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trouser-clad legs and thighs. His liquor-fogged memory hadn’t imagined her inviting curves. Raising his gaze to her heart-shaped face, he smiled and tipped his hat. “Fancy meeting you here.”
    She pressed her round spectacles up on her pert nose. “Mr. Cordell. You’re looking much better than the last time I saw you.” Placing her hands on Johnny’s shoulders, she pulled him out of the doorway and protectively stepped in front of him. “What are you doing here?”
    “My father used to own this place.” He arched aneyebrow at her apparent unease. “What are
you
doing here?”
    “Now
I
own this place,” she shot back.
    Johnny tugged on her arm. “Ma, that’s Jake Cordell, the man in the books.”
    She glanced down at him, and her expression softened. “I know, sweetheart.”
    “Please let him come in, Ma,” he pleaded.
    The boy was on his side easy enough. “I just stopped by to see who was living here now. I should probably be getting back to town before I freeze.” He added a melodramatic shiver. “I can’t hardly feel my fingers and toes already.”
    After a moment, reluctant resignation stole across Kit’s rose-flushed face. “Come in and warm up, Mr. Cordell. I’ve got some coffee on the stove.”
    Jake’s victory seemed hollow. He knew he’d used her kindheartedness against her. With a twinge of conscience he entered the house, and memories assailed him. He forced the visions of his autocratic father from his mind, but the restlessness remained.
    She closed the door behind him, and suddenly he was unsure what to say. He fiddled with his hat brim. “Do you own this place all by yourself?”
    “Yes, I do.” She took the Stetson from his hands. “Give me your coat and I’ll hang it up for you.”
    She accepted his jacket without comment and then turned to her son. “Johnny, could you take him to the front room? I’ll get the coffee.”
    “Okay. C’mon, Mr. Cordell.”
    A slight swagger accompanied the boy’s walk down the hall, and Jake hid a smile behind his hand. Inside the room, Jake glanced around at the walls, which had been covered with tan wallpaper and adorned with woven rugs and a few pictures, mostly of horses. When he and his father had lived there, little time had been takento decorate the interior. She, however, had given the house a woman’s touch, and warmth emanated from the home. Jake settled into a chair close to the crackling fire.
    “Are you really a hero?” Johnny asked, his long-lashed eyes full of wonder.
    Jake shook his head. “Nope. I just did a job that needed doing.”
    Johnny settled cross-legged on a thick rug at his feet. “But you fought all kinds of bad guys and you always beat them. You must be really strong and brave to get the bad men without anyone’s help but Zeus’s.”
    “I was just smarter than they were. Let me tell you a secret, kid: most bad guys aren’t very bright. If they were, they wouldn’t become outlaws, would they?”
    “That’s what my ma says, but I’m not so sure. Before you caught Blackjack Banner, he played poker and won lots and lots of money. If he was dumb, he couldn’t have done that, could he?”
    “That may be true, but I did catch him, didn’t I?”
    “Yeah, you did,” Johnny exclaimed. “I guess maybe he wasn’t so smart.”
    Kit entered the room and set a tray on the oak table. “Cream or sugar, Mr. Cordell?”
    “Neither,” Jake replied, noting that she had removed her spectacles. Without the glasses to detract from her features, she appeared softer and more feminine. “Are all those your horses out there?”
    She handed Jake a cup and nodded. “They’re the culmination of five years’ hard work.”
    “I’ve never known a woman to run a horse ranch by herself.”
    “Does your horse really talk to you, like it says in the books?” Johnny piped up.
    Jake turned to the inquisitive boy. “Not exactly. But you could say Zeus and I understand each other.”
    Johnny stood and ran to the window.