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it you want.”
    “For thirty people?” Kelley asked lightly to try to get control back into the moment, into herself.
    His face flushed a handsome burgundy over his tanned cheekbones. “Well, sometimes we stayed in communes. Let me just say I’ll do whatever milady needs.” His lips moved deliciously around the last three words, and her heart started a freefall at the sound.
     
    ****
     
    Somewhere inside the house a clock chimed eleven. Leaning against the log bench on the porch, Kelley next to him, Jason couldn’t think of one single thing to make the moment more complete.
    A dollop of butter, a tad of molasses and a rustle of cinnamon—Kelley’s recipe for her personal creation graham flatbread crackers for S’mores—sounded like one of Snowy’s own. His mother and Kelley would get along well together. In the kitchen. But that was it. Snowy’s free-love-dove lifestyle coupled with her dabbling in the latest oddball belief she’d discovered on her rambles would never mesh with the ideals of Hearts Crossing.
    So why did he feel so suddenly at home?
    While the flatbread cooled, Bryce snored at their feet on the sprawling porch, and horses in their outdoor stalls whickered with contentment against the summer night. The shadows of the covered wagons, spruced up for Monday, flickered in the night wind like ghosts of the past. Against a longing that almost hurt, Jason tightened his fingers so he didn’t reach for Kelley’s hand.
    “Thanks for your help,” she said, eyes closed. “I mean it. I’d have been up until dawn without you.”
    Her gratitude pleased him. “I doubt that. You are a professional, after all.”
    Her mouth turned up in a beautiful smile, but her lids stayed tight. “I’m sorry, too, you know. For falling asleep on you on the way home.”
    “Aw, shucks.” He tried the cowboy drawl again; it had made her smile before, and she did so again. “No offense taken and no apology accepted. I’ve long been told a woman falling asleep in your presence means she’s comfortable around you.”
    In the flicker of porch light, her cheeks flushed, and he ached to place a kiss on them. A real kiss this time, not something from a children’s book. “Well, you got that right, cowboy.”
    He held back his longing by deep breathing and a change in subject. “I enjoyed hanging with your family tonight. They’re a great bunch of people. Mostly I work with Hoop and Pike, so I liked it. Everyone together.” For a flash, he realized Hearts Crossing was starting to fit him like a warm mitten on a cold hand.
    “Then you should come to Sunday dinner after church.”
    For some reason, panic roiled. The family’s Sunday dinner after joining her for services might mean something to somebody, even himself. Especially if they offered up another prayer like the one at supper. Not just thanking God for the food…his own family at mealtimes acknowledged the goodness of some Providence somewhere out there for earthly delights He/She/It bestowed, but Hooper had asked everyone to share a special thank-you for one special thing the day had brought. Of course Jason had wanted to say Kelley. Had felt her eyes on his face.
    But instead, he said he was grateful for the sun on his back.
    What a sap.
    “So how about it? Dinner?” she asked, eyes opened now, wide and inviting.
    “Sure.” Why deprive himself of something wonderful? “I can help you in the kitchen if you want.”
    She chewed her delectable lip as if considering his offer. Then her eyes brightened with mischief. “I think you earned your keep tonight, but while we’re on the wagon train, that’s another matter.”
    It was a clear invitation to join her at her chuck wagon. He’d have to think about that. Three days at her side might make him feel things better left unfelt. A change of subject was definitely in order. “I’m glad Hoop said I could tag along.”
    “Of course. What’s one more mouth to feed? Because you’ll definitely rustle up an