Branded as Trouble. Delores Fossen

it okay for me? And don’t say it’s because I haven’t had a date in over forty years because you haven’t had a real date in ages, either.”

      The woman had a point, but Mila thought maybe she picked up on bad vibes a little better than Belle. Maybe not, though, since she had had that encounter with Wesley.

      “Honestly,” Belle went on, “I see just as much risk in you going out with Dylan later today as in me doing Twilight. And my name’s already very close to the character so that might be a good sign.”

      Mila froze. “How’d you know about Dylan?”

      Belle froze, too. “Uh, Lawson mentioned it.”

      Great day. That meant it was all over town. “It’s not a date. It’s just coffee.” Mila was thinking of it as more of a prequel to a possible date.

      Belle just stared at her. “Dylan isn’t the ‘just coffee’ type. He could charm the panties off a nun. Or you.”

      Maybe, but it would be a nice change of pace from the other guys in town who were trying to do the same.

      “How’d Dylan set up this date with you, anyway?” Belle asked.

      “He’s friends with Julie Dayton. She’s the librarian at the school.” Basically, Julie had played matchmaker, and Mila didn’t know whether to thank her yet or not.

      Mila braced herself for Belle to tell her all the reasons she shouldn’t go out with Dylan. After all, it wasn’t her coffee meeting that folks were chattering on about. They were also talking about the possible lawsuit that Dylan’s brothers might file against the Grangers.

      “I have an idea,” Belle said, lowering her voice to a whisper despite the fact they were the only two people in the entire store. “Go out with Dylan. Let him think you’re falling for his charming ways. It won’t be hard because all those boys are lookers. Anyway, while he’s charming you, you could pump him for information about the lawsuit. You might even be able to convince him to tell his brother to back off.”

      Mila lowered her voice to a whisper, too. “No.” And she didn’t have to think about it, either. “This is just for coffee at the café in about an hour. No pumping. No spying. In fact, I don’t plan to stay for more than thirty minutes.”

      Her plan also included ordering iced tea so she wouldn’t even have to wait for it to cool. To say she was having second and third thoughts about this was an understatement. Still, she would go since it seemed cowardly to back out now especially since she’d arranged for her part-time help, Janeen Carlin, to cover the store.

      Belle didn’t say anything for several long moments. “Do you want a short date because of Roman?”

      “What?” A conversation with Belle was rarely easy to follow, and this one was no different. “Why would you think of Roman?”

      “Because he’s right outside the window. I guess it’s the opposite of out of sight, out of mind. Instead, he’s in sight, in mind.”

      Mila turned toward the window so fast she heard her neck pop. And Roman was indeed there. He was peering through the window at them. He lifted his hand in an awkward wave.

      “I hope nothing went wrong with Tate,” Belle commented. “He was supposed to start school today.”

      Mila had already moved toward the door, but that caused her to go even faster. “Is Tate okay?” she immediately asked the moment she unlocked it and threw it open.

      Roman pulled back his shoulders, surprised by her question. Or maybe he was just surprised that her voice was so intense.

      “He’s fine. I got all the paperwork done for him to go to school here, and I just dropped him off...” His words trailed off when he spotted his mother. “Did I interrupt anything?”

      “No.” Belle snatched her fantasy paper from Mila, folded it and put it in her purse.

      Obviously, this wasn’t something the woman wanted to discuss with her children. Probably because they all disapproved. Sophie and Garrett had already called Mila with their concerns. So had Billy Lee. Apparently, though, Belle had no hesitation about discussing it at length with Mila.

      “I need to be going,” Belle said. She kissed Mila’s cheek and spared her son a glance on the way out. “And you need a haircut,” she added to Roman.

      “Dippity-do,” he grumbled to her.

      Mila didn’t have a clue what that was about, and she didn’t have time to ask Belle because the woman hurried out.

      “Are you here about your mom’s fantasy dates?” Mila asked at the same time that Roman asked, “Was my mother here about your date with Dylan?”

      Neither answered.

      They just stood there, obviously surprised and also waiting for the other to say something. There was no need for her to ask him how he knew about Dylan. Gossip. No need for him to explain how he knew about his mother because he’d overheard their conversation when they were at the hospital.

      And speaking of hospitals, she looked at his side. He wasn’t hunched over in pain as he’d been the last time she’d seen him. “Are you supposed to be driving, walking and such?”

      His mouth tightened a little, probably because he thought she asked in an effort to avoid answering his question. She had. But Mila honestly wanted to know how he was doing.

      “The doctor didn’t say I couldn’t do those things,” he answered. Then added, “I’m fine. Practically good as new.”

      She doubted that, but it was nice to see him up and about, especially since he had given her a scare when he’d collapsed.

      “So, why are you here?” she pressed when he didn’t continue.

      He glanced around. “Books. I thought I’d get some for Tate. You know what he likes, and I thought you could help me pick out a few. I don’t want him to get bored while he’s at the ranch.”

      She doubted that would happen. From what she was hearing, Tate was riding a lot and even helping Garrett with some of the ranching chores. Now that he was back in school and had his therapy sessions three times a week, he probably wouldn’t have a lot of spare time. Still, it wouldn’t hurt for him to have some books on hand.

      Mila headed to the Young Adult section, specifically to the postapocalyptic books that Tate preferred. Roman followed her, and that’s when she noticed he was hobbling a bit. Definitely favoring his right side.

      “I also wanted to thank you again,” he said.

      Mila should have just let that pass, but she couldn’t. She whirled around to face him but hadn’t realized that he was so close. She practically knocked right into him.

      “Please don’t tell me thank you. Or hug me.” She hadn’t meant to blurt that last part out, but maybe her visit with Belle had put her close to her tipping point.

      “Hug you?” he questioned. Roman huffed. “Does that have anything to do with you seeing Dylan?”

      Mila could see no correlation, but obviously Roman could. “No. Why would you ask that?”

      He shrugged. “Because I know you’re going out with him today, and maybe you think he won’t like it if you and I are...friends.”

      So, perhaps that was the correlation, but it required a huge stretch to get from a coffee date to dictating her friendships. Of course, Roman might believe Dylan would feel that way because of this potential lawsuit. Because Dylan and his family wouldn’t be just suing the Grangers.

      They would be suing Roman since he owned the ranch.

      Mila forced herself to turn back to the books and took several from the shelf. “Friends,” she repeated. She didn’t make it sound like a question. She just tossed it out there to see how Roman would react.

      He