“It’s a fallacy that only redheads have them. You know that, right?”
He liked her voice—kind of low, husky. “Tell me more.”
She laughed. “It’s just a reaction to UV exposure. A result of the overproduction of melanin.”
“Well, I like them on you. If I remember correctly, everyone used to call you Van, right?”
“Van or Vanessa, either way.”
“Just checking. I really like Vanessa. It suits you better, somehow. Didn’t you move away?”
She gave a slow nod. “I live in Billings now.”
“A teacher, right?”
“You remembered.”
“English?”
“Science—chemistry and biology.”
“That’s right. Always a brainy one.”
“You’d better believe it.” Her thick, dark eyelashes swept down and up again.
“Home for the holidays, huh?”
She leaned closer. “It’s my last night in town. Tomorrow I head back to Billings.” Her shoulder brushed his arm, and his breath caught. She smelled sweet and fresh, like the roses his mother grew beside the steps of the main house out at the family ranch, the Double J.
“Vanessa.” He touched the brim of his hat, a salute meant to signal he held her in the highest regard. “You mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“Go for it.”
“Got a guy in Billings—someone who can’t wait for you to come home?”
She sipped her drink. “Not now, I don’t.”
Something in her tone alerted him. “Did I just hit a nerve? I didn’t mean to—”
“Not your fault.” She waved his apology away with a shapely hand, the nails cut short, businesslike. No-nonsense. Her full, tempting breasts rose and fell as she sighed. “I confess. There was someone, yes. I wastrying, you know?”
“I don’t quite follow. Trying to...?”
“What can I tell you? This someone I just mentioned wasn’t my type, but my type kept messing me over. I go for the players and that never goes well. Trevor—that’s his name—was no player. I met him at a science fair. He was so nice. Nerdy and shy, you know? I felt zero chemistry with him. But chemistry isn’t everything, am I right?”
He stifled a chuckle. “Vanessa, I’m not touching that with a ten-foot cattle prod.”
She let out another soft sigh. “I thought I could draw him out, get him to relax and have fun. I thought that he would be true to me and I would slowly come to care for him deeply, to be grateful for his steady ways.”
“I have to say it. Trevor sounds dead boring—and let me guess. You finally had to face the fact that Trevor wasn’t the guy for you?”
She seemed faintly amused. “Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
“Just before I came home for Christmas, Trevor dumped me.”
He couldn’t believe it. “No way.”
