The Trouble with Patience by Maggie Brendan

if I call you Patience?”
    My, he was bold! She hardly knew what to say—she’d just met him! “I, uh . . . I think that would be all right.” She felt her face go warm, and her tongue was thick, but Cody only smiled. What on earth would Mother say?
    â€œI’ll just need you to sign your name on the register, right over here, and I require the first night’s fee.” She removed her cape and laid it aside, then walked behind the small wood counter. She flipped open a green ledger, hoping she looked like a professional businesswoman. She heard someone clear his throat and was surprised to see a man sitting just inside the parlor open to the foyer. Jedediah?
    â€œI didn’t see you there, Jedediah.” Patience nervously fingered a button on her blouse. “Have you been waiting for me? Or are you here inquiring about a room?”
    Patience could see Cody watching Jedediah as he rose and made his way to the front door, then paused. “It can wait. Looks like you’re a little busy at the moment,” he said, his gaze on the paint cans by the door. “Go ahead with your customer. I’ll be back a little later.”
    â€œIf you’re sure,” she responded, feeling awkward and flustered.
    He tipped his hat at them and quickly closed the door behind him without another word. She turned back to the ledger.
    â€œNow, show me where you want me to sign,” he said. “I’mused to sleeping in hard bunk beds surrounded by a lot of snoring cowpokes.”
    â€œI’m sure you will be comfortable here during your stay. Did you decide whether you want to stay by the day or week?”
    â€œSince no employment has miraculously appeared, I’ll pay for the week and then go from there. Maybe something will come up.”
    â€œVery well. The front door is locked after ten o’clock in the evening,” she told him, keeping her tone as businesslike as she could, “but you have your own key to your room. If you want me to clean your room, that’s extra. But I can supply fresh bedding, even laundry services, upon request, for an additional charge.”
    She pondered briefly why this man seemed to make her so . . . so discombobulated! He paid the amount she quoted for the week and accepted the room key. “I’m going over to retrieve my bags from the train depot where I left them,” he told her. “Thank you for your charming company. We’ll talk later about getting started on painting the outside. I can help with that at least until I find work. It’ll give me something to do.”
    â€œYou’re most welcome, and I appreciate your willingness to help me . . . Cody.” Her tone was matter of fact, but she fumbled with the register book and quickly looked away.
    â€”——
    It wasn’t the first time Cody had had that effect on a woman, but he was no womanizer. It’d been a while since there was a woman in his life. He spent too much time going from ranch to ranch the last few years.
    But she was attractive in a down-to-earth way. Nicely put together—not some frail slip of a girl who couldn’t lift a mopbucket. Sensual, though, without realizing it—an even better attribute when a woman wasn’t aware she had it all. She had a quick mind, he could tell from their brief time together, and he liked that.
    He sure was curious about the man obviously waiting for her when they’d returned from the mercantile. “Jedediah,” she’d called him. Was he a suitor? He looked at her in some way that made his visit seem like it was more than simply to call on some kind of business matter.
    Actually, the man seemed familiar somehow, not so much his looks, but maybe his voice? And the man was wearing a badge—the town marshal?
    Well, anyway, he mustn’t get tangled up with a woman . . . or with a marshal. They both usually spelled trouble. Besides, he