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  Very subtly, Carmen was actually asking about his age, but either Eddie didn’t catch that or he didn’t care enough to comment. How old did he think they were?

  “Spring break,” he repeated. “And if you guys weren’t intent on being high rollers, I’d invite you to the modest soiree we’ll be having in our motel in Needles tonight. The Timberline Inn, just off Interstate 40.”

  When Carmen sent Lucy an interested glance, Lucy widened her eyes. But…their itinerary? Surely they were going to keep to that.

  If she was going to deviate, it wasn’t going to be for some college party.

  Lucy picked up the check that the waitress had already left and gestured that she was going to the cashier to pay up. Afterward, she figured she would linger in the gift shop she’d seen on the way in, allowing Carmen some amusement with young Eddie before they went on their way.

  Yup, Carmen needed to get it out of her system, because there’d be a lot more Eddies in Vegas. And maybe Lucy would be up for that, too. Who could predict?

  She told Carmen that she would either be in the gift shop or waiting in the car, thus setting a time limit for her friend’s antics. Then she said a “good to meet you” to Eddie and sneaked off as their new friend slipped into the booth across from a delighted Carmen.

  And, as Lucy walked past the table where the cowboy had been sitting, she wondered, ever so briefly, what might’ve happened if she had taken the risk of smiling at him as Carmen was smiling at Eddie.

  If she had just taken that first fork in the road.

  JOSHUA GRAY HAD NEVER considered himself invasive. Hell, he’d always kept pretty much to himself, had always taken great pleasure in lone nights on his ranch’s porch with just the company of a good cigar. He’d even managed to stay out of any romantic entanglements, preferring to meet women during the business trips he used to take and then letting them go their own way once the night was done.

  So why had he dawdled at the cashier’s counter around the corner from the main dining room, taking the time to listen to that kid inviting those women to a motel tonight?

  He’d heard the whole exchange pretty well, all except for the part where they’d traded names.

  Joshua had shaken himself out of his reluctant eavesdropping at that point. He had no business listening, and that discomfited him just as much as the party-with-a-college-pup invitation itself. So Joshua had forced himself to walk away, through a second, older booth-lined area and toward the exit.

  The worst part? He knew damn well why he’d hung around to catch their conversation in the first place. It was the girl with the sable hair that waved to her shoulders, the one with eyes made true blue by a pair of slashing dark brows. The one with the full pink lips and the dimples that deepened when she laughed with her friend.

  Lord knew what it was about her, but Joshua hadn’t been able to look away as he’d lingered over cherry pie and coffee in his corner. Maybe it was her honeyed smile, or even the way she wore a spring dress.

  Or maybe it was the urge to feel like a man again, and she seemed just the soft type to allow him that necessity. Losing most of his family’s property in Fielding, Texas, tended to take away a guy’s bluster.

  But sex wasn’t the initial reason he’d gone on the road. He needed to get his head on straight and to “cool his jets,” as one of his two sisters might’ve said. Leaving the ranch for a while was supposed to help out with that—and it would hopefully give him enough temper-calming distance to formulate an airtight strategy for his return home.

  Yup, he was out here to lick his wounds, but the arid loneliness of the desert was also buying time for a geological study of the land he still owned—the land their “family friend” Timothy Trent hadn’t purchased when he’d so kindly “helped” them out by buying the rest of the ranch and saying he would sell it back when the Grays found enough money to manage it.

  Trent’s lie had been designed to hoodwink the Grays, since their seemingly affable neighbor knew damn well that they wouldn’t be able to afford to buy the acreage back at the original selling price. Their friend’s cost had gone way up since then, of course, and he had offered the excuse that he was a businessman with a bordering ranch. Nothing personal.

  Joshua had been so naive. He had, as a matter of fact, been so desperate to bring the family horse-breeding facility back into the black after finding out how far his deceased father had run it into the ground that he’d trusted Trent.

  Damn-fool thing to do.

  But if there was oil on the land they still had…?

  His blood rumbled as he recalled the seep he’d found while riding what was left of his property one day. Keeping the news to himself, Joshua had immediately gone to Trent, thinking he might soon have enough funds to secure his family’s own land again, whether it was oil rich or not.

  But that’s when Trent had laid it all out for Joshua, revealing his betrayal and refusing to sell any of the land back.

  Even without knowing about the oil.

  In return, that’s when Joshua had lost it with Trent, nearly attacking him. At that moment, he’d recognized a foreign violence and hatred within himself, and it was horrifying.

  Fortunately, he’d left before giving in to it.

  But now, with a cooler head earned from distance, Joshua wondered if the money from possible oil would provide him with enough cash to buy his family’s land back from Trent. Or if their neighbor even deserved such civil treatment at all.

  As he pushed that darkness away—it was just anger and frustration, not a real part of him at all, right?—he summoned the image, the fantasy of the dark-haired woman. For an instant, he actually felt that temper redirect its energy to his core, which heated and boiled with a new hunger.

  Holding on to this reshaped sense of power rolling through him, he passed a gift shop with an ice-cream counter near the exit. Betty Boop, Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz—it housed every pop culture item imaginable. An Elvis figurine caught his eye and he couldn’t pass it up. His younger sister Darianne loved the King, and she would light up at something like this.

  After grabbing the item, he meandered around the store without rushing back to his truck. Displays of lunch boxes, hats, games, candy in plastic jars…they were a maze to him.

  And, all the while, he knew he was stalling.

  What for? Did he think he could get another glimpse of the brunette?

  Did he think she would meet his glance again, but instead of shyly looking away this time, she might keep eye contact an inviting second longer?

  Just as he brought the Elvis trinket to the counter, a tumble of awareness flashed down his entire body, and he knew.

  She’d entered the shop.

  When he glanced over, he saw that she had stopped to finger an Archie Comics apron.

  His nethers stirred, caught by all the fantasies pumping through him like bad blood. He could imagine her locking gazes with him now, admitting that she’d followed him in here. He could picture her undoing the first button on her dress, then the second.

  You want to feel good? she would ask in a sultry voice that had somehow kept its innocence. You want to forget about what you’re running from, all these miles away from home? Well, I can clear your mind, Joshua. I can make you feel valuable again.

  Yet when his vision cleared, he just saw a beautiful woman moving on to the candy rack, running her fingers over the jars of bubble gum and Tootsie Rolls.

  Sweet, he thought. She’d probably taste so sweet to a bitter man.

  But he wouldn’t say a damn thing to her, not in the state he was in. He would move on, pay for his sister’s gift, then leave this woman in peace—which is what he, himself, wished to find so far away from Fielding.

  Trying to shut out the rage, the humiliation, of having his property—his everything—more or less stolen from him, Joshua paid for Elvis, then waited as the cashier wrapped up the figurine. Yet, bit by bit, red filtered over his gaze, building, thickening, until he clenched his fists in
an effort to contain it.

  Each sleepless night, his plans to get the Triple Oaks back crept up on him, but that didn’t do anything to make him whole again. The only time something had taken the place of the emptiness was when he’d seen the brunette across the crowded dining room, wearing her simple dress, her soothing smile.

  But, he thought as he thanked the cashier and tucked the bag under his arm, he knew this attraction had nothing to do with candied kisses and romance. For better or worse, sex had always gone a long way in bolstering his confidence. While growing up, he’d been known as a quiet bad boy, devoted to his family but never a steady girlfriend. That hadn’t kept the girls from trying to break him though. In fact, women had come so easy for him that he’d started to take them for granted in college, then after, during business-trip flings.

  But then his mom had passed, and he’d seen how much his dad missed love, and Joshua had realized there was something he could’ve been overlooking all this time.

  Focused upon leaving—just leaving and finding his own way—he made for the shop’s exit. He tried not to think about the brunette taking up with a random guy who had approached them in a diner, tried not to think about what might happen to a couple of women who didn’t know any better than to avoid strangers on the long, hard road.

  Yet the brunette had moved on to a display of Star Wars items, and she was blocking the nearest aisle.

  Either he would have to take a shortcut and admit a certain defeat, or he would have to pass her to get out.

  Resentment rose in his gorge. He wasn’t about to deal with another loss, no matter how trivial.

  As he forged ahead, nearer, so agonizingly nearer to her, she glanced up. It was as if she sensed him, scented him even, just as he had already inhaled her own soft smell from a few feet away.

  Powdery, he thought, but with a primal tinge underneath it all, like pink hiding a layer of red.

  When she focused on him, her eyes widened in recognition—one that told him he’d managed to affect her, whether good or bad. He came to a halt, unable to take another step.

  His blood pounded, echoing in his ears, his chest.

  His cock.

  He nodded at her, tipped his hat, wishing he had it in him to smile. Maybe that would chase away the suddenly fearful tint that had overtaken her blue gaze.

  “I don’t bite, ma’am,” he said, voice gruffer than he’d meant.

  She blinked, then laughed a little, as if she didn’t know what else to do.

  He’d affected her, all right, and damn it, the knowledge gave him that power he’d lost. Gave him back a fraction of his old fire, his old sense of self.

  What would happen if he was inside of her, fully connected and electrified at the source? What would he feel then?

  She stepped out of the aisle before he could even ask. “Didn’t mean to block your way.”

  He should’ve passed her, but…her voice got to him. As light as dawn over the ranch, it summoned a twinge of times gone by, when the place had thrived back before his mom had died and his dad had stopped caring about everything else, even the home he’d shared with his true love.

  But Joshua would get those times—his land—back, just as sure as he would set things to rights with Timothy Trent, even if it was the last thing he did.

  “Not to worry,” Joshua said. Just go.

  But it wasn’t happening. Hell, no, instead he was searching for something to say, something that would extend their interaction.

  She glanced down at the trinket shelf again, just as quiet as she’d been when her pal had flirted with that college kid. When the guy had invited them to the Timberline Inn, off I-40.

  Suddenly, Joshua was unable to stop himself from being invasive.

  “I couldn’t help overhearing you talking with that college kid back there,” he said, pushing his Stetson back on his head. “And I’m no doubt out of line, but…You’ll want to be careful of overly friendly men out here.”

  She finally looked back up, eyes as clear as a calm sky. Then, as if she’d had to think about doing it, she smiled at him.

  Something tugged at his gut—sexual, deep…even protective. But Joshua nudged that last feeling aside in favor of the others.

  “There’re those who’d prey on two women by themselves,” he added.

  Her pink lips parted, as if in reaction to his warning. Little did she know that he was the stranger she should be most worried about.

  “Thanks…” she said. “I mean, it’s nice of you to take the time to tell me that. We’re trying to be alert.”

  Then why are you standing here still talking to me? he wanted to ask.

  As he searched for more to say, she took a deep breath, then seemed to allow a mildly amused grin to take over her mouth. He didn’t think she was wearing lipstick; it looked as if she’d just finished sucking on berries during a lazy afternoon.

  His groin tightened again and he took his bag from under his arm and repositioned it over his jeans.

  “The Timberline’s not a bad place, mind you,” he finally managed to say. “I’m staying there myself.”

  A pulse of interest seemed to fill her gaze. “So it’s the company I should be thinking about, not the motel itself. Right? It’s a safe spot?”

  “I only picked the Timberline out of a need for a bed to rest in tonight, but from what the truckers say, it’s clean and well run.”

  She seemed to turn that over in her mind, but the speculative spark remained behind. “Well then, thanks again. We weren’t planning on going there anyway, but it’s good to know.”

  “No problem, ma’am.”

  “Ma’am,” she said under her breath.

  She paused. Then her smile changed tone—and hell if he couldn’t understand just what had happened in front of his very eyes. Had she gone from merely being friendly to something more?

  “Do you know the damage you can do to a woman of my age with those ‘ma’am’s’?” she asked.

  Yup, something had definitely clicked up another level here.

  “Miss, then?” he asked, realizing that he should’ve already wondered about whether or not she was significantly attached to anyone.

  Or maybe he shouldn’t be thinking about that.

  Yet his body disagreed. In spite of all his misgivings, he found himself leaning toward her, bracing an arm on the wall next to him. The action brought him that much closer to her—a reach away.

  Maybe he imagined it, but he thought he saw her run a slow glance over his arm, then his chest, before she made eye contact again. The subtle scan revved his libido.

  Then, all too abruptly, she cleared her throat, as if chiding herself for some reason.

  “Well,” she said, “I ought to…”

  She motioned toward the exit.

  “I guess maybe you ought,” he said, not moving a muscle, because he had the feeling she didn’t really want to go anywhere, either.

  Even if she didn’t know it yet.

  “Got a lot of road to cover today,” she added.

  Still, she didn’t retreat.

  He grabbed at one last straw. “Where are you off to?”

  “Back to Interstate 15,” she said evasively. “And you? I mean, after tonight?”

  Nowhere, he thought. Just…away.

  That hunger for fulfillment…for something…consumed him again, and he leaned closer to her.

  “Would I-15 mean you’re going to Vegas?” he asked.

  A storm seemed to darken her eyes—a cloud-filled crossroads that he recognized because he’d reached it so many times himself these past few days.

  Was she wondering if she should inch nearer to him, tell him the first bit of personal information about herself even though he had dodged her own question about his destination?

  Yearning scorched Joshua, singeing every nerve ending until his skin screamed for her.

  But then her gaze cleared, and she drew back ever so slightly, barely enough for a person not paying as much attention as
he was to notice.

  “Wherever you’re going,” she said, reaching behind her so she wouldn’t knock over any shelves, “don’t talk to those strangers yourself, now.”

  And, before she turned away and deserted him, he thought he saw her smile again—a hot, alluring invitation that burned away before he could really read it.

  In the aftermath, Joshua Gray stood there, the name Timberline Inn echoing in his otherwise empty chest.

  Calling to him like a disappeared dawn.

  2

  LUCY WENT STRAIGHT to the car, veins tangled from the encounter with the cowboy.

  Point B, she thought, blood thudding in a cadence that connected her body in one neon throb. I need to get to the next spot on the map before I accidentally go back in to that gift shop.

  After unlocking the driver-side door, she got behind the wheel, breathing deeply in an effort to gather herself.

  He’d shaken her in an erotic way, as if she’d woken up from a crimson-hot dream, her heart stomping, her adrenaline running loose. Suddenly, in his unexpected presence, she’d become kind of flirtatious, actually giving him one of those smiles Carmen was so good at. One of those tacit invitations that might’ve told the cowboy that it was okay for him to reach over and touch her.

  Lucy rubbed her goose-bumped arms. She wasn’t used to stepping out of her shell at first, but obviously a more aggressive man did it for her. Her usual game consisted of being caught after some modest wooing, then ended with her chasing a guy who’d already won her over.

  But the cowboy, with his silvered eyes and bad-boy stubble, seemed saturated in the possibility of a darker temptation, and she didn’t need that to mess her up after the latest heartbreak.

  Or…did she?

  What if she could be a woman who wasn’t a straitlaced, goal-driven myopic? Would she actually find fulfillment in some freedom?

  She reclined against the headrest, conjuring him up again until her flesh went hot. His lips on hers, his stubble burning her cheeks, his fingers toying with her breasts. Then, in her fantasy, she guided his hand down to where she really wanted it—between her legs to stroke her…