Maybe it was foolish to think that she could indulge in a casual no-strings affair when she’d never done so before. Or maybe that was just another reason why she should go for it. When she’d made the trip to Thunder Canyon, she’d done so knowing that the journey would bring changes to her life. Meeting Corey had given her another opportunity to make another change.
She’d never known anyone like him—he was larger than life, a man strong enough for a woman to lean on, a man she wanted to be with. He didn’t strike her as someone who did anything by half measures, and she knew that if she ever made love with him, it would be a spectacular experience.
What worried her was the possibility that he would seduce not just her body but her heart, and that when he was gone she would be left with only memories of the time they’d spent together and her heart in pieces.
Because he would go. She knew that. He had no more intention of staying in Thunder Canyon than she did—but she wasn’t ready to pack up her bags just yet.
And although heading back to San Diego held a certain appeal, she knew she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go back to her old life and pretend that everything was as it had always been. She’d come to Montana because she needed answers, and she wasn’t going anywhere until she had them.
After another restless night, Erin got up Tuesday morning and readied herself for work as if it was any other day. Because her dreams had been mostly centered on Corey, she hadn’t come up with any revelations about how to tell her boss about the possibility that he could be her brother. Instead, she decided to act as normal as possible, as if nothing had changed.
But she found herself making excuses to walk past his office, trying to catch a glimpse of him, trying to figure out if there was any familial resemblance between herself and her boss. She had two brothers, and she loved both Jake and Josh, but there was just something about Grant Clifton that had appealed to her from the start.
A man didn’t rise to the position he was in without having a fair amount of drive and ambition, but he wasn’t ruthless or hard. Her own experience had shown her that he was a fair and compassionate employer; according to his friends, he was loyal and steadfast; the love he obviously shared with his wife of three years proved he was faithful and devoted; and when he talked about his mother and his sister, he demonstrated that he had a strong sense of family.
Was it possible that she might be part of his family? If so, would he grow to care about her as he obviously cared about Elise? Of course, if it turned out that Erin was his sister, it would mean that Elise was not.
How would he deal with that revelation? Would he resent Erin for bringing it to light? Or would he accept that she was as much a victim of circumstances as everyone else?
“Is everything okay?”
Erin realized that she’d been standing in front of the reservation computer for several minutes without inputting any data. She looked up at Carrie and managed to smile. “Sorry. I don’t know where my mind is today.”
“I think I know,” her coworker teased, nodding her head in the direction of the counter.
Glancing past her, Erin saw Corey standing there, and her heart gave that all-too familiar jolt.
“What’s he doing here?”
“Looking for you,” Carrie told her. “And honey, if you’re not interested, feel free to give him my number.”
Erin felt her cheeks flush as she moved past her coworker to the counter.
“Are you here to see if I was playing hooky today?” she asked him.
“Nope. Just to see you.”
“Any particular reason?”
“You were on my mind. In fact, you’ve been on my mind since I left your house last night, a detail that did not go unnoticed by my associates at the meetings I had this morning.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she remained silent.
“This is where you could say that you’ve been thinking about me, too,” he prompted.
She didn’t think his ego needed the boost of hearing the words, even if they were true. But she folded her arms on the counter and dropped her voice, as if making a confession. “What if I tell you that, as I drove to work this morning, I was thinking about playing hooky again because it’s much too beautiful a day to be cooped up inside?”
He leaned closer, so their faces were only inches apart. “Did you think about playing hooky again with me?”
“A girl has to have a few secrets,” she teased.
“Something tells me you have more than a few.”
It was an effort to keep her smile in place as his words struck a chord. He was right. She had more secrets than anyone in Thunder Canyon knew, more than anyone would possibly guess. And the longer she stayed, continuing to perpetuate the myth that she was just a California transplant looking for a change of pace, the guiltier she felt. She’d made friends with the people in town, listened to their confessions and hopes and dreams.
But she hadn’t told a single one of them her real reason for coming to Thunder Canyon. Not even Erika, who had chosen Erin to be the maid of honor at her wedding. And now Erika was married to Dillon, and Erin was fighting her attraction to Dillon’s brother, who happened to be good friends with Grant Clifton, who might be Erin’s brother. There were too many strings connecting all the players in the drama of her life, and they were getting all tangled up.
She’d been dishonest with so many people. Even if she wasn’t guilty of telling lies, she certainly hadn’t volunteered the complete truth. And she couldn’t help but wonder what they would think of her when they found out. Would the people who had become her friends understand why she’d been silent about her true purpose for coming to Thunder Canyon? Or would the truth cost her those new but treasured friendships?
Her mother tried to instill in all of her kids the importance of being honest. If you tell the truth, she’d pointed out to them, you won’t ever forget what you said. Erin understood the importance of the message and she’d tried to live her life accordingly. That had changed when she came to Thunder Canyon.
No, she admitted to herself, it had changed when she’d said that she was quitting her job in San Diego because she felt as if her life had stagnated since graduation and she wanted to explore some other opportunities. Her parents had been supportive—or tried to be. They’d also been hurt by her decision, but not as hurt as she knew they would be if she’d told him she was going to look for a family that Erma had told her was in Montana.
And that one little lie had led to more little lies. Since coming to Thunder Canyon, however, she’d been guilty of so many deceptions and half-truths she wasn’t sure she could even remember them all. And she feared that those half-truths were going to come back to haunt her.
Maybe she’d believed they were necessary. Maybe she still did. She couldn’t imagine how the tightly knit community would have responded if she’d slapped the newspaper clipping down on a table at The Hitching Post the first day she’d arrived in town and proclaimed that she was related to some or all of the persons in the photo.
Instead, she’d taken a more subtle approach. She’d gotten to know the residents of Thunder Canyon and asked some discreet questions about the families in that faded picture. Unfortunately, the responses she’d received to those inquiries had told her little. And although there was no shortage of skeletons in the closets of the residents of Thunder Canyon, she hadn’t heard any murmurs about anyone losing a baby more than twenty-five years earlier.
And then, by sheer luck, she happened to be nearby when Grant Clifton pulled a picture of his sister out of his wallet. Coincidentally, that sister was born on the same day in the same hospital