his thoughts, he managed to answer. “I plan to.”
“I should have known.”
She took her hat from his hand and started to move away, but he wasn’t finished. “Don’t go away mad.”
With a smile, she looked back over her shoulder. “Not mad. It’s just nicer around here when you’re gone.”
Before she could take another step, he had a comeback. “Is that why you’ve been gone from here almost as long as I have?”
Facing him, she settled her hat on her head. “I’ve done just fine.”
“So have your brothers, but they stayed.” He knew he’d hit the mark by the way she glared at him. “They’ve done some great things with the ranch.”
“So now you and my brothers are good buddies?”
“We’ve always been friends.”
She put one hand on her hip and smiled at him again. “I’m not my brothers.”
As she’d done to him, Jake let his eyes move slowly over her. “No, ma’am, you’re definitely not.” He held her gaze another moment, then looked down to pick up his glass of beer.
When he looked up again, she was walking out the door. Walking out on him the way he’d walked out on her. He knew she hadn’t forgotten, no matter how much she might want to. He’d hated that he’d had to hurt her—still did—but he hadn’t been given a choice. He’d paid for it then, and now he was paying for it again.
* * *
AFTER A DISTURBING and restless night, Erin decided to join her brothers for breakfast. In her case, that would be coffee. She hoped it would clear her mind and sweep out the remnants of the confusing and erotic dreams that had starred none other than Jake Canfield.
“Did you have a good time at Lou’s Place last night?” Luke asked, as Erin lifted the carafe to fill her cup.
When she finished, she leaned her hip against the counter behind her and nodded. “It was nice getting together with old friends, but it would have been better if Hayley and Glory had been there and the two of you hadn’t ducked out. What was that all about?”
“We didn’t tell you we weren’t staying?”
She glared at Luke, knowing for certain what they’d been up to. “Of course you didn’t tell me, because you knew I wouldn’t go if you did. And then you left me with that...man.”
“You mean Dean Franklin?”
She opened her mouth to tell him that Dean Franklin had been kind enough to take her home, in spite of the fact that she’d only spent a few minutes with him, and that the man she’d been referring to was none other than their former—and now current—neighbor. Luckily, the words didn’t spill forth. Her brothers would immediately demand to know what Jake had ever done to her, other than be a good friend, and she wouldn’t be able to tell them. Not in this lifetime, anyway.
Instead, she said, “Maybe you’ll learn not to try to hand me off to someone I share absolutely nothing in common with.”
“Broaden your world, Erin. Learn new things,” Dylan told her.
“The man wouldn’t know a quarter horse from a thoroughbred,” she said with a sniff, “and you expect me to make some long-term commitment to him?”
Dylan put his coffee cup on the table and grunted. “Nobody said you had to marry him. Just go on a date.”
“People still date?” she asked as innocently as possible.
“Well—”
“Did you take Glory on a date?” she asked, pinning him with a look she hoped would wither him on the spot.
His brow wrinkled in thought. “We—” He made a face she took as a concession. “Not a real date. But that doesn’t mean that—”
“How about you and Hayley, Luke? Did you go on a date?”
He smiled with superiority. “As a matter of fact, I did take her out to dinner. A real nice restaurant in the city, as I recall.”
“How did it go?”
His smile vanished, and he muttered.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“She got sick.”
Erin couldn’t stop her smile. “Food poisoning?”
He shook his head. “Too much to drink.”
“Well, there you go.”
They both sat and stared at her, until Dylan pushed away from the table. “What’s on your agenda today?”
When Luke didn’t answer, Erin looked at Dylan. “Me? Are you asking me?”
“I already know what our plans are.”
He’d said it as if she was twelve again and he was trying to prove that bigger meant smarter. It didn’t. Being only eleven months older than him gave her an advantage.
“Nothing special,” she answered. Her lack of having something to do was beginning to get on her nerves. She’d always been self-sufficient and kept busy, and she couldn’t tell them that she was as broke as anyone could get without being completely homeless. Between entry fees and living expenses, with money going out faster than it had come in, she’d had to take a break, regroup and hoped to find a way to earn enough money to get back on track. But she wouldn’t take a penny from her brothers.
“You need to do something,” Dylan said.
What she needed was a job, but the only offer she’d had was from a man who’d broken her heart. She quickly searched for something to say. “I thought I might drop in at Glory’s shop later and see if there’s anything I can help with.”
“She’s at the Big Barn at the Commune, finishing the last of the painting.” Dylan got to his feet and looked down at her. “She probably wouldn’t mind if you stopped by. I’m sure she could use some help.”
Erin nodded but didn’t commit herself. She really liked her brothers’ fiancées and hoped they would become good friends. But that would probably come later, when she didn’t feel as if she were living in some kind of limbo.
Luke had left the table and joined Dylan at the door, where they both grabbed their hats from the rack on the wall. “We’ll be down at the barn, in case you need anything.”
She told them goodbye and waited until they were gone, then closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. Going into town for her own coffee to make in her motor home would solve the problem of feeling useless. At least it was something to do.
Two cups later, she was out the door and headed for her motor home, thinking she’d make a list of groceries she should get. It wouldn’t be much, but enough to get her by, until she had a job. Even though she’d asked everywhere she thought
