Free Spirit Journey: Historical Western Cowboy Romance Novel (Dawson Chronicles Book 3) by Linda Bridey Page A

cheeks warmed.  “Am I crazy because I do?”
                  “You are crazy, but not because you are attracted to her.  Why do you feel that you are crazy?”
                  “Because I’m just a boy and I don’t have anything to offer her.  Besides, I can’t even talk around her.”
                  “You are no longer a boy, Skip.  You are a young man.  You graduated, remember?”
                  Skip nodded.  “Yeah.”
                  Black Fox asked, “If you could talk around her, what would you say to her?”
                  Skip jumped right in.  “So much.  I’d tell her how beautiful she is—she’s gorgeous.  I love her red hair and those big blue eyes of hers!  And she’s such a good mother, too.  And she’s strong to have protected Annie even while she was falling down a mountainside and had her leg stuck under a boulder. 
    “That takes real courage and love for your baby to do that.  And she’s funny and feisty and sweet, too.  And smart.  I’d tell her all about my family and Dawson and our friends and my job, too.  And jokes, too.  Anything, really.  But it doesn’t matter.  I’ll never tell her.”
                  Black Fox frowned.  “Why not?”
                  “She’s too hurt right now and the last thing she needs is some weird guy who can’t even talk to her pestering her.  She’s got a baby and one on the way, and they’re way more important than me.  I know she doesn’t want anything to do with a man, and who can blame her?  The last one was the biggest, most awful jackass in the world.  It won’t be easy for her to trust a man again,” Skip said.
                  “It depends on the man,” Black Fox said.  “If she were yours, how would you treat her?”
                  “I’d show her how special she is every day.  Like Pa does with Ma.  He’s always bringing her flowers or little treats.  Takes her out and sometimes they just go for a walk.  He makes her laugh when she’s sad and he makes supper because he knows she’ll be tired when she gets home.  A lot of guys won’t do housework, but he does all the time.  It’s so funny that he won’t let her scrub floors.  He doesn’t want her getting callouses on her pretty knees,” Skip said.
                  Black Fox laughed.  “He has said that to me, too.  One day he scolded me because I did not scrub floors for Beth.  He said I should care more about her knees.”
                  Skip laughed, too.  “Yep.  That’s Pa.  He might not have just one job, but he works a couple and helps bring in money.  I would do the same thing so that Peanut didn’t have to worry about where the next meal was coming from or if there was enough money to take the kids to the doctor or just so that there was a little money for special things.”
                  Black Fox was surprised.  “You have very strong feelings for her.  I did not know that.”
                  “I told you I was crazy.  How can I feel like this?  We just met and she was almost murdered and I can barely talk to her and she has a baby and we just met and she doesn’t know me—”
    “You already said that,” Black Fox interjected.
    Skip chuckled.  “Sorry.”  He sighed.  “I haven’t even kissed a girl, but I’m thinking that far ahead about her.”
                  The chief was stunned.  “You have never kissed a girl?”
                  “Nope.  I can’t talk to one let alone kiss one.”  Skip groaned and buried his face in his hands.  “I wish I was different.  I wish that all the time.”
                  “I do not wish you were different and neither do many people.  Your father used to say the same thing until he came to understand why so many people love him.  The same is true for you,