Page 73 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

He dropped his shirt again. “Things happen.”

“What if it had happened on the barn?” Which was a good ten feet higher at the eaves.

“It didn’t.” He brushed himself off again, then let his hands fall to his sides as he faced her. “It’s almost like you care.”

Lil felt her cheeks warm. “I do care,” she snapped, pushing her hair back in a distracted gesture.

His expression shifted, gave a little, and so did hers.

“Jordan … I’m not ready for next steps.” He didn’t answer, and, frustrated, Lil found her spine and spoke the truth. “I’m not ready to fall in love.”

His expression barely changed. “It’s too late for me.”

Shock spiraled through her, just as it had when he’d said he didn’t want to lose her.

His shoulders tightened, as if he was stopping himself from reaching for her. “I didn’t see this coming, Lil.” And he didn’t sound one bit apologetic.

His feelings were what they were, and he was standing behind them.

“Okay.” She was barely aware of speaking. No love, no loss. Another of Maya’s pithy phrases popped into her head. She brushed it aside. “What now?”

Jordan gave an amazingly casual shrug. “We go on as we are.”

“Seems a bit awkward.”

“You can mail the lease check if you want.”

She would have laughed under other circumstances. Dudley ambled by, dragging the lead rope on the ground and Lil took the opportunity to catch him. “Jordan …”

He held up his hands. “Take your time. If you have anything I should know, we can talk later.”

And with that, he turned to the ladder and started climbing.

*

“Do you think you did the right thing?” Maya asked after Lil had poured her troubles out to her sister when she’d called out of the blue.

It was Jordan’s last day on the ranch, and though he’d expected to be done by noon it was going on one o’clock and he was still there, messing with her head.

“I do.” The words were quick and adamant.

“Then …”

Lil closed her eyes, lifting her chin to the ceiling as she tried to put her feelings into words. She was scared. If she confessed that, then Maya would say, Of what? and head off on the don’t let fear rule and being afraid of change because of the school of hard knocks tangents. She didn’t need another lecture from a sister who rarely if ever dated.

“You feel betrayed.”

Lil gripped the phone more tightly, surprised at the insight. “Yes.” He was supposed to continue playing by the rules they’d set.

“Understandable.”

She almost said, Really?

“You started out with an understanding of how things would be, but now you have different objectives and they don’t mesh.”

“That’s the situation,” she agreed.

“Things have played out. You move on.”