Rocky Mountain Match. Pamela Nissen

smiled and focused down at her. “Ben’s always taking in strays and doctoring them back to health.”

      “Aww…”

      “I can’t help it. They just show up.”

      “That’s so sweet of you,” Katie said, her throat going tight with instant emotion. She loved animals.

      “Yeah, well, what else is a fella to do?” Ben remarked as if he were trying to step out of the focus.

      “Go on ahead. Katie said she’d walk with me.” The sideways grin Joseph gave her set her pulse skittering. “That is, if you still don’t mind?”

      She shook her head. “Not at all.”

      “Good, it’s settled.” Ben clapped his hands, then came forward and gave Joseph’s arm a quick squeeze. “Thanks again for coming with me today.”

      Joseph nodded. “By the way, you sent the wire for my appointment in Denver Tuesday, right?”

      Ben passed a wary glance to Katie and her heart instantly squeezed with compassion for Joseph.

      “Nine o’clock Tuesday morning,” Ben confirmed.

      A tightness strained Joseph’s features. Over the course of the week, she’d discovered from the few times he’d spoken of the appointment or his vision, he’d become instantly irritable.

      Ben glanced at his pocket watch and snapped it shut again. “By the way, Katie, you’ve made quite an impression on Aaron and Ellie. She can’t say enough good things about you.” On a wink, he turned and jogged away from them.

      Katie felt a warm blush color her cheeks as they walked in silence for several moments.

      “He’s right, you know…”

      “Right about what?”

      “Ellie has really taken to you.” His voice was as low and soothing as a cool breeze on a hot day. “Last night when the two of them stopped by, she couldn’t stop talking about you. Said you were beautiful, inside and out.”

      Embarrassment flamed hot now. Her knees went weak and her mouth grew dry. She couldn’t seem to be around him without noticing every little thing about him and being affected in ways she’d never experienced.

      But she was Joseph’s teacher. Nothing else. She had to keep telling herself that.

      “Sorry if I embarrassed you.” His deep, mellow voice had countless other effects on her besides soothing her. His voice incited a warm quiver in her stomach and a slow, steady tremble up her spine. “When Ellie said that, it blew the very first image I had of you when Ben called you up from the street.”

      She slowed to a stop. “There’s a step here. Gauge its height with your foot, then move ahead.” When he continued without incident, she went on to ask, “What image did you have?”

      He puffed out his cheeks on a big sigh. “Oh, just that you were a prune-faced old woman with a sharp nose and even sharper tongue. Good thing I didn’t ride away into the sunset with that impression all week.”

      She smiled at his description, recalling how sour and gruff he’d been when she’d first met him. “Likewise, it’s a good thing I didn’t hold you to my first impression, either.”

      Wincing, he pulled at his collar as though it was suddenly too tight for comfort.

      “For a while there, I thought my uncle’s high opinion of you was overrated.” She came to a stop and stared up at him. “But now, I think that it might just be underrated.”

      Chapter Five

      “If there’s one thing I cannot abide, it is an overbearing woman!” Julia proclaimed with a flourish. “Mrs. Duncan…why, the way that woman prattles on, you’d think she owned half the town. The woman is overbearing, I tell you. Overbearing!”

      Joseph slid a hand across his mouth, masking his grin. He figured it took an overbearing person to know one, and Julia was close to an expert in the ways of overbearing women.

      “Mrs. Duncan does—”

      “She was nothing if not imperious,” she interrupted with a terse huff. “Out of the goodness of my heart, I offered my valuable expertise in helping to organize the box social and barn dance for the Glory Days celebration. And she refused! Flat-out refused, I tell you.”

      “Maybe she already has things arranged,” he offered in a lame attempt to console her.

      He couldn’t imagine why she’d come looking for consolation from him. Between the meal catastrophe when she’d stormed off mad and the indifference he’d shown her at church yesterday, he sure didn’t expect her to try and cozy up to him again. But from the minute she’d barged into his solitude some fifteen minutes ago, she’d been as much as crawling into him, mining for sympathy.

      He’d been sitting on his porch awaiting Katie’s arrival to start a second week of training when Julia’s taut, brisk steps brought her up the walk. Funny, the second he realized the footsteps weren’t Katie’s, disappointment crept over him like a dark cloud blocking out the sun’s warmth.

      Training his ear to the street, he listened for Katie’s approach, feeling a strange sense of regret knowing he wouldn’t really need her after his appointment next week. When his vision returned, Katie wouldn’t have to. He had to admit, having her around every day had been nice. She’d gotten under his skin with her sweet but confident disposition, her sunny encouragement and the way she made him feel so at ease. So much like himself again.