LITMIR.BIZ

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she’d consider them for the ranch’s new spa.

      Once they were inside, Dahlia yanked Callie into a bruising hug, then looked her over with bird-bright eyes. “I’m so, so glad to meet you.” She smelled pleasantly herbal. If that was a sample of her creams, Callie liked it so far.

      “I’m glad to meet you, too, Dahlia.”

      “You’re as lovely as your pictures.” Dahlia examined her face like an aesthetician with the blackhead remover. “I have the remedy for the bags under your eyes. In fact…” She hurried to the registration counter to grab a large cellophane-wrapped basket, which she thrust into Callie’s arms.

      “My gift to you. One of everything. Face cream, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, masque.” She tapped each jar or tube as she named it. “I can’t wait to work with you.”

      “I’ll try them out and we’ll go from there. And my dad…?”

      “Catching his siesta. He gets so weary.” Her father was a youthful fifty. She’d made him sound like a fragile old man. Close up, Dahlia looked midthirties, not that much younger. “I have tea steeping for us.” Dahlia gestured toward the tucked-away Cummings family kitchen.

      “Let me put my things away and check on Dad,” Callie said, starting for the stairs with the overloaded basket of Dahlia’s Desert Delights. She shifted her suitcase to one side so a couple and their young daughter could head down the stairs. They were chatting happily. When Callie was finished, the place would be lively with guests year-round.

      

      DECK HELD his shit-eating grin in case Callie glanced his way again. She thought he was a smug asshole. No point in disappointing her. She wiggled away in her all-wrong outfit, her heels so fragile they’d snap in a knothole. She was too busy wrestling Dahlia for her bag to look back.

      No surprise.

      Meanwhile, Deck still reeled from the brain buzz and flood of lust he got whenever he saw her. When the ranch house door closed, he rested his forehead against Brandy’s neck and blew out a breath.

      What was it about her? No other woman gave him the thud in the chest, the hot knot in his gut, the below-belt ache. She was the first, the one that got away. Maybe that was it.

      All she had to do was say his name, and his pulse kicked like a riled horse. Then he never failed to act like a dick. Which was why he avoided her when she was home. At least he hadn’t let on how much he still wanted her.

      Did she still want him? Unlikely. She got nervous and defensive around him, but Callie never looked back. She’d left Abrazo for Manhattan like she’d staged a prison break.

      Brandy whinnied, so he led her a few yards into the corral with a firm hand, talking low. “Easy, girl. Settle. Steady does it.” No way would the horse be ready for the sunset ride Cal had planned with Dahlia and Callie.

      Deck usually bought all the horses for the Triple C, but Cal hadn’t asked his advice on this spirited filly, which would be perfect for Callie, if she hadn’t stopped riding back in seventh grade. Her horse, Lucky, died and broke her heart, though she would never admit that was the reason.

      He trotted Brandy around the corral until she managed an easy lope, beginning to trust him. He led her out of the corral, closed the gate and took her for a quick ride across the rolling pasture before he brought her back to her stall and rewarded her with some oats. “Wish I could stay, but I have business inside,” he said with a sigh.

      He had to tell Cal Brandy wasn’t ready, which meant another run-in with Callie. Deck needed to remind Cal of the planning and zoning hearing tonight, too—they both sat on the commission.

      Taylor Loft, the police chief, was buttonholing commissioners to push through a tax exemption that coincidentally would save him thousands, since he’d started moonlighting as a developer. His father had been a decent chief, but Loft was a manipulative opportunist, who pissed Deck off every time he ran into him.

      Because Callie went back to him? Could Deck be that small? With Callie around, he wasn’t sure of anything.

      “Wish me luck, girl,” he said to Brandy, patting her rump before he headed toward the ranch house.

      Instead of Callie and her dad, he found Dahlia alone in the Cummingses’ kitchen. “Cal around?” he asked.

      “Callie went upstairs to get him. She just got here.”

      “Yeah. I spoke to her. I can come back.” He turned away.

      “No. No. Let me get you some tea.”

      “No thanks, I’m just—” The woman looked so nervous and desperate, he said, “Sure. Half a cup, I guess.”

      She handed it to him.

      Praying for peppermint, he took a sip. Score. “Very nice.”

      “Sit, sit,” she said, eager to entertain someone, it seemed. “So you saw Callie already? She’s such a pretty girl.”

      “She is that,” he said, sitting across the table from her. Which only made her more annoying.

      “Calvin is so happy to see her.”

      “I imagine he would be.” Since his heart scare, Cal seemed to miss his daughter more. He should have told Callie he was in the hospital, Deck thought. She would have rushed out, screw the big party he claimed she had to manage. Callie was a good person at heart, despite her silly job. She called her father every week and visited every few months.

      “I hope she’ll take the pressure off Calvin.”

      “I’m sure she will.” Ironically enough, that had been Deck’s intention when he’d decided to buy the ranch. He’d figured Cal wanted out, and the Lazy J money was just gathering dust in the bank. The very afternoon he stepped into Cal’s office to make an offer, the man announced Callie was coming home to fix up the place, his grin as big as his face.

      Too late. Deck had moved too late. Now Callie’s harebrained scheme could wreck the Triple C. Maybe if he treaded lightly, she’d figure that out and hightail her pretty ass back to New York where she belonged, and he could take over after all.

      Deck was a patient man. He would wait and see. Animals took time. Crops, too. Biology didn’t turn on a dime. Every worthwhile thing took its own sweet time.

      The clock ticked loudly in the silence. Deck sipped. Dahlia stared and fidgeted. Where the hell was Cal? “So, uh, I took Brandy out again, but I don’t think she’s quite ready for a new rider.”

      “She’s not? Oh, that’s too bad. Thank you, anyway.” But the woman looked faint with relief. She had no interest in the ranch, from what Deck had seen. She’d distracted the hell out of Cal, dragging him to Tucson whenever a health-food restaurant invented something new with tofu. He’d been late with bills, slow on repairs and like molasses with decisions.

      As a result, the Triple C was in trouble, according to Callie. Deck should have spoken up sooner. “I should be going.” He stood. “If you could just tell Cal about Brandy for me? And could you remind him of the meeting—”

      “He’ll be here any second, I’m sure. So…you’ve known Callie a long time?” She must be nervous about whatever Callie and Cal were saying about her upstairs.

      “Since we were kids, yeah. We went to school together.” But they ran in different circles. Callie had been a star in tiny Abrazo. He didn’t blame her for wanting to swim in a bigger pond. Once he’d gotten past the tequila-soaked shame of that August night, he’d wished her well.

      Except for one thing. She’d felt sorry for him. That still burned. No one pitied Declan O’Neill. Losing his father had been hard, but he’d worked the ranch the way his dad would have and watched over his mother until she got her footing again. He’d gotten past that bad time when he’d almost cashed it in. He never thought about that. The memory froze him stiff.

      “We’re lucky

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