“It throbs and I swear I can feel the skin growing back together.”
“Who stitched you up?”
Her eyes opened. “Why do you ask?”
“Because they did a damn good job.” He let his thumb sweep across her cheek below the stitches. “Bet in a year or two you won’t have much of a scar.”
“Your soon-to-be sister Dinah sewed me up. She shooed Doc out and claimed as a seamstress she’d do a better job.” Ruby’s eyes searched his. “You’ve seen men patched up before. How does this compare?”
“It doesn’t. Like I said, it looks great. It’s hardly swollen either.”
“I kept ice on it last night.”
“Did your customer get shots in anywhere else?”
“Not besides at my establishment. He was unhappy with Millie’s service and when I refused to refund his money, he backhanded me. Darby and Dickie escorted him out. He’s not a local so I doubt I’ll see him again.”
“Good.” Jonas’s gaze roamed over every inch of her face. “Now that that’s out of the way…can I kiss you hello?”
Ruby moved into him and said, “I need this first.” She pressed her unmarked cheek against his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
He rested his chin on the top of her head and breathed her in as he gathered her close.
They stayed like that for a long time.
When she tilted her head back, he covered her mouth with his. Giving her tenderness. Sweetness. And she lapped up every bit of his gentle care, clinging to him, not immediately trying to turn up the heat between them like she usually did.
Before Jonas lost his head completely and they ended up in her bed, he slowed the kiss to soft smooches and a fleeting glide of his lips across hers. He whispered, “I missed this.”
She murmured, “So we’ve both said.”
That was the closest she’d ever gotten to admitting that she’d missed him too.
“Spend the day with me.”
Ruby leaned back and squinted at him. “Why do I get the feeling you don’t mean here in my rooms?”
“Because you’re smart.” He kissed her nose. “Let’s go for a ride together.”
“Jonas—”
He silenced her with a kiss. “No one will see us, if that’s what worries you. I’ve got a spot in mind on Silas’s land where nobody can find us.”
“What would we do?”
“You could bring a blanket and we could have us a picnic. I’ll even bring the food.”
Again, those amazingly blue eyes of hers studied him. “This is important to you.”
“Yes, darlin’, it is.”
“Why?”
“It’s a beautiful day and I wanna share it with you. Just us.”
“Okay.”
He grinned at her quick agreement. “Great. I’ll meet you on the backside of Doc’s place between the woods and the creek in one hour.”
“All I’m supposed to bring is a blanket?”
“And your naughty, lovely self.” He kissed her nose. “You won’t regret this. I promise.”
Jonas was half afraid Ruby wouldn’t show up.
But she came into view on a horse he recognized from Blackbird’s Livery. For the first time it occurred to him that she probably wouldn’t have the need for her own horse. She rarely left the boardinghouse—not that there was much going on in Labelle anyway—and she wasn’t welcomed in Sundance. That increased his determination to make today extra special for her.
As soon as her horse was next to his, she said, “Deputy, can we not race these animals wherever you’re planning to take me? I’m not a very experienced horsewoman. Micah said this was his easiest mount.”
“We’ll take it slow and enjoy the scenery, all right?”
She nodded.
They meandered along and he was grateful for this rare glimpse of her and her sense of wonder.
It amused him when she slowed to ooh and aah over wildflowers. She laughed when a fish jumped in a placid section of the stream. “It’s like they’re taunting us for not having fishing poles.”
“Do you fish?” he asked.
“My brother did when we lived at the Deadwood camp. He didn’t have much success because there were a lot of miners trying to catch their food. He did better with hunting and trapping. How about you? Do you fish?”
“Only when there are no other options. I had enough seafood when we lived in Boston to last me a lifetime.”
She smirked.
“What?”
“Looking at you all cowboyed up atop your fancy horse, wearing a hat, vest, gun and badge, I forget that you were raised a city boy.”
He snorted. “That seems a lifetime ago.”
“No desire to ever return to the big city?”
“Not a single one.” He cut around a rock outcropping and turned to