Legend (Legend, Colorado 1)

“Cut it out,” she snapped. “You don’t need to make me grovel. So you were right. At least you were right in this time and this place.”

“Is that an apology? A full apology or half of one?”

“It’s all you’re going to get, so be thankful for it.”

Cole gave her a little grin.

“Stop gloating and take me out and buy me the biggest meal this town has to offer. It’ll be my final meal before I become your food slave.”

He arched an eyebrow. “As opposed to what other kind of slave?”

“Just feed me and let’s go.”

But Cole didn’t move, and his face lost its teasing look. “Kady, I can’t give you a job.”

“Because I said—”

Taking both her hands in his, he looked into her eyes. “You may have noticed that Legend isn’t like other mining towns. No, that’s right, you said you’d never been to a mining town, so you’ll just have to trust me that it is different. Other towns have a lawlessness about them that we don’t allow here in Legend.”

She didn’t understand. “It’s illegal for me to cook for you?”

“No, of course not. It’s just where I live.”

At that she looked at him. He was clean, and the blue cotton shirt he had on had been ironed within an inch of its life. Somehow, she couldn’t imagine Cole Jordan living in a shack.

“I live in a place out of town, that way,” he said, nodding toward the east. “There are no other houses near me, and, well, Miss Long, it just wouldn’t look right for you and me to live there alone with just old Manuel and a few ranch hands for chaperons.” His eyes showed sadness. “After choir practice I can take you out for a meal, but I really don’t know what else I can do. I can’t force anyone to hire a cook they don’t need. I’d give you all the money I have, but the whole town would know in a minute, and, well, your reputation would suffer.” His voice lowered. “This is a town full of men, and if you were taking money from me, they might think you were a different kind of woman than what you really are.”

Kady had a vision of drunken cowboys, liquored up after a trail drive, tearing down the door to her cheap hotel room and . . . She shook her head to clear it. “Too many movies, Elizabeth Kady,” she heard her mother’s voice saying in her head.

Cole pressed her hands in his. “I really don’t know how to help you.” He glanced at the door to the church. “I must go now. After choir practice, we can talk more. Maybe I can persuade someone to take you in. Some people in town owe me favors, so maybe—”

Kady’s grimace made him cut off. “Charity,” she said under her breath and imagined how uncomfortable it would be to live as an unwanted guest in a stranger’s house.

It was at that moment that Kady changed her attitude. Extraordinary problems called for extraordinary solutions. As Gregory’s handsome face flashed before her eyes, she thought how his mysterious dark looks were such a contrast to Cole’s blue-eyed blondness, Cole’s open and guileless face.

She loved Gregory, loved him very much, but he wasn’t here. He wasn’t even born yet, and she wouldn’t be doing him any favor if she kept her pride and starved to death before she could get back to him.

After taking a deep breath to give herself courage, she straightened her shoulders and looked into Cole’s candid blue eyes. “Is your marriage proposal still open?” she asked, and instantly she could see the shock on his face.

“You’re engaged to marry someone else.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Cole gave her a look that said, Thanks a lot.

“You know what I mean.”

He looked down at her hands, still resting in his. “I offered marriage in the heat of the moment. I felt grateful to you for saving me, but now I wonder what people would say. I’m afraid they’ll—”

“Why, you low-down, lying bastard!” she said, snatching her hands from his. “Here I am starving, starving! mind you, and all you can think of is what this overly manicured little town will say. Let me tell you, Mr. Jordan, that this town isn’t worth thinking about. They’d let a lone woman starve to death before they’d sully their pristine reputations.”

She was so angry she forgot about her hunger and exhaustion and stood, which allowed her to look down at him. “Right now I wish I hadn’t saved that overly muscled neck of yours. And when I’m found dead in some alley, my death is going to be on your head!”

With that utterly magnificent riposte, she grabbed her train, slung it over her arm and started down the stairs. Unfortunately for her self-esteem, she tripped over Cole’s big feet and went tumbling forward. But he caught her in his arms and pulled her back to sit on his lap.

Kady was so angry she wouldn’t look at him, but held herself as rigid as possible.

“I guess I do owe you a favor.”