she chided, barely holding in a gurgling laugh. Who would’ve dreamed he’d be so absolutely adorable when he was in a snit? “Kissing me was the best idea you’ve had in months. In fact,” she paused and leaned closer to him, “I think you should do it again.”
“Dammit.” He let out an indignant huff. “Would you be serious for one minute?”
She tipped her head slightly to one side, pretending to consider his question, then cheerfully shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’re more than serious enough for both of us.”
Glaring at her, he tightened his big hands on the fence rail, giving her the impression he’d like to have them wrapped around her neck. “You don’t understand what we’ve just gotten ourselves into. My whole family and half of Sunshine Gap saw that kiss. The other half—hell, the whole stinkin’ county will know about it before morning.”
“The last I checked, we were both single and over twenty-one. What’s the big problem?”
“Every matchmaker in a hundred square miles is liable to be after us. If you stay here, the pressure for us to get together will be unbelievable.”
“So, why don’t we get together a few times?” It was difficult to keep a straight face since she’d only been trying to convince him to do just that for the past three months. “We might actually enjoy it.”
He shook his head so vigorously, his hair fell across his forehead, giving him a rumpled look that made him seem ten years younger. “No offense intended, but you’re not the kind of gal I’d ever date.”
It wasn’t easy to hold back a wince at such bluntness, but she managed. “Why not?”
“For one thing, we’ve got nothing in common.”
“That didn’t stop Blair and Dillon.”
“I’m not Dillon and you’re sure as heck not Blair.”
Oooh, that one smarted. She’d been unfavorably compared to Blair more than once and, while Hope didn’t care about hearing it from some people, she definitely minded hearing it from Jake. “We’re not very different from them.”
“Hey, at least Blair eats meat,” he said.
“That’s important?”
He snorted at her. “This is beef country. I’m a rancher. Yeah, it’s important.”
“Well, I don’t care if other people eat meat,” Hope protested. “I simply don’t like it.” In fact, red meat actually gagged her. Jake rolled his eyes as if what she’d said was silly. He had some nerve.
“Fine,” he said. “How about the age difference? I’m too old for you.”
Hope let out an incredulous huff. “You can’t be more than forty-five.”
“I’m only forty,” he grumbled. “But that’s still too old for you.”
“Oooh, ten whole years. You’re ancient, McBride. Shall I find a cane for you?”
“Well, it just wouldn’t be right. It’s not appropriate.” He glanced at her hair, opened his mouth as if he would say something, then clamped it shut again.
“What?” she said. “You don’t like my hair?”
“It looks okay now,” he admitted, his tone grudging.
“But?” She left the word hanging between them. “Come on, you’ve obviously got a problem with my hair. Tell me.”
“When you make it spiky and turn it all those different colors, it looks mighty strange.”
“I suppose it does here.” She grinned, enjoying the idea immensely. “But it’s just a little thing I do for fun. It washes right out.”
“It’s not just the hair.” He sounded as if his patience was stretching thin in spots. “It’s the whole package.”
Hope caught a harsher note of criticism in his voice that surprised her. She raised her chin and met his gaze head-on. “Do tell.”
“You’re too flashy for a guy like me,” he said bluntly.
“Flashy?” She raised her eyebrows and patted her collarbones, feigning surprise. “Moi?”
“You know what I mean.”
She supposed she did, but sincerely hoped she was wrong. “Why don’t you explain it to me anyway? Just to be absolutely certain?”
He gave her a long, considering look, as if he were debating whether or not he should answer. “It’s the hair. The fingernails. The clothes.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?” she asked, carefully maintaining a neutral tone.
“Nothing’s wrong with ’em. I doubt anybody’d even notice ’em in L.A.”
“But they don’t work in Sunshine Gap.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah. They’re not practical or even modest. Everything you wear is missing a strategic hunk or two of material. There’re guys all over town nursing sore necks from trying to get a better look at your…assets.”
“Oh, really, you’re exaggerating.” At least she thought he was. It was the middle of July for heaven’s sake. Everybody peeled down a bit when the weather was hot.
“The hookers in Cheyenne and Denver wear more on a work day than you do. Your stuff is too damn sexy.”
“Women aren’t supposed to be sexy in Sunshine Gap?”
“I didn’t say that.” Muttering a rude word, he jammed his right hand through his hair. “Look, it’s not personal. The thing is, if I wanted a woman in my life now, I’d be lookin’ for an old-fashioned Wyoming gal with ranching in her blood.”
Well, that certainly left her out, didn’t it? But it didn’t have to.
“Blair learned how to do all that stuff. If she can do it, so can I. You could teach me.”
“No way.” He held up both hands and stepped back, shaking his head. “I’m workin’ on important plans for my future. I don’t have time to play with a flaky little California floozy who writes raunchy books, causes scandals and looks like she came out of a can of spray paint half the time.”
Time stopped long enough to imprint every humiliating detail of Jake’s critical assessment of her into Hope’s permanent memory banks. The backs of her eyes stung, her throat closed around a golf-ball-sized lump and her chest ached as if he’d punched her just under her sternum. After three months of seeing her every day and working with her on this wedding how could he still think so little of her?
And how could she have been so wrong about him?
Automatically falling back on Rule Number Two, Hope plastered an amused smile onto her mouth. “My, my my,” she drawled. “Been reading the tabloids, Jake?”
His
