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forget about him. For a while. Or, at least she could try.

Chapter Four
    “The sooner I get away from this desert, the better life will look,” Jace muttered sourly as he tramped over the broad stretch of brown nothingness, hating the dust that covered his elegant shoes, nudged its way into the seams of his clothing and ground between his teeth each time the chilly wind picked up. And he hated finding dog hair clinging tenaciously to his cashmere sweaters.
    As far as night life went in Blake’s Folly … well, there didn’t seem to be any other than turning out the lights at nine and hoping tomorrow would bring a diversion. Now, if he were home in Chicago, in his ultra-modern, luxurious condominium at this moment, what would he be doing? Planning a night out with friends or with sexy, luxuriant Tanya — one of the women who were part of his life. You didn’t find someone like Tanya in Blake’s Folly.
    You didn’t find a man like himself here either, and the inhabitants of the place were letting him know that, all right. Why, just yesterday evening, at least ten people had “accidentally” wandered up the track that led by Alice’s house and stared at him as he sat out on the veranda. Stared? God, the verb “to stare” had been invented in Blake’s Folly!
    Suddenly, Jace’s eye caught movement at the ridge on his left. A wild animal? If he stood still, would it come closer? He’d wait and see.
    He didn’t have to wait long; soon enough he saw the form was human — or, at least part of it. He even knew who it was. Only one person in the world would be caught in such a dreary landscape, striding forward as if she were in a lush, green valley. Alice Treemont. The shifting dark clumps around her were her many canine friends.
    Well, well
. All memory of Tanya’s expensive perfume skittered out of his mind taking with it every morose thought. His wave of satisfaction warmed him. Hadn’t he been hoping to find Alice out here? Of course he had. Why else would he go walking in the desert? For some reason he couldn’t yet fathom, Alice touched him. Not because of her looks, or not
only
because of them.
    She was so different from the other women he’d known. Her thick, old-fashioned braids, her high cheekbones and golden eyes fascinated him, as did her thin, elegant mouth. And perhaps her long slender figure was as lovely as he imagined it might be. Only imagined. Because Alice Treemont seemed determined to hide every subtle curve under the most hideous and shapeless print dresses he’d ever seen — doing it in the same way she hid the real person she was behind a wall of silence.
    Jace now watched as Alice came to a sudden stop on a dusty rise of desert. Obviously she’d just caught sight of him and wanted to avoid any encounter. He saw her dilemma. There was no other track, only this faint path in the scrub. A meeting was inevitable; and even over the distance separating them her reluctance was palpable. His pleasure at seeing her turned into annoyance. Why the hell did she resist all his attempts at friendliness, at simple conversation?
    Alice consistently made a point of avoiding him — had done exactly that since he’d been a boarder in her house. When he returned from work, the warm aroma of dinner greeted him as soon as he opened the door. He’d never imagined vegetarian fare could smell — and taste — so good!
    That was one bonus. If he felt he needed some meat between his teeth, there was always lunchtime at the diner near the Winterback Mine. But the problem of getting to know Alice better wasn’t so easily solved; until now, she’d consistently managed to thwart him. The long wooden table in the kitchen was always set for one person only. And the conversation — such as it was — had been the same every evening.
    “Aren’t you going to join me, Alice?”
    “I’ve already eaten.” Her voice had all the warmth of winter in the tundra.
    “That’s no reason.”
    Her eyes always avoided