High Desert Haven (The Shepherd's Heart) by Lynnette Bonner Page A

pulled his horse to a stop in front of the general store and he glanced up to the curious face of a pretty young woman. Her blue eyes became large for a moment as she looked down at him and then the curtain dropped back into place.
    Jason removed his riding gloves as he pushed open the door and entered the spice-scented interior of the store. One glance around showed him that this store was run well. The shelves were neatly arranged, each item in its place, and all similar items grouped together on the shelves. Jason remembered being in one store where he’d had to pick up a shaving brush in one corner, the razor in a second corner, and the lathering bar in still a third area. He glanced around this well-lit room appreciatively. He would buy some supplies before he headed out to the Hanging T. It was the only smart thing to do, especially since he didn’t know if he would get the job or not.
    Starting down an aisle, he halted, puzzled, as he encountered the flushed face of the young woman who had just been at the upstairs window. Her face stained to a pretty pink as she asked, “How may I help you, sir?” She was breathless from her apparent headlong rush down into the mercantile.
    Jason slapped his gloves into the palm of one hand. “I need to pick up some things; then I’d like directions to the Hanging T, if you can give them.”
    Her face became instantly serious. “Are you related to the Trents?”
    “No.”
    He could tell by the inquisitiveness in her cornflower blue eyes that she was not satisfied with his answer. “Do you know them?” She followed him down the aisle containing soaps and scented lotions.
    “No.” He picked up a bar, sniffed it, and put it back.
    “You’re not going out to repossess their place, are you?” Genuine alarm rang in her voice.
    He quirked an eyebrow at her persistence. “No Miss, I’m just after a job.”
    “Oh.” She sighed. “That’s good. I was afraid, there for a minute, that you were going to be one of those terrible banking tycoons that come through from time to time. Why, just last month a man came in…he was so handsome! You should have seen him.”
    Jason tried not to smirk.
    “He came through here asking for directions to the Watson place, and I gave them to him just as nice as you please. And do you know that man had the audacity to go out there and kick those poor, hardworking people out of their home? Right off their land! Why, the meanness of some people I never will understand.” She inhaled. “But I knew the minute I laid eyes on you from the window upstairs that you wouldn’t be that kind of a man. No, sir, I said to myself, you would be a gentleman, plain and simple. I can see it by the way you carry yourself.” She paused to take another breath.
    “I’ll take these,” Jason spoke quickly, dropping his selections on the counter at the front of the store.
    “Oh dear, I’ve gone and talked your ear off, haven’t I? Ma is always telling me that I talk too much, but it’s so fun to talk, don’t you think? I mean, we wouldn’t be able to really get to know someone if we weren’t able to talk to them, so where would we be without talking? Lonely and ignorant, I say, because without talking we wouldn’t have been taught anything in school. Of course there’s reading, but don’t you think that reading is just an extension of talk—” She stopped, evidently noticing the large grin on Jason’s face. “Oh, I’m doing it again. Shut your trap, Janice. Next time I run off at the mouth, you can just tell me that. Well, you could maybe say it a little nicer so you don’t hurt my feel—”
    “Janice!” Jason spoke the one word on a laugh. He found himself suddenly liking this talkative young woman.
    Janice looked sheepish, opened her mouth to respond, and then determinedly clenched her jaw. “Three dollars and a quarter,” she said, placing his purchases into a bag.
    Jason was still chuckling as he counted out the money. “Do I dare ask