was getting to her when she didn’t shrug him off. “Come on. You feel it too. You’re lying to yourself if you don’t admit we’re great together.”
She stared down at the floor, her teeth nibbling at that lower lip until he was afraid she’d chew it off. Finally, she looked up into his face, her eyes searching his. Normally that kind of gaze from a woman made him flinch and look away, but for the first time, he wanted a woman to know exactly what he was thinking.
***
Sarah pulled herself out of his arms and turned to the mantel, moving a framed photo of the two brothers with their father to one side, pretending she’d suddenly remembered the watch.
Lane was right. The phone calls probably came from Suze. Once again, she’d assumed the worst of him. She needed to open up a little, trust people. But there was one thing she needed more than a mental makeover.
“I can’t stay here,” she said. “I don’t have a job.”
“Work for me. I need some help around here. You’d earn your keep.”
“That’s ridiculous. I told you I’m afraid of horses.”
“That’s what you told me. But I don’t believe you.” He waved toward the window. Far beyond the drive where her car was parked, she could see horses grazing in a faraway field. “And my horses aren’t scary. They’re a pretty mellow bunch, mostly rescues.”
“Rescues? I didn’t know that. I thought you raised roping horses.”
“I do. But it seems like every time I go to a sale I see a good horse nobody wants. Sometimes they just need to be fattened up and treated right; sometimes they just need a place to get old and die. Trust me, I’ve got some horses over there that wouldn’t scare a baby.”
The idea of a horse rescue somehow didn’t jibe with her image of Lane. He was always about being the biggest, the best, the strongest, the bravest. She’d never seen this side of him—although come to think of it, he had taken in Willie. And he was certainly patient with her.
It didn’t matter. She was leaving. Turning, she scanned a bookcase filled with Western history tomes and old rodeo magazines. There was no way the watch could be there, but she searched it anyway. It gave her time to think.
The whole thing was hopeless. She needed to leave Two Shot behind—again. More thoroughly this time. Kelsey didn’t seem to want her help anymore, so it would be easy to move on.
She’d leave Lane behind too. She stepped away from him and scanned the room, spinning in a slow circle. “I have to go. I’m going to have to leave without my watch.” She blinked back hot tears at the thought of losing Roy’s watch. It was the one part of her old life she wanted to take with her, and the one part that seemed utterly and completely lost. “Leave me a message if you find it, okay?”
“If I find it for you, will you come see the horses?”
Maybe he’d taken it. Maybe he thought she wouldn’t leave without it.
“You took it, didn’t you?”
“No. But I bet I know where it is. Check your purse.”
“I already did.”
“Check it again.”
She walked over to the door where her oversized bag was slouched against her suitcase. Lifting the flap, she rummaged through its contents. Wallet, hairbrush, makeup bag…
Watch. Damn.
“You put it in there. You tricked me.”
“You tricked yourself. I didn’t put it there. It’s just the only place it could be. It was logic.”
She gave him a disbelieving stare.
“I’m not that devious, Sarah.”
She had to admit that was probably true. He liked to win and get what he wanted, but his methods were pretty straightforward. Strength and sex appeal, not scheming.
“Come on.” He opened the door and gestured toward the sunbaked scenery outside. “The horses are waiting.”
Chapter 29
Sarah strode past Lane as he held open the passenger door to his pickup.
“I’ll take my own car,” she said. “That way I can just go.”
He gave her Malibu a scornful once-over. “That car’s not made for the ranch roads. You’re going to get a flat.”
“That’ll be my problem.” The old car was like her—tougher than it looked. Besides, she doubted the ranch roads were much worse than the lane to the Love Nest.
She was wrong. The Malibu bottomed out twice on the rutted road. Deep truck tracks were carved into the surface, frozen, then dried to rocklike permanence. She steered to one side so at least two wheels were on a