The Cowboy's Valentine. Donna Alward

about her?”

      He was pulled back from his musings. “Oh,” he replied, turning at a stop sign. “Just that she’s going to be staying at the big house for a while. I know I take you with me a lot, so when you’re there you’re going to have to be extra good. It’s not just you and me now.”

      “But Lacey is nice. She played with me lots.”

      “But she might not want to entertain you all the time, sweetheart. Do you understand?”

      Amber shrugged. He could see the exaggerated movement in the rearview mirror and his heart gave a sad little thump again. The gesture was so like Marie. Amber had parts of Marie that she didn’t even realize, because her memories of her mother were already beginning to dim. They should have had Marie longer. She should have been here through all of this. They were like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing. Pieces that could never be replaced.

      “How about spaghetti for supper?” he asked, suggesting one of Amber’s favorites. There had to be at least one more container of frozen sauce in the freezer. It wouldn’t take long to thaw it and cook some noodles and throw some garlic bread in the oven. Cooking was something else he’d learned to do over the past year and a half.

      “Spaghetti! Yum! I’ll help!”

      He smiled then, pushing the maudlin thoughts aside. He might miss Marie, but he was still a lucky man. He had a job he loved, a roof over his head and a daughter he adored. They could muddle through the rest if they had each other.

      Lacey, on the other hand, would be sitting at the ranch house tonight all alone. And for the first time, he truly felt sorry for her.

Chapter Two

      Lacey was up, showered, and dressed by the time Quinn arrived just before eight. She’d made a point of setting the alarm for six-thirty, though it hadn’t mattered. She’d awakened shortly after five, cold, and had thrown another quilt over top of the blankets in an effort to warm up. By six she gave up trying to go back to sleep and got up, cranked up the heat and ran a hot shower.

      Now she had her laptop open, a cup of coffee beside her, and her glasses perched on her nose when she heard the truck drive in and the door slam.

      There was a knock on the door.

      Frowning, she got up to answer it. Maybe it wasn’t Quinn arriving for the day? When she put her eye up to the peephole, she could see his scowly face on the other side. What the heck?

      She opened the door. “Quinn. Why on earth did you knock?”

      He stepped inside, bringing a gust of icy air with him. “You live here now. I don’t have any desire to walk in and take you by surprise.”

      Her face heated as the possibilities of “surprise” sank in. “Well.” She took a step backward as he toed off his boots. “Thanks, but this place is really more yours than mine.” She realized they needed to set some boundaries with each other and it might as well start this morning. “Tell you what. During work hours, this place is yours. You should be able to come and go as you please and not worry about knocking.”

      “It’s a ranch, Lacey. Not exactly a nine-to-five job.”

      Did he always have to be so contrary?

      “I realize that. But you have to admit, most days you come and go at regular hours. Let’s say...between eight and six, you’ve got free run of the place and I’ll work around you. The rest of the time, it just takes a knock. Okay?”

      He gave a short nod. “Okay.”

      She smiled. “Good. Now, do you want some coffee? I put on a pot and I shouldn’t drink the whole thing or I’ll be bouncing off the walls by noon.”

      He looked surprised that she’d asked, and his face relaxed a little. “That would be good.”

      “What do you take in it?”

      “Cream and sugar.”

      Same as her. Go figure.

      She retrieved a mug from a cupboard while he put a lunch bag in the fridge. When he turned around he noticed her laptop on the dining table. “What are you working on so early?” he asked, accepting the steaming mug from her hands. The pads of his fingers brushed against her knuckles.

      She withdrew quickly, alarmed that the thoughtless touch felt so intimate. “I’m sprucing up my résumé. Then I’ll log on to the Wi-Fi and start searching the job sites and boards. I’m a CPA. Surely someone between here and Great Falls could use my considerable accounting skills.” She waggled her eyebrows, trying to keep the mood light. Maybe he could at least give her points for trying.

      “I could ask around.”

      Another surprise. “Why would you do that?”

      He took a sip of his coffee and looked at her over the rim of his cup. “The faster you get a job, the faster you can resume your old life.”

      The whisper of intimacy disintegrated. “Harsh.”

      “We both know you don’t really want to live here, Lacey. No sense pretending otherwise.”

      He was right. But it didn’t mean she hated it entirely. “You realize that you give me crap for judging ranch life but you do the exact same thing with me? You’re just as prejudiced, you know.”

      Quinn looked slightly alarmed at that assessment and put his coffee cup on the island. “What?”

      “I’m just saying, that sure, I’ve made it no secret that this is not the life I’d choose for myself. But you’re judging me for that. Quinn, I respect that this is your home and your livelihood and you like it. But just because it’s not for me, and I know it, doesn’t make me less than you, okay?”

      He stared at her for a long moment. “I just got schooled,” he admitted. “You’re right. I shouldn’t judge. You just...”

      “Drive you crazy?”

      “Yeah.”

      “You push my buttons, too.” Their gazes connected and that strange intimate feeling happened again. She swallowed. “It must be because we’re so different. Oil and water.”

      “I’m sure that’s it.”

      Another heavy silence. Finally Quinn picked up his cup. “I need to make a few calls before heading out again. And you look like you need to get back to your work. I’ll see you later.”

      “Sure.” She folded her arms around her middle, still a bit chilly. “Quinn, one more thing. Do you always keep it so cold in here? I woke up at five this morning darn near freezing.”

      He stopped at the entrance to the hall. “I never thought about that. We keep the thermostat turned down, just keep enough heat on to keep pipes from freezing, really. I use a space heater in the office.”

      “I don’t mind turning the heat down at night, though maybe not that far down.” She briefly considered an electric blanket, but that wouldn’t solve the entire problem. And she didn’t want to blast the heat in the whole house and run up a huge bill.

      “I’ll speak to Duke about it, maybe get some programmable thermostats,” Quinn promised. “In the meantime, do you want me to light a fire for you?”

      “I can do it. And I turned up the heat in these rooms anyway. Forget I mentioned it.”

      He walked away to his office and she resumed her seat at the table. Even with the heat on, she was glad she’d put on warm leggings and the long sweater. Her coffee was gone before long so she got up and refilled her cup then went back to it.

      She was just prettying up her margins and spacing when she looked up and saw Quinn at the end of the hallway, putting on his outerwear. He didn’t realize she was watching, and she let her eyes roam over his long, strong legs and wide shoulders