The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

agreement,” she said. “My time with Teddy isn’t up yet.”

TR picked up the dice. “If Mr. Fraser requests that Mr. O’Grady escort you to Kentucky, I will insist you go.”

She gave TR a side-eye. “Traitor.”

He clamped his teeth over his lower lip, and while he didn’t laugh, his eyes twinkled. “I must respect your husband’s wishes, even if they aren’t mine.”

She had nothing in her arsenal to use if she wanted to bargain with Tavis. If he had a telegram from JC that said he wanted them to come to Kentucky, she’d have to go. She had a notebook full of TR’s stories and thoughts about everything from hunting in the Badlands to life in New York City. More than enough material to fill up a book.

But still, she wasn’t ready to leave him. “That wouldn’t be my wish, either,” she managed to say without releasing the tears burning her eyelids. “Sometimes we don’t have choices.” She gave him a sweet smile. “I’m going to bed. If Tavis returns, tell him I want to talk to him first thing in the morning.”

“Good night, Ensley,” Austin said.

She turned in time to catch his wink, and it tickled her because it was so innocent. It wasn’t flirting. It was more of a we’re-in-this-together look.

“Good night, Mrs. Fraser,” TR said.

Remy played the table again and broke one of his substitute drumsticks. “Damn. It took me hours to turn that into a perfect drumstick.”

“I’m sure you’ll find another one,” Ensley said, yawning. “But Norman is protective of his kindling. I wouldn’t take too many of them.”

“Doan worry. I’ll leave him the broken ones.” Ba-da-da-boom.

She dragged herself to bed and fell asleep, but she woke up several times with the same haunting dreams of Austin that she had the night before. But once she was awake, all she could think about was Tavis. And wondering if he’d made it back yet with news of JC.

She had three men in her head—JC, Austin, and TR—and there was no elbow room. Once Tavis returned with news of JC, she could push at least two of them aside.

Why not all three?

There wasn’t an answer floating around in her heart, so she ignored the question and managed to fall back to sleep until right before dawn. Her first thought was that it was exactly like yesterday—the same smells, the same complaints, the same creaking joints, the same weather. But today, the reek of manure from the cow pasture and the smoke from the branding fires was more potent.

She crawled out of her bedroll and washed up before going to the chuckwagon for breakfast. When she arrived, Norman was holding a welcoming cup of coffee for her.

“That Tavis fella dragged himself in about midnight. Crashed down by the river. Never seen a man so worn out and a horse so fresh. Tesoro coulda run right back to Medora without breakin’ a sweat.”

“I’m glad Tavis’s back, and I’m glad he’s exhausted and not my horse.” She sipped the coffee. “That sounds mean, doesn’t it?”

“Not a mean bone in yer body, Miss Ensley. Ya let him borra your horse and expected him to return Tesoro in good shape.”

“Tesoro is only on loan to me.”

“I heard ya bought a wild horse from Mr. Roosevelt. He won’t take him back.”

“He’s on loan to TR, too. Tesoro needs to return to where he came from.”

“Where’s that?”

She looked off into the distance as if she could see Turkmenistan’s Karakum desert where the Akhal-Teke originated. “Far away,” she said with a sigh. As much as she wanted to take Tesoro with her, she couldn’t take him to the future. He didn’t belong there. And she was certain Erik would reclaim him. If that was true, then he was around somewhere, watching. She didn’t know why she thought that or why Erik would take Tesoro home with him. It was just one of those gut feelings.

She sat down at the chuckwagon’s tailgate and spread a large spoonful of jam on a biscuit. “Did Tavis say anything about a telegram from JC?”

“Didn’t say nothin’ to me, and everybody else had turned in afore he got here.”

“Where’s TR?”

“Mr. Roosevelt finished breakfast and rushed off to get his horse.”

“Damn. How long ago?”

“A bit afore ya got up.”

She let out an exasperated huff. “And you let me sit here, jabbering away when TR was getting ready to leave. He probably left without me.” She bit into the biscuit and washed it down with a gulp of coffee. “Where’s Austin?”

“They left at the same time.”

“Damn, Norman. Why didn’t you tell me that first?”

“Because ya need a good breakfast before ya spend the day roundin’ up strays.” He refilled her coffee cup and flipped another piece of bacon on her plate. “Finish eatin’.”

“I can’t believe I slept so late.”

“Ya didn’t. They started early.”

“I don’t get it. Why didn’t they wake me up?” Pouting wasn’t doing her any good.

Eat and go find them.

She ate the bacon and only a few spoonfuls of beans. “Maybe I can catch them before they ride off.” She dumped her dirty dishes in the wrecking pan. “Gotta go. Thanks, Norman.”

She grabbed her tack and raced off to the picket lines where Bill Sewall was saddling a horse. “Bill, where’s TR?”

“Rode off with two of the fellas ya brought with you.”

Her pulse drummed with a mixture of anger and disappointment. “Austin and Remy?”

“No,” Bill said. “The one what rode in last night, and the one he calls ‘Cajun.’”

Tavis left without talking to her? Damn him. Now she was sorry she loaned him her horse. Forget the disappointment. She was pissed now. “That’s Remy. What about Austin?”

Bill raised his hand over his head. “The tall one?”

To Ensley, everyone was tall. “Yeah, him.”

“A cowboy from another outfit rode in to say he spotted a grizzly a mile or so north of camp. Your tall friend went hunting. Mr. Roosevelt said you should stay in camp today.”

“Because of the bear?”

“Guess so.”

“That’s crazy. The bear sighting was north, and TR’s rounding up cattle southeast of