CHAPTER 9

	“Everybody ready?” Blake stood facing the row of horses and four children.
	“Yes Mr. Blake,” three excited voices, and one more subdued, piped in.  They
had quickly picked up Mable’s name for him, and he seemed quite comfortable with it. 
Each child had been assigned a horse, and spent the previous day learning the basics
of riding, and now the horses bore the saddlebags and bedrolls that would
accommodate each of them that night. Blake’s own horse carried the extra baggage that
consisted of two tents and cooking equipment, while Candita carried the food along with
Joey’s belongings. The sky was clear as they set out, and the weather seemed as if it
would co-operate.  The kids were looking forward to their adventure. Even Reggie had
reluctantly mounted his horse the day before, and seemed to have accepted it as a
viable means of transport.  There was nothing left to do but mount up and head out
towards their destination.
	In no time the parade of horses was heading out across the fields.  Blake was
leading the procession, Joey bringing up the rear, with the row of children in between. 
They rode first across the open field, then cut in under the trees and followed a winding
path under branches and over rolling ground. The ride was enjoyable, and by the time
they reached the camping spot, each and every one of the children were in good spirits. 
Packs were unloaded and the tents were set up — one for Joey and the girls, the
second for Blake and the boys. Blake put the kids to work gathering firewood, reminding
them to stay within sight of the tents, and soon a blazing campfire was prepared and
Blake was showing the group how to cook their meals over the open flame.  The
evening ended with the group sitting around the same fire in the dark, telling stories
while Reggie whittled a point onto a stick with his pocket knife.
	Joey shifted slightly under Jill’s weight as the little girl sat curled up and leaning
against her.  “I think she’s fallen asleep,” Joey whispered.  Griffin leaned in to within a
few inches of the little girl’s face and peered at her in the firelight, then straightened up
and nodded. 
	“Yep,” he said.
	“I’ll carry her into the tent,” Blake offered, getting up from where he was sitting
and bending over to scoop the sleeping girl into his arms.  Joey held the tent open for
him and followed him in to open up the sleeping bag. They found themselves kneeling
side by side, and as Joey straightened up and turned toward him, she found her face
only inches away from his. For a second she remembered the kiss in his study, and her
eyes fell to his lips in the dark.  She could feel his breath against her face, and in the
confusion that his closeness sent rippling through her, she found herself unable to
move. 
	Blake reached out and brushed a defiant strand of hair away, his eyes not
wavering from Joey’s face.  The woman was enough to send any sane man around the
bend, he told himself.  When he was near her he wanted to put as much distance
between them as possible.  He didn’t want her on the ranch, he kept reminding himself
of that fact.  She was only there because Clark Nielson had brought her to write that
damn book, and he’d had an attack of conscience about sending her back home to her
disappointed boss at the newspaper she worked for. Give her the information she
needed, and stay clear of her, that had been his plan —  then he had kissed her the
night before he’d left for Billings, and as soon as he’d gone away she was all he could
think about.  
	His eyes fell to her lips as she knelt motionless in the near dark reflection of the
firelight through the tent opening, the strand of hair still between his fingers.  Why had he
kissed her that night anyway?  It had served no purpose, and only made him want to do
it again. At that thought he moved his hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, brushing
gently against her as he did so. Do it again.  Yes, that was exactly what he wanted to do!
	“Mr. Blake?”
	The small voice penetrated the darkness behind him, and he dropped his hand
to his side and turned to the door.  The light from the fire flickered through the tent fabric,
and Joey thought she could feel the heat from it on her cheeks as she let out her breath
and quickly turned around and started fixing the other sleeping bags.  
	“What is it Kiesha?”
	“I’m tired of sitting by the fire, I want to go to bed now.”  Keisha poked her head
through the tent door.  Blake glanced over his shoulder at Joey’s back in the dim light
from the fire.
	“I was thinking about going to bed myself, Keisha,” Joey piped up in a cheery
voice.  “It’s been a long day in the fresh air. Come on in and we’ll get settled in, shall
we?”  Keisha crawled through the doorway as Blake held the flap aside for her.  He
lingered a moment watching the woman with the two children.  A frown dragged his lips
down and burrowed its way into his forehead. 
	This was a bad idea!  It had been a bad idea to allow her to stay on the ranch in
the first place; a bad idea to get her involved with the children, and definitely a bad idea
to kiss her! Everything he thought about her was a bad idea!  Quickly he turned and
slipped out of the tent, pulling the zipper down behind him as if the action would keep her
out of his thoughts.
	“Well boys, it’s just you and me. What are we going to do, got any ideas?”

	In the end, Blake made a great hit with the boys around the fire that night.  They
sat in the dim orange light well into the night, while he told them cowboy stories, and
Indian stories, and a few ghost stories thrown in for good measure.  Joey lay awake for a
long time, listening to his voice, and the reaction of the two boys. Even Reggie was
impressed.  At first, he tried telling a few inner city adventure tales of his own, but soon
he was hooked, and urging Blake to tell more, and asking question after question.
	Another side of the man she had never seen, Joey thought, as she awoke the
next morning, the memory of the night before still in her dreams. He was good with the
kids, she thought.  Not aggressive, or forceful, but no push over either. He commanded
their respect by the way he treated them with respect, and he let them make the move
into the comfort zone on their own.
	She lay there listening to the early morning sounds, and sighed.  When she got
home, she would sit down with her lap top and make an honest start at this book she
was supposed to be writing.  For now, it was time to enjoy the outdoors, the children,
and the bacon.
	Bacon?
	She opened her eyes. Yes, it was definitely bacon she could smell.  She could
hear it too, sizzling  over the fire.  She looked around the tent.  Both girls were still
asleep.  Quietly she crawled out of her sleeping bag and eased her way out of the tent. 
he was crouched beside the fire, with a large frying pan resting on grate perched on a
pile of rocks.  He was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt,  but he hadn’t put his hat on
and his hair looked a little tousled from the night, and his face was unshaven.  He looked
so much more handsome that way, she thought.
	Then he turned her way and smiled at her with a smile that could have melted an
iceberg, and she blushed, as if he could read her thoughts.
	“Good morning,” he said, rising to his full height.  “Sleep well?”
	“Yes, thank you.” She tried to smile as nonchalantly as he was, but she found it
difficult to look at him.  All she could think about was what it had felt like to be so close to
him in the tent the night before, and that un-nerved her.  “You and the boys had a good
time around the fire last night.” 
	“Did we keep you awake?” he asked, concerned, but his smile returned quickly
when she shook her head.
	“Oh no!  I didn’t mind listening to your stories for a while. You’re quite the story
teller.”
	He chuckled.  “Well, I’m banking on you being one too.  I just wish it wasn’t my
life story you had to tell, but since it is, I guess I’m going to have to give you something
to work with pretty soon.”
	Joey straightened her back. “Yes, well, that would make my job easier.” she said,
and he grinned again, and she felt her knees get weak. She breathed a silent prayer of
thanks when Griffin crawled out of their tent right at that moment and started into a
non-stop monologue, allowing her to step out of the limelight.  Soon all the children were
awake, and the day began in earnest.
	After breakfast Blake lead them on a short hike, serenaded by the constant
barrage of questions from the children, then they returned to camp and saddled up for a
day of riding into the hills.  Where the day before, Griffin had ridden close to Blake at the
front of the pack and Reggie had hung back, this time both boys rode along side their
host, and both asked just as many questions.  Amazingly, all were reluctant to head
back when the time came, but the time had passed much quicker than any had realized
and it was well into the afternoon.
	“So, what do you all say?” Blake asked, when they were back at camp.  “Do we
pack up and go home, or sleep out here another night?”
	“Oh please, please, can we stay?”  The chorus of small voices was accentuated
by little hands pulling at Blake’s shirt sleeves as the girls jumped up and down in
excitement. Even Reggie had a smile on his face. 
	“Hmm.” Blake looked at them thoughtfully. “I see you’re not very interested,
maybe it was a bad idea? I guess we should just go back to the ranch then.”
	“Nooooooo!” They all squealed, some sounding genuinely concerned that he
meant it, others giggling, certain he was joking with them. Joey smiled at the exchange,
and for a moment, when he looked her way to get her input, their eyes locked.
	I want to stay, she thought, then sighed as she suddenly realized exactly what
she meant. She wanted to stay at Silver Star — forever — and that could cause
problems, she was certain. 
	“Well, I don’t know about that,” she drawled, needing to break the silence. “Looks
to me like you’d have trouble getting them to go back tonight.”
	Blake pretended to look shocked. “Really?”  He looked from one child to the
other.  “Do you really think so?”
	Joey laughed.  “Yes!”
	Finally Blake grinned at them. “Well alright then, we can stay.”  The children
broke out in cheers, and though Reggie did not join in the jubilation, he had the biggest
smile on his face that Joey had seen since he had arrived.  “But you kids have to pull
your weight!” Blake added. “We’ll need more firewood.”
	They all threw themselves into the task as Blake called after them to stay in
groups of two and make sure they could see the camp at all times.  Then he turned a
smiling glance toward Joey, who quickly turned her attention to unsaddling Candita.
	“You don’t mind spending another night out here in the wilderness with me?”  he
asked, his voice very close.  He was at her side, one hand resting on the horse as she
worked. She dared not look at him, for she felt dangerously close to him.
	“Of course not.”  She looked up at the sky. “It’s beautiful out here.”
	“You really think so?” he asked, and it shocked her that there was a hint of
surprise in his voice.  She stopped working and did turn to look at him this time.
	“Yes, I do really think to, Blake.  This is the most beautiful place I have ever
seen,” she said in a soft voice.  He looked at her, and she couldn’t make out his
expression, but his smile was making her heart beat faster.  Slowly he reached one
hand to disengage her own from the saddle, moving closer to her as he did so, but he
didn’t let go of her hand.  With his other hand he brushed a strand of hair away from her
face, then lingered, his fingers making their way behind her head.  She stood there,
frozen in time, motionless, watching his face move nearer and nearer to hers. His eyes
made a fleeting detour, scanning the scene behind her, then returned to her face.  
	And then he kissed her.  
	It wasn’t an urgent, fiery kiss like the one they had shared the night before he
had left for Billings, but a soft, tender, lingering kiss that felt like it could go on forever
and neither of them would tire of it.  Eventually his lips slipped away from hers and
traced their way across her face to nuzzle in her hair as he pulled her against his chest
and held her there.  She could hear his heart, beating as fast as hers, and his breathing,
heavy in his chest, as one hand slowly caressed her back. 
	“Thank you for coming,” he whispered into her hair, and somewhere in the fuzz
that was her brain Joey wondered if he meant coming on the camping trip with the
children, or coming to Silver Star.  Either way, she had no reply, and even if she had
tried, she had no voice to speak it in. 
	He loosened his hold and she lifted her head to look up at him. His eyes were
searching hers, silently, then he bent his head and kissed her again, softly.  This time
though, he didn’t linger, and when his lips left hers she let out a tiny gasp of
disappointment.
	“They’re coming back,” he said softly, not taking his eyes away from her face for
a moment, running the back of his fingers down her arm. Then he let her go and turned
to lift Candita’s saddle off as the children’s’ voices rang through the air.
	The rest of the evening passed in a state of confusion for Joey. She was having
a great time with the camping and the kids, and even with Blake, but whenever no one
was looking and she looked his way, he was looking at her.  She couldn’t get the kisses
out of her mind. Both kisses!  They had been so different from each  other, yet both had
stirred a reaction within her that she dared not try to identify.  Instead, she threw herself
into activities with the children for the rest of the evening, and turned in when Jilly said
she was tired, though she lay there for a long time without sleeping.
	The next morning she purposely stayed in her tent until she heard Griffin talking
to Blake outside.  Keisha was awake by then too, and when the two of them crawled out
of the tent together, Joey pretended to yawn and stretch.
	“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Blake said, the same old smile on his face, but a
look of concern hidden behind it. “Get a good night sleep last night?”
	“Oh yes, this fresh air really tired me out.  What about you Keisha?”
	The girl nodded and began a long and detailed description of how much more
tired she was there than she ever was at home.  Joey was glad of the diversion, and
soon they were all awake, and all taking part in the preparation of breakfast.  
	This time, after cleaning up the dishes and putting out the fire, the sleeping bags
and tents were put down, and the horses were saddled and loaded for the trip back to
the ranch house.  A few times one of the children asked if they could stay longer, but
Blake reminded them that their stay at the ranch was already half over, and there was
still much more to do.  
	It was a much more high spirited caravan that rode back into the corral that day
than the subdued one that had left.  They were greeted by Ethan, beaming from ear to
ear, ready to unsaddle the horses.
	“Everybody have a good time?” Ethan asked, and each of the children assured
him that they had.  “I remember when I was your age,” he started to say, as he led two
of the horses into the stable. “It was always a great time camping out in the hills.”  He
continued his story, as Griffin, Reggie and Kiesha followed him inside, while Jilly hung
close to Joey. 
	Blake eyed the little girl thoughtfully, then looked into the stable to where the
others had disappeared.  At last, he sighed, and reached for Candita’s reigns. “I’ll take
her in, if you like.  I’ll help Ethan get them all unsaddled then we’ll let them out in the
corral for a while.  It’ll take some time, so somebody better let Mable know we’re home, I
guess, if we’re going to get any lunch.”
	He gave her a crooked grin and she nodded, taking Jill’s hand. “Right. I guess
we can do that, right Jilly.”
	Blake watched her cross the courtyard towards the house, the little girl swinging
their arms between them.  There was a strange ache in his chest that had never been
there before, and it was driving him crazy.  Sure, when Ethan had been little he had
thought about what it would be like to have children of his own, but playing the role of
honorary uncle had suited him fine.   When he had started bringing kids to the ranch
through the charity he had enjoyed the experience immensely. Spending time with the
children was always special, but he had never felt there was anything missing in his own
personal life.  
	But now — as he watched the woman and child making their way up the steps to
the ranch house, the ache in his chest grew even stronger as they disappeared from his
view.  Never had he wanted any woman so completely in his life as he did right now. 
Until this woman!  He wanted her at his table, he wanted her on his ranch, riding his
horses, helping with the kids...  
	Kids.
	He heard Griffin’s voice from inside the stables, and frowned.  Damnit!  Why did
the thought of Joey and kids in the same thought provoke such a deep animal response
in him?  Why wasn’t it good enough to admit that he wanted her on the ranch?  Why did
it have to include wanting her in his bed, bearing his children?  It would never happen.
She would never want to spend the rest of her life in the middle of no where, raising kids
out in the wilderness.  She was a city girl, and the sooner he remembered that the better
off he would be.  He should just give her the information she needed so she could write
her damn book, then she would go back where she came from and his life could get
back to normal again. 
	He sighed, and turned toward the stable door,  marching the horses inside and
giving them his full attention.