Apparently the two men had hauled in and hewn logs from the nearby foothills to build the house and barn since the lumber from the new mill in Fairplay was costly. From the tone of Wyatt’s voice, she could tell he was pleased with his accomplishments.

He mentioned that he’d purchased two more cattle earlier in the day and was slowly building up and fattening his herd. With Wyatt occupied transporting her and Astrid in the wagon, Judd had offered to drive the two steers back to the ranch. According to Wyatt’s explanation to Astrid, “The cattle take their sweet old time, chewing up every lick of grass they come across.”

“There’s the house.” Wyatt nodded ahead.

She didn’t mean to look at him again. But her attention shifted as if it had a mind of its own. His chiseled profile, even in only the moonlight, was strong and masculine. His defined jaw and the dark covering of stubble on his cheeks drew attention to his mouth.

That mouth. Those lips . . . against hers.

Strange heat bloomed in her cheeks. He’d really and truly kissed her. The kiss, restrained and yet containing a hint of passion, had been unexpectedly pleasant and unlike anything she’d experienced before. If she didn’t know better, she could almost believe he’d enjoyed it and found her attractive.

She was tempted to lift her fingers to her lips and capture the memory all over again. But she’d done so a dozen times already, and eventually he’d catch her in the act and realize she was thinking about their kiss.

It surely hadn’t meant as much to him as it had to her. He’d likely kissed plenty of women in his life. What was one more?

For her, the kiss was her first. Thomas had wanted to kiss her on the day he’d left for the war. But she’d been too upset and told him he had to wait until he came home for a kiss, hoping to give him an incentive to return.

It hadn’t worked. And she’d regretted not kissing him good-bye ever since.

“It ain’t much,” Wyatt said. “But hopefully it’ll get us through the winter.”

She squinted through the dark to the outline of a stout, low-lying structure that looked more like a hovel than a house. It was built out of logs with thick chinking and had a gabled roof of simple boards. A single stovepipe protruded from the roof, and a small lone window had been cut out of the wall next to the door.