The stranger bent slightly and set his case on the ground. “Only if you remember how to do senioralgebra.”
She stumbled to a stop, sucking in a breath. “Cord?”
“Yep.”
“Cord Carter.”Oh my God. Stop saying his name.Now.
He stepped fully into the barn and his lips split into a huge, devastating grin. “The one andonly.”
She drank in the sight of him like a woman dying of thirst. His shocking red hair had darkened to a deep auburn and the five o’clock shadow of a beard on his razor-sharp jaw was even darker. He wore a plain gray T-shirt and baggy sweatpants, a simple outfit that somehow managed to show off his impossibly broad chest paired with an equally impressive V-shapedwaist.
She swallowed, attempting to get some moisture back into her suddenly dry mouth. “What are you doinghere?”
“I work with Fury Security. What are you doing here?” He crossed his arms and arched his eyebrow. “Last I remember, the only thing you wanted to do was bury your nose in a book. You used to hate theoutdoors.”
Heat blossomed in her cheeks at the reminder of her less than popular and outgoing personality in high school. “Peoplechange.”
His eyes slowly swept her from the top of her head to the toes of her mud-caked boots. “They suredo.”
Her stomach fluttered, her pulse kicking into high gear. She’d been head over heels in love with him in high school, but he’d relegated her to the friend zone. She’d accepted her place like she’d accepted she’d never have a man like him. Still wouldn’t. But damned if her libido didn’t poke its head up out of the sand and take note of hismuscles.
Trying to get her frayed nerves under control, she cleared her throat, “When did you get out of the military? I thought Fury Security was a privatefirm.”
Cord’s cocky grin faded slightly. “Less than a yearago.”
“Oh,” she said in response, feeling completely tongue-tied. He always managed to do this toher.
“How’d you end up buying a ranch inTexas?”
“I didn’t buy it,” shesaid.
He stood silently, waiting on her to finish her sentence. She managed to shift her gaze from his chiseled body to his eyes, but that was a mistake. There were so many different facets to them. Dark green and light flecks ofgold.
The ranch, he asked you about theranch.
“My grandfather left it tome.”
“I thought your grandfather was an accountant inMaryland?”
“He is,” she answered automatically, reaching up to tuck her wild hair behind her ears. Why did this man have to show up today, when she’d been mucking out stalls and dealing in filth allday?
Her fingers tangled in a clump of hair and she winced. Gently, Cord pulled her hand from her hair, that one touch sending shockwaves of awareness straight to her core. And he didn’t let up there. He continued what she’d started, tucking her hair behind her ear the same way he’d done when they were in high school, leaving her to wonder if he still thought of her as nothing more than abuddy.
“There. You had a burr tangled in your hair.” His green eyes stayed locked on hers, but it was impossible to hold his intense stare, so instead she glanced to the tack room next to them. An old cracked mirror hung on the wall. Sam winced. Dirt smudged her cheeks and her shirt. She looked like she hadn’t washed her hair in days. Meanwhile Cord looked like he’d stepped off the cover ofMen’s Healthmagazine.
“So did your grandfather also own this ranch?” heasked.
Sam forced her gaze from her horrific reflection, trying without much success to get her brain to function at a normal pace. Yeah, Cord Carter was standing right in front of her, even more devastatingly handsome than he had been in high school. And yeah, she’d accidentally hired this man to help her find her stalker. What were theodds?
If she wasn’t careful, she was going to thrust herself right back into the role of lovelorn geek. She drew in a deep, steadying breath, focused on wiggling her toes in her boots and then used that physical action to ground her mind back into her body where itbelonged.
“My dad’s dad. I never knew him. I never even knew he existed. Apparently, I was the only living Bishop left after my dad overdosed. My grandfather, Sam Bishop, passed away last year. I never even methim.”
But from what she’d learned of him from Jim Wayne, she sure wished she had. He sounded like the father she’d never had. He’d run this ranch by pure determination, stayed married to his wife for sixty years before losing her to cancer and died in his sleep, in his own bed. He’d taken care of his friends and even better care of hisranch.
“I’m sorry about your dad. I know he wasn’t aroundmuch.”
Sam held up a hand. “He wasn’t around at all, so don’t worry, I didn’t even go to his funeral. To be honest, I’m not sure where he’s buried.” According to her mother, her father had never even laid eyes on her. He’d lost the battle with drug addiction way before she was born, so as far Sam was concerned, she had probably been betteroff.
