a pumpkin. I thought about it, somewhere in the middle of our first time.”
Her heart jumped. “Did you?” she asked, breathless. “So did I.”
He put down the coffee cup and his big hand smoothed over her creamy, flat stomach. “You’re still very young,” he murmured, and the smile faded.
She put her hand over his. “My mother was eighteen when she had me,” she pointed out, smiling.
He drew in a long breath and laughed. “You have a way of chasing my concerns right out the window.”
“This one isn’t even a concern. I’d love a baby. We could share him.”
His heart jumped up into his throat. A little boy who’d follow him around the forest. A little girl who’d look like her beautiful mother. “Wow.” The way he said the word made her toes curl.
She smiled up at him. He smiled back.
* * *
They went to the feed store to get grain for the wild animals that couldn’t forage in several feet of snow. While they were there, they stocked up on dog food.
“Do you feed it to all the creatures in the outbuilding?” she asked, noting the cases of dog food.
“I do,” he replied. He grinned. “It beats sitting out in the woods with a hunting rifle trying to get fresh game for them every day.”
She laughed. “I guess it does.” She didn’t add that she wasn’t sure he could manage a rifle anymore. It would have dented his pride, and she couldn’t have that. She was so much in love that she felt as if she glowed, just walking beside him around the feed store.
She drew attention. She was pretty, and even wrapped up in the inexpensive shepherd’s coat he’d bought her, men looked.
Butch was annoyed a little, but he was proud that she belonged to him. His hand slid into hers as they waited at the counter for the bill to be tallied.
“Here you go, Butch,” the clerk said with a grin. “How many critters you got right now?”
“Several,” Butch chuckled. “They come and go.”
“You got that poor wolf those kids dragged behind a truck?” he asked, and his face went hard. “Hell of a thing to do to even a wild animal.”
“They’re facing charges for it,” Butch assured him. “And the wolf is mending. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient wild things are.”
“Truly. I forgot to congratulate you two,” he added, looking from Butch to Esther with a smile. “You look good together.”
“Thank you,” Esther said with a shy smile.
Butch chuckled. “She’s turned me into a happily married man,” he commented, smiling at her. “I like having somebody who can help with the cooking.”
“Only because you taught me how.” She glanced at the clerk. “I couldn’t boil water at first.”
“Neither can I,” the clerk confided. “But my wife, now, she’s one of the best cooks in Benton. I guess I’d starve on my own.”
They all laughed.
* * *
“You really do draw men’s eyes,” Butch mused as they cooked supper together. “I thought I was going to have to punch one of those cowboys who were buying feed for Ren Colter’s ranch and gaping at you.”
“You did?” she asked, surprised.
He looked down at her and frowned. “Honey, don’t you know how beautiful you are?”
She just sighed and smiled at him. “Not really. I’m glad you think I am, though. You aren’t bad-looking yourself,” she teased.
He chuckled as he took the biscuits out of the oven and set them carefully on an oven mitt in their cast-iron container. “You make me feel like a man with two arms,” he murmured.
She moved close to him. “You worry about that too much,” she said, and she was serious. “I don’t mind it, not at all. You’re just perfect to me, the way you are.”
He sighed and smiled. “Blind little woman.”
She laid her cheek against his chest, smiling as she felt his heartbeat. “Love does make people blind to imperfections.” She sighed.
He went very still. “What?”
She looked up at him. He seemed all at sea.
“You . . . love me?” he got out.
“Of course I love you, you big idiot,” she muttered, searching his dark eyes. “Why in the world do you think I married you?”
“For my abundant worldly goods?” he asked, recovering his poise with humor.
“Absolutely,” she teased. “I mean, you have so many!”
He smoothed his hand over her soft blond hair. “I wish I had millions,” he said huskily. “I’d deck you out in real diamonds, one as big as that paste one you wear,” he added with a