How To Rope A Rich Cowboy (Silver Springs Ranch #2) - Anya Summers Page 0,10

the equipment into that for the duration of the storm.”

She poured the egg batter into the sizzling frying pan, moving about the small kitchen with ease.

“And you, what, study space?”

“I’m an astronomer and astrophysicist. I have a PhD in both fields. I’ve been tracking the trajectory of a comet I discovered a few months ago, studying it from different angles around the globe. But I study all sorts of things in space: comets, asteroids, meteoroids.” She left off that she was here on her search for extraterrestrial life. People tended to look at her funny—even more than usual—when she mentioned it, and she didn’t want to scare the man off just yet.

“That’s rather impressive.”

“You sound shocked… dammit!” She hissed and shook her hand at the flash of pain. She couldn’t seem to go half a day without injuring herself in some fashion.

“Here, let me see.” He approached, crowding her by the stove.

He took her hand, and turned it over for his inspection. There was a tiny stripe of red near her wrist where she’d burned it on the pan. “Doesn’t look too bad. Why don’t you let me finish cooking the eggs, that way you don’t hurt yourself more, and put some ice on that?”

She sighed. “Sure. Have at it.”

There were days she was surprised she made it through in one piece. She was a klutz with a capital K. It was embarrassing.

She moved out of the way, pulled an ice cube from the freezer, and let the cowboy take over cooking. She wrapped one of the dish towels around the ice to hold it in place, and got two plates and forks out. Avery halved the apple they would share and put it on the plates. “I have wine, if you like that sort of thing. I’m not really a beer person, although I can have one in a pinch. I just don’t have any with me.”

“Why am I not surprised? Sure, wine will do.”

Discarding the rest of the ice cube into the sink, she grabbed the chilled bottle of chardonnay, glad she had remembered to put it in the fridge when she arrived last night. And it had a twist off top. It was better that way, otherwise she would end up at urgent care after accidentally stabbing herself with the corkscrew. She had a scar on her left hand from a mishap with one. There weren’t any wine glasses, but the glass tumblers would do in a pinch.

“How long have you been at the cabin?” he asked, transferring the scrambled eggs onto the plates.

“Two days. I lost my wallet that first afternoon, taking a short hike around the cabin to scout the area. I feel horrible that I haven’t gone to the ranch offices and explained, but there’s not much that can be done about it, nor can I ignore the research I need to do here. I doubt they would even believe me.” Not to mention she was mortified by her gaffe, or that because of it, she didn’t even have money for gas to get herself and her vehicle back to Nevada without making a few calls.

“They might be more willing to listen than you imagine. But if your wallet gets found and turned in at the ranch, I will get it back to you,” he said, taking a seat at the table with her.

She shrugged. The wallet was gone. The likelihood of it being found were on a level with discovering Bigfoot’s existence. “I doubt anyone will. It’s likely waterlogged at the bottom of the stream somewhere, but if it is located, that would be nice.”

“Tell me more about this comet you discovered. When did you discover it, and how did that bring you here to Colorado?”

Glad to be off the topic of her blunder, she explained. “Well, it was six months ago, give or take a month. I was on Maunakea in Hawaii at the Keck Observatory—they have the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes—and had been there for almost three months, when this new object appeared in an area of space I was observing. I had the satellite telescopes pointed toward the Andromeda galaxy. Upon first discovery, I had to run through a series of tests, calculations, and validations to delineate and determine what the object was. Once I had determined that it was a comet and not an asteroid, I had to cross check the relevant data with all the known comets, their trajectories, and positions. It’s loads of data collection