Pulling out the empty chair across from them, Erin settled on it. “There’s not a lot to do when you’re driving around the country from one place to another.”

“And we’re so glad you’re not doing that anymore and have come home,” Kate said.

Even though she’d been home for several months, Erin felt overwhelmed by all the things she still needed to catch up on. “I’ve missed so much. I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of having only brothers. They can rattle off every statistic to do with cattle and crops, but anything else must instantly vaporize in their brains.”

“Typical men, then,” Trish said, laughing.

“I heard that.”

Erin turned and looked up to see Jake, whose frown made deep lines between his gray eyes. In an instant, he revealed the matched set of deep dimples she remembered so well that bracketed his smile. It was that smile and the look in his eyes that could turn her inside out.

She dipped her head to avoid him. She’d known him since she was almost six years old. They’d grown up together. He’d spent summers at his uncle’s ranch, and she and her brothers had become friends with him. He’d been tall and thin, a bit gangly and a little on the quiet side. She’d found a hundred ways to make his life hell because of it, and he’d done the same to her.

But the Jake Canfield standing by her now was far from a thin, quiet boy. The image of him in the pond had been burned into her memory as permanently as another memory of him. If she’d known it was him she was watching from the tall grass... She shook her head. She should have known, instead of convincing herself she’d dreamed that he’d spoken to her.

“Right, Erin?”

Lost in thought, she glanced up at him. “Hmm?”

“We were just talking about what a scrawny, ornery tomboy you were when we were growing up.”

“No more scrawny than you,” she said, but her reply lacked the bite it needed. She had to be careful. If she let him, he would tear her heart out. Again.

But when she saw his steel-colored gaze moving over her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking about, she resolved not to let him break her a second time. Still, it didn’t stop the flip-flopping of her heart.

Dusty and Morgan joined them, taking the seats on either side of their wives, and Erin decided it was time to escape. “I think I’ll get a snack. Anybody else want something?”

As she started to push her chair back, she felt Jake’s hands on the back of it. “A snack sounds good. I’ll go with you.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” she said, standing. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll get it.”

His eyebrows shot up, accompanied by a killer smile. “No, that’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Not seeing a graceful way out of it, she nodded. But as soon as they were out of earshot of their friends, she stopped and turned to him. “Are you following me?”

“Could be,” he answered, that devilish smile of his reappearing.

“Well, don’t.”

When she started to walk away, he took her arm and stopped her. “If you’d give me a minute—”

The quick skip of her heart set off warning bells, and her old habits came back. “I think you’ve had more than a minute with me before.” She felt her face grow hot with embarrassment and ducked her head, hoping he didn’t notice.

“Can we put the past behind us?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

Hesitating for a moment, unsure of how to answer, she nodded, took a deep breath and looked up. Keep it friendly, she told herself. Pretend none of it happened. “How is the ranching business, Jake?”

“Good. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

“Yeah?” She gathered her strength and asked, “Why are you here? You said you weren’t coming back. That’s what you told me—”

His expression revealed nothing. “I didn’t plan to, but Uncle Carl died and left me his ranch.”

“Lucky you. Not so lucky for me.”

He frowned. “I should’ve known that’s how you’d feel.”

The last words he’d said to her, almost eighteen years before, echoed in her mind. “You made your choice.”

“I didn’t—” He blew out a breath and glanced away. “I had other plans. You knew that.”

It hurt, and she didn’t want it to. “Not until you told me you were leaving. Not until after we—”

“Erin, it was a long time ago. We were young.”

He might as well have stuck a knife in her. “Right. I’d forgotten.” She hadn’t but wished she could. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Because if it is—”

“No, it isn’t. I wanted to talk to you about ranch business.” He hesitated and then asked, “How much do you know about cutting horses?”

Taken off guard, she stared at him. “As much if not more than you do. I can rope with the best cowboys around, too. Why?”

Clearing his throat, he glanced around the tavern, then back at her. “I’m looking for somebody to fill an opening at the ranch.”

She peered at him through narrowed eyes. “Like who?”

He didn’t bother to beat around the bush. “Like you.”

Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him. “Me?”

He shrugged. “If you’re as good as I suspect you are, yes. I’d like to hire you.”

She didn’t want to believe him. Work for Jake? Impossible. “Have you suffered some kind of head injury?”

He smiled. “Not recently.”

She laughed. “You must be hard up to be offering me a job. If that’s what you’re doing.”

“It’s exactly what I’m doing.”

She shook her head. “I’m not interested.”

She moved away but not far enough to keep from hearing his reply. “Maybe you should think about it.”

“Nothing to think about,” she answered over her shoulder.

“If you change your mind—”

That stopped her. She took a deep breath and blew it out. Emotions tumbled through her. She needed a job. Money would allow her to get back to barrel racing, where she belonged. But working for Jake? She couldn’t.

The last person she wanted to be beholden to—no matter how broke she was, and she was pretty darned broke—was Jake Canfield. Turning to face him, she answered. “Thanks, but—” she broadened her smile and tried for indifference “—I have other plans.”

Chapter Two

Jake watched Erin cross the room, a swing in her hips that now had womanly curves. But she was the same Erin. Sassy and headstrong. And she knew horses and cattle. He could use her talents at the ranch, but he’d offered and she’d refused. Why had he even thought she might be interested?

He returned to the table with the others but kept Erin in sight in spite of knowing he shouldn’t. Taking his seat, he folded his arms on the table, wondering what he should do next. She obviously considered him the enemy. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about her.

Trish reached over and put her hand on his arm. “Next time, try flowers.”

“Or dinner at a nice restaurant,” Kate added. “Women like that. It gets them out of the kitchen.” She frowned at her husband.

Dusty smiled. “You like being in the kitchen. You own a bakery and catering business.”

“And I like going out—alone with you—once in a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dusty said with a grin, then turned to Jake. “Try a rope. It worked for me.”

Everyone laughed, causing Jake to wonder what they were talking about. “A rope? Surely you didn’t rope this nice lady.”

Dusty shrugged one shoulder. “It was the only way to keep her from running away from me.”

Jake looked from one to the other. “I have to hear this story.”

Leaning back in his chair, Dusty put his arm around his wife. “Let’s just say she was resistant to my charm...for too long.”

When Kate gave a soft snort, Morgan pointed at Dusty. “He roped her on Main Street on the Fourth of July, in front of the whole town.”

“Did you arrest him?” Jake asked the sheriff.

“What for? He wasn’t breaking the law.”

“I’m telling you,” Dusty said, “when you’re dealing with a stubborn woman, you do whatever it takes.”

Jake smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind if I should ever need it. In the meantime, I’ll just use simple torture.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. “So it’s like that, is it?”

“Nope. Not a bit. But if I didn’t give her a hard time, she’d be disappointed and make it tougher on me.”

Across the table, Dusty chuckled. “You sure don’t want that to happen.”

“I was just saying earlier that I was sorry to hear you’d retired from riding,” Jake said.

Dusty leaned over to nuzzle his wife’s neck. “She didn’t give me a choice. Don’t tell her how glad I am that she didn’t, though,” he added with a wink.

Kate’s smug smile pulled a laugh from Jake, but it was clear that the two of them were happy together. He wished he’d had the same luck, but life hadn’t worked out that way for him.

He turned to Trish’s husband. “How did you manage to end up here in Desperation?”

Morgan chuckled. “I came here from Florida ten years ago to visit my uncle Ernie, and the crazy people in town elected me as their sheriff.”

“You’ve missed a lot,” Trish told Jake. “It’s been a long time.”

Jake caught a glimpse of Erin, who’d pulled up a chair at another table. She sat with her back to him, and he wondered if she’d done so on purpose.

He turned back to the group at his table. “Sounds like a lot has changed in the time I’ve been gone,” he said.

“Are you staying here for good?” Dusty asked.

“I plan to,” Jake told him.

“Your uncle’s ranch is yours now?”

He nodded, thinking of all the paperwork and court motions it had taken to work out the details of his inheritance.

“What do you plan to do with it?” Dusty asked.

“Raise horses and a few cattle, train cutting and roping horses, mostly. I’ve learned a lot since those summers I spent here.” His dream hadn’t happened overnight, but he had stuck with it and now he had it all. Or did he? There was still one thing missing.

He let his gaze wander around the room. Dylan and Luke had gone, leaving Erin behind. If she needed a ride— No, he wouldn’t offer. She would only refuse that, too, and he wasn’t in the mood to be turned down again.

As the evening grew later, the crowd began to thin. Other people he’d known drifted over to the table to say hello. He enjoyed the company and the evening and looked forward to more of the same in the future.

He liked Desperation. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in town when he was young, and yet the people had always been friendly and gone out of their way to make him feel welcome. He’d made friends with several of them and valued those friendships. But the night was nearly over. Even Dusty and Morgan had started talking about going home.

“Kate needs her sleep,” Dusty said, putting his arm around her waist when they both stood. “I’m surprised she’s managed to stay awake past seven.” He placed his other hand on her belly and smiled at her. “Only six more months to go.”

Jake saw the look they shared, and then it dawned on him what Dusty had said. “You’re expecting?” he asked Kate.

She nodded. “December for this one.”

“This one?”

“We have twin boys who’ll be three next month,” Dusty said. “And we did tell Aunt Aggie that we wouldn’t be late, so we need to get going before she starts calling and begging us to come pick them up.”

Kate gave him an elbow to the midsection. “Aunt Aggie has never complained about the boys, or Krista, so don’t you have Jake thinking she has.”

“I remember your aunt well, Kate,” Jake told her. “But who’s Krista?”

“Krista is ours,” Morgan said, helping his own wife with her chair.

“And we’re not adding another one soon,” Trish said, a gleam of determination in her eyes. “I have a feeling when we do, Morgan will be getting his boy, and considering how energetic Kate and Dusty’s twins are, I want to rest up a little longer.”

“Another girl is fine with me,” Morgan said, helping her with her jacket. “Krista liked that Miami Dolphins jersey I bought her, so it’s all good.”

“She was a newborn,” Trish said, laughing. “She didn’t know the difference.”

The two couples continued their bantering as they gathered their things, and Jake was sorry to see them leave. Nearly everyone had gone, except for Erin and the man he’d seen earlier, who was probably taking her home. He decided to stay where he was. He’d noticed that she’d left her hat nearby and knew she wouldn’t leave without it.

It wasn’t long before she walked over to where he sat at the table, her hat on the chair next to him. “Calling it a night?” he asked.

She didn’t look at him directly as she held out her hand. “Morning comes early on a ranch. You should know that.”

He shoved to his feet, then picked up her hat, but didn’t immediately hand it to her. “What brought you home?”

“I decided to spend some time with my brothers.”

“So you’re staying around?”

Her gaze moved slowly over him, until she looked directly into his eyes. “Are you?”

Feeling uncomfortable in places he shouldn’t, he shifted his attention from her eyes to her mouth. Another mistake. He remembered the feel of it on his far too well. Hoping she couldn’t read his thoughts, he managed to answer. “I plan to.”

“I should have known.”

She took her hat from his hand and started to move away, but he wasn’t finished. “Don’t go away mad.”

With a smile, she looked back over her shoulder. “Not mad. It’s just nicer around here when you’re gone.”

Before she could take another step, he had a comeback. “Is that why you’ve been gone from here almost as long as I have?”

Facing him, she settled her hat on her head. “I’ve done just fine.”

“So have your brothers, but they stayed.” He knew he’d hit the mark by the way she glared at him. “They’ve done some great things with the ranch.”

“So now you and my brothers are good buddies?”

“We’ve always been friends.”

She put one hand on her hip and smiled at him again. “I’m not my brothers.”

As she’d done to him, Jake let his eyes move slowly over her. “No, ma’am, you’re definitely not.” He held her gaze another moment, then looked down to pick up his glass of beer.

When he looked up again, she was walking out the door. Walking out on him the way he’d walked out on her. He knew she hadn’t forgotten, no matter how much she might want to. He’d hated that he’d had to hurt her—still did—but he hadn’t been given a choice. He’d paid for it then, and now he was paying for it again.

* * *

AFTER A DISTURBING and restless night, Erin decided to join her brothers for breakfast. In her case, that would be coffee. She hoped it would clear her mind and sweep out the remnants of the confusing and erotic dreams that had starred none other than Jake Canfield.

“Did you have a good time at Lou’s Place last night?” Luke asked, as Erin lifted the carafe to fill her cup.

When she finished, she leaned her hip against the counter behind her and nodded. “It was nice getting together with old friends, but it would have been better if Hayley and Glory had been there and the two of you hadn’t ducked out. What was that all about?”

“We didn’t tell you we weren’t staying?”

She glared at Luke, knowing for certain what they’d been up to. “Of course you didn’t tell me, because you knew I wouldn’t go if you did. And then you left me with that...man.”

“You mean Dean Franklin?”

She opened her mouth to tell him that Dean Franklin had been kind enough to take her home, in spite of the fact that she’d only spent a few minutes with him, and that the man she’d been referring to was none other than their former—and now current—neighbor. Luckily, the words didn’t spill forth. Her brothers would immediately demand to know what Jake had ever done to her, other than be a good friend, and she wouldn’t be able to tell them. Not in this lifetime, anyway.

Instead, she said, “Maybe you’ll learn not to try to hand me off to someone I share absolutely nothing in common with.”

“Broaden your world, Erin. Learn new things,” Dylan told her.

“The man wouldn’t know a quarter horse from a thoroughbred,” she said with a sniff, “and you expect me to make some long-term commitment to him?”

Dylan put his coffee cup on the table and grunted. “Nobody said you had to marry him. Just go on a date.”

“People still date?” she asked as innocently as possible.

“Well—”

“Did you take Glory on a date?” she asked, pinning him with a look she hoped would wither him on the spot.

His brow wrinkled in thought. “We—” He made a face she took as a concession. “Not a real date. But that doesn’t mean that—”

“How about you and Hayley, Luke? Did you go on a date?”

He smiled with superiority. “As a matter of fact, I did take her out to dinner. A real nice restaurant in the city, as I recall.”

“How did it go?”

His smile vanished, and he muttered.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“She got sick.”

Erin couldn’t stop her smile. “Food poisoning?”

He shook his head. “Too much to drink.”

“Well, there you go.”

They both sat and stared at her, until Dylan pushed away from the table. “What’s on your agenda today?”

When Luke didn’t answer, Erin looked at Dylan. “Me? Are you asking me?”

“I already know what our plans are.”

He’d said it as if she was twelve again and he was trying to prove that bigger meant smarter. It didn’t. Being only eleven months older than him gave her an advantage.

“Nothing special,” she answered. Her lack of having something to do was beginning to get on her nerves. She’d always been self-sufficient and kept busy, and she couldn’t tell them that she was as broke as anyone could get without being completely homeless. Between entry fees and living expenses, with money going out faster than it had come in, she’d had to take a break, regroup and hoped to find a way to earn enough money to get back on track. But she wouldn’t take a penny from her brothers.

“You need to do something,” Dylan said.

What she needed was a job, but the only offer she’d had was from a man who’d broken her heart. She quickly searched for something to say. “I thought I might drop in at Glory’s shop later and see if there’s anything I can help with.”

“She’s at the Big Barn at the Commune, finishing the last of the painting.” Dylan got to his feet and looked down at her. “She probably wouldn’t mind if you stopped by. I’m sure she could use some help.”

Erin nodded but didn’t commit herself. She really liked her brothers’ fiancées and hoped they would become good friends. But that would probably come later, when she didn’t feel as if she were living in some kind of limbo.

Luke had left the table and joined Dylan at the door, where they both grabbed their hats from the rack on the wall. “We’ll be down at the barn, in case you need anything.”

She told them goodbye and waited until they were gone, then closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. Going into town for her own coffee to make in her motor home would solve the problem of feeling useless. At least it was something to do.

Two cups later, she was out the door and headed for her motor home, thinking she’d make a list of groceries she should get. It wouldn’t be much, but enough to get her by, until she had a job. Even though she’d asked everywhere she thought might be hiring—even the day care center that was run by a friend of a friend—she’d come up empty-handed.

She wasn’t particularly looking forward to a trip into town. Driving her gas-guzzling home-on-wheels in Desperation had proved cumbersome, at best, but unless she borrowed Dylan’s pickup, she was stuck driving it. The thought didn’t thrill her.

As she reached for the door handle of her small but comfortable home, she stopped at the sound of something rustling in the nearby line of trees. Maybe a rabbit. Probably a skunk, with her luck. Hopefully not anything bigger. Her shotgun was inside in the back of a cabinet.

She immediately saw she’d been wrong, when the big, hairy dog pushed through the undergrowth and shot into the open. “Well, hello,” she called softly, being cautious so as not to frighten it.

The dog froze when she spoke. Its long, gray-and-white coat nearly reached the ground. Even its eyes were partially hidden. Lifting its nose higher, it sniffed in her direction.

Hoping the dog wouldn’t bite, she snapped her fingers and called again. “Come on, pup. Come here. Let’s see what you’re about.”

She barely had the words out of her mouth, when the dog came running toward her, its furry tail wagging back and forth. Bracing herself for what she suspected might be a lunge—although a friendly one—that would knock her over, she was surprised when the dog came to a skid in front of her, all four feet still on the ground. Most dogs would jump up. This one obviously had some training.

Kneeling, she put her hand on the back of the dog’s neck, feeling for a collar. “Good dog,” she whispered. “Now let me see if you have a tag or some kind of identification to go with this.”

She was rewarded with a tag dangling beneath the dog’s neck but had to brush away the thick, long coat of hair to see it. “Solomon?” She leaned back to take a closer look at the dog. “Is that your name?”

The dog’s tail wagged so hard when she spoke the name that she had no doubt it was his. But she couldn’t find a phone number or anything else that would give her an idea of who the owner might be. Solomon appeared to be well fed and fairly clean, considering the thick brush he’d walked through, and he’d probably come from somewhere nearby.

“Let’s go talk to my brothers,” she said, getting to her feet. “Come on, Solomon. Stick with me, and we’ll get you home in no time.”

He walked beside her to the barn, where she found her brothers helping with the birth of a new calf. Luke looked up as Erin and the dog entered, and he shook his head. “Sollie, are you out visiting again?”

“So you know who his owner is?” she asked, relieved that the dog wasn’t a stray. “Should I call someone?”

Dylan glanced at them quickly. “No. Just take him home.”

“Take him home where?”

“Sollie belongs to Jake.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked at the dog. Traitor. Even though her brothers were working, she didn’t want to deal with the dog...and especially his owner. “Why can’t I leave him here with you?” she asked. “Jake can come get his own dog.”

“Just take him home, Erin,” Dylan said without glancing her way again. “Can’t you see we have our hands full?”

“Of course I do. Can I take your pickup? I don’t want him in my motor home.”

“Walk.”

She started to ask why, but it was clear Dylan’s patience was wearing thin. This obviously wasn’t the first time the dog had come visiting, and her brothers had taken him home. That meant they’d known Jake was back. Why hadn’t they mentioned it?

“Let’s go, Sollie,” she said, heading outside and blinking at the bright sunlight.

The walk wasn’t as long as she wanted to make it out to be, and the dog stayed by her side. At one point, not far from the ranch that Jake now owned, Sollie came to a dead stop, sniffing the air, his ears on alert.

“It’s a rabbit, I’m sure,” she told the dog. “We’re almost home, so don’t you go running off after it.”

As if he understood what she’d said, Solomon loped along beside her, but now and then he would look off in the distance. She was surprised that anything that had been around Jake could be so well behaved.

Approaching the ranch from the back side, as she’d always done, she spied Jake on a small tractor with a forklift attached to the front, struggling to move a large stock tank. As she and the dog got closer, she heard the frustration in Jake’s voice, and she laughed at the words he shouted at the galvanized metal tank that kept tipping to one side. She understood frustration well. She’d bought an extra horse, hoping to train it to be as good as Firewind. But she’d had to have Firewind put down, and MacDuff’s training hadn’t gone well. Just one more reason she’d left the circuit.

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