LITMIR.BIZ

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and the cleanup on Sunday. Josie liked to spend most of her weekend at the Spirits and Spurs because that’s when the employees needed her the most.

      But Friday nights were reserved for the Chance family to gather at the ranch house, and the hum of conversation and occasional bursts of laughter coming from the dining room told him the meal was in full swing. Josie would be sitting next to Jack and no doubt she’d already pumped her husband for information. She might try to corner Alex before the evening was over.

      “Morgan said we need a couple of robes in here.” Sarah walked into the utility room with two white terry bathrobes over her arm. Her eyes widened. “Good Lord, what happened to you two? Did you fall in the mud or what?”

      “Something like that,” Alex said.

      “It was my fault.” Tyler scrubbed her hair back from her face. “I made a run for it and slipped in the mud. Then Alex tried to help me up and I caused him to lose his balance. I’m sure we looked like Laurel and Hardy out there.”

      “Well, here’s a robe for each of you.” She handed one to Tyler before giving Alex his. “You should just leave your wet stuff here. Alex, turn your back while Tyler gets out of her clothes.”

      He couldn’t very well say that he’d already seen Tyler naked quite recently, so he turned around and began unfastening the snaps down the front of his denim shirt. He could hear Tyler and Sarah murmuring behind him and the rustle of clothing.

      “All clear,” Sarah said in a louder voice. “You can turn around now, Alex.”

      He turned. Tyler’s clothes were piled on the top of one of the washers and she stood there wrapped up tight in the terry robe.

      The robe was bulky and too big, so it completely disguised her figure. Alex shouldn’t have found a single thing to be turned on about, except that her feet were bare, and the polish on her sexy toes gleamed in the overhead light. His fevered brain kicked into fantasy mode again.

      “There’s a door in the kitchen to the right of the stove, Tyler.” Sarah pointed in that direction. “Behind it is a stairway that will take you to the second floor. The boys used that route all the time when they’d come in from the corral. You have towels up there, right?”

      Tyler nodded. “Alex brought me some.”

      “You don’t have a private bath, I’m afraid. You’ll have to share the hall bath with Alex, so you might as well take off and get a head start.”

      “I will, and thank you. Sorry to be so much trouble.”

      “It’s no trouble, sweetie. Jack says you’re going to pair up with Watkins to provide the entertainment for the open house tomorrow, which is a huge help. I feel guilty making you work on your vacation. I hope Alex is paying you well for that.”

      “Don’t worry. He is.”

      Alex covered his reaction with a coughing fit as Tyler, cheeks pink, quickly left the room.

      “Oh, dear.” Sarah peered at him. “I hope you’re not getting sick.”

      “I’m fine. Just swallowed wrong.”

      “Listen, it’s not my place to interfere, but I think that girl is extremely focused on getting her promotion. And I don’t blame her. That’s impressive, being named a cruise director at her age.”

      Alex gazed into Sarah’s blue eyes, so much like Gabe’s. Although Sarah was a devoted mother to all three men, Gabe was her only biological child. Jack had been four when she’d married his father, and then baby Nick had appeared on the doorstep, the unexpected result of Jonathan’s affair in the period between his divorce from Jack’s mother and meeting Sarah. Sarah had accepted all three boys as hers to raise. In fact, she was fast becoming a second mother to him, as well.

      “I know Tyler’s dedicated to her career,” Alex said. “And I think that’s great.”

      “It is great. People should have jobs they love.” Sarah laid a hand on his damp sleeve. “But it means she won’t be sticking around here.”

      “No, she won’t. I understand that, too.”

      Sarah squeezed his arm and let go. “I hope you do, because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”

      “It’ll be okay.” He was touched by the gentle nature of her concern. No doubt Josie’s warnings would come across like air-raid sirens.

      “I probably shouldn’t have put her right across the hall from you, but I didn’t realize there was something going on between you two. Did it start last August?”

      “Yeah.”

      “I wondered after I thought about your reaction when she showed up here today. She’s a nice girl, and if I thought she’d consider staying, I’d be matchmaking like crazy. But she won’t, so I want you to be careful.”

      “Thanks, Sarah.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I will.” Which was a damn lie, because it was too late to be careful. And he had a problem.

      He could have dealt with the loss of great sex when Tyler left next week. He might not have been happy about it, but he could have managed.

      Unfortunately for him, she’d chosen to sing “Oklahoma” in the middle of a rainstorm, and then she’d finished off her performance with a few dance steps. Watching her take that little bow, he’d felt his heart slip-sliding away. Halting that slide would be a real trick, but he’d have to try for both their sakes.

      Chapter Six

      Tyler thought about waiting for Alex before going down to dinner and decided against it. They were liable to catch enough flak for their flimsy caught-in-the-rain story, so she’d demonstrate to the family that she and Alex weren’t joined at the hip. She hoped they’d be joining different body parts later in the evening, but she’d like the next hour or so to be strictly PG-13.

      She’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a black V-neck shirt. Then she added her turquoise necklace and earrings because...because she liked looking good. At times she wondered if she was too hung up on that.

      Her job demanded that she be well groomed, and she’d always appreciated having a reason to dress well. But, to her surprise, she’d had fun getting all muddy and bedraggled. That would happen a lot on a ranch, where appearance wouldn’t count as much as performance.

      She contemplated that as an appealing change of pace and discovered she didn’t recoil the way she might have a couple of years ago. She loved her job. She did. But sometimes the constant need to look great wore on her. She’d never admitted that to herself before.

      As she descended the wide staircase to the first floor, she ran her hand along the banister again. Without Alex as a distraction, she could pause a moment and take in the welcoming sight of roomy leather chairs facing a gigantic rock fireplace. Framed family photographs lined the wooden mantel. A paperback lay on a small wooden table beside one of the chairs, as if someone had been quietly reading there and had left the book, planning to settle in for another relaxing moment later.

      Home. The word hadn’t meant much to Tyler over the years. Home had been a battered van until she’d moved out on her own. She couldn’t call her tiny apartment home because she spent so little time there. Her collection of souvenirs was the only thing that marked it as hers. The cruise ship was luxurious, but it was where she worked. It wasn’t home, either.

      The Last Chance represented home to Morgan now. Tyler had thought her sister was crazy to tie herself to a man and then compound that by getting pregnant. Both Morgan and Tyler had witnessed how marriage and kids had absorbed nearly all their mother’s time, giving her no chance to develop other interests or have a career.

      But Morgan wouldn’t be living the kind of life their mother had lived. Morgan would have a house and plenty of relatives around to help babysit. It wouldn’t have to fall to the older siblings the way it had to Morgan and

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