Mom's The Word. Roz Denny Fox
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trailer to cash and sold this claim to the highest bidder. Probably to Jacob Cooper, if he’d been telling the truth.
To keep from sliding into gloom, Hayley set Ben’s mineral books on a low camp stool and opened the first to page one. She might not know what hydrous silicon oxide was, but she had a lot of spare time to find out. If need be, she could drive into Tucson to the library. Although Tombstone was closer, everyone there knew her. The first time any local prospectors suspected she was on to anything, this place would be overrun with scavengers.
The thought had no more than entered her mind when a horse and rider and a black-and-white dog exploded from the trees between Hayley and her trailer. She tried but failed to scramble from the chair. She spilled tea everywhere. Her heart tripped over itself. Darn, she’d meant to keep one of the firearms with her at all times. She’d already forgotten and had left both guns in a closet in the trailer.
Before she could panic or even take a levelheaded look at her situation, a familiar voice rang out. “Don’t go for your shotgun until you see what I’ve brought you.” A gunnysack dropped into Hayley’s lap, and the fright it gave her slammed her heart up into her throat. The bay gelding she’d only seen in twilight kicked sandy soil all over her fire ring as he danced in front of her. The dog, at least, seemed civilized. He ran up and licked her hand.
“Well, open it. It won’t bite,” said the man who’d introduced himself yesterday as Jacob Cooper. Hayley finally caught her breath, although she continued to eye him warily as he dismounted.
Her hands tugged at the string holding the sack closed even as she noted the changes between this man and the stranger from last night. Still dressed in the working clothes of a cowboy, yesterday’s saddle bum now wore a clean shirt and jeans. His hat, instead of the battered Stetson was the summer straw variety, and it was as clean as his newly shaven face. The engaging smile he wore exposed a dimple in one cheek and a cleft in his chin.
Jake dropped on his haunches next to her chair. With a quick flip of his wrist, he spilled the sack’s contents into Hayley’s hands. Four vine-ripened tomatoes, an ear of fresh corn and two thick slices of ham. “It’s home-cured,” he said of the ham. “My brother, Dillon, has a smokehouse. Smoking ham, bacon and turkey is kind of a hobby for him.”
Hayley met the twinkle in the man’s gray eyes with a look she knew must reflect her incredulity.
“I know there’s a thank-you on the tip of your tongue,” Jake said, rising and barely holding back a grin. “It’s not so hard once you get the hang of it.”
“I do thank you,” she finally managed. “It’s just…it’s more like…you took me by surprise. You don’t even know me!” she blurted. “Why bring me food?”
Jake removed his hat and slapped it a few times against his right knee. “No one ever asks why. Neighbors out here share, that’s all. Now you’re supposed to reciprocate.”
This time Hayley clasped the sack to her breasts protectively. She flattened herself tight to the back of the lawn chair.
“Coffee,” Jake said softly. “In exchange, you offer me a cup of java. It’s a dusty ride over here. I could use something to wet my whistle before I go hunting for strays.”
“Oh, coffee. I’ll make some. Goodness, where are my manners?” Hayley babbled. Nimbler than before, she untangled herself from the chair and swept up the pot. “I, uh, have coffee grounds in the trailer. I’ll go put the things you brought in my cooler and grab a clean mug for you, as well.”
“Sure would appreciate it,” he drawled. Watching her hurry away, Jake thought she had to be one of the most naturally pretty females in all three of the surrounding counties. Thick corkscrew curls hung past her shoulders, indicating she probably wore braids. Her eyes were huge and expressive. They were more blue than lavender today. She had a generous mouth and even white teeth. Her skin was possibly her best feature. Bronzed a light gold, to Jake it appeared flawless. At least the part he could see. Dang, he’d barely met the woman. He shouldn’t be wanting to see more of her skin.
Ha, tell that to a certain part of him!
To keep her from seeing how unsteady his hands were, Jake looped Mojave’s reins around a scrub bush and tucked his fingertips into the front pockets of his jeans. No, he decided quickly. That was a bad move.
He snapped his fingers at his dog. When Charcoal dropped panting at his feet, Jake returned his hat to his head and knelt to pet him.
That was the position Hayley found him in when she returned, not only with the coffee grounds and promised mug, but with the shotgun she’d brandished last night.
“Whoa!” Jake tipped his hat to a rakish angle, then held up both hands.
“This isn’t for you,” she said with a laugh. “But when you rode in, I realized it was pretty stupid of me to be out here alone and unprotected.” She leaned the big gun against a boulder and bent to measure coffee grounds.
The seat of her denims pulled snugly over a gently rounded backside. Jake’s mouth went dust-dry. For a moment he forgot any objections he had to her walking around with a loaded gun. He swallowed a few times before he could speak again. “So, you haven’t had enough of your own company yet?”
Hayley poured his mug full, even though the coffee wasn’t much more than colored water at this point.
Jake blew on the liquid to cool it as he waited for her answer.
“I’m planning to stay until December,” Hayley said forthrightly.
“December?” Jake scowled. “We’re sitting on high desert here.”
“Yes.” Her tone held an unspoken So?
“I don’t think you want to camp out when the snow flies.”
“Flurries, right? Nothing major. Tombstone and Sierra Vista get a bit of snow. Generally it melts by noon.”
“We get more than flurries. If snow happens to fall on the heels of a monsoon, it gives new meaning to the great Southwet.”
“Why are you trying to run me off this claim, Mr. Cooper?”
“I thought we settled last night that you’d call me Jake.”
“Either way, I’m not leaving.” She gestured with her own mug, clamped firmly in her left hand.
That was when Jake noticed the white band of skin on her finger—the perfect width for a wedding ring, obviously recently removed. It drew him up short to think of her having been married to some faceless man. He let his face match his mood and he frowned again.
Stubborn as she was, no wonder some poor bastard took a powder.
He’d scarcely had the uncharitable thought when he remembered his mother’s words, and they kicked in. His mom could be plenty stubborn herself. As could Eden. Both women lived in this valley spring, summer, fall and winter. They made daily trips from the ranch into Tubac, where they shared a shop in the arty community on what had once been the site of Arizona’s first mission. The roads in and out weren’t great, but their husbands didn’t expect them to stop working because of a little bad weather. Jake knew he had no business questioning any of Hayley’s decisions.
“Bringing me a few supplies does not give you the right to stick your nose in my business,” she said.
Jake was jolted back to the present in the middle of her tart little speech. “You’re absolutely correct.” He rose to his feet in one rolling motion. “Thanks for the coffee, although it’s a mite weak.” Moving aside the books spread across a small square table, he set down the nearly full mug. His eyes scanned the pages she’d propped open with a fair-size rock. The chapter was titled: “How to Know Your Minerals and Rocks.” Any doubts as to her true intentions were dispelled by her choice of reading material.
“What exactly do you think you’re going to find, hacking around through the rocks and brush, Ms. Ryan?”
“It’s