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Minton’s tub had more than enough room for her, she mused, as she dragged it to the center of the kitchen area, close enough to the cookstove to lend her some added warmth. She’d love to wash by the fire, but she wouldn’t dare, not with Bodine sleeping in the bedroom.
    She figured the stove lent enough warmth for this great room anyway. And the water would be plenty hot.
    Twenty minutes later the tub was filled halfway, enough for her small stature. Emma dared a quick glance at Bodine, still sleeping peacefully on the bed, before she untied the cord around her waist. She unbuttoned the shirt and slipped it off her shoulders, anticipating what was to come. Then, with closed eyes, she sank down into her bath, the heat surrounding her, the warmth thawing her as she felt days of toil and trouble gently ease away.
     
    Soothing sweet sounds surrounded him. The song drumming in his ears was a call for him to wake and see the cherub face of the heavenly creature who had come to his aid. Bodine pried an eye open. A glow of light streamed in from the window, a force so brilliant and powerful he was sure he’d be taken up in that radiance to float away into the next life.
    But the song continued, beautiful to his ears, and he opened the other eye, squinting both now to adjust. When he moved slightly, his shoulder rebelled and he attempted a curse, but his voice wasn’t there.
    His mouth was dry, parched like spring cotton, and he realized he hadn’t spoken for days. How long had he been here like this? Unable to move? Unable to speak worth a darn? And where was he?
    He searched his mind thoroughly, but the sirenlike voice wrought with emotion, soft and utterly alluring, interrupted his thoughts.
    Bodine had to find the source of that sound. He lifted the heavy buffalo robe, pushing it from his body. Then with great care, he turned his head and slanted his body to peer out the wide-open bedroom door.
    There he saw a woman, more like a slip of a girl, her form so small within the overly large tin bathtub. Her back was to him, her hair falling like a long sheet of onyx, her skin pale and appearing as soft as the underbelly of a pup.
    Memories flooded in then and it all came back to him.
    The girl was his job. His mission was to play nursemaid to her until she decided to return home to marry her beau. But more importantly, he was to keep her from harm while she searched for her outlaw father. He was here at her grandmother’s request.
    He recalled the initial injury to his shoulder—he’d been shot by Rusty Metcalf, his brother’s killer, and had gone into Fresno, the nearest town for help. A few days later Mrs. Eloisa Rourke found out he’d seen the town doctor. She summoned him to her spread, asking this of him. He owed Captain Miles Rourke his life. He couldn’t refuse any request made by his widow, though his plan had been to hole up somewhere comfortable, with a whiskey bottle and a woman. Instead, he’d taken the job, needing time to heal enough to stalk Metcalf again.
    Little did he know that Miss Emma Marie Rourke, who had run away from her grandmother’s Fresno estate would be so much dang trouble. He’d nearly died protecting her from Red Hurley’s men. But she’d gotten him away from them and he guessed she’d taken care of his wounds.
    He took his eyes off the girl to survey the surroundings. Had to be Big Ed Minton’s place. He’d been here before, and it all made sense now. Besides, no one he knew owned a bathtub that size. He recalled Big Ed telling him he’d ordered it special. The prosperous trapper was too large for any barrel tub and had put in his requisition for his once-a-month bath.
    Bodine felt weakness envelop him. He didn’t like the feeling. He’d never been laid up for more than a day or two, but he had the feeling he’d been here, with Emmy, a bit longer than that.
    He shifted his focus back to the thin girl in the tub and that captivating voice. It was hers?
    Emmy’s?
    She’d been