Close Enough to Touch

“You know anything about it?” Shane asked.

“Why would I?”

“I thought maybe you were going to go Hollywood again.”

Cole forced himself to smile, even though his mind was spinning. That couldn’t be why Grace was here, could it? “That was a long time ago,” he said calmly.

“Not that long ago,” Shane countered. “Ten years?”

“Thirteen,” Cole said. Thirteen long years, but not even close to long enough. Thirteen years since Hollywood had come to town and he’d jumped in feetfirst. If Grace was part of that crowd…

But no. She was renting an apartment, not staying at one of the fancy resorts. Grace wasn’t part of the film team. No way. But maybe this was a warning that should be heeded. A reminder that city girls had led him astray before. And he’d followed willingly.

This chick was bad news. And she was living across the hall. And he wasn’t the least bit inclined to avoid her.

She should’ve scared the hell out of him, and instead, he was smiling in anticipation.

Somehow that only made him smile harder.

Bad news, indeed.

CHAPTER TWO

THE FRESH AIR STRUCK GRACE as soon as she stepped out, the cleanness of it startling though she’d been outside just a few minutes before. Almost against her will, she took a deep breath, drawing in the beauty of it. Even if she’d been surrounded by stucco buildings and ten lanes of traffic, there’d be no mistaking that she wasn’t in L.A. anymore. The air was too crisp, and when she moved, it hardly even touched her skin. She felt lighter as she headed for the faint sounds of music leaking from the saloon next door.

“The saloon next door,” she murmured. That was something she’d never said before. Bar, yes. Liquor store, sure. And on one occasion even a strip club. But never a saloon.

The strip club had actually made a pretty good neighbor. Unlike bars and liquor stores, no one wanted to hang around outside a strip club. The interesting parts were inside, behind blacked-out windows and plain cement walls. And once the place shut down for the night, the girls dropped everything and left as if the building made their skin crawl.

Grace had always told herself she couldn’t imagine doing that. Pretending to like a man for money. Using her body to win favors. But in the end, she’d done the same thing, hadn’t she?

As she opened the heavy saloon door, she shook that thought from her head. What the hell did it matter? She’d done what she’d done, and now she was just as miserable as she deserved to be.

Old country music filled the saloon, though it wasn’t particularly loud. A friendly buzz of conversation overlaid the music. Even at 3:00 p.m., several of the tables were filled, though not with the usual miserable types she associated with afternoon drinking. Two of the groups looked like young and scruffy college kids that you’d see in any other town. But at the closest table, all five of the men wore cowboy hats. Each man touched the brim of his hat as she passed. Grace felt her face flush at the unexpected courtesy and hurried past them to the long bar that ran along the side of the building.

She hadn’t seen her great-aunt in almost twenty years, but the blonde woman behind the bar was clearly not Aunt Rayleen. This woman was somewhere in her thirties, probably, though her skin was fresh and so pretty she could pass for a younger woman.

“Hi,” Grace said, catching her attention. “I’m looking for Rayleen. Rayleen Kisler?”

The woman kept polishing a glass, but offered a wide smile. “Of course, sweetie. She’s right over there. Usual table.”

Grace followed the gesture to a table at the far corner of the bar. An old woman sat there playing solitaire, an unlit cigarette gripped tightly between two thin lips. Yeah. That was Aunt Rayleen. She looked as mean as ever.

“Thank you,” Grace murmured, thinking those weren’t quite the right words as she headed across the bar. What she should have said was “Never mind” or “Pretend you never saw me.” She should have turned around and grabbed her stuff and kept moving. Grace hadn’t even wanted to ask for help from her grandmother, much less this sour-faced woman who’d never had a kind word for anyone, even when Grace had been a child.

And her face had only gotten more sour in the meantime. Though her hair was still beautiful. Pure white and flowing past her shoulders in a gorgeous wave. Rayleen’s one and only vanity, according to Grandma Rose.

Grace finally stood before the table, but the old lady didn’t look up. She just scowled down at her cards, flipping over three at a time in a slow rhythm. Her pale chambray shirt looked about three sizes too big for her.

“Aunt Rayleen?” Grace finally ventured.

The old lady grunted.

“I’m Grace. Grace Barrett.” Still no response. “Your niece?”

Her silver eyebrows rose and she finally looked up. A sharp green gaze took Grace in with one flick of her eyes. “Thought you’d be knocked up.”

“Pardon me?”

Her gaze fell back to the table and she resumed her card flipping. “A grown woman who can’t keep a job or support herself and has to write to her grandmother to ask for money? I figured you were out of commission. But you look perfectly fine to me.”

Grace’s skin prickled with violent anger. “If you—”

“Aside from the hair.”

Grace stiffened and cleared her throat. She didn’t have the right to tell this lady off. God, she wanted to, but maybe a free apartment gave Rayleen the right to get in a few insults. Which was exactly why Grace hated asking for help.

“I was living with someone and it didn’t work out. With the economy—”

“Who told you you could ever depend on a man for anything?”

“I… No one told me that.”

“You probably learned that from your idiot mama. That woman doesn’t have the sense God gave a dog. And dogs ain’t exactly nature’s Einsteins, are they?”

A strange, hot wash of emotion trickled along Grace’s skin. Fury, certainly, but it was mixed up with shame and the awful burn of truth spoken bluntly.

“Listen,” she pushed out past clenched teeth. “If you don’t want me here, say so and I’ll leave right now.”

“Yeah? Where are you going to go?”

“Anywhere. I’ll find a place. I don’t need your charity.”

“Sure you do, or you wouldn’t have taken it in the first place. Your grandma is living in that old folk’s home in Florida, and you can’t stay there, can you?”

No, she couldn’t stay there. Though she’d rather have stayed there than have asked Grandma Rose for money. Unfortunately, her grandmother hadn’t had any money to spare, but she’d called in a favor from Rayleen. If Grace hadn’t been so utterly desperate, she’d never have hopped on that bus.

“I can see you’ve got a spine in you. Must’ve skipped a generation. You want the place or not?”

The burn sank deeper into her skin. She’d always hated that her paleness showed her emotions so clearly. Not that she often tried to hide her anger, but she wanted it under her control. She wanted to be in charge of who saw it and who didn’t. And what she wanted right now was to show this woman nothing. To be calm as she turned around and walked out with her chin held high. Sure, she had nowhere to go, but a city park bench would be better than politely asking this bitch for a key.

“Listen, honey,” Rayleen said, finally setting down the cards. “It’s not a question of me wanting you here. I don’t know you from Adam. But I’m willing to have you here because I have an empty apartment and Rose asked me for a favor. You pay the utilities and you can stay. But just through ski season. August is one thing, but come December? I’ve got my eye on a handsome snowboarding instructor I had to turn away last year.”

That broke through Grace’s fury. A handsome snowboarding instructor? For what? The apartment or an affair? Jeez, this woman really was crazy. But that didn’t mean Grace wanted to accept her grudging handout.

She was opening her mouth to tell Aunt Rayleen to do something foul to herself, but the old woman grinned, showing off perfectly white teeth past the cigarette dangling from her lips.

“You’re pissed, ain’t ya? I like that. Pride’s a beautiful thing, but you’ve got to ask yourself where your pride has gotten you up to this point. Because as far as I can tell, it’s gotten you homeless and bitter. You enjoying the taste of that?”

Good Lord, the things she wanted to do to this woman would constitute elder abuse, but Aunt Rayleen was just so rude. And mean. And right.

That was the worst part. The hardest to swallow. She was right. Grace had too much pride. Hell, sometimes it was all she had. But pride didn’t fill your stomach or keep the cold out. So she swallowed hard. And swallowed again, tasting every bitter molecule of it. And then she nodded.

“Thank you for the place to stay,” she managed to growl. “I’ll be out in a month.”

Rayleen laughed. “Oh, big words. We’ll see. For now, just don’t knock out any walls or leave a window open when it rains. No smoking. No pets. The key’s in the cash register. Jenny over there will give it to you.”

“Thank you,” Grace managed one more time. The words tasted just as bitter the second time around, and she wished she had the money to spare for a beer as she approached the bar. Wished her life was as simple as sitting down and washing the day away with a cold one. Better yet, a double of whiskey. God, yes.

“Hi, again,” the bartender offered.

Grace made herself smile back. This woman gave off a good vibe. She probably made a lot of money as a bartender. It was a skill. Grace knew that because she’d tried her hand at it and failed. People just didn’t like her. But this woman… She was comforting. “Are you Jenny?”

“I am.”

“Rayleen told me to ask you for a key to apartment A?”

“You?” Jenny asked. Her eyes nearly disappeared when she laughed. “You’ll be quite a change.”

“Do I need to check the place for hidden cameras?” she asked, only half joking.

“You’re probably safe. She just likes to collect them, I think, not spy on them. Nothing too creepy.” Jenny hit a button on the register and the drawer popped open.

“It seems plenty creepy,” Grace muttered.

“She’s pretty harmless. They like to come over here and tease her, but she calls them puppies and tells them to leave her the hell alone.” Jenny held out the key and dropped it into Grace’s hand. “Welcome to Jackson.”

“Thank you.” That was it. No paperwork. No contracts or legal indemnification. “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?”

“Summer’s a little tight and we’re getting to the end of it. What do you do?”

Grace shrugged. “Waitressing. Busing tables. I’ve done some cleaning.”

“Anything else? You look like a woman who might have other skills.”

For a moment, Grace’s blood froze. What did that mean? Other skills? Stripping? Turning tricks? She knew she looked a little harder than people in Wyoming, but she hadn’t expected to be confronted with the same shit she’d lived with on the streets of L.A.

“Have you worked in clothing stores?” Jenny continued, as friendly as before.

Grace blinked. Is that what she’d meant? Something so innocuous? “Uh, sure. I worked in a vintage place when I was young. And I do makeup.”

“Makeup?”

“I work as a makeup artist. In L.A.”

“Oh.” Jenny’s eyes widened. “That’s really cool.”

“But not very useful in Wyoming.”

“Maybe, but it’s got to pay better than waitressing in a tourist town.”

“That depends,” Grace said.

“On what?”

“On whether you can avoid pissing off the fifty different people on a movie set who can get you fired.”

Jenny laughed. “Well, maybe you should go see Eve Hill. She’s a photographer and she’s pretty nice. She might have work for you.”

Grace made an effort not to look doubtful, but she’d almost rather be a waitress than do bridal makeup for wedding shoots. “What kind of photography?” she asked warily.

“I’m not sure. She does some landscape stuff on her own. Sells it in town here, but she does other things, too. Photo shoots for magazines.”

“Here?”

The doubt must’ve been showing clearly now, because Jenny shook her head and offered a look of friendly patience. “We might be in the middle of nowhere, but there’s money here. Lots of money and lots of those people you know from L.A. They like to come and ski and play dress-up, and they like to have a reason to be here. Film shoots and fashion campaigns provide that.”

“Right. Yeah. Okay, I’ll look her up.”

“Do that. And if that doesn’t work out, I’ll let you know the good places to be a server here, and the places you want to avoid.”

“Thank you so much.”

Jenny winked with the natural friendliness of a really great bartender, then moved on to serve the two men who’d just pulled up to the bar.

“Eve Hill,” Grace murmured. It probably wouldn’t work out. The woman likely had no need for a makeup artist. But if there was any chance Grace could avoid working tables again, she’d suck up her pride. Maybe she’d even volunteer for bride duty. After all, there was a common denominator among all these people Grace wasn’t very good with. Customers, bosses, lovers, brides. The common denominator was Grace. She was the problem.

She clutched the key tight in her hand and walked out of the bar without meeting the eyes of any of the patrons.

People didn’t like her.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She had friends. She even had really good friends, like Merry Kade, who’d been her best friend for ten years. So some people liked her. Just not the ones who controlled her pay. Although up until a few months ago, that hadn’t been a problem. She was good enough with makeup that she didn’t have to kiss butt to keep her job. She’d done just fine. She hadn’t had to ask anyone for help.

But that was before.

It didn’t matter. She’d asked for help this time, hadn’t she? And she hated it. She hated it like she’d never hated anything else. Somehow it was worse than the time she’d spent on the streets as a kid, accepting food from soup kitchens and charities. It was worse than crashing on a friend’s couch for a few days, because she could say she’d done the same for them at some point. This was out-and-out asking for help, and it stung.

But it was better than going to jail.

She stood in front of the pretty blue house and opened up her fist. Her skin showed the exact shape of the key. Every ridge and angle pressed red into her palm.

“Just a few weeks,” she whispered. “Just a month.” And if she didn’t like the feeling of begging for scraps, then she’d better get used to the idea of keeping her mouth shut around people who controlled her paycheck. Because it was one or the other, and she’d be damned if she’d ever ask for charity again.

CHAPTER THREE

COLE GLARED AT THE TOP of his physical therapist’s head, cursing her for an ogre and a devil and a nasty, power-abusing son of a bitch. Farrah looked up and smiled. “You doing okay, Cole?” She pressed his knee tighter to his ribs, resting all her weight against it. Not much heft considering she had the size and appearance of a benevolent fairy. Just another of her evil tricks.

“I’m great,” he ground out between clenched teeth.

“Easy says you’re bugging the tar out of him again.”

“I need to get back to work.”

“You want this to heal right or not?” She finally released his knee, but his hip joint screamed as she slowly lowered his leg to the ground.

“It’s healing fine,” he said.

Her eyes slid away. “You’re strong and healthy. You were in excellent shape before the accident, but there’s still a chance…”

“Sure.”

“When are you going back to the orthopedist?”

“Two weeks.”

“Okay.” She stood up, dusting her hands as if Cole were a pet project. “I bet a new CT scan will have more answers. But I can definitely tell you’ve been doing the exercises.”

He stood and stretched his back. “Thanks for coming by this morning. I know you don’t have to do that.”

“You’re a special case.” She rolled her eyes, but then smiled brightly. “Really, Cole. I want to help you get back in the saddle as much as Easy does.”

“Oh, yeah? Your uncle isn’t offering much help.”

“You mean he’s following doctor’s orders because you won’t?”

“Jesus, I haven’t ridden, have I?” Cole grimaced as he realized he’d snapped at this girl who was like a little cousin to him. “Sorry, Farrah.”

“Please. You wouldn’t believe the things I hear from my clients. Combinations of words that I shouldn’t even know.” She grabbed her bag. “Take a hot shower. Loosen everything up. And you’re making progress.”

“Sure,” he murmured as he gave her a farewell hug and let her out the door.

He was doing great. Of course he was. Despite what the experts were saying, he was sure he’d be fine.

As fine as could be expected for a cowboy who might never ride again.

Cole shook his head and ran a hand over his sore thigh. He’d be okay. The doctors were hopeful. The shattered femur was healing and the pelvic fracture would mend. Just in time for him to get back out there to round up the stock for fall.

It would be his last roundup for Easy. Oh, he loved Easy like a father, but Cole was ready to own his own ranch. And Easy was ready to sell. Next year, Cole would be rounding up his own cattle, and Easy would be sipping piña coladas on a Mexican beach.

Chuckling at the thought of Easy relaxing on a beach in his Stetson, Cole headed for the shower.

He made the water as hot as he could stand it, hoping no one else in the building had put too much of a strain on the water heater. One of these days he’d do his exercises, take a hot shower and suddenly feel good. Great. Back to normal. He knew it. But for now, the ache hadn’t left. Sometimes it faded to something bearable. Sometimes it swelled into a giant thumping heart in his thigh. The pain was normal, his doctors said. Nothing to be concerned about.

Half an hour later, the ache beaten back to a dull roar, Cole found himself sipping his morning coffee and staring at his door again, waiting for some sign of life from the apartment across the hall.

He hadn’t seen her since he’d watched her talk to Rayleen at the saloon. Grace hadn’t even noticed him over in the alcove that housed the pool tables. He’d been half irritated by that, and half thankful that he’d gotten the chance to watch her openly.

She was a small woman, with delicate bones, but she held her body as though she was coiled to flee at any moment. Or pounce, maybe. He hoped it was the latter.

But as intriguing as she was, she seemed to have disappeared. He hadn’t heard her even once, and they shared a common wall along the hall and bathroom. Jackson was pretty quiet at night, and he’d often heard his previous neighbor moving around, but Grace was silent as a mouse.

Of course, the previous tenant was a drunken college dropout whose number one hobby had been juggling three different girlfriends. At least it had given Cole a soap opera to listen to on sleepless nights.

But where was his new neighbor?

Maybe the deal had fallen through. Maybe Old Rayleen had somehow been under the impression that she was renting the place to a hot nephew. Though… Cole shook his head at the wrongness of that thought.

The old woman was harmless. Eccentric, but harmless. Even the jokes in town meant nothing, which was why everyone thought they were funny. Obviously nothing was going on between Rayleen and her young renters, but with the house being part of the old Studd homestead, the jokes were too easy. Too damn perfect.

And she really never did seem to rent to women.

Cole heard a car door close outside and cocked his head, waiting to see if it was Grace returning from… Where? A boyfriend’s house? A very, very late night with a new acquaintance? He found himself slightly irritated at the thought, and couldn’t help but smile at his own stupidity. That woman was all passion and attitude. If she wanted to sleep with a different guy every night, she damn sure would, and there’d be no apologies either. He’d be a fool to let it get to him.

Raising his cup to his lips, he realized it was empty. He wanted to have another one, but somehow one cup of coffee made his leg feel better and two made it feel worse. And it was already primed for feeling sore as hell today, between working the day before and physical therapy this morning.

Even during the worst of it, just after surgery, he hadn’t been expecting that. That the pain would be so overwhelming. That the injury might be so bad he’d never ride again. He’d been on a horse since he was three. It felt more natural to him than walking. And now, now it felt as though his muscles couldn’t quite remember the way to walk naturally, much less direct a horse with the barest of tension. But his muscles weren’t really the problem. The problem was the crack that went from his hip joint and halfway up his pelvis. With the shattered femur and the metal holding all that together…

“We’re going to have to see,” they’d said. “You could do permanent damage in a saddle.”

But Cole couldn’t accept that. He didn’t know how to accept it.

He’d been completely out of work for eight months, and he’d been cleared to work half days only a month before. But for a cowboy, a half day should’ve been eight hours, with no such thing as a weekend. Cole didn’t know what the hell to do with himself.

It was worse now that he was up and around. He was at the ranch most days, watching his old friends do the things he couldn’t do. Cole was relegated to the yard and corrals, limping from job to job until Easy told him his four hours were up and he had to leave.

Four hours a day, five days a week. It was shameful. And how was he supposed to be ready for the roundup when he wasn’t allowed to push himself?

He wasn’t supposed to go in today, but if he snuck into the tack house and worked a few hours on repairs while everyone else was out checking cattle, he could sneak out before lunchtime. Hell, Easy wouldn’t know anything about it. Cole wouldn’t get paid, but this wasn’t about the money. It was about being where he belonged, doing something useful. And getting his body ready to get back to work full-time.

The front door hadn’t opened yet, so Cole assumed the car had been stopping at another house. Which still left the mystery of his new next-door neighbor. He eyed the coffeepot, then the clock. He still had two hours to waste before he could safely sneak onto the ranch.

So, what the hell? A little curiosity never hurt anyone.

He laughed at that. Curiosity had nearly ruined him once. But he’d been a boy then. Stupid and easily controlled by his sense of adventure. And his dick. One and the same, sometimes, and not exactly a moot point when it came to curiosity either.

After all, Grace was beautiful.

Well, not beautiful. That wasn’t the word. Not pretty either. Or cute. Not with that wild, choppy hair in chunks of brown and black and purple. And those dark eyes that looked like they absorbed everything and let nothing show through. And her pale, flawless skin. She wasn’t pretty—she was striking. Like a kick to the gut. And he hadn’t felt that since…

Hell, he hadn’t felt that since he was an idiot boy getting his first taste of a girl from the big city. So maybe he hadn’t grown up so much after all.

But regardless of where she was from, this wasn’t L.A. and he wasn’t signing up for a life of debauchery. He was just checking on a neighbor.

So, Cole stood up—purposefully not pressing a hand to his thigh as it screamed—and walked out to knock on her door.

The silence that followed wasn’t a good sign. Eight o’clock was late by his standards, but too early for a girl like her, maybe. But the more likely truth was that she wasn’t there. She’d disappeared as quickly as she’d shown up. Seemed about right. Rayleen had sent Grace on her way. Those two would probably get along like a couple of feral cats.

Convinced that the place was just as empty as it had been two days before, Cole started to leave, only to swing back around when a muffled voice interrupted the silence. “Who is it?”

“It’s Cole,” he said, a smile springing so quickly to his face that it startled him. When she didn’t respond, he added, “Your neighbor.”

The door opened. Not all the way, of course, just enough to reveal Grace standing there glaring at him.

“Good morning,” he offered, his eyes dipping to take her in. She was dressed in jeans and a black hoodie, but her feet were bare, aside from the deep blue polish on her toenails.

“Somebody painted over the peephole,” she muttered, running a hand through her crazy hair. It stood up in wild layers that somehow made her look younger. Or maybe that was the faded, smeared makeup. But he noticed that her lips were still a deep pink color, even first thing in the morning. That wasn’t lipstick. That was just the sweet shade of her mouth.

“The what?” he finally remembered to ask.

“The peephole,” she gestured at the door.

“Oh.” He looked over his shoulder at his own door. “I guess I never noticed.”

“I guess you wouldn’t. Did you need something?”

“No. I just wanted to check on you.”

“Me?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Well, we’re neighbors. And I hadn’t heard so much as a door shut since I saw you yesterday. I thought maybe Old Rayleen had sent you on your way.”

She started to shake her head, and then seemed to be caught by surprise by a huge yawn. Her hand clutched the edge of the door and swung it farther open. The place looked the same as yesterday. Not one piece of furniture or sign of life. The kitchen was dark and quiet.

Cole was craning his neck to look around her when Grace seemed to realize what he was doing and narrowed the opening. But he’d seen enough. None of her stuff was here yet.

“Want a cup of coffee?”

For a second, her dark, fathomless eyes flared with emotion. Something close to lust.

“It’s already brewed,” he coaxed.

“Mmm.” She glanced toward his door, and he knew she was hoping he’d offer to bring her a cup and leave her alone. Fat chance.

“Come on. We can leave my front door open, since I make you nervous.”

“Ha!” Her laugh was rusty and gorgeous. “Why would you make me nervous?”

Cole wasn’t sure he liked the emphasis she’d put on you, but he just smiled. “No idea. But I obviously do.”

“That’s not nervousness, cowboy. It’s called being smart enough not to get behind closed doors with a strange man.”

“Strange, huh? I hope you haven’t been listening to the stories about me. Half of them aren’t even true.”

“You wouldn’t know strange if it bit you on the ass,” she said, but she waved him back and stepped into the hall with a small smile. “Are you going to give me coffee or not?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, tipping an imaginary hat before he moved across the hall to open his door. “I was just about to have breakfast,” he lied. He’d eaten almost two hours before, but she didn’t seem to have done much shopping yet. “Will you eat bacon and eggs? If you’re a vegetarian, I can whip up some toast.”

She didn’t answer for a few seconds. Cole heard her close the door softly as he headed for the coffeepot.

“Bacon and eggs would be great,” she finally said. “And toast, too, if you’re offering.”

“Sure.” He poured her coffee and refilled his own cup. What the hell. A little aching in his thigh was worth spending some time with her. He didn’t have anything else interesting going on. And it wouldn’t be the first time he’d endured aching for an attractive woman.

Cole put sugar and milk out on the counter, tossed a pan on a burner and grabbed the bacon and eggs. He felt her gaze on his back as he worked. “Over easy okay?” he asked as he laid bacon on the cast iron.

“Great,” she answered. “You look like you know what you’re doing.”

He glanced back to find her seated on a stool, hunched over her coffee as if she was cold. Mornings were chilly up here if you weren’t from the mountains. He reached past the fridge to turn up the thermostat. “We all take turns cooking in the bunkhouse.”

“Oh, the bunkhouse,” she said, making the word sound mysterious. There was nothing mysterious about it, unless you thought cooking and sleeping in what was essentially a live-in locker room was mysterious.

“So what are you doing here?” she asked. “Did you get tired of bunkhouse living?”

Hell, yeah, he was tired of bunkhouse living, but that hadn’t been the problem. As a matter of fact, he’d become ranch boss and moved into the boss’s house less than a year before.

Cole finished frying the bacon, then set it on a plate and covered it before breaking the eggs into the hot grease. “I was hurt last year,” he finally said.

“What happened?”

“A horse landed on my leg.”

“Ow.”

“Yeah.” He wanted to reach down and rub his leg, but he concentrated on the eggs instead.

“So they made you move out?”

The whole complicated story loomed before him. Cole rolled his shoulders. “There’s not enough room for guys who aren’t working, so, yeah. But I’m getting back to work now. I won’t be here much longer.”

“Me either.”

He put bread in the toaster. “You just got here.”

“I’m passing through.”

Cole blinked at that, tension tightening his shoulders, but he tried not to let it show. “Who could’ve guessed you didn’t want to settle in Wyoming?”

One of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. “You telling me I don’t look like a Wyoming girl?”

“You know damn well you don’t look like a Wyoming girl. And that’s the way you like it.”

Now both eyebrows rose as if she was surprised. Cole piled two plates high with eggs and bacon and toast. He slid the plates across the counter, added forks and knives and paper towels, and joined her at the barstools to find out exactly who she was.