Falling For The Sheriff. Tanya Michaels

time. An intimate connection. Errant longing rippled through her.

      What is wrong with me today? Her emotional responses were all over the map. From the way she’d nearly bolted when he’d touched her earlier to—

      “Katie? Everything all right?” Joan called with a frown. Everyone was seated, and it was obvious they were waiting on the two stragglers.

      “Sorry, Gram. We’ll be right there.” Giving Cole a barely perceptible nod to signal that she’d take her cues from him—and hoping she wouldn’t regret it—she strode toward the table.

      “Now that we’re all here,” Joan said, “we can bless the food. Harvey, would you do the honors?”

      The kids already had plates piled high. Once grace was finished, they dug in as the adults served themselves.

      Mrs. Trent smiled in Kate’s direction. “Alyssa tells me your son is quite the artist.”

      Alyssa nodded happily. “They don’t have horses here, but he knows how to draw one real good.”

      “Do you like horses?” Mrs. Ross asked Luke. She wasn’t deterred by his noncommittal shrug. “Maybe you and your mom can come over sometime and go riding at our ranch. Then you can meet my daughter Vicki, who’s home from college for the summer, and of course, Jarrett.” This last was aimed at Kate.

      Kate grimaced. Couldn’t she at least have a moment to savor her grandmother’s award-winning potato salad before the matchmaking brigade started in on her again? Some things were sacred.

      Gram must have seen her reaction because she was quick to offer an alternative to Jarrett Ross. “You know who else has a nice stable of horses?”

      Kate bit the inside of her cheek, desperately hoping that wasn’t some kind of euphemism.

      “Brody Davenport. He—”

      “Ah, but Brody’s so busy these days,” Cole interrupted. “With Jasmine Tucker.”

      “Crystal’s younger sister?” Kate asked.

      “That’s right. I forgot Jasmine moved back to town,” Gram said, looking disgruntled.

      “She was in New York for a while,” Mrs. Ross said. “Modeling. Doesn’t that sound glamorous? But she’s back now and owns the most fashionable boutique in Cupid’s Bow. Well...technically the only boutique.”

      “I should take you by there this week,” Gram told Kate. “I’m going to town Tuesday afternoon for a festival meeting. You can come with me, maybe get involved with one of the committees. It’s a great way to meet folks.”

      “Actually,” Cole said, “Kate and the kids and I are going to the pool Tuesday afternoon.”

      “We are?” The words came from Luke but echoed Kate’s surprised thoughts.

      Cole nodded. “Since I couldn’t take the girls swimming yesterday, I already texted Deputy Thomas about my taking off Tuesday afternoon. And when Kate asked if the community pool was as impressive as she remembered, I invited her and Luke to join us.”

      For a lawman, he was a surprisingly comfortable liar. They’d never discussed the pool. What if she had a terrible phobia of water or something? But the community pool was a huge recreational attraction. Decades ago, a family with more oil money than they knew what to do with had donated the funds to build the pool. It was far bigger than any of the public pools in neighboring towns and included a toddler play area, a spiral slide and two diving boards. Given that it was hot enough in Cupid’s Bow to swim nearly half the year, the town council deemed the pool worth the extensive upkeep. Kate had been planning to take Luke soon, to help make up for the laser tag arenas and twenty-four screen movie theaters they’d left behind.

      And now she was going on Tuesday, with a hot single dad whose merest touch made her nerve endings sizzle. Maybe “I’m not ready to date” means something different in Cupid’s Bow. She knew Cole was sincere about the outing, or he wouldn’t have mentioned it in front of their collective children. Was this where she was supposed to follow his lead?

      “Thanks again for the invitation,” she told Cole.

      It wasn’t until everyone finished and people began cleaning up that she had a chance to talk to him alone. Gram sent Kate to get a box of lawn games from the shed, and Cole followed along.

      “I hope you didn’t have pressing plans for Tuesday,” he said sheepishly.

      And if she had? She couldn’t find it in herself to be annoyed, though. His unexpected fib had saved her from a meeting where she suspected she would have heard about many single male cousins, neighbors, sons and brothers.