“Anne Stockton. It’s nice to meet you.” Despite the slightly puzzled frown pulling her pale brows together, Anne’s words seemed genuine. “How do you and Hank know each other?”
“We’re both staying at Maverick Manor.”
“Oh, of course.” Anne smiled as if that explained everything, even though Gemma wasn’t so sure it did. At least not from where she was standing.
“They’re having a movie night for the kids at the hotel,” Hank added. “Nate Crawford asked Janie if she would help keep an eye on some of the younger kids.”
Anne nodded. “She’ll love that. Well, Gemma, it was nice to meet you. Have a good time tonight, you two.”
The blonde headed back to her table, but even though Hank guided Gemma through the steps of the dance, the easy rhythm and seductive sway of their bodies was missing now. Suddenly it was as though they had four left feet, and Gemma couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “I broke off my engagement because my fiancé was sleeping with my best friend.”
Gemma didn’t know whose left foot Hank stumbled over, but he barely caught himself before they both hit the floor. Swearing beneath his breath, he muttered, “Geez, Gemma, that’s—I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
The sincerity in Hank’s gaze reminded Gemma of why she’d felt he was a man she could believe in, a man she could trust. “I really have no interest in being a third wheel, so if you and Anne have something going on—”
“Gem...” Blue flame sparked in his eyes as he shook his head. “I am not your ex-fiancé. And I am not engaged, and I am not married.”
“But Anne...”
Hank sighed. “Anne is Janie’s mother,” he admitted, “and my ex-wife.”
* * *
His ex-wife.
Hank’s words were still ringing in Gemma’s ears as the music changed to a faster beat, and they both agreed to head back to their table. Natalie and Garrett had taken to the dance floor, leaving them the spot to themselves. Although Gemma didn’t exactly feel like it was just the two of them. Though she tried not to, she shot a glance over to Anne’s table. Not only Anne, but all of her friends, seemed equally interested in glancing back at her and Hank.
So much for “What happens at Maverick Manor stays at Maverick Manor.”
“What was that?” Hank asked.
Not realizing she’d muttered the words out loud, Gemma shook her head. “I was just thinking... It’s so easy to pretend we don’t have lives outside of the hotel, but we do. In your case, right outside. I can go back to New York and pick up my life right where I left off, as though nothing has changed...”
Her throat closed over the words. Could she? Could she really go back without feeling like she would be leaving a piece of herself behind?
She waved a hand at the people in the bar. “I’ll never see any of these people again,” she said, strangely disappointed by that realization, “but you live here.”
A slight smile tilted Hank’s lips as he set the beer bottle down. “Why, Miss Gemma, are you worried about my reputation?”
“Yes! No. Maybe...”
His deep chuckle had the muscles in her belly clenching. “You know how everyone’s always sayin’ what a nice guy I am? Well, maybe I wouldn’t mind giving ’em something else to say.” Gemma figured the gossips would have plenty to talk about as Hank dropped a twenty on the table and tipped his head toward the exit. “You ready to head back?”
If he wasn’t worried about the two of them leaving together, then neither was she. Catching Natalie’s gaze on the way out, Gemma pointed toward Hank and then the door, letting her new friend know she’d found her own ride back to the manor. The blonde gave an exuberant thumbs-up that had Gemma laughing beneath her breath until she stepped out into the cool night air and found herself alone with Hank.
“The place was busy tonight. I had to park a few blocks away. If you want to wait here, I can go get the truck.”
Away from the raucous beat booming from the jukebox, they no longer needed to lean in to hear what the other had to say. And yet Gemma still found herself whisper-close. “There you go again, Mr. Nice Guy.”
“Damn.” How was it that his deep drawl seemed to stroke every one of her nerve endings? “I really need to work on that, don’t I?”
The Ace of Hearts sign in the bar’s front window cast a neon glow across his handsome features, and Gemma didn’t think he needed to change a thing. From where she stood, Hank Harlow was just about perfect.
The doors swung open as a group of laughing cowboys stumbled outside, and Hank wrapped an arm around her waist, guiding her away from the high-fiving, back-slapping trio and down the quiet street.
“For what it’s worth, I can think of plenty of descriptions that go way beyond nice,” she said, keeping a teasing note in her voice. “Things like...‘That Hank Harlow, he’s such a skilled horseman.’ Or ‘That Hank Harlow, he’s such a great dancer.’ Or ‘That Hank Harlow, he is such an amazing kisser.’”
“Not sure I want the men around here saying that last one, but...”
Gemma laughed even as it struck her that she didn’t want the women of Rust Creek Falls saying that either. “So, you and Anne...”
Hank groaned. “Do you really want to talk about my ex-wife?”
Gemma shrugged. “Color me curious.”
“That color wouldn’t happen to be green, would it?”
“No, of course not!” She was not jealous. At all. But she couldn’t help noticing how she and the other woman couldn’t have been more different. Anne was blonde and petite, the epitome of a fresh-faced country girl. If Anne was Hank’s type...
“We’ve been divorced for over eight years.”
“It seems like you still get along.”
“We do. We always have.”
“If that’s the case, then why did you two get divorced?”
“Because she never loved me.”
Gemma stumbled to a stop. The shock of the words, multiplied by Hank’s matter-of-fact tone, had her protesting, “Hank, that’s—”
Not true. It couldn’t be true. How could any woman not fall for a man like Hank?
“I knew it all along. Anne was totally up-front with me. She told me she loved her high school sweetheart and that she always would. I thought I could change her mind, that she would learn to love me. But...love doesn’t work that way. Still, I’ve got Janie, and Anne and I are good friends. I have nothing to complain about.”
“You have really got to work harder on that ‘not being a good guy’ thing.”
The glow of the streetlights backlit his rugged silhouette, but Gemma could still see the glint of his blue eyes as he stared down at her. “Right now I’m more interested in working on that ‘amazing kisser’ thing.”
Reaching up, he tilted her face toward his. This time it was no accidental meeting when his lips brushed against hers, and she breathed his name on a sigh. The sound seemed to hover in the charged air between them. A connection drawing them closer until their mouths met again, this time on Hank’s hoarse whisper.
“Gemma...”
As he brought his mouth fully down on hers, Gemma decided amazing was far too tame a description. She couldn’t think of the words for how wild and wonderful he made her feel—and then she couldn’t think at all. Her lips parted for the exploration of his tongue, his taste, as he deepened the kiss.
Hank pulled her body tightly against his, closer than when they’d been on the dance floor, but there was still a matched rhythm to their movements—his hands anchoring her hips as her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her head tilting to the side as he deepened the kiss, their hearts beating as one.
He skimmed his lips over her cheeks, forehead and mouth. When he found the skin beneath her jaw, Gemma tilted her head back to offer him full access to her throat. He pressed a kiss there and followed the wide neckline of
her sweater where it had slipped down over her shoulder.
His hot breath bathed her skin, and her heart seemed to melt in the heat. It puddled low in her belly without skipping a single pulsating beat. Her nipples tightened even though he hadn’t done so much as touch her there. But she wanted him to. Oh, how she wanted him to!
“Hank.” She murmured his name in a throaty whisper, but another sound intruded.
Laughter...the beep of a car alarm...the sound of an engine... All reminders that they were standing on a sidewalk not far from—
Gemma blinked as he broke the kiss and the building across the street came into focus.
The sheriff’s office.
Getting arrested for breaking some kind of public indecency law was certainly not on her vacation to-do list. But as her gaze met Hank’s, she thought the risk just might be worth the night in jail. They were both out of breath, but a lack of oxygen did nothing to dampen the fire in his eyes.
“So...how do we do this?” he rasped out.
“This?” He had said it had been a long time, but surely he didn’t need her to explain...
He waved a hand between them, and Gemma wasn’t sure if he was fanning the flames or trying to put them out. “This one-week thing—or affair—or whatever you call it.”
He was asking her? Oh...he was asking her. Gemma swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. Because of course, as a city girl on a honeymoon for one, she would know all about flings and affairs. And okay, she had started this with her offer to help shake the rust off. So she could either back away now or brazen through like she had ever since walking in on Chad and Melanie.
She could have backed out of Chad’s apartment unnoticed. He and Mel had certainly been suitably distracted. Or once she confronted him, she could have believed him when he swore it was a onetime thing and would never happen again. Even once the wedding was called off, she could have taken the time to hide out in her apartment, writing thank-you notes for gifts she had to return and feeling sorry for herself.
Instead she’d slammed that bedroom door open, tossed off her engagement ring and taken that first-class plane ticket to Rust Creek Falls, and she hadn’t regretted a minute of it.
So even though the smart thing to do, the thing she should do, was to back away, Gemma stood her ground and stayed right where she wanted to be. In Hank’s arms. “We hang out. We have fun.”
“Mark some more items off that vacation to-do list of yours?”
Her heart stumbled a bit at the sexy suggestion. “And maybe while we’re at it, we can figure out what else you’re good at.” And if his kisses were any indication, Gemma had no doubt that Hank would be as impressive in bed as he was out of it!
“And when—” he gave a soft laugh “—the honeymoon is over?”
Despite the laugh, his blue gaze was serious as he stared down at her in the moonlight. Was he worried that she would fall too far, too fast? Was he thinking of the Gal Rush, Homer Gilmore’s wedding punch or the women who had applied through the newspaper to be some cowboy’s wife? Gemma couldn’t imagine all those events had ended happily ever after and without some sort of drama.
“We both know what happens then. You go back to the Bar H and I go back to New York.” She lifted a shoulder in a carefree shrug that didn’t feel quite as casual as it should have. “After all, what happens in Maverick Manor...”
Chapter Seven
A knock on the door early the next morning took Gemma by surprise. Sitting on the couch, she’d been relishing a cup of steaming hot coffee, along with the equally heated memories of kissing Hank the night before. Her heartbeat quickened as she crossed the small living area. Still wearing a short silk robe over her nightie, she wasn’t exactly dressed for company. But if Hank was the unexpected visitor, Gemma was too eager to see him to worry about not looking her best. Which probably said more about her feelings for the quiet rancher than she wanted to admit.
“Just a second,” she called out as she took a moment to try to comb through her long hair with her fingers. Figuring that was the best she could do, she gave her head a quick toss and opened the door to find a Harlow standing there...though not the one she’d been imagining.
“Janie!” Though slightly disappointed to find the young girl rather than her father in the hallway, Gemma greeted her with a smile. “How are you this morning?”
Dressed in a pair of jeans and an oversize long-sleeved shirt, Janie practically bounced into the room, where she claimed one of the cushions on the couch. “I wanted to hear if you and my dad had a good time at the Ace in the Hole last night.” She hugged a pillow to her chest and looked completely settled in, all eyes and ears.
“I, um...had a really good time,” Gemma said and then could have slapped a hand over her mouth when she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “What did your dad say?”
Janie slumped back against the padded armrest. “Last night he said it was late and he was tired.” Sitting up suddenly, she argued, “But it wasn’t that late, and I wasn’t tired. But I guess my dad must have been telling the truth because when I woke up this morning, he was still sleeping. And my dad never sleeps in.”
“Never?”
“Nope. He’s always up before everybody else. He works in the barn before the sun comes up. Then he has breakfast and heads out again. He never even sets his alarm. He says his body knows when there’s work to do.”
“Well, around here there’s no work to do, so he can let himself relax.” Gemma hoped that might be the case. She liked the idea of Hank being able to relax and have fun...with her.
Janie wrinkled her nose. “I guess so. I was gonna order room service, but I didn’t want to eat by myself, so I thought I’d come see if I could have breakfast with you.”
“Do you know what you want to order?” Gemma waved a hand to the leather-bound menu on the coffee table, but Janie’s attention locked on something else.
“Oh, my gosh! I love this!” Janie grabbed the bangle bracelet Gemma had left out the night before. She’d started to slide it on her tiny wrist before she stopped and shot a slightly guilty glance in Gemma’s direction. “Sorry... My mom and dad always say I should ask before touching somebody else’s stuff.”
“It’s all right. I don’t mind if you try it on.”
Janie pushed up the sleeve of her shirt and held out her arm to admire the bracelet, even as it slid down nearly to her elbow. “It’s a little big.”
“A little,” Gemma agreed, biting her lip to keep from smiling.
“Still, it’s so cool. And that sweater you wore last night, and your earrings! I would die for a pair of earrings like those! Only, guess what?” Another eye roll. “I don’t even have pierced ears yet. Everyone still thinks I’m such a baby.”
“Your dad told me that Mr. Crawford thought you were grown up enough to ask you to keep an eye on the little kids during the movie last night. How did that go?”
Janie stripped off the bracelet she’d been so enamored with moments earlier and set it back on the coffee table. “It was okay.”
“Only okay? Did something happen?”
“No, the little kids were fine.”
“The little kids...but maybe not the big kids?”
Janie was silent so long, Gemma didn’t think she was going to answer. “There’s this boy...” she finally began.
* * *
Hank woke with a start, as disconcerted by the sunlight streaming through the curtains as he was by the unfamiliar bed. He recognized the bedroom suite quickly enough, but what time was it?
He swore beneath his breath when he caught sight of the clock on the oak nightstand. Eight o’clock? He hadn’t slept this late since he’d needed twenty-two stitches along his ribs after he barely missed getting gored by an angry bull. And that had been well over ten years ago!
Of course it had been longer than that since he’d
gone out dancing. Since he’d lain in bed for an entire night, reliving a kiss and aching for more...
Gemma.
Just the thought of seeing her again had his heart racing as he threw back the covers and headed for the bathroom. He wondered what she had planned for today. She could already mark horseback riding and dancing the two-step off her list of vacation “musts.” Maybe he could suggest hiking up to Falls Mountain and Owl Rock. Or maybe taking a drive up to Bear Trap Mountain, a nearby ski resort that offered zip-lining.
He grinned around a mouthful of foamy mint toothpaste at the idea. He had the feeling it would appeal to Gemma’s sense of adventure. Just the kind of thing she’d want to do on her Wild West vacation, and something Janie would love as well.
After throwing on his usual wardrobe of jeans and a checkered Western shirt, he gave a quick knock on Janie’s bedroom door. “Hey, kiddo, time to rise and shine.” His voice trailed off as the partially open door swung inward to reveal a rumpled but empty bed.
“Janie?”
Silence greeted him as he stepped back into the suite’s small living room and he noticed a piece of paper tucked beneath his phone. Picking up the note, he read that Janie had gone to seek out Gemma. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Janie had been relentless the night before, demanding to know if they’d had a good time at the Ace and if they were going out again.
He’d purposefully kept his response vague, not wanting to get her hopes up. He frowned as he set the note aside. Maybe it was his own hopes he was worried about.
Something about Gemma got to him in a way no other woman had. It was crazy to fall so far and so fast for a woman who was leaving town at the end of her vacation. But maybe Garrett Dalton was onto something...
If you do it right, you can pack a whole lotta living into a little bit of time.
And Hank Harlow was all about doing things right.
* * *
A few text messages later, Hank met up with Gemma and Janie in the hotel dining room. The two girls grinned at him as he approached, their matched, excited expressions leaving him distinctly uneasy.
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