Lone Heart Pass. Jodi Thomas

looked as if she hadn’t changed a thing.

      When they started lugging the bed frame into his place, Charley complained all the way, but that night he stretched out in a full bed and slept like a rock. When he tried to thank Jubilee the next morning, she brushed it off as nothing, saying she’d had fun with Lillie.

      As he led Dooley out, saddled and ready on Saturday morning, Charley noticed Jubilee walking in the dirt she called her sleeping garden. This time she had the book in her hands he’d given her. The woman was always planning. More than a dozen times over the week her quick mind had surprised him and, though he wouldn’t admit it even to himself, he found that sexy as hell.

      He waved and thought of reminding her to put on sunscreen, but he reconsidered. He hadn’t minded two nights ago when she’d knocked on his door and asked him to cover her back with aloe vera lotion. She’d worn a sleeveless blouse with tiny straps that morning and blistered both her front and back all the way down to the top of her bra line.

      For a moment he’d just stood there staring at her bare shoulders.

      “Well?” she said. “Would you mind helping me?” She’d obviously taken off her blouse and bra and wrapped herself in a towel.

      He couldn’t stop staring. The towel was low enough to show off not only the sunburn, but the white line below where no sun had touched. With each intake of breath a tiny bit of creamy breast seemed to push up from beneath the towel.

      “I’ll help. Sure.” He tried to sound simply polite.

      She handed him the lotion and turned, lifting her hair off her red shoulders.

      He poured the lotion in his palm and slowly spread the cream over her skin. Back and forth from just below her hair, down her neck, over her shoulders and down to where the towel blocked his progress down her back.

      If he didn’t know better he’d think his soft caress was absorbing the heat from her skin, for he felt as though his entire body was growing hot.

      When she turned and his hand moved over the tops of her breasts where the skin was burned the worst, she let out a whispered cry.

      Charley wasn’t sure if he’d hurt her or if she was simply reacting to the feel of his touch.

      Lillie pushed her way between them. Taking the lotion away from him, she claimed his rough touch made Jubilee jump.

      The five-year-old had taken over the doctoring, even insisting Jubilee stay for ice cream as part of her treatment.

      Charley tried to apologize, but when he looked at her talking to Lillie, smiling at her, letting Lillie be the doctor, he couldn’t seem to form words.

      The feel of her warm skin lingered on his hands but he’d done his best to ignore it the next day. No women in his life, he reminded himself. If he ever did need a woman, he’d pick someone like Lexie, who’d know from the start that there would be no strings, no commitment, no future. He’d been fighting to get his footing since his dad kicked him off the ranch and made sure his college days were over. He’d worked and saved and done his best to raise Lillie. Nothing would stop him. No woman would ever get to him again.

      Not even one with skin like silk and breasts that promised to be irresistible.

      Don’t get involved, he reminded himself—so often that it started echoing in his mind.

      If he’d had any doubt that Jubilee wanted it the same way, all he had to remember was yesterday morning. When he’d asked how the sunburn was, she’d said “fine” as if drawing a line of what should not be talked about. The rest of breakfast had been formal, all business. He’d eaten his burned eggs and almost-raw bacon without another word about her body.

      Of course, he couldn’t help it if now and then his body went rogue with memories of its own. The way she’d felt. How he could feel her breath brushing against his throat as he leaned closer. The soft cry that could have been pleasure or pain.

      Yesterday morning, all that seemed to have vanished with the dawn. Maybe he’d just imagined how good it felt so close. Maybe he was simply starved for a woman and had seen a request only for help as an invitation.

      He had looked across the table. All business.

      “Fine,” Charley had finally echoed under his breath when she got up to get her notepad. He wanted it that way, too. The last thing he needed to do was get involved with her on anything but a business relationship. She’d told him while they were eating lunch a few days ago that she’d lost both her job and her lover, whom she didn’t really love anyway.

      She was the definition of mixed-up. He hadn’t asked any questions, but now he wished he had.

      “Someone’s coming,” she called to him as she closed her book and walked across her sleeping garden toward him.

      He noticed the cloud of dust flying behind a little compact car. “Looks like the sheriff’s daughter’s VW Bug. Don’t know anyone in town who drives a yellow one except Lauren.”

      Jubilee raised an eyebrow. “You know everyone’s cars in town?”

      “No, but I know Lauren’s. She’s had that one since she left for college. She and my little brother are friends, or at least they were the last time I talked to Reid. He’s a year older than her but my dad said once that they dated some.” Charley clamped his lips together. Too much information, he decided. Jubilee wouldn’t care. Why did he always feel as though he needed to explain everything about not only the ranch, but also the town, to her?

      It occurred to him that maybe he talked so much because he wanted to learn more about her. Or maybe he simply liked that low voice of hers that was starting to whisper through his dreams. Who knows, maybe if she knew the place and the people better, she’d stay.

      As the car turned into the dirt drive, Jubilee commented, “I didn’t know you had family in the area.”

      “You didn’t ask and the answer is no, I no longer have family in the area. None that claim me anyway.” He could hear the bitterness in his words, but he didn’t plan on explaining. Let everyone for a hundred miles around believe whatever they wanted. He was the bad seed in the Collins clan. He’d gotten one girl pregnant and she’d left him with a kid. He’d slept with his stepmother. He’d never amount to anything. He was blacker than the blackest sheep.

      Charley clenched his jaw to keep the swear words from spilling out. He’d prove them all wrong even if it took him a lifetime.

      Before Jubilee could ask more questions, Lauren jumped out of the VW and hugged Charley. “It’s good to see you,” she said. She was laughing, though for some reason she looked a bit nervous. “I’ve missed your being around campus, Charley. You’re my favorite Collins, you know.”

      He guessed Lauren was trying to tell him she wasn’t one of the ones who judged him. He didn’t know her well, but she’d always been kind. He’d been sad when he found out she’d dated Reid. She deserved better.

      “It’s good to see you, too.” That was it, he thought. The limit to their conversation since they’d been toddlers.

      The last time he’d seen Lauren was the day he packed to leave college. She’d been much more of a kid then, it seemed. Tall, slender, her hair blowing across her face wiping away tears. She hadn’t asked questions then, she’d simply looked sorry for him.

      “I wish you could stay,” she’d said even though they seldom saw each other on campus. “It isn’t fair. You only need to finish one semester.”

      Charley hadn’t explained. He figured she’d heard the stories. “Don’t worry about it. No big deal.” He’d lied. “I’ll come back when I have time.”

      Now he needed to think of something to talk about before she started asking questions. She’d had over a year to think of a few. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about ancient history.

      With his arm still resting on Lauren’s shoulder, he turned her