On his third day without Dorothy, Carter woke up earlier than usual to a banging on his door. For a brief instant, he imagined that it was Dorothy, that she changed her mind. He smiled at the thought as he rolled over in his bed, hoping to get back to sleep. But the banging continued.

Pulling an overcoat on over his bed clothes, he went to the door. Who could possibly be calling on him at so early? He opened the door cautiously, and saw none other than Edna Petunia Sanders.

“I don’t have much time, so please let me in. I don’t want Dorothy to know I’m here.”

Carter had no choice but to let the old woman in. He offered her a seat in his parlor, which, like most of the house, was bare. He thought about offering her tea, but before he could, Edna started talking so quickly it was all he could do to listen to everything she said.

“Our Dorothy’s in a state over you, Mr. Reeves. I don’t know exactly what you said to her, but now that she’s no longer working for you, she’s just devastated. I’ve never seen the girl like that in all the years she’s lived with us.”

“I’m sorry.” Carter felt like ever since he had met the Sanders family, all he did was apologize.

“Well?” Edna Petunia glared at Carter expectantly.

“Well, what?”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Carter was exhausted. All he kept thinking was his current situation would never occur in the city. People had manners and decorum. Old women wouldn’t come barging into his house at the crack of dawn to harass him about their adopted daughters. It was a more dignified life.

However, he also couldn’t deny the fact that he’d never felt half as much for any of the women he’d met in Austin as he felt for Dorothy Sanders. There was something about her that was so special and right for him…which made his present situation even more upsetting.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you’d better figure it out—and fast!” With that, Edna Petunia stood and huffed out of the room.

Carter shook his head, weary and confused. He was not used to people expressing their opinions so freely. It was exhausting.

He boiled water on the stove to make coffee, deciding to get an early start to his day. He had very little time before he had to present a compelling argument to the judge.

Two hours and an entire pot of coffee later, Carter was at his wit’s end. He couldn’t find anything without Dorothy. She knew all the right places to look and could direct him to anything he was looking for.

Carter heard louder banging on the door. He swung the door open angrily and steadied himself for Edna Petunia’s wrath. To his surprise, it was a man wearing a cowboy hat and a plaid shirt.

“Mr. Robert Parrish. Pleased to make your acquaintance officially, Mr. Reeves.”

“Mr. Parrish! Come in, come in.”

Carter had never met his client in person before. Their correspondence had been through letters. Mr. Parrish’s cousin lived in Austin and had heard that Carter was one of the best young lawyers in the entire state, plus he charged a fair rate for his services. Mr. Parrish had hired him sight-unseen.

Carter ushered him into his parlor. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

“I’ll get right to the point—I’m nervous about the case. I’ve never been to court before, and I want to make sure it goes my way.”

“That’s common, Mr. Parrish.”

“Please, call me Robert.”

“Yes, Robert. Try not to worry too much. You’ll just need to state your name, promise to tell the truth, and answer a few very basic questions.”

“Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad. Can you show me what you’ve got so far?”

Carter was startled. Normally, showing a client all of his files a few days before court would be no problem. But in this case, he was floundering. He barely could find what he needed for his opening remarks, let alone the entire case file that would go before the judge.

“I’m afraid you’ve caught me on a busy day, Robert. Can you come back tomorrow, around two o’clock?” Carter thought that would give him enough time to prepare the case files. Robert looked worried, but nodded.

“I don’t like the idea of waiting another day, but I guess I trust you. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Carter walked Robert out and watched the man ride off into the distance. He certainly had his work cut out for him. He searched through the journals of notes Dorothy had taken from his dictations, but it was useless. He was much slower without Dorothy’s patient assistance.

Finally, he threw the book he was reviewing to the ground. Enough was enough.

Carter saddled his horse and rode to the Sanders’ house. He knocked at the door, and Minnie answered it. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

“Hello, Mr. Reeves,” she said shyly.

“Hello, Minnie. Is Dorothy here?”

Minnie looked concerned. “Yes, but I don’t know if —”

Edna Petunia heard the conversation and came rushing to the front of the house. “Oh, yes, she’s here! Dorothy!” Edna screamed up the stairs.

Dorothy wondered what all the commotion was about. She walked downstairs carefully, not knowing what she was about to walk into. When she saw Carter standing in the entryway, her heart leapt into her throat.

“What are you doing here?” She knew her words were rude, but how could she be polite? He’d made it clear he didn’t want her.

“Miss Sanders, I need to see you outside. Now.”

Dorothy didn’t even think about refusing him. His tone made it clear he wasn’t going to accept an argument from her. She followed him outside and closed the door behind her.

Carter led her a few paces away from the house, stopping in the shadow of a large oak tree. He took her hand, and Dorothy’s heart raced even faster.

“Robert Parrish came to my house today, asking after the case file for his court date next week.”

Dorothy pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms. She didn’t understand how this was relevant to her.

“I can’t do it without you. I can’t be the lawyer he needs me to be without you by my side. You’ve done so much work, and I find that I can barely get by without you. I know I’ve said and done things I shouldn’t have. I’m not proud of it. The truth is, I genuinely care for you, Dorothy.”

She loved the way he called her by her given name.

“But—it’s too hard to work with you, knowing what we shared the other night. I don’t want to go too far with you. Do you know what I mean?” Dorothy was worried her words might be too bold, but she didn’t know a plainer way to say what she was feeling.

Carter couldn’t stand it anymore. What she was saying made complete sense, and he understood her predicament. But he also couldn’t stop thinking about her lips. He took a step closer to Dorothy and pressed his mouth to hers, softly at first, then a bit harder. Dorothy kissed back at first, and then pulled away.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Dorothy, I couldn’t help myself! You have to believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe.”

“Believe this—I care for you, deeply. And I also understand that we could never be together. We’re from two different worlds, and no amount of kissing can change that, as sad as it may be. But please, Dorothy, let’s both put our feelings aside just for the next week. I need you to work on the Parrish case with me.”

Dorothy’s mind was reeling. She felt weak-kneed from the kiss—it had been even more powerful than the night outside the mercantile. She wanted to jump into his arms and keep kissing him like that for the rest of time.

“I don’t know, Mr. Reeves. I just don’t know if I can do that.”

“I don’t know either, Dorothy. But we have to try—for Mr. Parrish. That estate is rightly his, but if I don’t prove that to the judge, he’ll be out on the streets without a penny to his name. He used his savings to pay my legal fees.”

Dorothy paused, considering. She wanted to do the right thing.

“You wouldn’t be doing it for me, Dorothy. You’d be doing it for Mr. Parrish.”

“All right. I’ll help you, but only until the case goes to the judge. Then, you’re on your own for packing up and getting out of Nowhere. I can’t see you again, Mr. Reeves.”

Carter looked hurt. “I see.”

“That’s the only way I can work with you again. Do you accept those terms?”

“Yes, Miss Sanders.” With that, he formally shook her hand and waved goodbye to her. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eight o’clock sharp.”

“Yes, Mr. Reeves.”

Dorothy sighed as he rode away. Every time she thought she was done with the man, he kept pulling her back in. If this was what love felt like, it was terrible!

* * *

The next few days passed by in a blur of paperwork and files. When Robert Parrish came to the house for the second time, he was pleased to see a neat, organized pile of paperwork relating to his case file. He told Carter and Dorothy that he was pleased with their work.

Dorothy did her best to focus only on the work. Occasionally, her mind drifted to thoughts about Carter, replaying the moments when he’d kissed her over and over again in her mind. But when that happened, she got a cold glass of ice water and splashed a little in her face.

“What are you doing? Are you all right?” Carter looked concerned.

“Don’t worry a thing about it. We have work to do.” Dorothy looked at him sternly. It felt good to put him in his place from time to time. She had no way of knowing, but she was pretty sure he was having trouble keeping their relationship strictly professional, too.

Every time he leaned over her shoulder to grab a book, or their fingertips brushed as she passed him a journal, or he helped her up into the wagon, she felt a tingle run through her entire body. She knew she wasn’t imagining it.

Still, they had a case to win. And there was still a lot of work to be done. The town judge had a reputation for being extremely thorough. It was Carter’s job to prove not only that Mr. Drake had known about his son, but also to provide a record of all of his assets. Dorothy had painstakingly gone through all the papers at Drake’s home and logged them all in a journal.

By the end of the week, Carter was feeling great about his chances with the town judge, yet despondent when he thought about Dorothy. It was driving him crazy to not tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, or try to kiss her when she was close to him, or put an arm around her waist as she leaned over to file something.

On Friday evening, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I have to confess, Miss Sanders, I’m having a very hard time keeping our relationship strictly professional.”

Dorothy breathed in a sigh of relief. So it hadn’t been all in her head after all! But she knew that she couldn’t allow either of them to give in to their feelings.

“Mr. Reeves, we have a job to do. It’s your duty as an attorney. Good day.” With that, Dorothy marched proudly out of the house. As soon as the door closed behind her, she leaned against it and slumped down to the ground. Walking away from Carter had taken every last bit of energy she had. She needed a break before she began the long walk home.

Carter was trembling inside the house. Dorothy was all he could think about. He could barely eat or sleep without a thought or dream of Dorothy taking over his mind. He admired her conviction, but he wished she didn’t have so much of it.