“Privileged; coddled, self-absorbed life.”
She dropped the toiletry kit onto the pile of rumpled clothes and pounded on the pile with her fists until it was compact enough to get the top closed. The zipper stuck halfway, blocked by a T-shirt. Giving a fluent curse, she ripped the offending item out of the way, tossed it to the ground and finished with the zipper.
She whirled to face him. “You know, if you’d ever stopped working long enough to have a conversation with me, we might have had a chance.”
“We talked plenty.”
“Yeah, right. You talked. Taylor, I need you. Taylor. Oh, God, Taylor. I can’t resist you, Taylor...” She glared at him. “It was always when we were—when we were—”
“Having sex? Well, what do you expect? Our whole relationship is based on physical attraction. Aside from that we have nothing in common.” He laughed bitterly. “I should have known you were off limits the moment I saw you in that three-hundred-dollar swimsuit. How could a rich city slicker like you ever be happy in Montana?”
Taylor slung her purse over her shoulder, grabbed the heavy suitcase and marched out the door. She dragged it to the top of the stairs and tossed it down. It fell end over end, landing with a thud on the floorboards below.
She descended the steps, picked it up and heaved it onto the porch.
Jake’s pickup was parked outside, the keys on the dash as usual. She lurched over to it, dumped her suitcase in the back and got in. “Go muck out some stalls, Jake.”
Anger radiated from him, but he didn’t move to stop her. “Something you’ve never done.”
“I married you, Jake, not your ranch.”
“And you thought I’d do nothing but pamper you? You’re a fool.”
Taylor fired up the truck. Through the open window she said, “Find another wife, Jake. Some empty-headed country girl who’s never been to the big bad city. She’ll be happy here. You can shovel horse manure together.”
“Don’t come back, Taylor. You don’t belong here.”
She fixed him with her most withering glare. “Believe me, Jake. Nothing could ever convince me to set foot on this ranch again.”
Taylor threw the truck into gear and peeled out in a cloud of dust.
She got fifty yards away before she jammed on the brakes, made a reckless three-point turn and sped back to the house. She pulled up in front of Jake, ripped the wedding set from her finger and threw both rings into the dirt at his feet. Then, without a word, she stomped on the gas and roared down the drive.
Back at the house, Jake stared after her. He watched his truck disappear around the bend. Slowly the dust settled until all traces of his wife’s flight had vanished.
She was gone.
Gone. As if she’d never been here. As if the past five weeks were nothing but a childish fantasy, a naive dream. She was gone, and good riddance.
He bent down and lifted her rings off the ground. He blew the dirt off them, rubbed them clean. They were still warm with the heat of her body, and as he slipped them into his pocket an ache settled deep in his chest.
Good riddance? Who was he trying to kid? Depression closed over him. He’d thought they had a future together. He’d lost his heart to her and she’d behaved exactly as he’d feared, abandoning him along with her discarded rings.
With a last look at the empty drive, he turned and headed for the barn. He would lose himself in work, and eventually he would forget her.
Chapter One
Five months later
“Excuse me, Miss, but this toast is burned. And I clearly asked for real half-and-half with my coffee, not this nondairy junk.”
Taylor stared down at the annoying customer seated at table fifteen, wishing he would just disappear. Every Saturday morning he came to the Pancake Hut for breakfast, and every Saturday morning he found something wrong with his food—which meant she had to take it back to the kitchen.
The cook—her boss—hated it when she took an order back. He usually got mad and purposely messed up her next several orders.
That had the same result every time. Lower tips.
Taylor needed those tips. Desperately. She lived from paycheck to paycheck, barely managing to keep a roof over her head and make payments on the debts she’d racked up several months ago. So instead of telling Mr. Annoying where he could put his toast—which was what she would have done a few months ago—she gritted her teeth and counted to ten.
He waved to his side order plate. “What are you gonna do about my toast? I’m hungry and I don’t got all day.”
She reached for the toast. The slices were a light golden brown, not burned at all. It figured. “I’m very sorry, sir. I’ll replace this as quickly as I can.” If she timed it right, she could do it herself while the cook was busy at the grill. If he didn’t see her she’d be all right.
The customer huffed, then gave her a grudging nod. “What about my cream?”
“We don’t have any, but I could bring some milk. Would that do?”
“Well, be quick about it.”
Fighting the urge to bop the man on the head, Taylor turned away from the table.
That was when she saw him. Jake. Standing at the entrance to the coffee shop, gorgeous and rugged in faded jeans and a thick shearling coat.
In the space of an instant, Taylor’s world shifted sideways. She felt as if her stomach had plummeted to the ground. Her whole body tingled with shock.
Five months, she thought. It had been five long, challenging months since she’d seen him, yet it might have been only yesterday. He was so much the same, so familiar with that long, lean rancher’s body and thick dark hair.
How many times this fall had she imagined being with him again? Imagined what it would feel like to be in his arms again, warm and comforted instead of alone in a cold, impersonal city?
Everything about him had haunted her. His seductive brown eyes, the masculine grace of his movements, the warm scent of his skin. She remembered the first day they’d met, on vacation last summer. The sensations came back to her: hot sun on her skin, powder-soft sand underfoot. The scent of suntan lotion. And Jake, sitting there on the beach in Mexico, propped up on his elbows, watching her walk by. She’d felt an intense attraction the moment her gaze had locked onto his chiseled features and dark, windtousled hair. And when their eyes had met, she’d felt the most heady response.
It had been a magical week, full of champagne and music and moonlit dancing. They’d eloped before the trip was over, each of them absolutely confident they’d found their life partner.
But then he’d brought her home to the Cassidy Ranch—and everything had fallen apart. Within days she’d felt the change in him. The subtle withdrawal. She’d married him for his passion, for his joy in life, but once on the ranch he’d settled into a pattern of nonstop twelve-hour days and left her to her own devices. Their physical attraction had been strong, but not strong enough to bridge the growing gulf between them.
She’d tried to ignore it. But the feeling of abandonment she’d experienced was all too familiar. Her mother and father had always valued their work and their social lives more than her. She’d thought Jake would be different, that he would value her more, but he didn’t.
Their marriage was an impulsive mistake. Though it had started in a passionate whirlwind, it crashed and burned in