at her husband.
Dusty smiled. “You like being in the kitchen. You own a bakery and catering business.”
“And I like going out—alone with you—once in a while.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dusty said with a grin, then turned to Jake. “Try a rope. It worked for me.”
Everyone laughed, causing Jake to wonder what they were talking about. “A rope? Surely you didn’t rope this nice lady.”
Dusty shrugged one shoulder. “It was the only way to keep her from running away from me.”
Jake looked from one to the other. “I have to hear this story.”
Leaning back in his chair, Dusty put his arm around his wife. “Let’s just say she was resistant to my charm...for too long.”
When Kate gave a soft snort, Morgan pointed at Dusty. “He roped her on Main Street on the Fourth of July, in front of the whole town.”
“Did you arrest him?” Jake asked the sheriff.
“What for? He wasn’t breaking the law.”
“I’m telling you,” Dusty said, “when you’re dealing with a stubborn woman, you do whatever it takes.”
Jake smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind if I should ever need it. In the meantime, I’ll just use simple torture.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. “So it’s like that, is it?”
“Nope. Not a bit. But if I didn’t give her a hard time, she’d be disappointed and make it tougher on me.”
Across the table, Dusty chuckled. “You sure don’t want that to happen.”
“I was just saying earlier that I was sorry to hear you’d retired from riding,” Jake said.
Dusty leaned over to nuzzle his wife’s neck. “She didn’t give me a choice. Don’t tell her how glad I am that she didn’t, though,” he added with a wink.
Kate’s smug smile pulled a laugh from Jake, but it was clear that the two of them were happy together. He wished he’d had the same luck, but life hadn’t worked out that way for him.
He turned to Trish’s husband. “How did you manage to end up here in Desperation?”
Morgan chuckled. “I came here from Florida ten years ago to visit my uncle Ernie, and the crazy people in town elected me as their sheriff.”
“You’ve missed a lot,” Trish told Jake. “It’s been a long time.”
Jake caught a glimpse of Erin, who’d pulled up a chair at another table. She sat with her back to him, and he wondered if she’d done so on purpose.
He turned back to the group at his table. “Sounds like a lot has changed in the time I’ve been gone,” he said.
“Are you staying here for good?” Dusty asked.
“I plan to,” Jake told him.
“Your uncle’s ranch is yours now?”
He nodded, thinking of all the paperwork and court motions it had taken to work out the details of his inheritance.
“What do you plan to do with it?” Dusty asked.
“Raise horses and a few cattle, train cutting and roping horses, mostly. I’ve learned a lot since those summers I spent here.” His dream hadn’t happened overnight, but he had stuck with it and now he had it all. Or did he? There was still one thing missing.
He let his gaze wander around the room. Dylan and Luke had gone, leaving Erin behind. If she needed a ride— No, he wouldn’t offer. She would only refuse that, too, and he wasn’t in the mood to be turned down again.
As the evening grew later, the crowd began to thin. Other people he’d known drifted over to the table to say hello. He enjoyed the company and the evening and looked forward to more of the same in the future.
He liked Desperation. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in town when he was young, and yet the people had always been friendly and gone out of their way to make him feel welcome. He’d made friends with several of them and valued those friendships. But the night was nearly over. Even Dusty and Morgan had started talking about going home.
“Kate needs her sleep,” Dusty said, putting his arm around her waist when they both stood. “I’m surprised she’s managed to stay awake past seven.” He placed his other hand on her belly and smiled at her. “Only six more months to go.”
Jake saw the look they shared, and then it dawned on him what Dusty had said. “You’re expecting?” he asked Kate.
She nodded. “December for this one.”
“This one?”
“We have twin boys who’ll be three next month,” Dusty said. “And we did tell Aunt Aggie that we wouldn’t be late, so we need to get going before she starts calling and begging us to come pick them up.”
Kate gave him an elbow to the midsection. “Aunt Aggie has never complained about the boys, or Krista, so don’t you have Jake thinking she has.”
“I remember your aunt well, Kate,” Jake told her. “But who’s Krista?”
“Krista is ours,” Morgan said, helping his own wife with her chair.
“And we’re not adding another one soon,” Trish said, a gleam of determination in her eyes. “I have a feeling when we do, Morgan will be getting his boy, and considering how energetic Kate and Dusty’s twins are, I want to rest up a little longer.”
“Another girl is fine with me,” Morgan said, helping her with her jacket. “Krista liked that Miami Dolphins jersey I bought her, so it’s all good.”
“She was a newborn,” Trish said, laughing. “She didn’t know the difference.”
The two couples continued their bantering as they gathered their things, and Jake was sorry to see them leave. Nearly everyone had gone, except for Erin and the man he’d seen earlier, who was probably taking her home. He decided to stay where he was. He’d noticed that she’d left her hat nearby and knew she wouldn’t leave without it.
It wasn’t long before she walked over to where he sat at the table, her hat on the chair next to him. “Calling it a night?” he asked.
She didn’t look at him directly as she held out her hand. “Morning comes early on a ranch. You should know that.”
He shoved to his feet, then picked up her hat, but didn’t immediately hand it to her. “What brought you home?”
“I decided to spend some time with my brothers.”
“So you’re staying around?”
Her gaze moved slowly over him, until
