could escape the Jasper Gulch grapevine. There she was, standing in front of a building that had been vacant for years, her hair hanging long and straight down her back, skin the color of peaches-and-cream, arms and ankles bare, every movement fluid. He couldn’t see the color of her eyes from here, but he knew they were a deep, dark brown. It was unusual to come across a woman with hair so blond and eyes so dark, but she’d been a natural blonde, all right. He couldn’t seem to forget the moment he’d discovered that particular fact.
Sky swore under his breath again, tore his gaze away from hers, and yelled an apology to Hal. Keeping his foot steady on the gas pedal and his eyes straight ahead, he drove out of town.
Now there’s a man I’d steer clear of if I were you…”
Meredith had to give herself a mental shake in order to drag her gaze away from the dusty pickup truck rounding the corner at the end of Main Street. Bringing her attention back to Jayne Stryker, who had turned out to be a godsend, not to mention a genius when it came to advertising, Meredith wondered why someone couldn’t have warned her a month ago.
It was too late for that. Besides, she’d promised herself there would be no more self-recriminations, no more looking back, no more wishing things could be different. She was still reeling from the reality that her only sister and brother-in-law had died as a result of a horrible car accident. Except for her young niece and nephew, she was completely alone in the world, but in many ways, she had been for years. The opening of the antiques and home furnishings store would mark a new beginning for Meredith. She was getting on with her life, and getting her life in order. It was too late to reconcile with Kate, but it wasn’t too late to have a loving relationship with Kate’s children, Logan and Olivia. Meredith was nearly thirty years old. From now on, she was going to make the right choices, do the right things. She was putting down roots. She would be a true friend to her new friends, and she would be the best aunt her niece and nephew could ask for.
“His name is Skyler Buchanan,” Jayne Stryker added. “Rumor has it he’s broken the hearts of nearly every girl in town. He’s a complicated man. But then, aren’t they all?”
Meredith eyed her newest and most interesting friend. She’d heard other women claim that men were simple. As far as Meredith was concerned, nothing was simple, least of all men. Evidently, Jayne felt the same way. Jayne Kincaid had come to Jasper Gulch last Christmas to visit her brother, Burke, who’d set up his medical practice here. She’d had no intention of staying. An ex-rodeo champion named Wes Stryker, who had happened to be Kate’s and Dusty’s best friend, had changed her mind, along with her plans for the future. Now, Jayne and Wes were raising Logan and Olivia. From what Meredith could see, they were doing an admirable job, too. Not that Logan and Olivia always made things easy. Which brought her back to the fact that nothing was easy.
“Meredith?”
Ah, yes, Meredith and Jayne were in total agreement when it came to their philosophies on life. Life had a way of getting complicated.
“Meredith?”
Throw in a man, and it usually spiraled out of control. That’s what had happened that night a month ago. She’d been rocked clear to her soul from the news that Kate and Dusty had died. In had walked Skyler Buchanan. Their eyes had met, and a tornado might as well have swept everybody and everything else away, leaving the two of them in its center to ride out the storm. That storm had turned out to be an idyllic interlude unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She’d been foolish enough to believe, for those few brief hours, that it had been the same for him. She’d been wrong, of course. But she’d tried to put it out of her mind.
She’d known she would see Skyler Buchanan again. Which made forgetting the night she’d spent in his arms even more impossible to do.
“Earth to Meredith.”
What? Oh. “Yes, Jayne?”
“Are you sure you want to keep Logan and Olivia with you while I attend this business lunch this afternoon?”
The area surrounding Meredith’s heart swelled with gratitude. Jayne knew how much Meredith loved her only niece and nephew, and this was her way of giving Meredith an opportunity to spend time with the children. “Of course I’m sure. You said yourself it’ll only be for an hour. Besides, I’m looking forward to it.”
Jayne’s careful perusal made Meredith feel like a fly under a microscope. It was a relief when Jayne turned her attention to the lanky cowboy sauntering toward them, a ten-year-old boy on one side, a five-year-old girl on the other. The first time Meredith had seen the children with Wes and Jayne Stryker, instead of with their parents, Kate and Dusty, she’d felt as if a knife had twisted in her heart. But the ache lessened each time she saw them. The kids were happy, and well adjusted. Meredith knew that Wes and Jayne had been worried that she, the children’s closest living relative, might want to take them away. Meredith had put their minds at ease, for she didn’t want to disrupt Logan’s and Olivia’s lives further. She only wanted to be near them, to get to know them, and to love them.
“Hi, Aunt Meredith,” Logan called.
“Aunt Meredith, look!” Olivia held up a bedraggled stuffed goose. “Jaynie asked Kelsey’s mama to give Snuggles new eyes, and she did. Now Snuggles is as good as new.”
“Snuggles isn’t either as good as new,” Logan grumbled.
“Is so.”
“Is not.”
“Is so.”
“Uh-uh.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jayne tucked a strand of short, dark hair behind her ear and glanced from her husband to Meredith. With a wink, she said, “Unless you keep them busy, this could still be going on when I return. Burke and I used to be like that.”
“Kate and I did, too.”
“Then you’ll know exactly how to deal with them,” Jayne said.
“Forget child labor laws,” Wes Stryker said, a twinkle in his blue eyes. “Put them to work. There’s nothing like manual labor to work out a kid’s frustrations.” He turned to the children. “We’ll be back in an hour, so try to be good. And you,” he said, easing closer to his wife.
Meredith thought she heard Jayne whisper, “I’ll be good later.”
And she was pretty sure Wes said, “I’m counting on it,” the moment before his lips brushed his wife’s.
The underlying sensuality went right over the children’s heads. Tucking the stuffed goose under one arm, Olivia skipped into the store ahead of her brother. Knowing what could happen when those two were left unsupervised, Meredith hurried after them.
“Logan,” she said, handing the boy the keys while she flipped on lights. “Unlock the back door, would you? Maybe we can get a breeze blowing through here.”
Logan ran to the back of the store, keys jangling, shoes thudding, anything not anchored down rattling as if during an earthquake. Within seconds, the netting hanging from the rafters ruffled, a dozen sets of wind chimes purled, and Meredith sighed. Turning in a circle, she took it all in. She’d put everything she had into this store, all her energy and her life savings. She’d looked at several buildings, but had decided on the store that sat by itself between the Jasper Gulch Clothing Store and Bonnie’s Clip & Curl. It had been nothing
