work,” said Max. “My other four boys will be up from Texas with the breeding stock by then. Expect all seven of us.”
“Looking forward to it.” Nate raised his beer and Max tapped it with his.
* * *
The next morning at nine sharp, Logan paid a visit to Falls Mountain Accounting.
The door was unlocked, so he walked right in.
Inside, he found a deserted waiting room presided over by an empty front desk with a plaque on it that read, Florence Turner, Office Manager. The door with Sarah’s name on it was wide open. No sign of his favorite accountant, though.
The door next to Sarah’s was shut. The nameplate on that one read Mack Turner, Accountant. Something was going on inside that office. Faintly, Logan heard muffled moans and sighs.
A woman’s voice cried softly, “Oh, yes. Yes, my darling. Yes, my love. Yes, yes, yes!”
Logan debated whether to turn and run—or stick around just to see who emerged from behind that door.
Wait a minute. What if it was Sarah carrying on in there?
It had damn well better not be.
He dropped into one of the waiting room chairs—and then couldn’t sit still. Rising again, he tossed his hat on the chair and paced the room.
What was this he was feeling—like his skin was too tight and he wanted to punch someone?
Jealousy?
Not happening. Logan Crawford had never been the jealous type.
He was...curious, that’s all, he reassured himself as he marched back to his chair, scooped up his hat and sat down again.
The sounds from behind the shut door reached a muted crescendo and finally stopped.
A few minutes later, a flushed, dewy-eyed older woman who looked quite a bit like Sarah emerged from Mack Turner’s office. Her brown hair needed combing and her silky shirt was half-untucked.
“Oh!” Her blush deepened as she spotted Logan. “I, um...” She tugged in her shirt and patted at her hair. “I’m so sorry. Just, um, going over the calendar for the day. I’m Florence Turner.”
Hiding his grin, he rose again. She marched straight for him, arm outstretched.
“Logan Crawford,” he said as they shook.
“Please just call me Flo. I manage the office. We’re a family business, just my husband, our daughter, Sarah, and me.” Flo put extra heavy emphasis on the word husband. Apparently, she wanted to make it perfectly clear that whatever he’d heard going on behind Mack Turner’s door was sanctioned by marriage. “Are you here to see Mack?”
“I’m waiting for Sarah.”
“Oh! Did you have an appointment?”
“Not exactly.” He tried a rueful smile.
“Well, I apologize for the mix-up, but Sarah has meetings with clients—all day, I think she said.”
“Really? That’s inconvenient.” He patted his pockets. “I seem to have lost my phone.” He’d left it in the truck, but Flo didn’t need to know that.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Sarah’s mom said.
“Unfortunately, that means now I don’t have Sarah’s cell number...” Okay, yeah. He’d never had a cell number for her. But it was only a little lie.
And it worked like a charm. Flo whipped out Sarah’s business card. It had her office, home and cell numbers on it.
“You’re a lifesaver. Thank you.”
“Any time, Logan—and you’re more than welcome to use the phone on my desk.”
“Uh, no. I need a coffee. I’ll use the pay phone at the donut shop up the street.”
That was another lie. He called her from his truck as soon as he was out of sight of Falls Mountain Accounting.
* * *
Sarah was with a client when the call came in from an unknown number. She let it go straight to voice mail. The day was a busy one, appointments stacked up one after the other.
When she finally checked messages in the late afternoon, she found one from Logan.
“Hello, Sarah. It’s Logan Crawford. Call me back when you get a minute.”
She played it through twice, sitting in her white CR-V with Sophia snoozing in the back seat. His voice, so calm and commanding, made her feel strangely breathless.
The truth was, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking of him, of the way he’d looked at her, like she was the only person in the room, of the way he’d kept hold of her hand when there was no excuse for him to be holding it beyond the fact that he wanted to. She’d loved how he’d been so sweet to Sophia and that he’d insisted on carrying her diaper bag and tote out to the car.
Plus, well, he was way too good-looking and she hadn’t been with a man in over a year.
The plan was to give up men, after all. At least for a decade or so—maybe longer.
And really, hadn’t she made her unavailability perfectly clear to him?
Annoyed and flustered and oddly gleeful all at the same time, she called him back.
“Hello, Sarah.”
“Hi, Logan. How did you get my number?”
“I stopped by your office. Your mom gave me your card.” Dear Lord in heaven, his voice. It was so smooth, like raw honey. She pictured it pouring from a mason jar, all sweet and thick and slow. And then he added, “Your mom and dad are obviously very happy together.”
Sarah felt her face go hot. Stifling an embarrassed groan, she answered drily, “Yeah. I try to be out of the office as much as possible.” Then she changed the subject. “Logan, I’m flattered you went to all that trouble just to get my number, but really, I meant what I said. I hardly have time to wash my hair lately. I’m not dating anyone, not even you.”
“I get it. I called on business.”
“Oh.” Did she sound disappointed? Well, she wasn’t. Not at all.
He said, “We’re just getting moved in at the Ambling A and frankly, the accounts are a mess. We need a professional to get the books on track. We want to hire local. And that means Falls Mountain Accounting.”
Her heart rate had accelerated at just the idea of being near him as she gathered the information to whip those books of his into order—but no. She needed to keep her distance from him, which meant he would have to work with her dad. “Did you meet with my dad yet? He’s the best. I know you’ll be happy you hired him.”
“Sarah.”
