“I’m fine…really,” he insisted. “Fine.”
She nodded, the doubt clear in her eyes. “Well, I’ll see you around then.”
He felt his head bob up and down though he couldn’t recall issuing the necessary command. “Sure,” he managed to choke out.
She hesitated when she would have opened the door, adding a new layer of tension to his already unbearable state. “I almost forgot.” She stared up at him. “Are we still on for the dance Friday night?”
Dance? Ty hadn’t mentioned any dance. Worry tightened around his throat like a noose. “Dance?” he echoed his bewildered thought.
“The annual barbecue and dance to raise money for the volunteer fire department. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
Faced with her expression of disappointment and maybe even a little hurt he heard himself say, “No, no. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just too tired to think, that’s all.” He shrugged. “Sure, we’re still on,” he added, using her words.
Her face brightened. The smile with which she gifted him shifted something in his chest. How could a mere smile have such a mesmerizing effect?
“Good night,” she murmured.
“Good night.” Despite everything, he just couldn’t help himself. He felt his lips curl upward as he stared deeply into those wide, blue eyes.
Before he could fathom her intent, she tiptoed and placed a chaste kiss on his jaw then rushed out the door.
Dex stared after her as she hurried away. He didn’t close the door until the tail lights of her truck had disappeared around the bend. He touched his jaw where she’d kissed him and he felt weak with something he couldn’t name. What was it about this woman—this place—that made him feel so strange? He couldn’t recall ever having felt so flustered, so uncertain of who he was.
“Dex Montgomery,” he murmured. “You’re Dex Montgomery.” He had to remember that.
“Ty.”
Dex turned to find Grandmother Cooper waiting near the bottom of the stairs. He smiled automatically, which was not his custom. He couldn’t say for sure whether he intended the gesture or if he’d simply done it so she would smile back at him. There was something about her smile.
“I know you’re worn out, son,” she said kindly. “Why don’t you call it a night? You can tell us all about your trip in your own time.” She winked covertly. “I left a present for you in your room.”
Dex felt weightless as he watched her walk away. His grandmother had gotten him a gift. Why that should give him such pleasure, he had no clue. But it waited for him in his room.
Dex stilled. No. It was waiting for him in Ty’s room.
Where the hell was Ty’s room?
HOW COULD SHE have kissed him?
Leanne slammed on her brakes and skidded to a frustrated halt a few feet from her own front porch. She shut off the lights and engine and heaved a disgusted sigh.
She’d kissed Ty. At least it had been only on the cheek, but she’d kissed him nonetheless.
She had undoubtedly lost her everloving mind. Why else would she have behaved so irrationally? Been so forward? There was no telling what he thought.
Depressed now more than disgusted, she laid her forehead against the steering wheel and considered how she would ever face him again.
Warmth spread through her as the brief meeting of her lips and his stubbled jaw played through her mind once more. Though always clean-shaven, Ty’s dark features left him with a five o’clock shadow every evening. She’d always imagined that beneath that darkly handsome exterior beat the heart of a truly sinful lover. A man who could please a woman. The details of his muscular chest ran through her mind. Never had the idea of Ty’s virility or masculinity intrigued her so.
Leanne straightened, frowning. She’d seen Ty shirtless hundreds of times. He was a strong, well-built man. She felt certain he would make some woman very happy some day. But not her. She loved him like a brother. Not once in her entire life had she felt even remotely sexually attracted to him.
Not once.
Until today.
The moment their gazes had locked at the airport she’d felt something…something different. She shook her head and climbed out of her old truck. The Coopers as well as her own mother had been trying to push the two of them together for as long as she could remember. She knew they meant well, wanted their children to be happy. But Leanne had other plans. She wanted to fall head over heels in love with a man who would sweep her off her feet. And she wanted to be financially independent.
“Yeah, right,” she grumbled as she trudged up the steps to her house. Just how was she supposed to meet Mr. Right and be financially independent when she was barely keeping her head above water in more ways than one?
She unlocked the front door and went inside. Being careful not to make any more noise than necessary she closed and locked the door behind her. The stairs to the second floor proved a bit trickier when it came to her efforts to be soundless. But Leanne knew all the spots to avoid. She didn’t want to wake her mother. Lord knew, sleep was the only peace she found.
Joanna Watley suffered with debilitating weakness and often a great deal of pain. Dr. Baker had done everything he could for her, to no avail. She needed further testing and a specialist or maybe even a team of specialists. But there was no money for such extravagances that would likely do no good, her mother insisted. Without medical insurance the burden of cost fell squarely on Leanne and her mother’s shoulders. A burden Leanne was ready to accept if her mother would only allow it.
Leanne paused outside her mother’s bedroom door. She slept soundly. Leanne eased into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed to watch her sleep. She was a truly beautiful woman. Long blond hair, peppered with a little gray, and blue eyes. The same blue eyes Leanne had inherited. Leanne’s father used to say that she and her mother looked more like sisters than mother and daughter. He’d always known how to bring a smile to her mother’s lips. It just didn’t seem fair that he’d died four years ago, and then last year her mother’s debilitating illness had struck. Leanne blinked back her tears. She loved her mother dearly and she would do whatever she could to help her.
Joanna Watley had a stubborn streak a mile wide, though. Leanne had begged her to sell the ranch and use the money for whatever medical treatment she needed. Joanna refused. She insisted that they hang on to the ranch no matter what. She’d be all right in time, she always said.
But that time never came. She only got worse. Leanne felt a burst of desperation in her chest. How would she ever convince her mother to listen to her? She probably couldn’t, which left Leanne with only one choice. She had to make the money herself. She couldn’t leave her mother alone all day to get a job in town. And anyway, Leanne had no real skills. With her father’s ill health, then his death, and now her mother’s illness, she’d been taking care of the ranch since she’d graduated high school. There’d been no time or money for college.
Instead, she spent every spare moment attempting to complete what her father had begun—turning their ranch into a dude ranch. Dude ranches were wildly popular, and this area of Montana was particularly attractive to tourists. No one else in the vicinity had one. It would be a gold mine, if only Leanne could finish the job.
The guest cabins had been constructed. The pool was pretty much complete. If Leanne worked hard enough, saved every cent possible, she could get it up and running. With the dozen horses they had kept and the guest cabins and pool ready, she could prepare to open this fall. She might not make much in the beginning, but her reputation would build. Then she would have the money to send her mother wherever she needed to go without selling the ranch.
But that seemed a lifetime away. Though Dr. Baker didn’t feel her mother’s symptoms