Twenty minutes later Ian barreled through the door, his face flushed from the cold. “Hi Pa.”
“Hi, yourself, son. How was school?”
“Good. Miss Cochran has me helping the younger kids with their work. It’s fun. Maybe I’ll be a teacher one day.”
“That would make me proud, Ian. I’ve told you before I want you to go to college. I’ve been saving money for it.” Mitch wiped his oily hands on a cloth and gestured toward the back room of the store. “There’s a sack of apples and cookies back there that I bought from the general store. Have something to eat because you’ll need to watch the store. I have an errand to run.”
He stopped in at the schoolhouse first, but Priscilla was not there. Assuming she’d gone home. he walked behind the building toward her house. A young man stepped from the back door of the little house carrying a full brown sack and deposited it into the tin garbage can. He scurried back through the door.
Surprised and annoyed to see a man in Priscilla’s house, he tried to convince himself she’d hired one of the youths to do some work for her.
After two knocks, the door opened and all his thoughts fled. He could only stare. The young man was the proper Miss Cochran dressed in britches. His eyes immediately skimmed her body. Her legs outlined in the snug pants had his heartbeat speeding up. Her hair tumbled down around her shoulders like golden brown silk. She had removed the cap that had covered her hair when he’d seen her behind the house.
“What?” He fumbled for words as she grinned at him.
“Is something the matter?”
“You’re wearing trousers.”
She looked down at herself, a twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, my. I’m afraid you’re right.” She opened the door wider. “Would you care to come in?”
“Why are you wearing that?” He waved in her direction, still trying to get his body’s reaction to her attire under control.
Priscilla placed her hands on her hips. “I found two mice happily munching on oats from the bag in my pantry. They’d chewed open a hole in the bottom of the sack. I decided to give the pantry a good cleaning, and it’s much easier to do heavy chores in pants.”
He shook his head. Just when he thought he had her all figured out, she climbs a tree to avoid a bear, wears britches, and chases mice. “I thought women were notoriously afraid of mice.”
She grinned. “Not me. I had a few pet mice when I was younger.” When he continued to just gape at her, she said, “Did you want me for something?”
Oh, yes, sweetheart. I want you for something all right, but if I voiced my request, I would get a well-deserved slap in the face.
He cleared his throat. “Yes. I wanted to know how Ian is doing in school. I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I want to make sure he’s doing all right.” Hell, now that he actually stated the reason for his visit, it sounded as poor an excuse to his ears as it must have sounded to hers.
Priscilla had to swallow the laughter that threatened to bubble up from her insides. The expression on Mitch’s face would give her plenty of amusing memories in the future. He thought he knew her so well when he didn’t know her at all.
“Won’t you come in? It’s rather cold with the door open.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“I was about to have a cup of tea. Would you care to join me?”
“I’m not much for tea.”
“I can make coffee.”
He nodded and followed her into the kitchen. She turned in time to see him abruptly raise his eyes to her face, a slight blush appearing on his neck and spreading upward. There was no doubt in her mind he’d been staring at her backside as she walked in front of him. Why that thought made her tingle in places she wasn’t often aware of scared her.
She didn’t want to be attracted to Mitch, didn’t want to trade an overprotective father for a condescending husband who thought she wasn’t capable of taking care of herself. As much as she adored her father, he was too zealous in his caring, too anxious that she would harm herself in some way. That had been the reason he’d taught her to shoot.
Many times when she wanted to scream with frustration, she reminded Papa that Mama had only been a couple of years older than her when she’d made the Land Run with four adolescents. Tori Cochran was a strong woman.
And Priscilla was her mother’s daughter.
It had taken weeks of arguing, cajoling, and tears to get Papa to allow her to take the job in Dogtown. Although she missed her family something dreadful, she was loving the independence.
She busied herself with making tea and coffee, aware the entire time Mitch stared at her body. The tingle in her insides had turned to a thumping heart and an unfamiliar moistness between her legs. Goodness, maybe she was getting sick, and school had only been in session for two days!
After placing a plate of cookies and cups of tea and coffee on the table, she licked her dry lips as she took the seat across from Mitch. He made a slight sound, almost like a groan. “Are you all right?”