ELIZA
Two Weeks Later
“No more dead bulls or crop circles?” Jo asks, drawing my attention back from the window where I stare, searching the horizon for a figure who will never appear.
I shake my head, letting the gauzy curtain fall back over the window.
“And your search for a new ranch hand?”
I shrug. Haven’t put much effort into it. “Café’s been keeping me busy.”
Jo regards herself in the mirror, bringing a hand up to smooth her black bob. “I don’t like the thought of you out there alone.”
I sigh. “Maybe Frank was right. Maybe I need to give up the cattle business and the ranch.”
Her eyes lock with mine, sadness blossoming behind them.
I huff a laugh, trying to keep things light. “It was too ambitious trying to keep the ranch going alone. Should’ve known. Besides a quiet little bungalow a block or two from MainStreet could be nice. No upkeep beyond maybe mowing the lawn. Sounds…easy.”
“If you do a lawn at all. You could always xeriscape.”
“What?” I catch myself, my thoughts drifting again to dark hair and beards, tattoos glistening in moonlight.
“Xeriscape,” Jo repeats.
I straighten her veil, smiling thinly. “You look beautiful. Are you ready to do this?”
“Yes,” she beams, more sure than I’ve ever seen the skeptical anthropologist.
Her enthusiasm pierces my heart. I look away, trying to keep it together.
“And the last man who was helping you?” she ventures.
I look away. “Temporary. Knew it wouldn’t last.”
She presses her lips tightly together. “Ash told me he saved you from a rattlesnake.”
I nod, quickly swiping the back of my hand over my cheeks. “Weddings always choke me up,” I excuse.
In truth, speaking of Kael, even in this roundabout way, heightens the ache I’ve felt ever since first laying eyes on him.
“Maybe you could post an advertisement in Redfern Feed,” Jo offers, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I know how much the family ranch means to you.”
“Yeah.” I sigh long and low. “It’s just with no help and the government men still following me, showing up nearly every morning at the café… I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore.”
“Fortunately, you don’t have to decide today.”
“No,” I say, fixing my mascara in the mirror. “And today isn’t about me, anyway. It’s about you and that handsome cowboy who worships you with every look, every breath he takes.”
Jo’s cheeks glow. “You make it sound so romantic.”
“Itis,” I say too quickly. “Headoresyou. What woman wouldn’t want a man like that?”
“Wildbloods,” she says under her breath, so soft I have to lean closer to catch it.
Heat sprouts behind my chest. “Like Kael.”
“And Ash,” she says, green eyes meeting mine. Unspoken things hiding there.
