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Close Enough to Touch
Victoria Dahl
For makeup artist Grace Barrett, Hollywood isn't the land of golden opportunity.
It's the land of difficult divas, cheating boyfriends and unemployment. So when her great-aunt offers her a free place to stay in Jackson Hole, Grace thinks she'll spend a little time in the sticks to figure out her life, and then move somewhere exciting to live out her dreams. But it turns out that there are a few more thrills in this small town than Grace was expecting.
Cole Rawlins is a rugged Wyoming cowboy born and bred. Yet he can't help but be drawn to the fascinating big-city girl who moves in across from him. He wants to get close enough to Grace to see past her tough facade, but if he does, she might see the real Cole.
The one with a Hollywood history gone bad. As they discover a sizzling attraction, it becomes harder for him to keep his demons at bayand those fires from long ago may burn them both. They'll need more than scorching-hot passion to make this opposites-attract affair work. But if they can learn to trust one another enough to reveal their secrets, they just might have a chance at forever.


Can a city girl make it in the wild, wild West?
For makeup artist Grace Barrett, Hollywood isn’t the land of golden opportunity. It’s the land of difficult divas, cheating boyfriends and unemployment. So when her great-aunt offers her a free place to stay in Jackson Hole, Grace thinks she’ll spend a little time in the sticks to figure out her life, and then move somewhere exciting to live out her dreams. But it turns out that there are a few more thrills in this small town than Grace was expecting....
Cole Rawlins is a rugged Wyoming cowboy born and bred. Yet he can’t help but be drawn to the fascinating big-city girl who moves in across from him. He wants to get close enough to Grace to see past her tough facade, but if he does, she might see the real Cole. The one with a Hollywood history gone bad. As they discover a sizzling attraction, it becomes harder for him to keep his demons at bay—and those fires from long ago may burn them both.
They’ll need more than scorching-hot passion to make this opposites-attract affair work. But if they can learn to trust one another enough to reveal their secrets, they just might have a chance at forever.
Praise for the novels of
USA TODAY bestselling author
Victoria Dahl
“This is one hot romance.”
—RT Book Reviews on Good Girls Don’t
“A hot and funny story about a woman many of us can relate to.”
—Salon.com on Crazy for Love
“Lead Me On will have you begging for a reread even as the story ends.”
—Romance Junkies
“[A] hands-down winner, a sensual story filled with memorable characters.”
—Booklist on Start Me Up
“Dahl has spun a scorching tale about what can happen in the blink of an eye and what we can do to change our lives.”
—RT Book Reviews on Start Me Up
“Dahl smartly wraps up a winning tale full of endearing oddballs, light mystery and plenty of innuendo and passion.”
—Publishers Weekly on Talk Me Down
“Sassy and smokingly sexy, Talk Me Down is one delicious joyride of a book.”
—New York Times bestselling author Connie Brockway
“Sparkling, special and oh so sexy—Victoria Dahl is a special treat!”
—New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips on Talk Me Down

Close Enough to Touch
Victoria Dahl

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
This one is for Jodi.
Thanks for keeping me company and making me laugh.
Contents
Chapter One (#u211b255a-e060-55b2-9902-d76643591981)
Chapter Two (#ud6362ce2-2a5d-5b98-b997-0f66ba9f6eb0)
Chapter Three (#u20e3bef9-335c-5011-911d-1f0021611221)
Chapter Four (#uafbd2fd4-349b-536e-834f-ae58ab7fe712)
Chapter Five (#ud0acc8aa-096c-5af9-963c-ef9b9caa4d4e)
Chapter Six (#uaec7aa44-3c44-505e-bb79-cc6c956b975a)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
THIS MADE IT OFFICIAL: Grace Barrett’s life was over. Or, at the very least, it was so irrevocably screwed up that a quick death would be a blessing at this point.
She was twenty-eight, in debt to an angry ex-boyfriend, she had exactly $37.40, and she was here.
In Wyoming.
Well, she’d been in Wyoming for hours, actually. Hours of endless beige hills and barren mountains. Hours of cows. And sheep. And some strange creature she’d thought was a deer until she’d gotten a better look. Deer didn’t look as if they had exotic black masks painted on their little faces. What the heck were those things?
Grace shuddered a little as she stepped out of the bus. Her feet touched the ground and there was no taking it back now. She really was in Wyoming. She was standing on it.
“Damn,” she muttered.
The elderly man in front of her turned with a concerned smile. “Sorry, ma’am?”
Grace crossed her arms in defense. “Sorry about that. I was just…”
He smiled and put a hand to his balding head as if he meant to tip a hat. “Beg pardon.”
No one had ever begged her pardon before. Grace crossed her arms more tightly, unsure how to handle this situation. Thankfully, the man moved away before she was forced to respond.
Grace glanced warily around. After her years in L.A., she knew to keep her guard up against anyone who approached her on the street, no matter how kind and polite the people here might seem. Nobody did, so she edged toward the driver as he unlocked the luggage compartments of the bus. She was used to being alone, but she’d been surrounded by people on this bus for nearly two days. She felt almost panicked with the need to be free.
The driver began unloading the bags, laying them out in neat rows. Grace kept a sharp eye on his hands, waiting for her ancient camouflage duffel bag to appear.
No one else seemed to be watching as closely. The other passengers were hugging friends and family or idly chatting with each other as their eyes traveled along the horizon. She spared only the barest of glances toward the view of the mountains. Someone could walk up and grab a bag and be gone before anybody even noticed.
These folks were obviously not from L.A. Or…maybe their bags didn’t contain every ridiculous, precious thing in the world that belonged to them. Maybe their bags were just filled with dirty clothes and cheap souvenirs from a beach vacation. But when Grace’s bag appeared and was set on the ground, she jumped forward and dragged it away like a feral animal with a piece of precious meat. It was nearly too heavy for her to lift, but she’d have to find a way. She had no car, no spare money for a taxi—if they had such things here—and she hadn’t told her great-aunt when she’d be arriving. So she was hoofing it.
“Hoofing it,” she breathed, managing a laugh as she glanced around to see if there were any cows standing next to her. Unlike the rest of Wyoming, the town of Jackson seemed to be blessedly cow-free. It was also slightly larger than she’d expected, dashing her hope that she could simply wander down the main street until she spotted the address she was looking for. She’d have to ask for help. The idea made her grimace as she took a deep breath and looked around. Maybe she could just find a free map.
“Bingo,” she muttered as her eye fell on a big sign that spelled out Jackson Hole Information! in old-timey wooden letters. Grace had lived in Hollywood a long time. If there was one thing she knew, it was how to work a tourist trap.
She dragged her bag across the asphalt and onto the wooden…sidewalk? Grace blinked and looked down the street, then turned to look in the other direction. Yes, as far as the eye could see, the sidewalks were wooden, like an Old West town.
“Wow,” she muttered. These people were really trying hard, even if she had to admit that it was cute. Shaking her head, she pulled her bag down the sidewalk until she got to the brochure stand.
“Do you have a free map of the area?” she asked the matronly woman who’d turned away to straighten papers.
“Oh, hello!” the woman called as she spun around. “Good afternoon!”
“Hi. Um. I just need a map of the town. Something simple.”
The woman’s eyes flicked up to Grace’s hair for a moment, and Grace wondered what she must think of a purple-haired girl in combat boots asking about Jackson, but the woman’s smile didn’t waver. “Well, I won’t lie. There are a lot of choices. Here’s the official town map.” She laid out a folded brochure. “But—and don’t tell anyone I said this—I actually like the one the restaurant association puts out a little better.”
“Thanks.” Grace took both the brochures and opened the one the woman had recommended.
“What are you looking for, sweetheart?”
Sweetheart? Grace glanced down at her T-shirt. Yep. It still advertised an old L.A. burlesque club. “Just a street,” she said softly, hoping not to invite more questions.
“Which street?”
Grace cleared her throat and shifted, her gaze desperately boring into the map, hoping she could just find it herself. “Um, Sagebrush.”
“Sagebrush. That’s a long one. What’s the address?” The woman’s pink fingernail pointed toward the map, but it moved before Grace could register which street she was pointing to.
“Six-O-five West Sagebrush,” she said, sighing.
“Oh, that’s way over here!” The woman pointed again, and this time Grace saw it. A long line that meandered all the way through town and then followed the curve of a stream before it ended. It looked like quite a haul.
“Thank you,” Grace said. She folded the map and hefted her bag up, biting back a grunt as she worked the strap over her shoulder. “This way?” She tilted her head in the direction she thought she needed to go. She’d always been pretty good with that sort of thing.
“Yep!”
Grace took a deep breath and started walking. Her boots clomped on the wood.
“Oh, honey!”
Grace pretended she didn’t hear.
“Sweetie, stop! You can’t walk all that way.”
“I’m fine,” she called.
“But there’s a free bus!”
Her boots stopped clomping. “Free?”
“Totally free. In fact, it’ll stop right here in a few minutes. Comes every half hour.”
Grace turned back and eyed the woman suspiciously. “Will I have to go tour a new condo complex or something?”
“What? Oh, heavens no. It’s the town bus. It’ll stop just a few blocks from where you’re going. Six-O-five West Sagebrush. That’s the Stud Farm, isn’t it?”
“The what?” She dropped the bag. She’d heard tales that her great-aunt was a crazy old lady, but… “What?”
“Oh, never mind me.” The woman laughed. “That’s just a silly local nickname.”
“For what?”
“The building.”
Just as Grace was opening her mouth to demand a real answer, a hiss of brakes sounded from the curb. The bus had arrived, and she didn’t have time to get more information. She hauled up her bag, wrestled it onto her shoulder and jogged for the bus. As promised, there didn’t seem to be a fee. The driver glanced at her impatiently, and she felt a small jolt of comfort at that. The bus might be free, but the driver was just as jaded as every bus driver in L.A.
Slightly less suspicious, Grace took a seat close to the front so she wouldn’t have to haul the bag any farther, then dug the map back out to see which intersection she was looking for.
A few blocks later, the wooden walkways were replaced with cement, and the two-story buildings with front porches became less common. By the time they reached the right intersection, they’d passed a strip mall and a big grocery store. She felt slightly less disoriented as she grabbed the bellpull and hauled her bag down the steps.
She didn’t dare stop and look around as the bus pulled away. Her shoulders were already aching and the bag wasn’t getting any lighter, so she set off down the side street with her head down. Sagebrush was only four blocks down. No problem.
By the time she reached the next street, she was gasping for air. “Good Lord,” she muttered, stopping to take a few deep breaths. It didn’t help. Altitude, she reminded herself, finally giving in and setting the bag down. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on oxygen, and without the weight of the bag, she was breathing normally within a few moments.
Had she really thought she was going to walk all the way from the bus station to the apartment? Laughing at the image of herself crawling down the street with the bag balanced on her back, Grace opened her eyes and took a deeper breath.
“Mmm,” she hummed. The air smelled…nice. Really nice. Crisp and fresh and clean. Maybe she could live with less oxygen. Just for a little while. It wasn’t like she was going to stay in this ridiculous little town.
It was cute, though. The Old West part of town had morphed into a slightly Victorian feel. Little gingerbread houses, separated by the occasional 1960s ranch house. Grace had never lived in a small town before. Maybe it would be okay, temporarily.
As if to show her just how wrong she was, the jingle of a bike bell interrupted her thoughts. A bicycle passed by. An honest-to-goodness bicycle built for two. Both riders waved as they rode away. Grace grimaced at what looked like an advertisement for happiness. This town was going to rub her own misery in her face.
Once the bike had passed, she lifted the bag and trudged on. Another bike appeared, this one with only one rider, but with an old-fashioned bike horn that the rider honked before he waved. Yeah, L.A. was bad enough with all the sunshine, but this town was just too much.
Vancouver would be better, hopefully. There was a big enough movie industry there. She had a job waiting for her if she could get there in six weeks. And if she did a good job, maybe she could get steady work as a makeup artist up there where nobody knew she was difficult to work with. Difficult, as in she wouldn’t put up with handsy actors or abusive bosses. That seemed totally reasonable to her, but in L.A., ass kissing was a way of life.
Grace turned onto Sagebrush and started watching the addresses.
When she finally spotted number 605, she was pleasantly surprised. The Victorian building didn’t look like it had anything to do with a farm. Or studs. It wasn’t the prettiest house on the block, but the paint was fresh and bright royal-blue. The trim around the windows and the porch was vivid white. The place looked perfectly respectable.
Then her eyes slid to the building next door.
The saloon next door.
She knew it was a saloon because of the wide plank of wood over the door that screamed SALOON in big black letters. Barstools lined the ancient porch and, unlike the building Grace was standing in front of, this place looked as though it hadn’t been painted since 1902. In fact, it looked like a barn that hadn’t been painted since 1902. She was pretty sure that was some sort of hayloft door near the roof.
Grace’s shoulders were protesting the delay, so she adjusted the bag’s strap and walked up the sidewalk to the house. As soon as she stepped in, she saw two doors marked A and B. The only other possible route was a wide staircase that led to the second floor. Grace dropped the bag and dug out the letter from her great-aunt, praying that her apartment was on the ground floor. She wasn’t sure she could make it up the stairs without passing out.
“Apartment A,” she breathed. “Thank God.”
She was reaching for the door when she realized the mistake and paused. She didn’t have a key. And—she looked at the letter again—her aunt hadn’t given a phone number.
Feeling stupid for even trying, she reached for the knob and tested it. It didn’t budge, of course. Who would leave a vacant apartment unlocked?
“Crap.”
Grace stood on her tiptoes and ran her fingers above the door frame. Nothing.
“Shit.”
When she looked down, she saw that her black boots were planted right in the middle of a doormat that said Howdy! inside a circled lasso. Her last hope was this rectangle of Western kitsch. Holding her breath, she stepped off and picked it up. Nothing.
“Damn it,” she groaned, letting her lungs empty on a growl of frustration as she glared down at the envelope in her hand. Her aunt’s return address was a P.O. box. She’d communicated only via letter to the friend’s address that Grace had used for return mail. And Grandma Rose never answered her cell phone.
On the off chance that it was the one time of day that her grandmother turned her cell on to check messages, Grace pulled out her crappy pay-as-you-go phone and dialed Grandma’s number. A few seconds later, Grace heard the beep of the voice-mail message starting, and her heart dropped. However Grandma eventually went, it wasn’t going to be from “radio wave brain cancer,” at least according to her.
Grace looked back to the letter in her hand, feeling hopeless. What was she going to do? Wander around town asking everyone if they knew her aunt? She’d been on a bus for two days. She’d thought she was about to get a break. Just a few hours to rest and let her guard down.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” She hauled back one boot and kicked her bag as hard as she could. It wasn’t hard enough. She pulled back her foot to do it again. The bag held everything she owned in the world, but right now, that seemed like the perfect reason to kick it. This was her life. Right here. Her whole crappy life in this beat-up, dirty camouflage bag.
“Damn it!” she screamed one more time as she kicked it hard enough to slide it six inches across the floor.
“That bag must’ve done something really shitty to get a little thing like you all riled up.”
Grace stomped her foot onto the floor and spun to face the low drawl, her heart slamming into a crazed beat. A man stood in the doorway of the other apartment. He leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed and mouth turned up in an amused smile.
“Excuse me?” she snapped.
“Just wondering why you’re kicking the tar out of that bag, darlin’.”
“First of all, I’m not your darlin’. Second, it’s none of your business.”
His smile widened, revealing dimples in his tanned face. His tanned, granite-jawed, handsome face. “Really? None of my business? When a crazed banshee of a woman stands on my doorstep cursing her heart out on a beautiful Friday afternoon? Tends to pique my interest.”
“It’s my doorstep,” she corrected, hoping she was right. Hoping her aunt hadn’t decided to lease the apartment to somebody else in the week since she’d written.
His eyebrows shot up, and the man pushed up to his full height. “Your doorstep? Are you sure?”
Grace went for bravado and snorted. “Of course I’m sure.”
He shrugged one wide shoulder, and Grace was suddenly very aware that his plaid button-down shirt wasn’t actually buttoned down. It looked as though he’d just shrugged it on to come investigate the commotion in the hall, and when he moved, a long strip of skin showed from his neck all the way down to his waist. And then there were his jeans and the affectionate way they clung to strong thighs.
The Stud Farm, she suddenly remembered. What kind of place was this?
She shook off her thoughts. The man was wearing cowboy boots, for godssake. He was wholesome and homey. His thighs were none of her concern. But the sight of his boots reminded her that she was in Wyoming, which reminded her why she was in Wyoming and what a mess she’d made of her life. “Anyway,” she said with a scowl, “still none of your business.”
She grabbed the handle of her duffel bag and pulled it up with shaky arms. She couldn’t leave her bag here, but she didn’t know what she was going to do with it. She didn’t know what she was going to do with herself.
A surge of anger gave her the strength to bounce the bag higher in her grip, but she wasn’t going to make it to the curb, much less walk to… Where, exactly?
“Let me get that.” A large hand closed over the handle and lifted the weight from her grasp.
“Hey—” she started, but he’d already transferred the bag to his possession. He held it with one hand as if it were a pocketbook. Even more skin showed past his shirt now. Skin and muscle and golden hair.
While she was staring, he reached past her and opened the door.
He just…opened the door.
“What the hell?” she bit out.
He shot her a puzzled look. “You did say it was your place, right?”
“Yes, but…” She felt like smoke was about to come out her ears, and wanted to snatch her bag away and tell him to get lost. But her arms were so tired. “The door was locked,” she said past clenched teeth.
“It sticks a little. You have to pull back on it before you turn the knob.”
“So it was just open? Unlocked?”
“Nothing to steal here,” he said, gesturing with his free hand. “Where do you want this?”
Where, indeed? Now that they were inside, the apartment looked like an old converted place she’d once rented in L.A. White walls, scuffed wooden floors, a nondescript kitchen. But with little touches from the past, like a fireplace and built-in bookshelves. And not one single piece of furniture.
Somehow that hadn’t occurred to her.
“Right there is fine,” she murmured. “Thanks.” It didn’t really matter, after all. Living room, bedroom. They were equally empty rooms to her.
“Here?” the guy asked doubtfully.
“Yes, there. Thank you. I appreciate the help.”
“Yeah?” He smiled wide enough to show his dimples again. “Then why did you look like those words hurt coming out?”
She tried frowning at him, but he just stuck out his hand.
“I’m Cole, by the way. Cole Rawlins.”
“Grace Barrett,” she said. His wide hand engulfed hers, and though he didn’t squeeze hard, there was no mistaking the strength in those rugged hands. His calluses rasped against her fingers.
“Grace,” he murmured, his gaze rising momentarily to her hair.
“Yes. Grace.” She enjoyed the contradiction of her traditional, gentle name and her physical appearance.
This man recovered more quickly than most. “A pleasure,” he said simply. Then added, “Grace.”
She pulled her hand away at the intimacy of hearing him say her name as if it truly were a pleasure.
Cowboy freak. Though her hand tingled and she tried not to smile.
“You’re not from around here.” The understatement of the year.
“Look, I really do appreciate the help, but I need to find my aunt, so…” Give me some space?
He didn’t seem to hear that last, unspoken part of the conversation. “Your aunt?”
“I’m renting the apartment from her.”
“Wait a minute. Old Rayleen is your aunt?”
“My great-aunt, actually.”
“Ah. I get it, then.”
“Get what?” she asked.
“Why she’d rent this place to you.”
Grace straightened her shoulders and scowled. “Why exactly wouldn’t she rent this place to me, huh? Real nice, cowboy.”
She assumed he would stammer and shift and try to find some excuse, when what he really meant was that she didn’t look like a girl who belonged here. But instead of clearing his throat or changing the subject, he just grinned again.
“Let’s just say you’re a little smaller than the other renters here.”
Grace glanced around as if those other renters had just joined them. “I thought you Wyoming folk were supposed to be plainspoken. How about you try saying what you mean?”
“Talk about plainspoken. They don’t make ’em timid where you come from, do they? All right, here’s the deal. Your aunt has a reputation for renting only to men. Says that they’re easier to deal with.” The wry tone of his voice implied something different.
“Uh, is there something going on here I should know about?” When she shot an obvious look down his body, his eyes widened in horror.
“No! Absolutely not. But, hey, if she likes my face enough to give me a hundred-dollar discount on rent, I won’t argue with her. But that’s the extent of her quirkiness. I swear.”
Even the most cynical person could tell he was offering the truth. And his face? Hell, that was enough to inspire generosity. It was lovely in a very masculine way. A jaw like steel. Strong nose. And blue eyes that crinkled with warmth fairly often, if the laugh lines were any indication. And his short brown hair had just enough wave to make it look unruly and disheveled. He was gorgeous, and his body called for further attention, too, but Grace kept her eyes on his face.
“Isn’t it illegal to rent only to men?”
“Beats me. But I guess she gets away with it.”
“Regardless,” she finally said, “I need to find my aunt. Get a key. Let her know I’m here.”
“Well, that’s easy. She’s probably next door.”
“At your place?”
“No! Come on. I meant next door at the saloon.”
“Is she a big drinker?”
“She runs the place,” he corrected. “And she’s a big drinker.”
“Got it. Thanks. I’ll just go see her then.” She was clearly implying he should leave. She even raised an impatient eyebrow and glanced toward the door. But Cole didn’t notice because he was pointedly looking around her apartment.
“You got some furniture coming?”
“Sure. Of course. Thanks for the help.”
He turned his grin on her again. “All right, then, Grace Barrett. Even cowboys can take a hint when you’re bashing them over the head with it. But let me know if you need any more help. I’m only a few feet away.”
“Great. Thanks.”
The sound of his boots on the wood floor of the apartment was softer than Grace would’ve expected, but his steps still echoed against the bare walls. If she were the kind of person who had ever planned to stay in one place more than six months, Grace knew what she would be thinking at this moment. I’ll need to find something to put on these walls. Or at the very least, she would’ve been painting them some warm and inviting color in her mind, and wondering where she could find some rugs. Instead, she just took pleasure in the fact that the white paint was still white and was marred by only a few nail holes.
At least she’d learned to appreciate the small things in life. And the big things, like the sound of the door closing behind Cole Rawlins as he finally left her alone.
“Whew,” Grace breathed, letting the air ease out of her lungs. The place felt a lot bigger without him taking up all her space.
Okay, maybe a little too big. But without him here, she could see the small ways that the apartment wasn’t quite like an old place in L.A. The beautiful, dark wood window frame hadn’t been painted over, and instead of miniblinds, there were white curtains. It also didn’t smell like roach spray.
She strolled over to the window and pulled aside the curtains. Here was another difference. Instead of a view of a parking lot or traffic or a million other apartments, Grace was looking at a huge pine tree. Past that, she had a view of the small street, and a green house with a yellow porch on the other side of it. A snowmobile sat in the open garage.
Grace crinkled her nose at the strangeness of the sight. That was something she’d never seen in L.A. Jet Skis, sure. But the snowmobile looked like a real machine. It looked dangerous and powerful, gleaming black and red in the sunlight. It looked…fun.
Too bad she’d be long gone by winter. She had to get to Vancouver in six weeks and make some money, or she was going to be in even bigger trouble than she was now. Way bigger.
* * *
COLE GRABBED A COKE and leaned against the kitchen counter, eyes on his front door. That had been a surprise. Opening his door to find a raging tornado of a city girl assaulting a stuffed duffel bag. Not at all what he’d expected during his quick run home to shower and grab a sandwich after his half day at the ranch.
The female voice in the hallway had caught his attention. The female herself, spewing curses and kicking things? Whew.
That girl was going to be trouble. If the purple layers in her dark, choppy hair didn’t make that clear, the hard glint in her eyes certainly did. He knew that look. He’d seen it before. And despite his image as the wholesome and friendly good ol’ cowboy, that look stirred something in him. It was like a dare. A challenge.
And he did love a challenge.
Speaking of… She’d basically pushed him out the door, claiming that she needed to find her aunt right away. But five minutes had passed and he still hadn’t heard her leave. Rude little witch. It seemed like she’d taken his attempts to help as some sort of insult.
He should’ve let her stand out in that hallway all afternoon, trying to figure out how to get into an open apartment.
Cole imagined her increasing anger and frustration. That look of hot rage he’d glimpsed when he’d opened his door to find out what the noise was about. She hadn’t even been embarrassed. She’d just glared at him as if he was intruding.
“Trouble,” he murmured as he finally gave up his vigil and stood. Shane was waiting at the saloon to grab a beer, and Cole had nothing to do until physical therapy the next day. He managed not to linger in the entryway, but only because he figured he might see her at the Crooked R soon.
He’d forgotten about this type of girl during the past decade. But he was remembering everything now. The way they made his heart beat faster. The way they seemed to dare him to act on his impulses. He’d once had a thing for dangerous city girls. And he’d ended up in a bad way because of it.
He shoved the thought away as he walked into the saloon and spotted Shane setting up a game of eight ball. “Hey,” he said as he grabbed a cue.
“Hey. When are you getting your lazy ass back to work?”
Despite the rude words, Cole noticed the look of concern that Shane shot him. He ignored it. “I’m part-time at the ranch now. It won’t be long.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely.”
Shane watched him for another long moment. “Good,” he finally said. “Because I want my first-floor apartment back.”
“The stairs too much for you, old man?”
“You’re one to talk.” He gestured toward the table. “You want to break?”
“Was that a joke about my leg?” Cole asked, but he was immediately distracted by the door of the saloon opening. The flash of daylight obscured the person, but as soon as it closed, he saw it was a blonde. No black-and-purple hair in sight.
“You ready to play?” Shane asked.
Yeah, he was ready to play, but he wasn’t thinking about pool. Instead he was thinking about his new neighbor.
“Hey, did you hear the news?”
Assuming Shane was talking about Grace, Cole just raised an eyebrow and leaned over the table to break.
“There’s a big film production coming to town.”
Cole forced himself to pull the cue back as if those words didn’t affect him. In fact, he managed to sink two balls with a perfect break.
“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.
* * *
THE MAN WAS SMARTER than he looked. She’d been trying to bait him, force him to say something that she’d find insulting. Instead he’d spoken the truth as if it were obvious to him. Grace wasn’t sure what to do with that.
“So how long are you staying?” he asked.
She took a bite of egg instead of answering his question. The flavor melted over her tongue and she hoped Cole didn’t hear the way her stomach growled at the sudden pleasure. “Wow. The eggs are amazing.”
“Bacon grease,” he said. “What are you doing out here? Working?”
Grace cleared her throat and told herself not to stuff the food into her mouth, but damn, she hadn’t had a real meal in days. On the bus, it had been granola bars and chips. She took a bite of bacon and spoke past it. “I already told you. I’m passing through.”
“On your way to where?”
“Vancouver.”
“Oh.” He smiled. “This is a strange route to Vancouver.”
She shrugged and made a point of changing the subject. “Thanks so much for breakfast. And coffee. The coffee’s great, too. Strong.”
She felt his gaze on her, but caught the movement of his head when he finally looked away. “You should try it after it’s been sitting at the edge of a campfire all day. That’ll wake you up.”
She was glad he’d given up the questions, because she wanted to grab her plate and run back to her place so she could shovel the food in the way she wanted to. If he pushed her anymore, that’s exactly what she’d do. But he dropped the subject, so she slathered too much butter on the toast and managed to get nearly a fourth of it into her mouth in one bite.
God, she’d been really hungry. Now she wanted to groan in pleasure. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. As a matter of fact, at this moment, Cole Rawlins was pretty awesome.
She didn’t register how many eggs were on her plate until she dug into the third one. “How many eggs did you make?” she asked.
“Four for you, four for me.”
She laughed. “Do I look like I eat as much as you do?”
“You look like you’re doing okay, actually.”
Grace laughed so hard she almost had to stop eating for a moment. “Didn’t I tell you I was a lumberjack back in L.A.?”
“Ah. Of course. You’ve got that look about you.”
Jesus, he was funny. A funny cowboy. Who’d have thunk it. She’d thought they were all silent and brooding. Hell, they’d all definitely been silent and brooding in Brokeback Mountain. But she tried not to think about that when she looked at Cole.
“So, you’re from L.A.”
“Unfortunately.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“Nothing right now.”
“Did—”
“I think I’m getting full,” she interrupted with an apologetic wince. “Want my last egg?”
“No, I’m full myself.” He reached for the plate, but Grace couldn’t quite bear to let it go, so she snatched the last piece of bacon before he could whisk it away. He put the plate back down. Full or not, her mouth still watered when she bit into the bacon. She tried not to think about how long it had been since her last hot meal. It didn’t matter. She’d get a job today. Or the next day. She’d have a check within a week. She’d start paying back the money she owed so she’d never have to think about her ex again.
“You want help moving in?” Cole asked.
“No, I’m fine.” Now that she was full, Grace really needed to escape. He kept asking the wrong kinds of questions. Not that there were any right questions. Not about her.
“Come on.”
“I don’t have much.” Or anything. “Anyway, you’re injured.”
“I think I can handle moving a futon.” He gestured as he said that, and Grace could see he was right. His hands were wide, and scars stood out white against the tan. And she was pretty sure she’d never seen such nice forearms. Assuming one thought thick and muscled and masculine was nice. She had a brief temptation to touch his arm, to see if the hair was crisp or soft.
“So you’ll let me help?” he pressed.
Shit. She hopped off the stool and edged toward the door, away from him and his questions. “I’m good. But thank you for the breakfast. And coffee.” She forced herself not to ask for another cup, but it was hard. She’d already taken too much from this man. “I’ll see you around.”
“Hey.”
She stopped halfway out the door, but only because he’d fed her. Anybody else and she would’ve kept walking. When he didn’t say anything, she stuck her head back in to see him writing something down.
“Here’s my phone number,” he said when he crossed the room.
She didn’t reach for it, feeling immediately wary. “You live across the hall. I think I can find you if I need you.”
“You know anybody here except Rayleen?”
She met his pale eyes and didn’t answer. Yes, I’m alone and vulnerable. Good for you to know.
“This isn’t L.A.” he said. “If you get stuck somewhere at night or your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, you might not see another car for an hour. So, take my number, all right?”
No, this definitely wasn’t L.A. And if he thought she was afraid of something like being alone for an hour, then he didn’t know what real fear was.
But he took one step closer and pressed the paper into her hand. When her fingers closed over it, he winked. “In case you need me,” he said again, this time with a hint of amusement.
Grace nodded. “All right. I’ll call you if I have any cows that need branding, stud.”
“Stud? My God, you L.A. women are forward. I think I’m blushing.”
She closed the door in his face, and scowled at his laughter as she crossed the hall.
Did he think she’d been flirting with him? He probably did think that. He was undeniably handsome, though totally not her type. Too clean-cut. Too chiseled and… Okay, he was pretty fantastic-looking, but too confident for his own good. He probably thought she’d add a little exotic city-girl spice to his bed. And he probably thought he’d have no trouble getting her there. But Grace wasn’t interested in being his little curiosity. Even if she had any interest in getting laid right now—and she didn’t—she wasn’t going to be his experiment in edginess. His walk on the wild side. He could just sit over there and wonder.
Wanting to get the coffee taste out of her mouth, Grace headed toward the bathroom, where she’d already unloaded her few supplies and one giant box of cosmetics. But when she flipped on the light and got a look at herself, she froze. She’d forgotten to take off her makeup last night, and it had smeared into a crooked mask around her eyes. She suddenly had to consider that Cole’s laughter hadn’t been flirtation at all. Maybe it had just been pure amusement.
Damn.
CHAPTER FOUR
GRACE WAS NERVOUS. She didn’t like being nervous. It made her grumpy and defensive, which wasn’t the best attitude for a job interview.
Not that this was exactly a job interview. She’d caught the bus to the other side of town and was now sitting in Eve Hill’s photography studio, waiting for her to finish reviewing proofs with someone. Or she assumed that was what was going on behind the closed door at the far side of the room. That’s what the sign on the front door had said. The low murmur of voices was a soothing sound, at least.
So far, so good. There were the obligatory bride portraits on a side wall, but for the most part, the pictures were a mix of landscape shots, publicity stills for businesses and some truly amazing fashion shoots that had been done with the mountains in the background and frost covering everything except the models.
This woman was good. Really good.
Grace smoothed down her tight black pants, wishing she’d had an iron. She’d hung her nicest clothes up in the bathroom and turned the shower to hot, but now she felt self-conscious about the slate-blue sweater. Maybe it was the wrong choice. It had been knitted to look ancient and torn apart and shot through with muted grays as if it had faded in the sun. Slightly risky for a job interview, but Grace was counting on the complex beauty of the wool to catch the photographer’s eye. The sweaters normally sold for three hundred dollars a pop at the upscale farmer’s market in La Jolla, but the knitter was a friend who’d given Grace one as a present. It was her favorite piece of clothing. Ever. But maybe it had been a mistake. Maybe in Wyoming a raggedy sweater was just a raggedy sweater that no one would pay two dollars for. Maybe it looked like something she’d pulled from the trash can behind an L.A. soup kitchen.
God. She should go home and change.
Grace stood up, but then froze without moving toward the door.
Change into what, exactly? The signed Dead Kennedys T-shirt she’d bought at a garage sale last year? The silk tunic with the hand-screened Vargas pinup girl that curved up the hip in vivid colors?
Actually, maybe. Maybe a photographer would appreciate Vargas. Or maybe she’d consider it no better than soft porn.
“Damn it,” Grace muttered softly. She didn’t like this. Trying to please people. Worrying how to make a good first impression. She’d put up with this sort of thing for the past year, thanks to Scott, but what the hell did it have to do with how great she was with makeup? And she was great. Anyone in L.A. would be lucky to have her as a makeup artist, much less someone in Jackson, Wyoming. So why was her confidence shaking like a leaf?
Maybe because this felt like a last chance.
It wasn’t, though. She could work at a restaurant. A gas station. She could clean hotel rooms. Anything. But those jobs would all pay minimum wage. How long would it take her to pay back an eight-thousand-dollar debt at that kind of wage?
The white door opened and a pair of female voices swelled through the room. Grace decided to bolt. This whole thing was a ridiculous idea. But when she started to move, her boot hit the portfolio she’d set on the ground. She caught herself, but wobbled on the four-inch heel of her nicest boots. In that moment, she had to make a decision, and instead of falling face-first in her attempt to escape, she settled on flopping back into her chair and staying put. She had just enough time to straighten up before the women glanced her way.
Grace took a breath to steady herself, then grabbed the portfolio and stood. A woman with a long brown ponytail offered a smile before saying goodbye to the older woman she was with. “I’ll call you with the numbers tomorrow, all right? Hi,” she said as she walked toward Grace. “How can I help you?”
“I’m Grace Barrett.” She held out her hand and thought very hard about the pressure of her handshake.
“I’m Eve Hill. It’s nice to meet you. What can I do for you, Grace?”
“Jenny from the, um, saloon? She gave me your name.”
“The saloon?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what it’s called. It’s right next to the…” She swallowed. “Stud Farm?”
“Oh, Jenny! Of course. That’s the Crooked R Saloon. After Rayleen, I think. Anyway, are you looking for a photographer?”
“No, actually. I’m a makeup artist. I don’t know how much work you’d have for someone like me, but I brought my portfolio, if you’d be interested in taking a look. I’ve been working in L.A. for almost ten years. I just got to Jackson yesterday.”
Eve took the portfolio. “You’re planning to stay?”
“I’m not sure yet.” It was a lie, but at least she wasn’t promising to settle down.
“Why don’t we sit down and I’ll take a look.”
“Sure. Thank you.”
She followed Eve to the conference room and sat across the table from her, watching as she paged through the book of photos. This part didn’t make her nervous, at least. Her work was good. So she was free to study the photographer. Eve looked about thirty-five. Pretty in an unassuming way. She didn’t wear much makeup, but didn’t really need it. Her dark hair contrasted nicely with her faintly tanned skin. Her hazel eyes were wide-set and interesting, though she looked the slightest bit tired.
“You’re really good,” Eve said when she looked up.
“Thank you.”
“So, what are you doing in Jackson?”
Well, she wasn’t subtle. Grace liked that. “I needed a change.”
Eve nodded, and her gaze roamed unself-consciously over Grace, taking her in. The wild hair. The tattered sweater. “I’m not sure I have steady work for you in makeup. Brides, sure. Right now they just get their makeup done at local salons, but they don’t always understand what’s best for photos. I spend a lot of time touching up the prints.”
Grace was nodding already. It was what she’d expected to hear, after all.
“But…” Eve said just as Grace was about to pitch herself for whatever freelance work she could get. “A lot of these are modeling shots and movie stills. You obviously know the industry.”
“Yes.”
“You know how the business works?”
“Yes.”
“So maybe you could do something more for me.”
“How so?”
“I do some work setting up shoots for the industry. Magazines. Movie stills. That kind of thing. Right now, I have a lot of that and then some. More than I can handle. You know the players. You know the language and politics. If you’d consider taking some of that on, in addition to the occasional makeup job, we might be able to try something out.”
Grace was too shocked to say anything for a few long seconds. This woman wanted to give her a chance? This woman wanted to take a risk on a girl with purple hair, a bad attitude and a completely unknown past? Why?
When Grace didn’t answer, Eve cleared her throat. “If you really don’t want to do the other work, I’d be happy to call you when I need a makeup artist for weddings. And sometimes there are big charity events that—”
“No! It’s not that. I’ve just never done that kind of work before, but I’d be happy to try.” Would she? She had no idea.
“How much do you charge for freelancing?”
“In L.A., I charged a hundred dollars an hour for freelance beauty work, but I’m quick, so I’m never more than thirty minutes. Usually less. But here…forty dollars a session?”
“I think that’s fair. You’ll be totally freelance. I won’t ask for a cut. But there’s no way I can pay more than fifteen dollars an hour for the office work, and the hours will be part-time.”
“That’s fine,” Grace said. Fifteen dollars an hour was a hell of a lot more than zero. And more than she’d make as a grumpy waitress. She knew that from experience.
“Great!” Eve said, reaching out to shake Grace’s hand again. “I’ll do a background check, so I hope that’s okay. With all this equipment and so much seasonal employment, I make it standard practice.”
“Of course.” In L.A., a criminal check was assumed. And Grace’s record was surprisingly clean, or it had been since she’d turned eighteen, anyway. But now… Oh, God. She hoped she’d been able to appease Scott. What if he’d changed his mind since she’d called him? What if he—
“Thank you so much,” she made herself say. “When do you want me to start?”
“How about Monday? Come in at nine. I can’t always promise you a lot of hours, but I’ve got an unexpectedly busy week, so can you stay until five?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” Grace left feeling…excited.
Maybe Wyoming wasn’t so bad. Maybe she’d have good luck while she was here.
Maybe the man she’d left behind in L.A. had been the last stupid mistake of her life.
CHAPTER FIVE
OR MAYBE NOT.
She walked around town for a while, avoiding the tourist area for streets lined with lower-end shops, hoping to find a used sporting-goods store where she could buy a cot. Though she finally found a store, apparently used camping gear was in hot demand here in the summer, just outside the boundaries of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. The only cot she’d found had been way over her ten-dollar budget.
In the end, she left with a cheap camouflage sleeping bag more suited for sleepovers than outdoor use. Fine with her. She just needed a little padding between her and the floor.
When she got her first paycheck, maybe she’d come back for the air mattress she’d spotted. Maybe even a folding chair. But nothing else she wouldn’t be able to take to Vancouver when she left.
By the time she’d stopped at a grocery store for bread and peanut butter and walked all the way back to her apartment, it was after three. And the saloon next door was already hopping. Grace dropped her bags in the apartment and walked over to thank Jenny.
Before she got down the front steps, the tones of an unfamiliar ringer cut through the air. She frowned for a moment before realizing that it was her own cheapo prepaid phone and dug it from her bag.
“Hello?” she asked with obvious suspicion.
“Grace! Oh, my God, we haven’t talked in almost a week. Are you in Wyoming? Do you have any minutes left?”
Grace smiled as the voice of her best friend traveled from a satellite and made her sound like she was standing right there. “Merry,” she said in utter relief. “Yeah, I’ve got minutes. What’s up, chick?”
“What’s up? Oh, my God, tell me what’s going on! The last time I talked to you, you had some sort of plan to go be a mountain man or something. And I haven’t been able to get through since!”
“It’s this phone,” she said, which was only partly true. Mostly, she’d been avoiding her best friend. “I have to keep it off or the battery dies. I’m sorry. Everything’s good. I’m in Jackson. It’s beautiful.”
“Beautiful? Really? Where’s Grace Barrett and what have you done with her?”
“Ha. Yes, the mountains are pretty, the people are friendly in an almost noncreepy way, and I just got a job.”
Merry squealed. “I’m so glad! You actually sound happy!”
“Bite your tongue. But happy or not, it’s really still me. I plan to ditch this joint in a month or so.”
“Are you coming to Dallas? Please tell me you’re coming to Dallas.”
“Merry, we’ve discussed this. Texas is not the place for me.”
“Oh, my God, you’re in Wyoming, for godssake! And you love it, apparently. How can you dismiss Texas?”
“I don’t love it,” Grace insisted. “I just have a free place to stay. So stop pouting.”
“I’m not pouting,” Merry said, very obviously pouting.
“You are, but it’s cute.”
“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t come live with me.”
“I need to be in Vancouver in a few weeks,” Grace explained. “Texas is a little out of the way. Listen, I should go—”
“No! You haven’t told me anything!”
Grace winced in guilt.
“Please tell me what happened. You were trying to get organized so you could get work at L.A. Fashion Week. Then all of a sudden you were leaving town.”
“Nothing happened,” she lied. “I lined up this job in Vancouver and then my aunt offered me the apartment, so I decided there was no point hanging around L.A. That’s it.”
“Grace.” Her flat voice made Grace’s throat burn with shame. Merry knew it was a lie, but Grace couldn’t tell her the truth. She just couldn’t.
“I’m good,” Grace said. “Really good.” That might be an exaggeration, but she embraced it. “In fact, I’m on my way to a saloon to celebrate the new job.”
That distracted Merry, as Grace had known it would. Merry loved shiny things, and a saloon was awfully shiny. “What?” she chirped. “A saloon? You’re lying!”
“I’m not. It’s literally next door to my apartment. There are cowboys in it.”
“In your apartment?”
She laughed. “No, not at the moment.”
Merry missed that little hint, and Grace couldn’t help but grin. If she knew Grace’s new neighbor was a sexy hot cowboy with thighs of steel, Merry would squeal loud enough to break the cheap phone. Grace was going to save that little tidbit for a day when she needed cheering up. Merry’s joy was medicine for Grace. Something she needed to take like a vitamin when she was feeling low.
“All right,” Merry huffed. “Go flirt with some cute cowboys for me. But call me soon, okay? I miss you.”
Grace was smiling as she hung up. Merry had wanted Grace to stay with her, but Grace had stayed with her twice when they’d both lived in L.A. Accepting help once was too much. Twice was unbearable. A third time? No. Never. She’d rather sleep in the bus station.
In fact, she had slept in the bus station. But only for one night. Before that, she’d managed to find an old friend who’d owed her a favor. Unfortunately, staying at his place had been the worst mistake of all. He’d had an insane party, and someone had stolen her purse and everything in it, including Scott’s money.
Why the hell had she taken it? She should’ve just walked away with the lie that he didn’t owe her anything.
She’d really screwed herself over now. But she couldn’t tell Merry this time. At some point, Merry would decide Grace was a loser with too many problems who needed to be ditched.
Merry didn’t need someone like Grace hanging around, after all. Her name actually matched her personality. She was sweet and happy and kind. And a little awkward in a cute way. But for some reason, she loved Grace. In fact, aside from Grandma Rose, Merry was the only person in the world who loved her, and Grace would be damned if she’d ever do anything to damage that. Ever.
Grace tucked her phone away and walked over to the saloon. She didn’t plan on having a drink. But Jenny offered her a celebratory shot of tequila. And then a beer on the house.
“I can’t,” Grace protested.
“Come on. It’s not every day I find someone a job.”
Grace started to shake her head.
“And it annoys the hell out of Rayleen when I give away beer.”
“Well, in that case.”
Jenny laughed and slid her a beer. “I’m so happy for you.”
“You don’t even know me!” Grace said, shaking her head in exasperation.
“Of course I do. You’re Rayleen’s grandniece, Grace.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she said, but she took the beer. “Thank you. Really.”
“Maybe sometime you can teach me how to do my makeup.”
“Your makeup is fine.”
“I never know what to do with my eyes,” she said. “My eyelids are fat, and now that I’m getting older, they just look puffy.”
Grace laughed and shook her head, but it was the kind of thing she heard all the time. A lot of women felt helpless about makeup. “Let me know when you want some tips.”
“I will. I feel self-conscious around you!”
“That’s ridiculous,” Grace said, and she meant it. She was the one who always felt self-conscious. Not about her looks. She wasn’t pretty, but she didn’t mind. She did what she could to make sure people knew who she was before they even approached her. She wanted them to know that she wasn’t like other girls, so they wouldn’t be surprised by that. She wasn’t soft or sweet or comforting, especially these days. She didn’t know how to be taken care of, much less how to take care of others. She took care of herself. She always had.
No matter what the cost, apparently.
When her thoughts veered back to L.A., Grace gulped down half her beer. She didn’t want to think about that. She didn’t want to, but how could she avoid it?
The truths she’d known about herself, the few things she’d been proud of… She’d thrown all that away.
No, that wasn’t right. She hadn’t even been strong enough to throw them away. She’d just dropped them, let them scatter in the wind. Her pride, her strength, the weapons she’d armed herself with every single day of her life. All the success she’d carved out of this world through blood, sweat and tears—she’d given that up.
Grace Barrett, a girl who’d never needed anyone…she’d let herself need him.
The worst part was, she’d be in the exact same place right now if she’d left him on her own terms. She’d have nothing and no one, just as she did now. But she’d also have her pride. And everything she’d ever believed about herself.
She’d have that.
Now she had less than nothing. Now she didn’t even know who she was. She certainly wasn’t the tough, kick-ass girl who wouldn’t take shit from anyone. She’d taken plenty of shit from Scott. She’d put her head down and kept her mouth shut, and she’d taken it. And on top of everything, she’d been reduced to living on the edge again. Just like when she’d been sixteen.
One stupid mistake on top of all those others, and ten years of progress had vanished in a snap.
Fuck.
Her beer wasn’t quite finished, but Grace was. She stood, meaning to rush out, but as she turned, her head swam as though the floor was tilting beneath her. “Oh,” she breathed, reaching toward the large shoulder that entered her blurry vision.
“Careful, darlin’,” a deep voice said.
“Sorry. I…” She blinked and her vision cleared. And there was Cole, smiling at her, his eyes shaded by an honest-to-goodness cowboy hat. Or maybe all cowboys looked alike.
“Grace? You okay?”
Yeah, it was definitely him. She jerked her hand away and stood straight. “I’m fine.”
“More than fine, I’d say.”
“I’m not drunk! I only had one beer.” And a tequila shot.
“It’s the altitude. You’ve got to be careful.”
“I’m fine,” she protested, even though she wasn’t sure. She did feel awfully tipsy. Maybe it was the altitude. Or maybe it was that she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Or had a drink in weeks.
Damn. She was drunk.
“You look great,” Cole said, his eyes traveling quickly down her body.
She was suddenly glad she was wearing her heeled boots. They gave her four extra inches of leg. But what did that matter? She wasn’t trying to impress this man.
Then she had a sudden flashback to that morning. To looking at herself in the mirror and seeing the mascara under her eyes and her hair standing up in clumps. Oh, my God. “This morning,” she stammered. “I didn’t realize…”
A man cleared his throat from somewhere close by. “This morning, huh?” he said.
She shot a glare at the man who now stood at Cole’s shoulder. His mouth was serious, but his eyes tilted up a little in subtle amusement. She was opening her mouth to tell him to fuck off, when Cole interrupted.
“Grace, this is Shane. He lives upstairs. Shane, this is Grace. Our new neighbor.”
“Oh!” His brown eyes widened. “Pleased to meet you. I heard there was a woman amongst us. Welcome.”
“Thank you,” she said stiffly, still prepared not to like him.
Cole elbowed his friend. Hard. “Apologize. You pissed her off with your stupid attempt to be funny.”
“Sorry,” Shane said, touching the brim of his hat. “I’m an idiot.”
He grimaced so sincerely that Grace almost laughed. Almost. But she didn’t want him to think he was off the hook.
“So what were you saying about this morning?” Cole continued. “Something about how the breakfast was spectacular, but the company far surpassed it?”
“No, I…” She looked from him to his friend and narrowed her eyes.
Shane put up his hands. “All right, I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll be over here. Out of firing range.”
She watched him walk away, and suddenly Cole’s voice was in her ear. “I think he’s scared of you.”
She turned and felt his chin brush her hair before he drew back. “He should be scared of me. So should you.”
“Yeah? How come? The purple hair?” He carefully reached up and rubbed a lock of her hair between his thumb and finger, then withdrew before she could knock his hand away.
“No.”
“The black suede pants?”
“They’re not suede, they’re just brushed to look… No. Not that either.”
He leaned closer again, and she felt very alone with him beneath the shadow of his hat. “Is it the way you look like you could punch me and enjoy it? Or the way your dark eyes get even darker when you’re really mad?”
Grace inhaled sharply at the husky appreciation in his words. She thought she might have swayed closer and hoped it was only the beer affecting her vision. “No, I…I just meant that if you weren’t nice I’d come by and hang out in the morning again.”
“And why would I be scared of that, Miss Grace?”
Yeah, his voice was definitely husky. And she was definitely swaying. Damn those drinks. She cleared her throat and stood as straight as she could. “You should be scared because of how I looked this morning.”
“You looked fine. Cute.”
“Cute? You’ve got to be fu—”
“Cole!” Jenny’s voice called from behind her. “You look tired. Want the usual, babe?”
“Thanks, Jenny,” he said, his smile widening when he looked past Grace’s shoulder. It was just the moment she needed to escape the pull of his low voice and warm smile. And the intimacy of looking up at him under the shadow of his hat. Secret cowboy trick, probably.
Had she actually been succumbing to the flirtations of a cowboy? Wow. Altitude, indeed.
She steeled her spine. “Anyway, I’ll see you around, all right?”
“Hey, where are you going? I was about to buy you a drink.”
“After you just warned me to take it easy?”
A moment of male confusion flashed over his face, but he recovered quickly. “A soda then. Or just some water. It’s important to drink lots of water here or you’ll get headaches.”
“Thanks, but I was going to buy myself a glass of water back at my apartment. Maybe see if I get lucky. Afternoon, cowboy.” She touched a hand to an imaginary hat, mimicking the movement she’d found so amusing yesterday.
As she walked away, she was aware of his eyes on her. She knew he was watching. She knew it because he’d noticed her boots and the soft fabric of her black jeans within moments of saying hello. What she didn’t know, what she couldn’t even begin to comprehend, was why the knowledge of his eyes on her filled her chest with such a hot burn of satisfaction.
* * *
“WELL, NOW,” SHANE drawled when he stepped up to join Cole at the bar. “Somebody likes playing with fire.”
Cole took a swig from his waiting beer and shot a look at the saloon door that had just closed behind Grace. “I’m not playing with anything.”
“Oh, but you’d like to. By the way, you’ve got a little drool on your chin. Might want to wipe that off.”
Cole rolled his eyes.
“You really like that girl? She looks kind of tough.”
“She is tough,” he said, smiling at the memory of her kicking the shit out of her own bag.
“She looks like she could cut my balls off without flinching.”
“As long as it’s your balls she’s cutting and not mine, she can amuse herself any way she likes.”
Shane shook his head. “To each his own, brother. I’m just saying there are plenty of nice girls around here who you don’t have to wear a cup around. That woman looks like trouble.”
Hell, yeah, she looked like trouble. Cole’s eyes skimmed over the room, taking in only vague impressions of the women at the tables. They all looked so dull. Nice, yes. And normal. Blondes and brunettes and the occasional redhead. Not a strand of purple among them. No smoky-black eyeliner that made them look dangerous and vulnerable all at the same time. No black and gray and blue outfits that covered everything but somehow looked sexy as hell.
Yeah, Grace looked tough. Which had made it that much sweeter when her black-brown eyes had softened for a moment. When she’d looked up at him and swayed the tiniest bit closer. Her lips had parted as if she’d needed more room to draw a breath.
Cole cleared his throat and shifted on the barstool, wondering if he really did have drool on his chin, because his mouth was sure as hell watering. He downed his beer and signaled for another. Jenny winked and grabbed another mug.
“What do you hear about Grace?” he asked when she brought his second beer.
“Cole Rawlins, are you fishing for information about another woman from your ex-girlfriend? Don’t you think that’s a little rude?”
He smiled at her mock outrage. “We dated for all of two minutes. Now, spill it.”
“Grace, huh?” Her eyes sparkled. “She doesn’t exactly seem like your type, Cole.”
“No?” He didn’t bother correcting her. He wasn’t sure he had a type, but girls like Grace just pushed his buttons. Or they’d pushed the hell out of his buttons thirteen years ago. As often as he’d been able to talk them into it.
“She just got into town yesterday, but you know that already, right?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s Rayleen’s niece from L.A. A makeup artist.”
That got his attention. Maybe she was part of the film industry after all. Shit. “A makeup artist? Like special effects and stuff? In the movies?”
Jenny frowned. “No, I think the kind that make women beautiful. Maybe she worked with models? She just got a job with Eve Hill, and I don’t think Eve would have any demand for zombie makeup.”
Cole felt a warm wash of relief. She wasn’t with a film crew. She wasn’t part of that world.
And no wonder she’d been so embarrassed about her smeared makeup that morning. He’d have to tease her about it now. See if he could get a rise out of her.
He chuckled at the thought. Not if he could get a rise out of her, but just how pissed off he could make her.
“Cole?” Jenny said softly. “You’re smiling to yourself. You really like this girl?”
“Hardly know her,” he responded.
“Yeah,” she huffed. “And that usually deters men, right? How’s your leg?”
He pressed his hand to his thigh automatically, then realized he hadn’t thought about it once since the moment he’d seen Grace sitting at the bar. He hadn’t even thought about it when he’d taken a seat, and usually he had to concentrate on not wincing. “Great,” he answered, telling the lie he always told.
“Back to normal?”
“Just about.”
“Well, you look tired.”
Truth be told, he hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in nine months. His leg and hip throbbed every time he closed his eyes. “I’m back at the ranch now.”
“Speaking of…” Jenny said, raising her chin toward the door.
Cole turned and narrowed his eyes against the daylight. The shaft of light narrowed as the door closed, and Easy was walking toward him. Though the man was only sixty-five, he looked closer to seventy. He was still lean and wiry, but all those years under the open sky had weathered his skin and turned his crew cut silvery-blond. His pale eyes locked on Cole and he glared.
“Were you out at the ranch today?” he demanded.
Ah, shit. Cole stood up and set his beer on the bar. He wouldn’t lie to Easy, so he kept his mouth shut and crossed his arms.
“Damn it, Cole! You know what the doctor said.”
Quiet fell around them. Cole tipped his head. “Let’s talk outside.”
“We’re not talking about anything. Come in on Tuesday. You’re taking Monday off.”
“Goddamn it,” Cole snarled. “I can handle it. I’m doing fine.”
“What you’re doing is fooling yourself. But you’re not fooling me. If you don’t do what—”
“I get that, all right? I’m not a child, Easy. Let me do it the way I need to.”
“Tuesday,” Easy said. “And if it happens again, I’ll do the same thing.”
Christ. This was outrageous. Easy walked away, though he paused to tip his hat to Rayleen on the way out. Cole glared, but he let Easy go without cursing him out for being a mother hen instead of a ranch boss.
Easy cared about him. He knew that. But Cole knew his body and what he could handle. Sure, his thigh hurt. And now his back and his hip, but what the hell was he supposed to do? Lounge around in bed? It all hurt there, too. May as well make himself useful. And he needed to get back in shape. Quick.
He had insurance that had paid for the surgery and hospitalization. But half the physical therapy was coming out of his pocket. Not to mention rent and food and drugs. He had the money to cover it, but that money was supposed to be locked up in a safe for the day he bought Easy’s ranch. He’d finally saved up enough, but every month out of work was one step backward. Cole wanted to be ready the moment Easy said he was ready to sell.
If his leg hadn’t quite healed yet, it could heal on the job. Hell, how many old cowboys did he know who limped around for forty years? Easy himself was a damned pile of old breaks and busted-up joints, and he could barely sit in a saddle for an hour. That was the way it went for old cowboys.
“Maybe you’re pushing too hard,” Shane said, interrupting Cole’s internal diatribe.
Cole pressed his lips together.
“You were looking better last week. Now you look tired.”
“Just getting back in the swing of things,” Cole said. “And maybe all that snoring from your place upstairs is keeping me awake.”
“I don’t snore. At least, your mama never said anything about it.”
“Really?” Cole asked, forcing his shoulders to relax as he leaned against the bar. “A your-mama joke, huh?”
Shane tipped his beer. “I know how to bring it.”
“That’s not what my mama said.”
“Touché.” Shane signaled for another beer, but Cole held up his hand to let Jenny know that he wasn’t joining in. It was only four o’clock, and he was so damn tired. If he had another beer, he’d go home and fall asleep. And he knew from experience that meant he’d wake up around midnight and not get another wink the rest of the night.
The two beers ensured his anger wouldn’t quite bubble over, anyway. He was too tired and too relaxed. But he couldn’t believe the way Easy was acting. The man knew how much the work meant to Cole. Jesus.
He needed to get back out there. For the money, yes. For his savings and his plans and dreams. But he also needed to get his life back.
For the past nine months he’d been a patient. Doing nothing but reading and watching TV and waiting to get back to work. And now he was so damn close, and the one person in the world who’d always supported him was blocking his way.
Jenny came to take the cash he set down. “You sure you’re okay, Cole?” she asked quietly.
He smiled at Jenny and offered a wink. “I’m good.”
“You’re quiet, is what you are. That’s not like you.”
“Come around the bar and I’ll slap you on the ass. Will that make you happy?”
“Nah.” She laughed. “But I bet it would brighten your day.”
“Damn straight.”
When he stood to leave, hiding his wince, Jenny patted his hand. “Take it easy out there, all right? I don’t want you falling off a horse again and rebreaking that leg.”
“I didn’t fall off a horse,” he growled. “It fell and pinned me.”
“Fell?” Shane interrupted. “I hear that horse went down so slow it looked like a dog taking a seat. I don’t know why you didn’t get out of the way.”
Cole elbowed him hard enough that some of Shane’s beer sloshed out of the mug. “You weren’t even there.”
“Pretty sure I’m right, though.”
“Hey, Cole,” Jenny said as he turned away. “There’s a big group of Hollywood people in town up at Teton. You know any of them?”
Cole made sure he didn’t stiffen. “Why would I?” he asked with a deliberately puzzled smile.
“You lived out there for a while, didn’t you? You were in a movie, even. Some Western?”
“That was a long time ago, Jenny. And nobody lasts in Hollywood. Anybody I knew is long gone by now.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Jenny sighed. “I just think it’d be neat to meet someone famous. Nobody cool ever comes in here.”
“Hey,” Shane responded. “What about me?”
She slapped Shane with her towel and winked at Cole. “Bye, then. Have a good evening.”
“I will.”
Hollywood people. He felt another moment of anxiety as he stepped out of the saloon and into the blindingly bright day. But it was the pure, nearly painful light of a Jackson summer, not that hazy, hot sun of L.A. He had nothing to fear from those people. The disaster he’d made of his life in California…he was the only one who could take credit for that.
CHAPTER SIX
SHE WAS SO DAMN QUIET over there.
Shouldn’t a girl like her be loud? Stomping around. Cursing. Slamming doors. Playing music at all hours of the night.
But Grace Barrett was like a mouse. All he ever heard was the occasional noise of water running in the bathroom. At least if she were banging around at 2:00 a.m., he’d have something to think about instead of staring at the ceiling for… Cole glanced at the clock. Five hours. It was just after seven. He’d never gotten back to sleep.
He heard a board creak on the other side of the wall and cocked his head. Water ran through the pipes.
Grace was up, it was seven o’clock on a Sunday and he had no plans and a hell of a long day to fill. Maybe she needed something to do, too.
Cole braced himself for that first deep jolt of pain when he pushed himself from bed. He’d been cutting back on ibuprofen for the past few weeks, but now he had to admit that this wasn’t the time. He’d have to get back to the prescription-strength pills for a little while. Just while his body adjusted to working again. His physical therapist was still trying to push muscle relaxants to let him get some sleep at night, but Cole wasn’t going to touch them. He was doing the stretching now. Doing everything he was told to do. When that didn’t help, he just dealt with it.
Like this morning, when the ache in his leg was spreading up through his hip to his back and digging in there like a rabid badger.
Jesus, he was only thirty-four. He had another forty years of injuries ahead of him. If he got back to riding. If he could still be a cowboy. If not…
No, he wasn’t going to think that way. He’d get through this and move on. Soon enough, he’d be past it. It’d be a distant bad memory.
He turned the shower up to scalding, then stood there with his head down for as long as he could take it.
Half an hour later, he knocked on Grace’s door. A tiny glimmer of light caught his eye, and he noticed that she’d scraped the paint off the peephole in the door. The light darkened. He smiled and mouthed “Good morning.”
She yanked the door open a moment later. “Hey,” she said, her voice still sleepy.
Cole took her in for a moment. She was already wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Her feet were bare again, blue toenails in such stark contrast to her white toes. His eyes wandered back up. The T-shirt was rumpled and worn. And intriguingly tight.
Cole cleared his throat. She was always smaller than he expected. Petite and almost delicate-looking. Small breasts. Hips that—
She crossed her arms as if she were cold. “Dude. Hello.”
“Have you had breakfast?” He looked past her toward the kitchen. No coffeepot. Nothing but a jar of peanut butter with a plastic knife sticking out of it.
“Yes.”
Wow. These L.A. girls really didn’t eat much. No wonder she looked so small. He could never understand how women starved themselves. He couldn’t go more than a few hours without grabbing at least a snack.
“What about coffee?” He seemed to remember plenty of coffee drinking in Hollywood. And smoking. And there were always calories available for martinis.
“Um. Not yet.”
“I’ve got a pot on now. Want some?”
Oh, he had her number. She didn’t want to say yes. Her mouth, so wide and full and pink, had pressed itself into a flat line. But her eyes were sharp with interest. He had something she wanted, and the price for that was time.
Her nose twitched, and Cole realized the scent was drifting into the hallway. He smiled. She scowled. Her blue-painted toes curled.
“I’ll pour you a cup,” he said, then turned his back and walked into his apartment, feeling a little like he was trying to lure a feral cat. She snuck in silently a few seconds later. He vowed not to make any sudden moves.
“Want some bacon? I’m making it for myself, may as well make some for you.”
“Sure,” she said warily.
He got breakfast started, throwing in some eggs for her, too, then handed her a cup of coffee. “I hear you were a makeup artist in L.A.”
“Yeah?” She hunched over the cup, and Cole reached for the thermostat again. “Who’d you hear that from?”
“Jenny.” He figured it wouldn’t hurt to be extra sure, so he asked again. “So, what are you doing out here?”
“Seeing the world.”
“Yeah? And you decided to start with the middle of Wyoming?”
She glared at him through the steam that rose from her cup. Today, her makeup was perfect. Apparently, she’d already been up and put it on. A secret vanity. Interesting.
“What kind of work did you do in L.A.?”
“The makeup kind.”
When she didn’t elaborate, Cole just looked at her until she slumped a little and conceded. As if telling him about herself was a defeat. “I worked in fashion a little, but mostly in the movies.”
Ah, shit. It didn’t matter, he told himself. It wasn’t like the movie industry had screwed him over and broken his heart. It had been a woman and his own poor judgment. And if Grace’s toughness and edginess reminded him a little of his ex-lover—not to mention a few other women he’d met in L.A.—then he just needed to be aware. Aware that he shouldn’t trust people who hadn’t earned it. Aware that he shouldn’t let himself be used. Aware that sometimes strength meant hardness, and coolness was cruelty.
But right at this moment, Grace didn’t look hard or cool. Her brown eyes seemed lighter against the black liner this morning, but still fascinatingly deep. Unknowable. Which only made him more determined to know her. “Why’d you leave L.A.?” he pressed.
She shrugged one shoulder as if it didn’t matter to her in the least. “I got fired. I decided to move on.”
“Fired? What’d you do? Punch someone?”
“Not this time, no.”
Cole was glad he didn’t have any coffee in his mouth. He choked on nothing instead. “When did you last punch somebody?”
“At work? Probably five years ago.”
He looked down at her small, pale hands. They didn’t look like much, but she was wearing a couple of clunky rings that might do damage. “I had no idea Hollywood was a more glamorous version of a cage fight. Or a bunkhouse, come to think of it.”
“I don’t like it when men stick their hands up my skirt.”
“They do that often, do they?”
“Not after that,” she said with a grin.
He winked and turned away to finish off the eggs. What idiot would be stupid enough to try something like that? Grace Barrett looked like she’d shove a makeup brush up your ass if you touched her without invitation. Then again, he knew firsthand that some people in Hollywood were so arrogant and narcissistic that signals ceased to exist for them. A fist across the jaw was the most subtle thing they could understand.
“So this time?” he asked as he piled two plates high. “What happened this time?”
“I said I’d already eaten.”
Her words didn’t match up with the light in her eyes as he slid the plate toward her. He wanted to tell her she wasn’t in L.A. anymore and she could eat real food now. But he knew enough about women to lie. “I was already cooking. It’s the light plate today. Only three eggs and no toast.”
“You really do eat like a lumberjack,” she said, though she dug into her eggs right away.
“Lumberjacks are pussies.”
She slapped a hand to her mouth to cover her laugh, and that made Cole smile so hard he felt like a fool. It felt like triumph, making this girl laugh. Like a prize. He couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to make her moan. Damn.
“So what got you fired this time?” he pressed. He didn’t have to be told that she was an expert at dropping subjects. But she gave in more or less gracefully this time.
“I was working on a movie set. I’d been doing pretty well this year, trying to keep my head down.”
“No punching?”
“No punching. And I got an amazing gig, working on a big film. Working with the stars of a big film, not just the secondaries, you know? I won’t say who it is, but the starring actress is one of America’s sweethearts. And she seemed perfectly nice. Quiet. Polite. And with a couple of fading bruises on her neck. Whatever, though. People are kinky. If she liked a little choking during sex, it’s none of my business.”
Cole coughed and reached for his coffee as his eyes watered. “Sure,” he finally managed to say.
“But one day the producer came to the trailer while I was working on her. He was her boyfriend. It was an open secret. And she flinched when he gestured. That was it. Just a tiny flinch I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been working on her eyes. The next week, her lip was a little swollen. And when he came to the trailer and started berating her about something, I couldn’t keep myself from calling him on it.”
“The producer.”
She glared at him. “An abusive ass is an abusive ass.”
Cole raised a conciliatory hand. “I agree. I’m just impressed you were brave enough to say something.”
Grace snorted. “It’s not bravery. I don’t think about it. I just blow up. Anyway, I cursed him out and told him what I thought of him. He fired me immediately.”
“And?” he asked, aware of the weight in her words.
“And I told him I’d file a complaint with the union. He said he’d ruin my career, and I said I’d tell the press. Unfortunately, I was the one who was bluffing.”
“You didn’t tell anyone?”
“Nobody would’ve cared. I could’ve told the tabloids about what I’d seen, and who would it have hurt? Her, maybe. Definitely me. And definitely not him, because he would’ve found some way to prove it wasn’t true. So here I am.”
“You couldn’t get another job?”
“It was complicated. And the word is out that I drink on the job.”
His eyebrows flew up. “Do you?”
“No. Never. I rarely even drink at parties.”
“Only in saloons?” he asked.
She smiled. “Only in saloons.”
“Lucky me.”
“Yeah.” She’d stopped eating, and when her smile faded, she stared at her plate.
“Hey, Grace?”
“What?”
“I’m sorry about that. You being fired by that asshole.”
When she looked up, he saw surprise in her eyes. Just a brief, bright flash, and then it was hidden by old anger. “It’s no big deal. Nothing new. I’ve got to learn how to keep my mouth shut.”
“Maybe not. You did the right thing.”
“Ha. The right thing. It didn’t help her. I probably made it worse. You should have seen her scrambling to defuse the situation. Begging me to stop. It was all about me, wasn’t it? Me telling myself that I’m not the kind of person who’d just stand by while a man treated a woman like a worthless dog. The worst part? Turns out I’m exactly that kind of person.”
“No, you’re not. You said something. You didn’t just sit there and ignore it because you were scared.”
She smiled again. A grimace of a smile, bitter and hurt. And then she jumped to her feet. “Thank you for breakfast. Again.”
“Hey, wait. What are you doing today?”
She was already walking toward the door, her bare feet silent against the wood. She was so much smaller without her heels. “I’ll probably walk around town some more. See what there is to see.”
“Ah. The antlers.”
She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “The what?”
“The antlers. Haven’t you seen the antler arches yet?”
Her expression defaulted to grumpy again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know how you missed them. They’re right in the town square.”
“Antlers?”
“Yes. Elk antlers. Thousands of them. The National Elk Refuge comes all the way up to the city limits.”
“And there are elk there?”
“Not right now, but they’re around if you drive up into the mountains. They come down to the refuge during the winter.”
“And bring their antlers?”
He grinned. “Something like that, yes.”
“Oh.” She didn’t leave. Her hand was still on the doorknob, but she just stood there looking thoughtful.
“Want to go for a drive? I’ll show you around. There’s a lot more to see than just the town, you know.”
She glanced in the direction of the Tetons, even though the blinds were closed.
“Come on. It’ll be fun.”
“Aren’t you busy?”
“Nope. I’m off work today, so it’s either you or laundry.”
“I win out over laundry, huh?”
“Only because I did a load last weekend. Otherwise it’d be laundry all the way.”
That relaxed her. An insult. That was what soothed her prickly stance and made her laugh. Another thing that set her apart from the women of his past. “Then I’d better take you up on it. I might not be so lucky next weekend, and I’ll go crazy if I stay cooped up any longer.”
“Come back when you’re ready, then.”
She was back in three minutes. Cole was still washing the dishes and shouted for her to come in.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve stayed to help, right? People don’t cook for me very often. Let me…”
“Believe me. It’s no big deal. A lot easier than cleaning a stew pot on the trail, I can tell you that.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again, sounding as if the words scraped her throat as they came out.
“You can make me dinner sometime.”
She looked slightly panicked. “I hope you like sandwiches.”
“Peanut butter?” he asked.
Grace’s cheeks flamed red. “I haven’t had time for a real shopping trip,” she said sharply.
Yikes. “I was just kidding.”
She crossed her arms and wandered over to look at the books on his coffee table. By the time Cole dried his hands, her cheeks had faded to pink. He was glad he hadn’t been standing next to her and made a note to himself that she had some sort of peanut butter trigger. Maybe peanut butter was her secret high-calorie indulgence. If he was going to piss her off—and he wasn’t averse to that—he wanted it to be over something worthwhile.
“Ready?” he asked.
She put down the book she’d been looking at, but her eyes stayed on it.
“You like horror novels? I’m done with that if you want to read it.”
“Yeah?” She picked it back up again and opened it to the first page. “Was it good?”
“His best in years.”
“Okay, sure. Thanks.” She slipped it into her purse and shrugged her jacket on. “I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I read fast.”
“An expensive habit.”
“Yeah,” she said. “The library. Anyway, I’m not a resident here, so…”
“I’ll check some out for you if you like. Give me a list.”
She glanced at him as she passed him on the way out the door. “You’ve got a library card?”
“Sometimes they let cowboys in on free range days.”
“With fair warning to the public, I hope.”
God, she made him laugh. He wanted to push and goad her just to see what she’d say next. She might be a touch prickly, but, hell, talking to Grace, he felt more awake than he’d been in months.
* * *
WHAT THE HECK was she doing hanging out with the cowboy again? When she’d walked out of that saloon yesterday—being very careful not to sway or trip over her own feet—she’d given herself a little talking-to.
Yes, she was bored. Yes, she was a little lost. But flirting with a guy just to pass the time? That was stupid. Especially when he was hot and lived a few feet away from her bed. It wasn’t as if she had a history of restraint. Or wise choices. Or self-control.
Case in point? Less than a day after telling herself to stay away from him, she was climbing up into his big black pickup and settling into the leather seat.
But despite her self-recriminations, Grace felt a thrill of satisfaction as she buckled up. She was going somewhere. Getting out of the house. How many days had it been since she’d even ridden in a vehicle that didn’t have dozens of seats? Even in L.A., she’d been taking the bus or train for weeks.
As Cole started the truck, she rolled down the window, breathed in the cool morning air, and she felt free.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked.
Where? She had no idea. She should go to the store. She should get to know the town better. She should find the post office and the bank and the library. But she took a deep breath and said, “Just drive.”
“You got it,” he said softly.
Cole turned toward town, which surprised her, but she watched the streets pass with new eyes. It was different when you were driving. Everything so quick and temporary and new as it passed her gaze. The Western shops were cheesy but charming. The wooden sidewalks so different from anything she’d ever seen. They passed the bus station where she’d first set foot in Wyoming, and then she saw them: the antlers.
“Oh, my God. There are thousands of them.” There were. They formed a wide, tall arch at the corner of a square park. When they turned, she saw that there was another arch on the next corner. And another on the other side of the park. And there was a carriage parked there, the horses shaking their manes in the bright sunlight. It really was amazing that she’d missed them.
“Did you want to stop and look?”
“No, keep going.” The tourist shops slid past her, the tourists already out in their shorts and sunglasses. They passed another carriage rolling along, two small children looking slightly stunned and unsure as the carriage rocked around a turn.
Then suddenly the crowded blocks of hotels and shops were gone. There was a green park, and then…nothing.
Nothing but a huge expanse of rolling meadows and a tumbling stream and flocks of birds rising up into the bright blue sky.
“Wow,” she said. She hadn’t expected this at all. Somehow it was all invisible from inside the town, but now she couldn’t imagine there was a town anywhere nearby.
They drove along the bottom of a ridge for a while, Grace staring hard over the fields that stretched out from there, watching for elk or anything else she might see. Then the ridge fell away and in the distance, the mountains rose up.
“Wow,” she breathed again. “It’s amazing.”
Cole caught her eye and grinned. “You know, this is what most people do the first day. Jackson’s nice and all, but nobody comes here for the small-town charm. It’s the mountains. The parks. The wildlife. The sky.”
The sky, yes. Something so simple as air, and yet it was beautiful. Magical. Stretching for miles of impossible blue before falling behind the mountains.
She wished she had a camera. It was almost an ache inside her, the need to try to capture the beauty of the moment. They had mountains in California, and she’d passed plenty on the bus ride here, but this moment was just…stunning. A perfect contrast to how screwed up and dark and complicated her life was. She felt insignificant, and that was a relief. That whatever mistakes she’d made, all the things she’d managed to mess up were all meaningless and small.
She wanted to capture that, somehow, in a picture, but she’d pawned her camera the week before. And the kind of cell phone that let you buy sixty minutes at a time definitely didn’t come with a camera.
But for the moment, Grace let that desire go and simply took it all in.
“Where do you want to go?” Cole asked, seemingly unmoved by the amazing sight. Then again, he saw it all the time. Maybe that was why he smiled so easily.
She looked around, searching for a place she wanted to get closer to. A sign at the side of the road pointed the way toward the national parks. They were completely surrounded by beauty. How could she possibly choose? What did she want?
“Take me somewhere no one else goes,” she said.
He was quiet for a moment, looking out the window as if he could see something puzzling up ahead. Finally, he nodded. “All right. I can’t promise no one goes there, but I don’t think many tourists get that far off the path.”
She glanced down at her boots. These were sturdy, but she wasn’t sure they were good for hiking.
“Don’t worry. I don’t mean that kind of path.”
“I can handle it.”
“I’m sure you can handle anything.”
She felt a warm rush at his words. He said it as though he admired that. Most guys didn’t. Most guys wanted to feel needed. They resented that she didn’t need them. And she didn’t.
The warm rush dropped away like falling water.
She couldn’t say that anymore, could she? She couldn’t pretend that she didn’t need anybody and never had. But she’d never let anyone else know that. She’d rather die.
So she smiled. “I’m pretty tough. But I’m not sure if the boots are.”
He glanced down to her feet. “They look pretty tough to me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said, the appreciation in his tone obvious even before he glanced at her with heat in his eyes.
Wow. Grace cleared her throat. He liked the whole tough-girl thing, huh? Wanted a little edginess in his life, maybe? She told herself she didn’t feel flattered. She wasn’t traveling entertainment for a small-town country boy.
Then again…he wasn’t just a small-town country boy. He was a man who worked with his hands every day. His dimples were sweet, but his hands were scarred and strong. She snuck a look at the steering wheel, at the fingers wrapped around it.
Cole slowed the truck and took a right turn, distracting her from thoughts of his hands. This road cut through a field. She couldn’t tell if it was hay or wild grass or something else, but the wind rippled over the golden stalks, and it looked like an ocean. It was beautiful, and the shushing sound of it filled the truck.
Grace spotted something moving through the grass and choked on excitement. “Is that an elk?” she gasped, pointing.
“That’s a deer.”
“How can you tell the difference?”
Cole looked at her and a smile spread over his face. He chuckled. “They’re totally different animals.”
She slumped a little in her seat and crossed her arms. A strand of purple hair blew into her eyes and she shoved it out of the way. But there was no way to stay mad. Not right now. The world was too beautiful in that moment. She knew it would be crappy again soon enough. She couldn’t waste this, so she turned away from Cole and watched the strange view sliding by her window.
They passed more deer. Probably. How could she be sure when he wouldn’t tell her? Then the land got a little hillier. They were driving higher.
Deer jumped out of some bushes at the side of the road and raced away. But they looked a little…
“Holy shit, what are those things?” Grace yelled, grabbing Cole’s arm.
The brakes screeched for a moment. The truck jerked right and then left again. But Grace was too busy watching the freakish deer to care. They were the ones with the black masks again. The creepy black masks tattooed over their little deer faces.
“What the hell?” Cole snapped.
“Those things! What are they? They’re bouncing! And creepy!”
“Creepy?” He pulled to the side of the rode and shook his head. “Those are pronghorn. And I almost rolled the truck.”
“Pronghorn?” She craned her neck to watch warily as the herd headed away.
“Antelope.”
“Antelope? Like in Africa?”
“No, antelope, like ‘the deer and the antelope play.’ You know? The song about America? Maybe you’ve heard of it.”
“Oh.” The animals had finally bounced out of sight, so Grace gave up her vigil and looked at Cole. “Those are antelope? American antelope? Are you sure? Because they’ve got little masks and pointy black horns and they look like they should be grazing next to giraffes.”
He frowned. His mouth opened. Then closed again. He blinked several times. “You’re really damn weird, you know that?”
“Oh, I’m weird? Have you gotten a good look at those things?”
“Grace… You…” He couldn’t seem to get any words out after that.
She shrugged. “I’m going to do some research. I’m pretty sure those things aren’t native. They’re probably an invasive species.”
“What?”
“Like killer bees. We’ve got a big problem with those in L.A. now. Some genius brought them over from Africa.”
His eyes were wide as he stared at her.
“Africa,” she said, raising her eyebrows in exaggerated alarm. “A coincidence? Or a clue?”
His eyes narrowed. “How long have you been screwing with me?”
She grinned hard enough that her cheeks actually hurt. Apparently it had been a while since she’d used those muscles. “Not very long, I’m embarrassed to say.”
“So, you really didn’t know what they were?”
“Are you kidding me? Those things are not right. But I guess I have to believe you when you say they’re antelope. And I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Come on,” he huffed. “I wouldn’t say you scared me. You just startled me. Thought there was a buffalo on the road or something. Oh, sorry. Bison. I don’t want you worrying that someone’s accidentally introduced African water buffalo into the ecosystem.”
Grace laughed. She laughed so hard she had to press her hand to her mouth to try to stop it. That didn’t work. In fact, she laughed harder. Laughed until tears overflowed her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “They just freaked me out.”
“I guess they might be a little odd-looking compared to mule deer.”
“You think?” She laughed even harder when he smiled. “God, stop making me laugh. Just drive.”
“I’m still a little shaky.”
She hit his arm and relaxed back into the seat. “So, where are we going? The mountains are the other way.”
“Don’t worry. There are plenty of mountains to go around. We’re taking a back road into the Gros Ventre River valley. There are campgrounds and trails here, but it’s not one of the main tourist stops.”
As they worked their way higher up the hill, the shrubs and grasses were occasionally interrupted by groves of aspen, their leaves pale green in the sunlight. The only sounds were the truck engine and the shushing of leaves in the breeze. She breathed in and sighed. “It’s amazing here. So quiet.”
“Yeah.”
“You wouldn’t believe how noisy the city can be.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been to a city before, you know.”
“Yeah?” she teased. “Like Boise?”
“Something like that.”
She smacked his arm again. “I’m kidding. But really. L.A. is just heat and cars and…hunger.”
“Hunger?”
She hadn’t meant actual hunger, but when he frowned, her cheeks burned, and she scrambled to cover the truth in her words. “Everyone is starving for something there. Fame or fortune or sex or beauty. Even when you have what you need, the next person is always showing you why it’s not enough. Everyone feels desperate.” And then there was the actual hunger. Plenty of that to go around, too.
She wasn’t sure why kids with nowhere to go gravitated to Southern California. Maybe it was because it rarely got cold, but she didn’t think it was that logical. Maybe it was as simple as following the line of other souls who thought they were too jaded to hope, but somehow found themselves wishing for more. Or maybe it just felt like a place where things were possible.
Unfortunately, things were possible in L.A. Anything was possible. From your wildest dreams to a darkness you could never have imagined for yourself. She’d seen it all. One old friend had ended up on the number-one sitcom in the country. Many others had ended up dead. Or worse. Maybe she should be thankful she’d found some middle path.

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