Texas Trio Ch. 08-10

"Shhh." He lifted his hand slowly, awaiting her reaction.

"Does that 'shhh' always work for you?" Cat whispered into the darkness.

Emboldened by her casual question, Colt smiled and lay her gently back against the cushions of her chaise. "I'll light a candle if I can find one. "

"On the table there."

Colt kept his back turned as he struck the match to avoid hurting her eyes.

Returning to kneel by the chaise, Colt left the candle behind on the table. "Cat, I missed you."

Her eyes adjusted enough to see that Colt wasn't wearing his usual black mask tonight.

"You don't even know me."

"I know enough to know I miss you."

Catherine smiled at the word play. "Well, maybe I don't know you well enough, then."

Hearing what Cat intended him to hear, Colt settled onto his heels alongside the chaise. "Ask me whatever you like, Miss Connor. I'm all yours."

Cat lowered her lashes, trying to cover the instant, appalling arousal she felt in response to his innocent statement. From the gleam of Colt's smile when she looked up again, she thought he might have guessed, anyway. She pushed all those lascivious urges to the back of her mind. She already knew the man could kiss like angels flew.

Welcoming the opportunity Colt had given her, she quizzed him endlessly.

She wasn't sure which of them was more surprised when the conversation turned to business. His lack of education hadn't stopped him from absorbing every morsel he heard about banking, trade and investments-- any more than gender had prevented her. They laughed when they discovered their respective 'disadvantages' caused wealthy men to underestimate, if not ignore them altogether. In overlooking their presence, they'd allowed both Cat and Colt to hear and learn things that would otherwise have remained closely guarded secrets.

For the next ten days, Cat held both men at arm's length, simply talking. No longer covering his face, but keeping his back to the single candle they lit each night, Colt told her memories of his rough childhood that he'd never admitted to anyone, almost against his will. Instead of being upset by her "pity", he'd been melted by the tear Cat couldn't hide and the soft palm she laid against his cheek.

When Colt told her about his business partner "Wilson", an older man who apparently handled his personal finances and those of the ranch they owned, Cat exclaimed. "For goodness' sake, why are you sneaking around the city breaking into homes if you own a ranch?"

Colt laughed. "You sound just like J--" He clapped a hand to his mouth, faking a coughing fit to cover the near-slip. "-- sorry-- you sounded just like Wilson."

He shrugged and shook his head. He'd never really questioned the impulse after discovering how much it irritated his partner. "I dunno. I guess it's just to remind me where I came from. Plus, I don't get much excitement. My saloon days are over and I don't have a woman at home keepin' me awake."

By day she was Jem's, by night Colt's, and at the end of two weeks, she had no better idea which man she favored. If anything, she was more muddled.

After a lifetime of boring, pretty parties and thousands of waltzes with men who stared over her head rather than listening to her speak, Catherine had been gifted with two suitors who liked her mind as well as her face.

They were so different, yet each appealed to her so strongly. Conversant in dissimilar areas, their manners were a world apart, too. Despite their cultural differences, Jem was a more socially fitting match, but he lived in Argentina, so far away. Colt's ranch sounded perfect, and out in the country who would be bothered by their class differences? Catherine certainly didn't care about that, but she'd never even seen a ranch, in Texas, Argentina, or any other place.

She simply could not decide.

What Catherine did know was that she had to make up her mind soon, if only so someone would touch her again the way Jem had that day by the river.

—o—o— || —o—o—

Back in 2 weeks with Part 4, when Catherine gets a surprise visitor-- who seriously complicates her life!

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Love-- Stefanie Olsen