“That son of a bitch. I swear if I could get my foot more than three inches off the ground I would shove it up his ass. Reasonable?

He’s…” Rachel’s eyes got watery. “He’s so sweet.” Tears began to fall. “And Max. I love them so much.” Rachel buried her head in Callie’s shoulder and started to cry.

Quigley got off the ground, and suddenly his head was in Rachel’s lap. He whined a little as though he couldn’t stand his mistress’s tears.

“Hormones,” Callie mouthed as she patted Rachel’s hair. “She’ll be fine.”

“Max says I can’t go anywhere without Q. He’s trained the dog to come find him if my water breaks. I spilled a glass of water on the floor the other day, and ten minutes later Max was trying to take me to the hospital. Do you know how crazy you have to be to train your dog like that?”

“Crazy in love,” Callie said soothingly.

Max was crazy in love with his wife. There was no question about that. For Max and Rye, Rachel was the sun in the sky. It didn’t come as a surprise that they felt the need to watch over her every minute of the day. They wanted to know what happened to her. They wanted to be there if she came to harm, to love and protect her. If Rachel had been arrested like Jen had been, they would have been right on the case. Like Stef.

“How did Stef know?” Jen asked. It suddenly struck her that Rye wasn’t the only sneaky bastard. “Nate said something about a PI. I thought someone called because they found his number in my phone.

I didn’t know who to use as next of kin.” Callie continued to soothe Rachel, but her eyes flared briefly before she answered. “I believe he set an army of private investigators on your ass the minute he found out you had left town. He knew you were going to Dallas before the bus stopped in Tulsa.” Damn him. He was so confusing. “Why?”

Rachel’s head came off Callie’s shoulder, and both of them turned to her before glancing back at each other.

“Is she really that stupid?” Rachel asked, her voice going husky.

She picked up a napkin and wiped at her eyes. Q settled back down.

“Yes,” Callie replied, “but I have hope for her. At least she’s finally asking the question.”

Jen shook her head. “He was a jerk to me. He told me he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t have a relationship with me.”

“Yeah, and he probably chose to tell you this after he slept with you.” Rachel’s face was still blotchy from her crying, but a sympathetic look took over. “Men are dumb. So dumb. Not that Max and Rye were. I mean, they’re dumb in other ways, but they knew their hearts. Stef is just dumb.”

Jen looked to Callie. Callie was Stef’s best friend. She had stood by him for years. She was as close to him as a sister. Surely she would defend him.

“He’s also a bit of an ass at times, and Rachel’s right, he’s just dumb as a post when it comes to this.”

“Are we talking about my boy?” Stella asked as she set down three mugs of what looked like hot chocolate. “He’s always behaved like an idiot when it comes to Jennifer. He’s so smooth around those other women he brings into town, but he practically falls all over himself over one of my waitresses. I always knew he had good taste.”

“How can you say that?” Jen asked, completely at a loss. Her world was spinning on its axis and stopping in a completely foreign place. “He ignored me for eighteen months. I begged. I pleaded. And he just said no.”

“And the minute you turned your back he stared at you like a lovesick puppy dog,” Stella explained. “I know that boy. Hell, after his father left I practically raised him. Love him like he was my own.

You are the only woman he’s ever really fallen for, and it scares the crap out of him.”

“Why? It wasn’t like I was playing hard to get. I walked in and practically fell at his feet. I found out about all the pervy things he liked and said, hey, I can do pervy things, too. I bought BDSM books.

I learned the lingo. I was the easiest lay he was ever going to get, and he turned me down. So one of you has to explain how all this rejection equals true love.”

“Do you know Lana O’Malley?” Callie asked.

Jen felt her heart drop. Sure she knew her. Lana O’Malley was gorgeous and loaded. She was a stunning, curvy blonde bombshell.

She was everything a man could want. She never had a hair out of place. She would never be caught dead with oil paint under her fingernails. She was Stef’s sub. God, how could she have forgotten about Lana? Was she still around? Was she the reason he didn’t want his dad in the guesthouse?

“I can see you do,” Callie said with a nod. “He had a training date with her twice a month for the last three years. He hasn’t seen her since the day you walked out.”

Jen felt her mouth drop. Stef took his Dom role seriously. “Why?” Callie’s shoulders came up in a little shrug. “He won’t talk to me about it, but if you ask me, it’s because he was committed elsewhere.”

“Damn it, I’ve never told that man no. Why would he push me away? I slept with him. I gave him everything I had. I told him I loved him. Why did he dump me?”

“His mom,” three voices said in perfect harmony.

“Thanks, that clears up everything.” Jen wanted to pull her hair out. “One of you explain, now.”

Stella scooted in beside Jen, her hand running soothingly across Jen’s as she urged her to take a sip of the cocoa. “Stefan’s mama was very young when she married Sebastian. She was twenty-four, and she wasn’t ready to be a wife or a mother.”

“She was older than me,” Jen said, more to herself than anyone else.

“Yes,” Callie agreed. “I never met her, but I saw a picture of her.

She was really beautiful, a pageant queen. She was Miss Oklahoma or something. She met Stef’s dad and married him within six weeks.”

“And had Stef a year later,” Stella explained, her voice even, though Jen could see her eyes tightening. “I have all of this secondhand, but she didn’t like living in Dallas. She wanted to go to LA and become a movie star. Sebastian wanted a wife. She wanted a sugar daddy. When Stef was five, she left. Sebastian was devastated.

He left Dallas and ended up here for a couple of years. When he went back, Stef stayed. But I think his parents’ divorce wrecked him. It’s not you he’s scared of. It’s the fact that you’re twenty-three, hon. He doesn’t think you know your mind yet.” A whole bunch of things fell into place. Every fight and argument she’d ever had with Stef suddenly had a sheen of clarity. He’d spent time claiming she needed to work on her art rather than chasing around a man. He’d claimed he didn’t have time for her. He’d pushed her away and then pulled her back when there was the slightest hint of danger.

God, he was a dumbass.

And yet she couldn’t be too intelligent since her heart, her stomped-on and busted-up heart, was already softening. It had been burst and broken, and at the slightest sign of hope, it perked up and held out its stupid hands and wanted a hug from the same man who’d damaged it in the first place.

She hadn’t learned anything from her mother, and she never would. Not ever. She’d just keep trying, like her mom had.

“He missed his mom?” Jen couldn’t stand the thought of it. In her mind’s eye she could see him as a child, alone and abandoned. She knew the story. Sebastian had left, and he’d been raised in Bliss. It had turned out fine, but the vision of a lonely boy caused her eyes to water and her mind to race. She remembered all the times she’d told him she just wanted a fling. She’d been lying. She’d thought that once she had him in bed, she could convince him that she was girlfriend material. When he’d turned her down, she’d pouted and ranted and made an ass of herself.

“He would never admit it, but yes, he missed her terribly,” Stella said softly. There was a gleam of moisture in her eyes, but she sniffed it away. “His father made a mess of things because he couldn’t commit after she left. Stef had made friends and wouldn’t go back to Dallas. Sebastian let him stay. He fell for you. You walked out at the first sign of trouble.”

Jen turned quickly. “I left after he told me it would never work. I left after he told me how much he regretted what was the best night of my life.”

Stella nodded. “Yes, you left rather than fight for him or for your life here. You left because you were mad.”

“I left because I was embarrassed.” The truth hit her like a ton of bricks. She hadn’t left to spare him. She hadn’t run out because there was nothing for her in Bliss. Everything she cared about was in this little mountain town, and she’d left it behind to spare herself some momentary embarrassment.

“What were you embarrassed about?” Stella asked, her tone grave, as though the next answer really meant something to her.

Jen felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks. “I was embarrassed that he couldn’t love me back. I was embarrassed because I knew I would never stop loving him, but I couldn’t make him love me.”

“Oh, baby girl, that is nothing to be embarrassed about.” Stella pulled her close. “Every woman in the world has loved some man who didn’t deserve her. That’s no reason to give up your home and your friends.”

“And it’s not true,” Callie said. “I don’t care what he said. He missed you. Look, Jen, I don’t know what happened that night. He won’t talk about it. I do know that he bought a dozen red roses from Marie and Teeny the next day, and he tossed them in the garbage outside your place when he realized you had left.”

Rachel had tears streaming down her cheeks, too. “Max said Stef has been very enthusiastic in their fistfights since Jen left. It’s a sign that he misses you. So much.” Rachel sobbed into her napkin. “Sorry.

I can’t help it. I don’t care what the doctor says. I think I’m having a litter. There has to be more than one baby. I’m a whale.” Jen couldn’t help it. She laughed through the watery mess of her tears. Something heavy had lifted from her, and it felt good to cry and laugh and just be with these women. It didn’t matter that every tourist in the place was watching them like they were crazy and all the locals were on their cell phones telling the people who weren’t there about the waterworks.

“So Stef is dumb,” Jen said in a rush of joy.

“Very, very dumb,” Callie agreed with a smile.

Dumb she could handle. Jen reached out to pick up her cocoa, but she met Stella’s hand, and the mug spilled off to the side, dripping to the floor.

Q was up and running for the door, his big body hitting it with a force that sent it flying open. Jen got a glimpse of the dog as he ran through the snow.

Rachel pointed to the street beyond the window. “We’ve got about five minutes before Max gets here. He’s at the feed store. Ever since Dennis bought it and turned it into a church on Sundays and started only giving discounts to those who attend services, Max has been on his ass. Better order him a burger, or better yet, call Zane. He might need a beer.”

“Don’t worry about it, hon.” Stella got up and started mopping up the mess. “Hal keeps a bottle of whiskey in the back. If that doesn’t work, we can call the doc. I’ve heard he keeps tranquilizer darts around for Mel. I figure they’ll work on Max, too. I like that doctor, I tell you.”

Stella walked off, her boots clanging lightly on the floor.

Callie leaned forward, her elbows on the table. “So, you going after Stef?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? How much did she want him? A whole, whole lot, her heart replied. It was pounding at the thought of going another couple of rounds with Stef.

“I can’t change how old I am.” It was a barrier she would have to find a way around.

Rachel put a hand on her stomach. She looked more peaceful than before. “You just have to push him. He’ll get it through that thick skull in the end. You’re his woman. You just have to prove it.” That, Jen decided, might be easier said than done.

* * *

Alexei had to move quickly to get out of the way of the enormous animal that burst from the small diner’s doors. He thought it was a dog, but it might have been a small bear. It wasn’t the strangest thing he’d seen this afternoon.

This was an odd place, but friendly. The people were very talkative and open. He’d spent much of the hours since he’d left Ivan walking around the town. He’d browsed through the stores with their odd combination of ticky-tack tourist merchandise and gorgeously made works of art. All around him the mountains climbed their way to a gloriously blue sky. Was it any wonder the people here seemed so happy? They were surrounded by beauty. He’d found himself wandering. Up and down Main Street people were out decorating and putting up small booths for the festival that was set to begin the next day. There was a happy hum of energy from the tourists who grabbed ski wear and fuzzy socks with bears on them. This was a good place.