The Homesteader's Sweetheart (18 page)

He was shaking his head by the time she’d finished her question. “Everyone’s hired out for the season.”

“Well, what about my grandfather?” As she said the words, she thought about her grandfather’s continuing exhaustion, though he’d been trying to hide it from her. “No, he probably shouldn’t be out in the sun all day.”

“There’s no one.”

She’d never heard Jonas so disheartened before. She knew part of his defeated attitude was because of his worry for Maxwell and loss of sleep. Maybe that’s why he’d overlooked the last obvious answer.

“What about me?”

Now he did turn to her, the rising sun illuminating the disbelief on his face.

“You think you can drive a team all day?”

“I’m stronger than I used to be.” She was, from hauling all those water buckets and chasing chickens, pulling potatoes.

“If you’ll teach me, I know I can do it. Breanna can ride along.” She spoke aloud as she thought through the idea, liking it more and more. “You’ll have to bring your lunch along, won’t have us to bring it to you fresh.”

He shook his head again. “You can’t—”

“Why not?” Couldn’t he see she wanted to help? “Maxwell isn’t full grown yet. He’s not much taller than me. If he can handle the team, then surely I can.”

“Yes, but it makes for a long day and you’ll be sitting in the hot sun—”

“And I want to help, all right? Why can’t you just
let me,
you stubborn man?”

“I just don’t understand why you’re always over here helping.”

Because my heart is here.
She couldn’t say the words. Not yet, not when the emotion was so new and overwhelming.

A light went on inside the kitchen, throwing yellow beams onto the porch between them.

“If I can’t get the hang of driving the team in a couple of hours, you can fire me,” she offered.

“Fine.”

It wasn’t the enthusiastic answer Penny had hoped for, but she would take what she could get.

Chapter Seventeen

J
onas never imagined a haying crew could be so giggly. He guessed he should be grateful that Penny was able to keep Breanna occupied during the long days, but after two days of her constant presence, all those smiles…

He felt a bit like Maxwell did being confined to bed. Cranky.

Thankfully, today was almost over. He didn’t know how much longer he could hide his feelings from Penny, not with her close all the time. He appreciated her help with the haying, even if he didn’t understand why she offered it. They’d struck a deal regarding Breanna, but how would he repay her for this?

Settling in the back of the full wagon along with Sam, Jonas prepared for the ride back to the barn. The last load for today.

“You all right back there?” Penny hollered back to them.

“Yep. Go,” he called up to her. The sooner they got home, the sooner she could go back to Walt’s place.

“They’re having too good of a time for this to be considered work,” Sam muttered, throwing his arm over his eyes and leaning his head back.

Jonas was proud of the boy. Sam had been taking it upon himself to come over in the afternoons to help with haying, once his chores at Walt’s place had been completed. Without being asked, he’d begun to act responsibly, like a real neighbor, a real man.

Who now dozed in the hay, snoring slightly.

Words passed between the two females on the wagon bench and Breanna giggled again.

The close relationship Penny had developed with his daughter was another cause of concern for Jonas. What would Breanna do when Penny had to return home to Calvin? He knew now that she needed a woman’s presence in her life, but how could he make that happen? Especially when his heart was knotted over the banker’s daughter?

His thoughts distracted him and the wagon was slowing to a stop near the barn before he even realized it.

“Pa, you asleep back there?”

Breanna rounded the back of the wagon and he tried to force himself into a better state of mind. No need to take out his worries on his precious daughter.

“No, not asleep.”

“Good.” Penny approached, rounding the wagon from the other side. “Breanna and I want to play a little trick on Davy and we need your help.”

“What?”

Sam roused and jumped out of the wagon with a quick, “Leave me outta this.”

Penny lifted Breanna to sit next to Jonas on the wagon bed. Both girls’ faces shone with mischief. He vowed he would never forget Penny’s sparkling eyes, not after she left, not ever.

“I didn’t mention this before, but last week Davy put a frog in one of the cooking pots and it jumped out at me and Breanna.”

“Scared us
real
bad,” his daughter confirmed.

“And Breanna told me he’s deathly afraid of snakes…”

Jonas nodded, wary, not sure where this was going.

“Well, I ran over this earlier today.” Penny held up a large black snake, making Jonas yelp and jump off the back of the wagon.

Breanna dissolved into giggles and Penny’s hearty laughter rang out over the quiet yard. Heart thudding in his ears, Jonas realized the snake was decapitated. It must’ve been run over by the wagon wheel.

“Guess Davy’s not the only one afraid of snakes,” Penny murmured, eyes glowing with mirth.

He shuddered theatrically, cracking a smile when Breanna laughed again. “Just what are you planning on doing with that?”

“Tricking Davy!” Breanna exclaimed gleefully.

Jonas just shook his head. He knew his sons had a propensity for playing practical jokes, but he never would have guessed it of Penny, and now she’d roped Breanna into helping.

She’d melded with his family. He couldn’t deny it. Desperately wanted to stop fighting it, but he was afraid…

“You do know Davy will just retaliate, don’t you?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, I’ve got lots more tricks up my sleeve,” Penny confided, her eyes drawing him in, drawing him closer, though he stayed on the side where she
wasn’t
holding the snake.

“’Sides, Davy needs some of his own medicine,” Breanna added.

“What do you want me to do?” He wondered if this was a mistake but was curious to see where they were going with it.

“I’m going to distract the boys and Breanna’s going to sneak into Davy and Edgar’s room to open the window. We need you to go around back and pass Breanna the snake.”

“You’re going to put it in their room?” Jonas was suddenly glad he hadn’t played any pranks on Penny.

“Worse. In Davy’s bed.”

* * *

Penny stretched her legs out in front of her, settling her skirt modestly. She rested her aching back against a gnarled tree trunk and watched the children frolic in the little tree-lined stream she hadn’t known ran through both Jonas’s and her grandfather’s properties until just this morning.

They’d finished harvesting the last of the Sumners’ hay fields yesterday and she’d thought they would start on Jonas’s crop today, but this morning Jonas had declared they were taking a day off. He’d shooed everyone, including her, away from the house and yard, stating he’d catch up with them after he’d taken care of the basic chores.

The boys had unanimously declared they wanted to fish and had dragged her and Breanna along. It didn’t appear they were getting much fishing done, though, with all the shoving and dunking they were doing with each other in the stream. Sam was right in the middle of the action, laughing more than Penny had heard in a while. She was glad he got along with the Whites and seemed more settled than when they’d first come to visit their grandfather.

Even Breanna was getting in on the action in her petticoat, though Maxwell was relegated to the bank with Penny, as he had instructions not to get the plaster binding on his leg wet.

Penny thought it likely any fish around had swum upstream to escape the ruckus. But she couldn’t reprimand the children for their fun, not after they’d been working so hard.

With a sudden roar, Jonas appeared through the woods and attacked, sending shrieking boys and girl in all directions. He chased them through the knee-deep water, shouting and splashing as much as they were. Penny couldn’t look away from the utter contentment revealed in his features. She also noticed the children seemed to allow themselves to be caught and thrown into the water. Wanting to be near their father.

She thought her heart might burst from the joy of being with this family. Was this truly love? How could it be anything else?

Finally, Davy and Edgar teamed up and jumped on Jonas’s back, wrapping their arms around his neck, while Seb tackled his feet and the whole group splashed into the water. Penny couldn’t help but laugh, along with Maxwell, but that drew Jonas’s attention.

He emerged from the water, dripping, his shirt plastered to his broad chest. “What are you doing sitting over here? You should be getting wet with the rest of us.”

“Jonas…” Penny warned, trying to gather her skirt.

He kept coming.

“The boys agreed they wouldn’t splash me. Jonas—”

“Get ’er, Pa!” someone shouted gleefully. Probably Davy, who’d screamed when he found the snake in his bed.

Penny tried to scramble to her feet, but got tangled in her skirt. Before she could stand up, Jonas pounced, scooping her into his arms and holding her tight against his chest.

“You’re getting me wet!” Penny shivered as a cold drop fell from his nose onto her over-warm cheek. Her clothes were damp where she pressed up against him, but it wouldn’t take long for that to dry in the warm summer sun. If she got soaked, however…

“Not as wet as you’re going to get.” He moved toward the stream with purposeful strides.

“But the boys—”

“You might’ve come to an arrangement with my children, but not with me.”

“Jonas!” she shrieked as he feigned tossing her into the water. Her stomach swooped and it wasn’t only due to the motion—being close to him like this set her heart to pounding.

He waded into the water, still holding her. “I’ll allow you to make me an offer, but I can’t guarantee I’ll take it.”

“Do it, Pa! Throw her in!”

She glared over her shoulder at Davy, who still held a grudge about the snake prank she and Jonas and Breanna had pulled on him.

Jonas loosened his hold and Penny clutched at his shoulders.

“Wait!” she cried out in desperation.

Jonas stilled, and she looked up, realizing how close their faces were. Close enough for her to run her finger along the tan line where his hat covered his forehead most of the time. Close enough to see how his lashes spiked from the water.

His warm brown eyes looked down on her with no guile, nothing hidden in their depths.

So Penny reached up and smacked a loud, casual kiss against his lips.

He froze, eyes wide.

She cleared her throat, then said, “There. You’ve collected your payment. Now put me down.”

He continued to hold her, unmoving. Only now his eyes had changed, shadows darkening in their depths. She remembered Jonas’s words from weeks ago,
I’ve never kissed a woman.

And she forgot about the kids watching them, forgot about Sam’s presence, there was only the man holding her close. A man of honor who she admired and maybe even loved.

Penny reached up to frame his face with both hands, stretched a bit and their lips met, his cool against her warm. She surrendered to the moment, allowing her eyes to flutter closed. His arms tightened around her. When the kiss ended, it was all she could do to catch her breath.

Breanna giggled softly, and Penny realized the boys had grown silent, frozen and watching her interaction with Jonas.

“Now you really must put me down.” Her words emerged breathless and she became aware of the fierce blush heating her face.

Silent, he set her on trembling legs on the bank, their gazes meshing and holding. Finally breaking the contact, she retreated to her blanket, flouncing down next to a grinning Maxwell.

* * *

She’d kissed him.

Penny
had kissed
him.

Jonas returned to playing with his sons, but his efforts were halfhearted as he tried to corral his stampeding thoughts.

What did it mean? Jonas couldn’t fathom. He knew kissing wasn’t something she took lightly, but he’d never imagined she would bestow such a token of her affection on
him.

The boys seemed to echo his disbelief, their play subdued. They continued sneaking glances at Penny, and Oscar kept grinning at his father.

Finally, the children calmed, some of the boys jaunting off upstream with their poles over their shoulders to try to catch supper. Breanna and Seb lay on a blanket on the stream bank with their heads together, looking up at the clouds.

Jonas and Oscar settled next to Maxwell, which put Jonas crossways at Penny’s feet. He didn’t have to look at her to know her hair had come loose from its pins and copper curls tumbled around her shoulders, enticing him to run his hands through it. His skin felt stretched tight over his bones with awareness of her, but he couldn’t make himself look at her.

What did her kiss mean?

Penny didn’t seem out of sorts at all. She chatted animatedly with the boys. “Maxwell and I have been talking a little about his dreams of being a doctor someday. Oscar, what do you want to do with your life?”

His son played with the blades of grass beside his bent knees. “Git married, I guess.”

“All right. What else? Do you want to have a homestead, like your pa? Open a store? Go away to school?”

Penny’s bare toes crept closer to Jonas’s thigh, though her skirt still modestly covered her legs. At some point, she must’ve removed her shoes.

Oscar shrugged again, silent, still playing with the grass.

Jonas kept his head down, but his focus didn’t waver from the small, pink toes and slender ankle edging toward his leg.

“He wants to raise horses, like Pa.”

Jonas’s head came up, focus shifting to glare at Maxwell, who’d just revealed one of his father’s biggest dreams. He hadn’t known that Oscar wanted that same thing. “I’d be proud to partner with you, son.”

He focused on Oscar and the lift in his son’s shoulders, but a prickling on the back of his neck told him Penny was watching.

“I didn’t know you wanted to raise horses,” she said softly.

It was Jonas’s turn to shrug as he lowered his head again, staring down at his wet trousers. “There’s money in beef, but I wouldn’t mind doing something like your granddaddy’s done. Start with some good breeding stock and go from there.”

“I’m sure he would help you get started.”

Jonas nodded. “He’s said as much. He’s a good friend. Better than I deserve.”

“That’s not true.” Her sharp words were accompanied by a poke from her big toe, prompting Jonas to look up. She didn’t acknowledge the action, was relaxed and leaning back on both hands. “You’ve worked hard to get where you are, but that doesn’t mean you can’t accept help from the friends you’ve got.”