Free Crockett's Seduction by Tina Leonard Page B

she lifted the plastic wrap. Chocolate chip would make the house smell good, and she’d be helping Delilah…and she wouldn’t think about what Crockett had told her.
    Not even once.
    From upstairs, she heard Annette call her. Probably worried about being in a new place, or perhaps she needed something to drink. Her mind preoccupied, Valentine set the bowl down next to the stove and hurried from the kitchen.
    The plastic wrap flamed from the heat of the stove, setting a stack of old recipe cards on fire. Instantly, the seasoning rack above took the flames and the wooden kitchen cabinets began smoking.
    The teakettle, fully warmed now, let off a shrill whistle. Valentine ran down the stairs, stopping in horror. “Oh, no!” she cried. “Oh, no!”
    The whole kitchen now alight, Valentine ran upstairs, grabbed her baby and hurried down the back stairs toward the rodeo.
     
    T HREE HOURS LATER , Crockett was really, really worried about Valentine. She simply sat, staring at the rubble that had once been Delilah’s kitchen and salon. Sensing her mother’s mood, Annette satin Valentine’s lap, patting her mother’s face every once in a while.
    The town’s volunteer fire squad had done their best to put out the blaze, but the odds of getting it tamed quickly had been slim. Delilah hadn’t cried at the sight of her destroyed home. Instead she’d tried to comfort Valentine, to no avail.
    But when Marvella, her sister, pulled Delilah into her arms, whispering how sorry she was, how sorry she was for everything, Delilah did break down.
    Crockett saw Valentine’s shoulders droop. She was so dejected by what she had accidentally done. He wanted to hold her, but he knew he could not. She had not wanted to hear the words he’d told her when they were standing in Delilah’s kitchen; he had felt her withdraw.
    If he went to her now, he would feel more of that rejection. He could tell her heart was broken. There really was no comfort he could give her.
    But there were blessings: everyone had been at the rodeo, so no one was hurt; Delilah said she was fully insured; the townspeople loved her, and the town fathers said they would help her rebuild, newer and better than before.
    Also Jerry was there to comfort Delilah, his brawny arms folded as he stood nearby, watching the two sisters hug away the years of pain.
    Yes, there were blessings, but he knew Valentine was too distraught to see any of those right now. He knew exactly what she was thinking: She’d burned down the kitchen of her old employer’s one-time rival, and maybe no one would believe it had truly been an accident. Perhaps people would say that they’d always known she wasn’t to be trusted.
    Last must have understood some of the cares weighing on Valentine because he put Annette on his shoulders and helped Valentine to his truck.
    Jealousy ripped through Crockett like a fire-ball. That was the move he could have made, had he not spoken too soon, revealing his heart and likely forever driving a wedge of discomfort between them. He looked at his smoke-stained clothes, brushing a hand against them before heading inside the rodeo arena to help with the tear-down.
    There really wasn’t much else he could do.
    He’d won the bounty, but he didn’t feel much like a winner. In fact, he felt as if he’d lost something that mattered a whole hell of a lot to him, which he might not ever get back.

Chapter Nine
    Numb and totally devastated, Valentine allowed Last to lead her away from the destruction she had created. She couldn’t believe what she had done—poor Delilah!
    This was no time to leave. If her heart was broken, Delilah’s must be far more so. She owed it to Delilah to stay here in Lonely Hearts Station and do whatever she could to right what she had done.
    “I can’t go,” she said to Last. “Thank you for trying to help me, but I need to stay here.”
    He looked surprised. Atop his shoulders, Annette picked at her daddy’s cowboy hat. “Are you