    “I’d better get home, too,” Tanya said. She shot the baby raccoons a last, wistful look. “Can I see them again?”
    “Absolutely,” Jess said. “Any time.”
    He showed his guests out, then stood on the porch, balanced on his crutches. So Cassie would stay, at least for now. Her decision lightened his spirit, but it also posed some tough questions. For one thing, he wanted her worse than he’d ever wanted any woman. Just because he’d done the right thing this morning didn’t mean he’d keep on doing it. Every moment he spent with her, he had to fight the urge to tangle his fingers in her silken hair, to feel her body moving under his, to make her cry out with the exquisite pleasure of their joining.
    How the hell was he going to share a one-room cabin with Cassie, and still keep hold of his sanity?
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    For Cassie, the rest of that day passed quietly. Jess taught her to feed the raccoon kits one drop of milk at a time, until their little bellies grew rounded and full. She laughed when he showed her how to burp them, just like real babies, and to groom them with cotton balls dipped in warm water.
    Jess’s hands were so gentle, his thick fingers tender as he tended the baby raccoons. Amazing. Hard to believe they were the same hands that conquered bulls and bucking horses.
    By noon, two of the kits were twittering and dragging their tiny bodies over the towel, exploring their bedroom. Cassie quickly christened them Rascal and Scamp. The third baby, however, lay quiet. Its little chest rose and fell, but it didn’t suck eagerly at the eyedropper during feeding time. This weak one Cassie called Angel.
    “You probably shouldn’t name them yet,” Jess scolded. “At least see whether they make it through the night.”
    But Cassie loved the kits already. As she explored the clearing outside the cabin late in the afternoon, she realized she’d never known how to rein in her emotions. She’d loved her mother, for example, despite all the betrayals and broken promises.
    Cassie rounded the cabin and found Jess’s garden, the green shoots pushing up from the dark, damp earth. The rain had stopped, but more clouds perched on the horizon.
    Throughout