mascara and maybe some lip gloss. On a good day, she made it all the way to dinnertime without getting spit-up on her shirt.
Max just kept talking. “Boys, Viv and Caroline here not only plan weddings, they also serve as the Rust Creek Falls dating service.” Such a liar, that Max. He wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the butt. “And Sarah is not only gorgeous—she’s got a mind for figures, works as an accountant right in town. Falls Mountain Accounting, I believe. Have I got that right, Sarah?”
Logan still held her hand. She really ought to pull away. But she didn’t. “I’m a CPA, yes,” she said as she continued to stare into Logan’s blue eyes.
“I think I need an accountant,” said the killer-handsome cowboy in that deep, smooth voice of his, never once letting go of her gaze—or her hand. “And a dating service works for me. Sign me up. I’ll take you, Sarah. To dinner. Tonight.”
“Uh, yeah. Right.” She laughed, playing it off, as her traitorous heart flipped cartwheels inside her chest.
Ridiculous. Impossible. She had no time for dates. If she had any extra time, she would spend it sleeping. And never again would she believe the lies of a handsome, smooth-talking man.
Max was still talking. “Sarah, Logan here is a self-made man. He grew up on our ranch in Texas, but he couldn’t wait to get out on his own. Earned his fortune in Seattle, in real estate.”
Logan chuckled. “Shut up, Dad.”
Max didn’t miss a beat. “Son, why don’t you and Sarah go on into town? Take her to the donut shop. You can firm up your dinner plans over bear claws and coffee.”
Sarah opened her mouth to give both father and son a firm no when a baby’s cry from the back room did it for her.
“Huh?” Max blinked in surprise. “That sounds like a—”
“Excuse me.” Sarah pulled her hand free of Logan’s warm grip and managed a breezy smile. “My little girl wants her mother.” Turning neatly on her heel, she headed for the back room.
Was she disappointed that a certain dreamboat of a man was bound to lose interest fast when faced with a crying baby?
A little, maybe. But not that disappointed.
Really, it was for the best.
* * *
Logan Crawford watched Sarah’s bouncing ponytail as she trotted away from him. What was it about her? Those big golden-brown eyes, all that shining bronze hair? That smile she had that was shy and devilish simultaneously? Damned if that smile didn’t dare him to kiss her.
He would take that dare at the first opportunity.
Was she married?
He hadn’t seen a ring—and yeah, the baby kind of gave him pause.
But not that much of a pause. He could work around the baby. As long as she was single, well, why shouldn’t the two of them have a little fun? Nothing lasted forever and he liked it that way.
It was chemistry, pure and simple. Sexual attraction. And damn, it felt good.
His dad was still talking to the other two women, while Xander just stood there looking midway between vaguely intrigued and slightly annoyed by what they were saying.
Logan, on the other hand, felt downright invigorated. He hadn’t felt like this in years. Maybe never. Lately, he’d been kind of off his game when it came to women. He just had no drive to hook up and hadn’t been with anyone in months.
But everything had changed the minute he set eyes on Sarah.
Just let her be single. That was all he asked.
She emerged from the back room with a backpack-style diaper bag hanging off one shoulder, a giant leather tote dangling from one hand and a pouty-faced infant in a baby carrier on the other arm. “Sorry, everyone. We’ll just be going.”
Uh-uh. Not yet. In four strides, Logan reached her. “Here. Let me help you.” The baby stuck a fist in her mouth and stared up at him, wide-eyed.
“No, really.” Sarah seemed flustered. Her cheeks had turned the sweetest shade of pink. “There’s no need. I’m good.”
He ignored her objections and eased the diaper bag off her shoulder. “What’s her name?” He took hold of the tote. For a moment, she held on like she wouldn’t let him take it.
But then she let go. “Sophia,” she said. “Her name is Sophia.”
“Pretty name. How old is she?” He wiggled his eyebrows at the baby, who had a pink cloth flower tied around her mostly bald head.
“Five months,” said Sarah.
The baby took her slobbery hand out of her mouth long enough to announce, “Ah-da!” and stuck it right back in.
Behind him, his dad started flapping his jaws again, apologizing for trying to set them up. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t see a ring on your finger and I assumed—”
“You assumed right,” Sarah responded coolly. “I’m not married.”
Excellent. “But are you engaged?” Logan rattled off the pertinent questions. “Living with someone? Dating exclusively?”
“None of the above,” she replied. “It’s just me and Sophia.” As if on cue, the little girl let out a goofy giggle around the fist in her mouth. Sarah added, delectably defiant, “Just us. And we like it that way.”
So she’s free. It was all Logan needed to know.
Unfortunately—and for no reason Logan could understand—Max moved in next to him. “Son, Sarah has to go. Give her back her things.”
Not happening. Not yet. “Give us a minute, would you, Dad?” He turned his back on his father and moved in closer to Sarah and little Sophia. That caused Sarah to retreat a step. Logan closed the distance. The process repeated—Sarah retreating, Logan eliminating the space she’d created—until they reached the door.
A glance over his shoulder revealed that Max had started talking to the wedding planners again. His dad and the blonde wedding planner shook hands. Logan made a mental note to find out what that was about as he turned his attention back to the irresistible brown-eyed girl.
She said, “I really do have to go.”
Logan held on to her tote and diaper bag and started talking, pulling out all the stops, flirting shamelessly with both the woman and her baby. He made silly faces at Sophia as he coaxed information from Sarah, learning that she’d moved back to Rust Creek Falls a month before and had a cottage in town.
“Truly, Logan.” Sarah’s pretty white teeth nibbled nervously at her plump lower lip, driving him just a little bit crazy. He wanted to nibble on that lip himself. “I’m not interested in dating. I’m way too busy for anything like that.”
He nodded. “I understand. Let me help you out to your car.”
“No,
