Page 36 of Wyoming Heart

“Good,” he said.

She just laughed.

JAKEMCGUIREWASright on time to pick Mina up for their date on Friday. As he’d said, they didn’t dress up. But he was wearing designer jeans and boots, with a Western-cut blue plaid shirt under a black leather coat, with a top-of-the-line cream Stetson on his dark hair. He could have modeled for a couture house. But Mina was too shy to mention that.

She was wearing slacks and a simple white camisole under a long sweater that came to her ankles. It wasn’t expensive, but it was a trendy outfit. She added cultured pearls to it, around her neck and in her earlobes. They were a graduation present from her cousin Rogan.

“You look very nice,” Jake said, sighing as he looked down at her. “I like it that you didn’t screw your hair up into that bun.”

She laughed self-consciously. “I’ll probably be eating it, too. It flies up into my mouth constantly when I leave it down.”

He bent and smoothed the honey-brown strands behind her small ears. “There,” he said huskily.

She smiled at him, but she didn’t feel anything at all, and he knew it. He moved back. He forced a return smile. “Ready to go?” he asked.

She nodded. “Oh yes. I’ve never been in a jet.”

“Never?” he asked.

“Well, not a small one,” she qualified. “I had to fly to New York to talk to my agent and my publisher. But I flew tourist.”

He chuckled. “This will be much better than tourist,” he promised.

And it was. The baby jet had fantastic seats and tables. There was a small bedroom and a bathroom, and even television.

“This is incredible,” she exclaimed as she buckled herself into her seat for takeoff. “Did you steal this from an alien?” she wondered with an impish grin.

He laughed. “Not quite.”

“It’s got everything!”

“Well, everything except a flight attendant,” he amended. He leaned toward her. “Which means we’ll have self-serve packets of peanuts in flight.”

She burst out laughing. He smiled to himself. At least she liked him, he thought. He could build on that.

BILLINGSWASAsprawling big city with a small-town atmosphere. The people in the restaurant were friendly and outgoing, and the food was unbelievably good.

“This is awesome,” Mina exclaimed as she savored the steak she’d ordered. “I’ve never tasted beef this good! Not even my own.”

“They have a reputation for it locally,” he told her. “I love to eat here. Hey,” he added with a grin, “we could fly down to Galveston for seafood one weekend.”

She hesitated and just a hint of color touched her cheeks. She didn’t want to offend him, but she couldn’t go off with a man for a weekend.

“Oh. I see,” he mused. He smiled gently. “It would be a day trip. Just down and back. Honest.”

She let out the breath she’d been holding. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m not modern.”

“Honey, I don’t mind that at all,” he said softly. “Neither am I.”

She smiled back. He really was a good person. And it was nice to have a man be friendly. Nothing like that animal of a cowboy who worked for Bart and did his best to put her back up at every opportunity. Even now, he was squiring the promiscuous merry divorcée all over Catelow. He’d taken her to the dance last night and people were already talking about them. Bart had mentioned it when he phoned her early this morning to get some stats on her calves. Presumably the divorcée was good in bed, Mina thought darkly. Everybody said so.

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, concerned by her expression.

She flushed. “Oh. I was thinking about Charlie,” she lied. “I do sort of miss him.”

He blinked. “Charlie?”

“My bull. Well, the bull I had to give away.”

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