I slow down a moment, making sure my eyes aren’t deceiving me. Thisisthe same woman I haven’t been able to get out of my mind for weeks, isn’t it? She’s just as gorgeous as I remember.
And just as out of place here in the dirt.
When she squints up at me, at first, she looks relieved. “Oh, thank goodness. Can you help me?” She doesn’t recognize me. The sun is bright in her eyes, and I must look like a dark shadow on horseback.
“Sure, honey, once you tell me what you’re doing here.” I cross my arms and gaze at her, all disheveled in a silk blouse that has no place on a ranch. Can’t help but smirk.
I turn my horse so she can see me more clearly and watch her smile fade. Her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She sits up taller and squints at me.
“Fitz? What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same thing, darlin’,” I say, extending a hand. She shakes her head and crosses her arms. Stubborn. Feisty. Dusty.
Gorgeous.
I’m happy to see her.
“On second thought, you can just ride on by, cowboy. I’m good.” She looks at her scraped-up knees, which say otherwise. I can’t take my eyes off her legs, which are long and lean beneath what looks to be a…skirt?
And little goddamn kitten heels.
None of what I see before me makes any sense, the least of which is why she’s here.
“What, you're going to sit in the dirt all day?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Maybe. Seems like a nice enough place to do some soul-searching.”
I laugh. “That why you broke through an electric fence, to search your soul? Woulda been easier to go to church, don’tcha think? We’ve got one down the way.” I point over my shoulder.
Tessa holds up a hand to shade her eyes from the sun, which is when I notice the scrapes down the length of her arm. I want to scoop her up and tend to her injuries, but her wary expression says I shouldn’t swoop in like some kind of hero.
I dismount Dolly, who goes to graze in the shade, and notice a navy leather purse in the basket of a bike a few yards away. I retrieve the purse and hold it up.
“I assume this is yours. We don’t grow these out here.”
She takes it from me and nods. “How did you know I was here? Do you have secret spyware or radar set up all around this place? Is that what goes on in this town? Because by law, you really should let people know they’re being watched or tracked or whatever you’re doing. You could find yourself in real legal trouble for that if you’re not careful.”
I sputter a laugh at her idle threats. I've lived in small towns all my life, and none of them have the kind of surveillance capabilities she's talking about. “You must be confusing this place with some CIA outpost or something you saw on TV.”
“Okay, how’d you know I was here?”
“It’s not against the law to protect private property with an electric fence. You’re trespassing on land that doesn’t belong to you.”
“How are you so sure of that? Maybe I own this place.” She tosses a hand out, gesturing to the entirety of the ranch in front of her.
“You don’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know who does, and it ain’t you.”
That shuts her up for a minute.
“Who’s the owner?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because the asshole next-door neighbor is suing us, and I’d like to line up an in-person meeting to tell that big jerk what’s what. The entire lawsuit is baseless, and I can prove it.”