"Well, that's better," Ty said, smiling, too, and reaching over to give her a quick squeeze around the shoulders. His eyes found Delia next, narrowing in on her in mock seriousness and said, "Don't tell me. Man trouble. No guy within five hundred miles good enough to take on, is that right?"

Delia laughed. Laughed. "You got that right."

Ty shoved an unbelievable amount of food down his throat as he considered. "How about Cade here?" he asked Delia, gesturing with his fork, grinning when Cade pretended to choke on his water. "He's not a bad-looking guy. And as a private investigator, he probably makes okay money, too. A bonus for a woman who appreciates the finer points of shopping."

"Oh, please," Delia said, sniffing disdainfully. "A private investigator? I can do better than that with my eyes closed."

"Yeah," Ty said, grinning widely now because Cade looked so absolutely insulted. "Probably can."

"Hey!" Cade protested, waving his fork. "I'm a major catch, you know."

Everyone laughed.

And that was it. Zoe shook her head in amazement as everyone continued to talk easily. That simply, the tension-filled mood was broken, and Ty had done it single-handedly, where she couldn't possibly have managed it.

In fact, she'd caused it.

It was hard to resent a man who could do that. How could the dark, explosive rancher be such a softy, so intuitive as to know how to draw out her sisters? He was so gentle with the quiet, withdrawn Maddie, so funny with the intense Delia.

But with her he was fierce and passionate. He was bold and wicked and uninhibited and rowdy.

And suddenly, just thinking about it, her insides started to tingle.

What was that about?

Women wanted him, there was no mistake about it. She'd seen Shirley watch him. She'd been into town with him to pick up supplies and she'd seen strangers on the street, normal women, just melt away at the sight of him.

It made her feel startlingly… jealous. Jealous! God, she hated that. She had no hold on the man, no future with him.

She had no future with any man.

Zoe was so lost in her own thoughts on this matter, it took her a moment to realize Ty's attention had centered on a new subject. Her.

"What!" she snapped.

The corners of his mouth twitched, but his eyes remained serious. "So defensive." Then, right in front of her sisters and Cade, he reached out and tugged on a lock of her hair, completely unaware of how it turned her heart to fluttering wildly in her chest. "Why is that, Zoe?"

She slapped his hand away, scowling to cover her confusion about her reaction to him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He let his grin show now. "Sure you do. That's why you're so mad." He took a bite of his food and studied her. "Takes a lot of energy to remain as defensive as you always are."

"She's always been that way," Delia said lightly, only her eyes showing her concern as she looked at Zoe.

Zoe had always been a little guarded, and since she couldn't deny it, she tightened her jaw. Anyone who'd been dumped in a home with a heart full of broken promises would be an expert in self-preservation, she told herself.

Besides he was only being so nice and funny and cute because he was banking on them leaving.

He watched her while he continued to eat. Stifling the urge to squirm, she pretended a great interest in her glass of water. She listened to the conversation between Maddie and Cade about the type of spices Maddie liked to use in cooking.

Zoe studied the ceiling pattern, but it was no use. She could still feel the weight of Ty's gaze on her, waiting.

Finally she couldn't stand it any longer and sighed, facing the man whose singular ability to render her a nervous wreck was really getting on her nerves. "What now? Is there food between my teeth?"

"Nope. Just looking at you." He shoveled another bite into his mouth and chewed slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.

His eyes weren't solid gray as she'd thought, they had little specks of blue in them, and long, thick black lashes that any woman would give her right hand for. They were far too pretty to be wasted on a man. "It's rude to stare," she pointed out.

"It's also rude to glower at your guest," he pointed out right back. He smiled. "I understand glowering is your favorite expression, but did you know if you keep doing it, your face will freeze like that?"

Everyone laughed, even Maddie, who was grinning. Grinning.

Even Zoe found herself having a hard time continuing to frown under the circumstances, with Ty looking at her so innocently.

He'd drawn them all out, she realized. Effortlessly.

It should bug her, she wanted it to bug her, but even she wasn't that selfish.

What really got to her was that she was feeling, feeling for him, in a world where she didn't want to feel at all.


* * *

Days later, under an early morning gray sky, surrounded by Idaho wilderness, Zoe was dangerously silent. This was unusual because Ty could see the steam coming out of her ears, and a mad Zoe wasn't usually a quiet one.

He bad no idea what had set her off this time; it could have been any of a thousand things. Worry about getting the ranch running again must be foremost. Frustration at the condition of the place might be another. Money, or lack of, yet even another.

He only knew that her eyes were hot and her face miserable, a combination that did something to him he didn't like.

It softened him.

The day darkened as heavy clouds moved across the sky. A storm was coming in fast. They stood outside the old barn, a clipboard in Zoe's hands as they made a list of repairs. The necessary repairs only, because stubborn as Zoe was, she wanted to do this alone with her sisters, without his financial help.

Which meant money was scarce, very scarce.

Ty had been rattling off items an operating ranch couldn't do without, and Zoe had been silently writing everything down, until now. She stood there, braced against the wind as if preparing to ward off her archenemy. They could hear the river waging its timeless battle. Around them the green lushness of the land seemed to darken with the oncoming summer storm. Far in the distance came the roll of thunder. A large drop of rain hit Ty on the arm, but he ignored the beauty around him to stare at the pensive woman standing before him.

What gave her that look? he wondered. The one that made his arms itch to hold her?

"The door has got to be replaced," he repeated for the third time, and once again, her pen didn't move, she just stared-or glared-off into the impending storm, lost in her own world. Her hair, loosened by the wind, whipped around her face. A booming crack of thunder didn't even faze her.

"And the pigs that you'll purchase can fly," he said softly.

Under other circumstances he might have laughed when she didn't react, but there was something haunting about her expression, as if all that pent-up anger was really just a front and beneath it was a lonely, frightened woman. "Zoe?"

She jumped a little and narrowed her eyes, glaring at him as if he'd just let off a firecracker in her ear. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Of course."

"Of course," he repeated with a little laugh. "If you weren't, would you tell me?"

She was silent. Lightning flashed sharply.

Zoe's lips tightened as she shifted the pen in her fingers. The wind had layered her shirt against her body like a second skin, revealing tight, toned curves.

She was cold and he couldn't tear his eyes away.

Another drop fell, and another.

"Look, we're here to get this list made," she said with a shiver, and looked uneasily into the sky as yet another bolt of lightning streaked across it. More thunder and the air echoed like a drum, so loud that they could no longer hear the river. "So stop dawdling," she complained.

"I can't say Delia didn't warn me," Ty said dryly. "But man, was she right."

"Delia's never right, she just thinks she is."

"She was right about this, believe me. You're grumpy as hell in the mornings, aren't you?"

Her hand, the one that held the pen, fell to her side. The furrow between her brows deepened as she frowned. "I'm grumpy as hell all the time, you already knew that. And why were you talking about me to Delia?"

"Because Delia likes to talk. And you know what? I don't think you're always grumpy at all. I think you just like to hide behind it." He stepped closer, his boots crunching in the dirt that was pitted with the sparse but huge drops coming down.

Zoe lifted her chin, too stubborn to suggest they move into the barn, even as the sky let loose, dropping what seemed like gallons of water right out of the sky.

They were drenched within seconds.

Grabbing her hand, Ty yanked her inside the dark, musty barn just as thunder roared again, so loud his ears rung. Rain pounded the roof like a drumbeat.

She ignored the fact that water ran down her face in rivulets, disappearing into the neck of her shirt, which was equally wet. She ignored the fact that he was wet, too. And that they were nose to nose, breathing hard as if they'd run a mile.

"Why do you do that?" he demanded.

"Do what?"

His body was nearly flush with hers, so close he could see the pulse at the base of her neck as it went wild. Yet her face remained cool, and between them she crossed her arms, putting that barrier between their drenched bodies.

It was frustrating as hell. "That," he accused, slipping his hand up, spreading it lightly on her throat and neck. Her skin was wet and unbelievably soft. Her hair had rioted, the dripping curls everywhere. "You pretend you don't feel anything, when I know you do. It drives me crazy."

His touch drove her crazy, but he didn't have to know that. Talking was difficult with his hand on her, with his fingers flirting softly with her skin. Skin that had gone hot and itchy for more.

Her heart thundered in tune to the driving rain. She dropped her arms to her sides and shivered as he brought his deliciously warm body closer. "I'm n-not cold," she said, stuttering as her teeth chattered. "You don't have to keep me warm."

"If you're not cold, why are you shivering?" he asked. "For me?"

"No."

A lie and they both knew it. "If I kiss you," he murmured huskily, leaning close, his eyes sleepy and sexy, "are you going to hit me again?"

"I didn't hit you last time, did I?" His fingers were moving on her now, flirting with the neck of her shirt, doing a little circle near her collarbone that had her legs feeling rubbery and weak.

God. Why couldn't he just accept the unfeeling facade she was trying to give him? Why couldn't he just leave her alone? But no, he wanted her. He wanted Zoe, the real Zoe, the one she couldn't give him because she had buried that woman too deep.

Outside the barn, the storm raged. Rain hit the roof like a herd of wild horses, pounding, drumming. It matched her pulse as she stared wide-eyed at the man holding her a willing captive.

She thought she just might forever associate the sound of the rain with how she felt right now, as if she were on the edge of a huge abyss, waiting to fall, fall, fall… for a man.

Not just any man, but this one. Ty Jackson. "I don't think kissing is a great idea," she said.

He was as wet as she was. His clothes clung to every tough inch of his big body as he continued to invade her space with more than six feet of aroused male. "I do," he said.

"Back up." She straightened her knocking knees ruthlessly. "You're crowding me." Because her voice sounded whispery and weak, she licked her lips and cleared her throat. "We have a list to make, and if you're not up for it, just say so."

"Oh, I'm up for it."

Her gaze jerked to his, but she hadn't been mistaken on the content of that comment, not with his eyes so hot. His hand stroked upward, cupping her jaw; his thumb rasped over her lower lip, which opened slightly as she fought the urge to suck it into her mouth. It was such a shocking yearning, she couldn't believe it. So she bit him instead.

"Ouch!" He stared at her in injured shock.

"The list," she reminded him breathlessly, when he'd yanked his hand back.

"You bit me!" He sucked the finger into his own mouth and the strangest thing happened to her tummy. It got all tight and bouncy as if full of butterflies. Her thighs quivered. "I'm sorry." She laughed a little shakily. "I'm not sure what happened to me."

His stare turned from hot to thoughtful, then speculative. "You're nervous," he decided.