known she would love it. It was like he could read her mind, and understood the inner workings of her heart. Colt was a special man, even when he was being domineering. She worried that she was becoming far too attached to the rough and ready cowboy.
Just look at him, she thought. He stood on the small ridge, fishing pole in hand, in jeans and a forest green flannel shirt, an ivory Stetson atop his head, his shadow beard scruff a bit longer, his focus on the task at hand—and her heart trembled.
“I don’t have any live bait, but we’ll make do with what we have,” he commented, regarding the top water lures she had watched him connect to each of the poles before handing her one. He eyed her. “What is it? Need some help? Have you not been fishing before?”
“Nah, I’ve been fishing plenty. I didn’t bring gear with me because, well, I didn’t figure I would do any fishing. And I just like watching you work. I like looking at you, period.”
His gaze darkened perceptibly, sweeping her form. “Likewise, babe. Have a seat.”
When she sat down, she tested the grip and the line on the pole before casting it out. Colt sat beside her and did the same. With the lines dropped and bobbing on the top of the stream, he broke out the donuts and coffee. They ate companionably for a bit, enjoying the sunrise as the sunlight turned the world golden around them. He nudged her side with his elbow and said in a low, hushed voice, “To your right, about four o’clock.”
She shifted and smiled. A small family of mule deer were at the stream, getting their morning drink. Charmed, she sat still, watching them, not wanting to scare them off. Then she carefully withdrew her notebook and pencil from her backpack. Oblivious to everything but the man at her side and the animals, she began to sketch the picture the deer family made, holding the fishing rod between her thighs as she did so.
“I didn’t know you could draw,” Colt murmured, and his husky baritone was like a whispered caress along her spine.
God, did he turn her inside out. With a smile teasing her lips, she replied, “I bet there are lots of things we don’t know about each other, like, I’m an Aquarius. You?”
“Astrological signs? Really? I don’t buy them, but if you’re wondering about my birthday, it’s May the sixth.”
“And just how old are you, cowboy? I’m twenty-nine, and think you might be a little older. Not that it matters, but in the spirit of getting to know one another.”
“I’ll be thirty-four next May.”
“And have you ever been married?” she asked him, vastly curious about the cowboy.
“Came close once,” he said, and drew his line back in before tossing it out again.
“Did you really? If you don’t mind my asking, what happened?”
“She wanted to change me into someone I’m not. At the end of the day I knew it wasn’t right,” he said with a shrug. But his shoulders were stiff as he talked about it, like the incident still hurt him. And it made her want to cuddle him, to draw the shadows out of his eyes, and get him to smile at her again with that heart-stopping grin of his.
“At least you didn’t get all the way to the altar before you figured that out. Instead of deciding on the day of the wedding that you couldn’t go through with it.”
His slate gaze studied her with an unreadable expression. “You were left at the altar?”
“Yep. The guests were already beginning to assemble in the church. And he came into my dressing room, and told me that he couldn’t marry someone who was scatterbrained, self-absorbed with her work, and always wanted to travel—that he needed someone reliable, and I just wasn’t it. Matt never saw me, not the real me, he only saw what he wanted to.” He had hurt her in ways she rarely liked to talk about, much less remember.
“His loss is my gain. I’m sorry, though, that couldn’t have been easy. But is that something you want? Marriage, kids, the whole nine yards?”
Warmth spread through her at his words. “I do want it all. I worry though that my lifestyle might not lend itself to marriage and kids. I don’t know many men willing to follow me all over the world. And I’m not sure what type of upbringing it would be for a kid. It would