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There was the difference. What he hadn’t told her was thatAlyssa was sweet as pie to him. She’d been a little spoiled, but affectionate,and seemed so proud to be dating him, and she changed when Grim came around.
Oh, she’d slept with him. Enthusiastically, but she’d madeherself plain she didn’t want anyone to know about it. Grim could be theirdirty secret, but he would get pushed out when the time came to settle down.
“He’s there. And I will be sure to feed you.” He closed thedoor. If he could sneak her past his momma. He planned on sneaking her into hisplace and introducing her later in the afternoon. After he’d explained how hisparents could be…a lot.
He could handle Alyssa fine since she worked as anaccountant at the meat packing plant. The one his fathers owned, along withtheir business partners.
What Nicole didn’t know was how much this town was relianton his family for jobs, for economic development. If his father had wanted to,he could have burned this town to the ground when they’d tried to rejectAbigail Moore. Instead she’d become Abby Barnes-Fleetwood, and over the yearsshe’d made a place for herself here. There were some people—most of them hadbeen standing on the church lawn a few minutes ago—that still referred to heras “that woman,” but his mother sometimes seemed to revel in it.
Like Nic had a few moments before. She hadn’t seemed angryor embarrassed. She’d seemed annoyed.
He shut the truck door and started around the back, ignoringthe looks he received.
“Shameless,” someone muttered under his breath.
Yes. He was utterly shameless since he didn’t think he’ddone anything to be ashamed of. They could all bite his ass, and it looked likeNic was on the same page.
Of course she thought they had a time limit. She’d told himthe night before she was planning on leaving. It was why he had to rush thiscourtship thing along.
He had no intentions of her heading off to some other job.She didn’t need a job at all. He and Grim could take care of her. He slid inbeside her, something still roiling through him.
He started up the truck.
“I don’t remember you waking me. I sometimes sleep prettyhard,” she murmured as he started down the street. “Most of the time I don’tsleep. I have trouble with it so when I finally do, I tend to be out of it.”
“Yeah, you seemed to be having a nasty dream last night.”
There was no way to miss the fine flush crossing her face.“Did I say anything?”
She’d said a man’s name. Michael, maybe. But it wasn’t saidlike she was missing the bastard. No. She’d begged him to stop. In the dreamshe’d been trying to get away from him.
It was his first real clue, but he didn’t want to push herabout it. Not now. “You tossed and turned and seemed scared. Once Grim got hisarms around you, you settled right down.”
She stared out the front windshield. “That’s good to know.And it explains why I slept so hard.”
“Your eyes came open and everything.” She’d looked soft andsweet. “We had a brief conversation. I’m sorry. I thought you would remember. Iwouldn’t have left you at all if we’d had another car.”
“No, it was good you went with him,” she said with a nod.“I’m sure he could use another set of hands. I’ve never been on a ranch before.You said you lived in one of the outer buildings? But Olivia lives with yourparents?”
“Yeah, Grim and I moved into the guest house when we camehome from college,” he explained. “It’s small, but it’s pretty nice.”
“I’m sure it is. So your dads work on this ranch, too?”
She really didn’t know. She had no idea how wealthy hisfamily was. Olivia had mentioned it the night before. His sister had approvedof Nicole and said something about finding one who wasn’t either impressed orturned off by their family. Impressed by the wealth they’d accumulated orturned off by their lifestyle. Nic hadn’t seemed to know anything about he andGrim. “Yeah. They’ve worked there for most of their adult lives. Dad and Popsdid. Mom didn’t come around for a little while.”
How much should he tell her and how much should he let herdiscover?
“Ranching is hard work,” she said, watching the café go byas he headed toward the highway.
“As we were reminded this morning. Every day, really,” hereplied. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t ride fences with my dads. I was born and put straight into a saddle.”
Josh couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t ridden. He’dfollowed his dads around as a kid, waking early to get to spend time with thembefore his mom would drive he and Olivia to school out at the resort.
It had been a great childhood. One he wanted for his ownchildren someday.
Yeah, that was probably a good way to scare her off, so hewouldn’t mention he was already long-term life planning around her.
He could be intense, or so he’d been told.
