Cowboy Enchantment - By Pamela Browning Page 0,73

amusement, Erica went to check for places where the kitten might have gained access. Sure enough, she had left the bathroom window open that morning, and there was a ledge where the cat could have climbed in.

“Well,” Erica said to the kitten, “since you’re so cute, I’ll let you hang around until I’ve checked my e-mail.” The kitten rolled over on its back and gave the piece of thread a swift rabbit kick with its back feet, which amused Kaylie even more.

Since the kitten was doing such a good job of entertaining the baby, Erica went and switched on her computer.

YOU’VE GOT MAIL!

Erica, okay, okay, so my last message was way out of line. I admit I was worried, but deep down I know your common sense won’t let you go overboard for a mere cowboy, so I apologize.

I guess you’re enjoying the oh, so exotic delights of Rancho Encantado? Getting to know Justine and having fun? I hope so.

Let me hear from you soon, unless you’re still angry. Again, I’m sorry.

Love,

Char

Hi Charmaine.

No, I’m not mad, just busy.

Today I’m taking care of Kaylie. Right now she’s sitting in her stroller and laughing at the kitten I found in my suite. Did you ever look, really look, at a baby when it laughs? It’s pure sunshine. It makes you feel good all over.

The chef is giving me fresh vegetables every day so I can make baby food for Kaylie. It’s time for me to get back to the Big House and figure out where Justine keeps her blender.

Love,

E.

As Erica logged off her Internet connection, Murphy started raising a ruckus in the courtyard. Mindful that some people in the other units at Desert Rose might be napping at this hour, she hurried outside to shush him.

“Murphy, quiet! What’s the matter with you?”

The dog kept on barking. He had unfurled his leash to its fullest extension and was straining at the end of it as he tried his best to charge into the cactus patch.

Erica tugged at the leash, trying to make him cease and desist. Murphy ignored her and began to growl at the cactus patch, his teeth bared.

“Good grief,” Erica muttered, wondering what Murphy could have seen that had incited him to such fury.

She untied the leash and gave it a couple of sharp yanks. After a few more barks, these less frenzied than the last, Murphy allowed himself to be distracted by a dog biscuit Erica found in her pocket.

After he’d eaten it, she bent to scratch him behind the ears. “What happened? Did you spot a rabbit?” Then, recalling that she’d thought she’d seen the faint figure of a man in the cactus garden one night, she narrowed her eyes and peered into it. All she saw was an attractive arrangement of cactus and a lizard sunning himself on one of the rocks.

“A lizard! He can’t hurt us, Murphy. I’m surprised at you for making such a fuss.” She noticed Mrs. Gray sitting in the shade provided by the roof on the other side of the building. “Or were you barking at the cat?”

Murphy declined to give her any clues. He only begged for another dog biscuit, which Erica couldn’t provide.

“We’ll go back to the Big House, and I’ll feed you as many biscuits as your heart desires. As for you, cat, one of your offspring has made himself welcome in my suite. Wait there, and I’ll go get him.”

When she came out juggling the kitten, her camera, the stroller with Kaylie in it and Murphy on the end of his leash, Mrs. Gray had disappeared. Murphy spared one more bark for the cactus patch, then turned his curious attention to the kitten.

Erica set the kitten on the ground. “Go find your mama,” she said as Murphy sniffed the tiny feline with interest. The kitten capered out of Murphy’s reach and gazed up at her so uncertainly that Erica almost relented. “Go on,” she said, and to her relief, the kitten finally began to bat a leaf around on the sidewalk.

She figured that the mother cat would return to retrieve her kitten, so she resolutely turned her back on it and started back toward the Big House.

“Babababa?” asked Kaylie.

“We can’t take the kitten with us,” she explained gently, although halfway to the Big House, Erica began asking herself, Why not?

But by that time, they’d gone too far to turn back, considering that Kaylie needed a diaper change and Murphy was begging for more biscuits.

HANK PHONED as she was spooning