Beautiful Bandit (Lone Star Legends) by Loree Lough

trouble believing that?” Using his rain-soaked bandanna, he wiped down two of the four rough-hewn chairs.
    She relieved him of it, looking shy and frightened when their fingers touched. “Let me do that—woman’s work, you know?” she said, winking. Then, pointing at the blanket, she added, “You should get out of those wet things.”
    Josh quickly did as she suggested. For one thing, it made perfect sense to comply. For another, he didn’t like the cold, clammy feel of his clothes sticking to his skin. Mostly, though, he’d gone along with her suggestion because she’d looked downright concerned while delivering it—the way a loving wife might.
    By the time he came out from behind the curtain, she’d lit every lantern in the place. “Feels good to be warm and dry, doesn’t it?” she said, adding his sodden clothes to her own on the table. Then, one by one, she wrung the water from each article of clothing into a dishpan while humming a happy little tune.
    Josh picked up a sock and started squeezing the water from the toe, thinking that if they both worked at it, they could make the job go more quickly.
    “Oh, no you don’t,” Dinah said, grabbing the sock from him. When he started to protest, she held up a finger. “This is woman’s work, too,” she said with calm authority, then pointed to the nearest chair. “Take a load off, cowboy.”
    Like an obedient child, he sat. “Are you hungry?”
    “I’ll tell you a little secret about me,” she whispered, leaning closer. “I have a serious medical condition.”
    Josh felt a surge of worry.
    “My mama called it a hollow leg.”
    A wave of relief and amusement mingled in his mind, prompting a quiet chuckle. Being this near to her roused a recollection of when they’d stood outside earlier, Dinah staring up at him and looking for all the world like a drowned angel. She’d been close enough to kiss, if he’d wanted to—and he’d wanted to, all right!
    So, why hadn’t he?
    His stomach growled, rescuing him from having to come up with an answer.
    Dinah took the blanket from the rope and folded it into a tidy square, just as she’d done with the one he’d loaned her the night he’d found her, cold and cringing, behind that big rock. She draped his socks over the rope, then patted her flat stomach. “My mama always used to say you could feed me to overflowing, and then, in ten minutes, do it all over again.”
    “That’s what Lucinda and my ma say about me.”
    But Dinah didn’t seem to have heard him. She stood at the door with her nose pressed to the wood, peering through the cracks. “In case you’re wondering,” he joked, “I think it’s raining out there.”
    “I thought I heard something. Sort of like thunder, only—”
    He heard it then, too—hoofbeats closing in on the shack, hard and fast.
    “I count three men,” she said, her voice raspy, as if she believed whispering would keep them from stopping. “They must have seen our lights. And the smoke from the stovepipe.”
    Josh was on his feet in a heartbeat. “Get your pistol,” he barked. “Put it in your boot. And I know it’s warm in here, but put all your clothes back on. Everything, wet or dry.”
    That got her attention. When she turned, her eyes sparkled like emeralds. “Even my hat?”
    “Even your hat.”
    Concern flickered in the green orbs. “But—but why?”
    “Whoever they are, they’ve a mind to get in out of this mess, same as us.” As he spoke, he shoved his own revolver into his belt and shrugged into his jacket. “And if they’re bandits, they’ll take anything that isn’t nailed down or tacked on, that’s why.”
    It took most of his willpower to tear his gaze from hers. He hated scaring her, but if it meant keeping her safe, so be it. Fully dressed, he peered through the opening between the window frame and the wooden door. “You know how to use that thing?” he asked without looking around.
    “I—I think so.”
    Fear rang loud in her