LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter Seven

      Flynn stepped into the stark, utilitarian lobby of the Roundup Sheriff Station, a white plastic grocery bag clenched in her hand. She came here on occasion to visit Dinah and once when she was a senior in high school. Dinah, Flynn and a few of their friends had been questioned in the matter of a teenage prank that had involved drinking and several cans of spray paint.

      Flynn had been innocent. Dinah, a little less innocent. Funny, her friend was now the sheriff and the one questioning delinquent teenagers.

      A lot had changed since those days. Flynn would have never guessed she’d be married and divorced, living at home again and about to embark on single motherhood.

      “Is Sheriff Hart in?” she asked the male deputy behind the counter.

      “Your name?”

      “Flynn McKinley.”

      She took a seat on a bench in the lobby to wait. Dinah appeared a few minutes later, a bright smile on her face, her khaki uniform neatly pressed.

      Seeing her friend often gave Flynn a start. Dinah closely resembled Ace, though her eyes were hazel as opposed to brown. Even so, there was no mistaking their relation.

      “Hey, what are you doing here?”

      “I brought you a peace offering.” Flynn held out the plastic bag.

      Dinah peeked inside at the package of miniature Snickers bars and grinned wickedly. “Come on back.” She led Flynn down the hall and to her office. “Not sure why you think you need to bring me a peace offering, but I won’t complain.”

      Snickers bars were one of Dinah’s guilty pleasures.

      Behind the privacy of her closed door, Dinah gave Flynn the brief hug she wouldn’t in front of the other deputies and clerical staff.

      “What’s up?”

      “I wanted to apologize.”

      “Did you do anything requiring an apology?” Dinah sat behind her desk while Flynn settled in the chair across from her.

      The package of candy was opened, and a handful of bars quickly distributed between them. The image of Dinah, all proper and official in her uniform and chomping on candy, brought a smile to Flynn’s face.

      “I should have told you about the baby,” she said between bites. “Not waited until Ace did.”

      “No worries. I get it.”

      “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Heck, I’m still not sure.”

      “Marry him,” Dinah said matter-of-factly, catching Flynn off guard.

      “Did Ace tell you he’d proposed?”

      “He didn’t have to. I know my brother.” Dinah evaluated another Snickers bar before popping it in her mouth with a contented sigh. “When’s the big day?”

      And here Flynn had thought she’d be the one to break the news to her friend.

      “There is no big day. I refused.”

      “Why? You love him.”

      “But he doesn’t love me.”

      “Nonsense.”

      “Dinah, he doesn’t.”

      “Ace holds his cards close to his chest. He’s always been that way. Got worse after Dad died. He’s afraid of being hurt.”

      It was hard for Flynn to imagine Ace as being afraid of anything. Then again, she’d seen his vulnerable side the night they’d made love and she’d conceived.

      “I’m not sure I want to be married to a man who won’t or can’t express his emotions.”

      “Isn’t that better than a man who tells you he loves you and doesn’t mean it?”

      She was referring to Paul.

      “Selfishly, I’m asking you to give him a chance.” Dinah made a pleading face. “There isn’t anyone else I want for a sister-in-law.”

      “Me, either.” Flynn didn’t think there was anyone she’d rather have for a husband than Ace, but only if he returned her feelings.

      “I love Colt and Tuf. They’re great guys in their own way. But the truth is, if I were in a jam, Ace would be the first one I’d call. He’d come through for me. He will for you, too.”

      “Is it wrong to want a man who will sweep me off my feet?”

      “Are you so sure he won’t?”

      “I thought he might. Once. Then he left. Ducked out of my bedroom like he’d done something wrong.”

      “Thank you, Dad.” Dinah snorted and sat back in her chair.

      “What does your dad have to do with this?”

      “He had two sets of rules. One for us, one for him. He always put these unrealistic expectations on my brothers, Ace in particular. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ace woke up the next morning thinking he’d wronged you. The guilt probably ate him alive.”

      “He had nothing to be guilty about.”

      “Try telling him that.”

      “Great.” Flynn slumped in her chair. “He not only doesn’t love me, he proposed to me out of guilt in addition to duty. Be still my foolish heart.”

      “Come on, that’s not true.”

      “It is, according to what you just told me.”

      “Flynn, don’t move to Billings. Not yet. Give Ace a little more time, he won’t disappoint you. Once he gets the breeding business off the ground and the problems with Midnight resolved, he’ll be able to think clearly, realize how he feels about you.”

      “Falling in love with someone isn’t a decision you make. It’s either there or it isn’t.”

      “No, but letting yourself embrace that love is a decision.”

      Flynn wanted to talk to Dinah longer about Ace, except her desk phone rang.

      “I’ve got to go,” she said after hanging up, her formerly pleasant expression now grim. “Domestic dispute. A bad one.”

      “Thanks for seeing me.”

      “I miss you.” Dinah hugged her again before walking out the door. “Let’s have a girls’ night out soon.”

      “Sounds good.”

      Dinah took off the moment they reached the lobby, shouting orders to the deputy behind the counter before disappearing through another door.

      Flynn found herself a little in awe of her friend. Was this the same girl who’d giggled with her over teen magazines when they were twelve? The same woman who’d rebelled at seventeen and raised all kinds of hell?

      Maybe Dinah was right and Flynn should give Ace another chance. Each of the Hart children bore scars thanks to their father’s actions.

      Was Flynn any different? Her own mother’s abandonment had damaged her every bit as much as John Hart’s betrayal did Ace.

      No wonder her and Ace’s relationship was such a mess.

      * * *

      “ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS?” Ace’s mother asked, trepidation lending an unevenness to her voice.

      “I don’t think we have a choice,” he answered. “We need to know one way or the other if we can use him, and we need to know before breeding season is in full swing.”

      Yesterday, Midnight had been moved from the pens at Ace’s clinic to his permanent location in the stud quarters. His spacious stall opened out into a paddock. From

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