LITMIR.BIZ

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crazy about that little lady, aren’t you?”

      Of course he wasn’t crazy about Jade. What a dumb thing to say. “Don’t try to make romance bloom in a desert, Squint.”

      Jade blew in on a flurry of cold wind and a gust of snow that slithered from the bunkhouse roof. Ty straightened, stunned that she was here, glad as heck to see her.

      “I think I’ll join the fellows and see what trouble we can conjure up,” Squint said, disappearing.

      Some friend, taking off when it was clear there was going to be a sonic boom leveled at him. Ty looked at Jade, appreciating the tall redhead’s sass as she put her hands on her slender hips and gazed at him with disgust.

      “Daisy Donovan,” she said.

      “I felt sorry for her.”

      “You did not.” Jade glared at him. “Daisy tried to ruin my business. She’s trying to ruin the Hawthornes’ haunted house, which, may I remind you, is something that could bring Bridesmaids Creek back to life. As I recall, that was your stated purpose in returning with three bachelors, wasn’t it? New blood to breathe new life into the moribund shell that is Bridesmaids Creek?”

      He loved looking at this woman. He loved hearing her talk, even when she was railing at him. When she said words like moribund, her lips pursed so cutely it was all he could do not to jump up and take those lips with his mouth, hungrily diving into the sweet sex appeal that was Jade.

      Hell, he wasn’t 100 percent certain what moribund meant—although it sounded distinctly dire—but maybe if he let her talk long enough, she’d say something else that started with m-o-r. He decided not to confess that he’d already dumped Daisy off on Squint, and to let the little lady fuss at him.

      “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Jade demanded.

      “I’m content to let you do all the talking.” He settled himself comfortably, watching her face. “You have something on your mind, and I’m happy to let you clear the deck.”

      She sat next to him, so she could look closely at him to press her case, he supposed. But the shock of having her so near to him—almost in his space—was enough to brain-wipe what little sense he had. Damn, she smelled good, like spring flowers breaking through a long, cold winter. He shook his head to clear the sudden madness diluting his gray matter. “You’re beautiful,” he said, the words popping out before he could put on the Dumb-ass Brake.

      The Dumb-ass Brake had saved him many a time, but today, it seemed to have gotten stuck.

      “What?” Jade said. Her mesmerizing green eyes stared at him, stunned.

      He was half drowning, might as well go for full immersion. “You’re beautiful,” he repeated.

      She looked at him for a long moment, then scoffed. “Ty Spurlock, don’t you dare try to sweet-talk me. If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that sugar flows out of your mouth like a river of honey when you’re making a mess. The bigger the jam, the sweeter and deeper the talk.” She got up, putting several feet of safety between them, and Ty cursed the disappearance of the brake that had deserted him just when he’d needed it most.

      “Okay, so if sweet talk won’t save me,” he said, reverting to cavalier, since that’s what she seemed to be expecting, “all I can say is that Daisy asked me to take her to the grand opening, and you didn’t.”

      “I didn’t want to ask you!”

      “Then why are we having this conversation? Good old-fashioned green-eyed monster, maybe?” He got up, took her in his arms. “I’ll talk sweet to you if you want me to, beautiful.”

      She stomped on his toe and moved out of his arms. He bent over, his toe impressed by the sudden squelching it had cruelly received.

      “What I want you to do is tell Daisy Donovan you wouldn’t be caught dead escorting her to the haunted house. No smart remarks about puns.” Jade glared at him. “And from now on, I suggest you remember who your real friends are.”

      He fell onto the sofa, wondering if she’d broken his toe. Definitely he was going to donate a toenail to the cause. Not a good thing to have happen right before he left for BUD/S. “I know who my friends are. They’re the ones who don’t try to damage me right before I leave for SEAL training.”

      “I don’t care about that,” Jade said sweetly. “I care that you don’t fall into one of Daisy’s many traps, and leave drama back here in BC for me to clean up. You’re just lucky I got to you before Suz did.”

      “She’s already been here. Only she didn’t wound me.” Ty glanced at his secret sweetie’s boots with respect. Square-toed and sturdy, they could have been registered weapons.

      “She didn’t? Maybe she’s going soft. But I’m not. I know who my friends are.” Jade walked over, tugged his boot off. “I also know how commerce works in this town, and I understand Daisy’s tricky little mind. Oh, you big baby,” she said, staring at the toe she’d rescued from his boot and sock. “It’s just going to be a little black-and-blue. You’d better toughen up if you’re going to make it through training.”

      He smelled that sweet perfume again, was riveted by the soft red sweater covering her delicate breasts. Wondered if playing the pitiful card would get him attached to her lips—and decided he probably didn’t want to do anything to upset the grudging sympathy he finally saw in her eyes. “My toe is fine. My life is fine. Everything is fine.”

      “It’s not fine yet.” She smiled, leaned over and gave him a long, sweet, not-sisterly-at-all smooch on the lips. Shocked, he sat as still as a concrete gargoyle, frozen and immobilized, too scared to move and frighten her off.

      She pulled away far too soon. “Now it’s fine.”

      Indeed it was. He couldn’t stop staring at her mouth, which had worked such magic on him, stolen his breath, stolen his heart. He gazed into her eyes, completely lost in the script.

      “What was that for?”

      Jade got up, went to the door, opening it. Cold air rushed in and a supersized sheet of snow fell from the overhang, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

      “Because I felt like it,” Jade said, then left.

      Damn. His toe still throbbed, but his lips were practically sizzling from her kiss, far outweighing the complaining from his phalange bone. Ty had no idea what the hell had just happened here—but it dawned on him through his shell-shocked, sex-driven, Jade-desiring brain that if he were a smart man, he’d better decline Daisy’s invitation on the double, let her know he was sending a stand-in.

      If he ever wanted to be kissed like that again.

       Chapter Four

      The night of the grand opening of the refurbished, reborn Haunted H was glorious, by anyone’s standards. Ty felt a real sense of satisfaction as he looked at the new lights his buddies had put up in an elegant arch over the long drive-up to the ranch. Lights were everywhere, twinkling and beautiful, highlighting the butt-freezing weather and somehow making it romantic.

      Maybe his three bachelor candidates weren’t totally useless, after all. They could at least decorate, apparently, if not appropriately seduce the women he’d brought them here to romance.

      Ty hurried after Jade when he saw her moving with long strides toward the jump house, which was teeming with kiddies. Parents with strollers watched, smiling, as their kids bounced inside the huge, inflatable pink-and-purple castle.

      “Hi, Raggedy Ann,” he said, and Jade turned to look at him. He thought she was amazing with her red curls springing out everywhere, completely negating the need for a Raggedy Ann wig. The red-and-white stockings were killer, clinging to dynamite legs Raggedy Ann

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