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have any idea where the little she-demon is?”
    â€œShe took Roo out for a ride. But she should be back in soon.”
    â€œWhich way does she normally go?”
    â€œShe rides out through the main pasture toward the base of Copper,” Connor said, talking about the mountain that the town was named after. “And she comes back around behind the horse barn.”
    â€œThanks. I’ll head that way.”
    Jack turned away from his friend and started walking down a dirt path that would lead him toward the horse barn and hopefully bring him into line with Kate.
    The cloud cover hadn’t burned off yet, gray mist hanging low over the pine trees, pressing the sky down to the earth. The air was damp, thick with salt from the sea, and he had a feeling it would rain later. Or if they were lucky, the moisture would burn away, leaving clear blue skies.
    But he doubted it.
    He cut through a little thicket of pines and came out the other side on another little road. This was the one that led all the way back to Kate’s cabin, but if he crossed that and cut through a little field, he would make it to the barn in half the time. So he did, wet grass whipping against his jeans, dewdrops bleeding through the thick denim.
    He could only say thanks for good boots that would at least keep his feet dry.
    He hopped the wire fence that partitioned the next section of the property off from the one he’d just left and stood there in the knee-high weeds, staring off into the distance. Then he saw her, riding through the flat expanse of field, strands of dark hair flying from beneath her hat, her arms working in rhythm with the horse’s stride. As she drew closer, he could see the wide smile on her face. It was the kind of smile he rarely saw from her. The smile of a woman purely in her element. A woman at home on the back of the horse.
    He felt the corners of his own mouth lift in response, because that kind of joy was infectious.
    He stood and watched her as she drew closer, hoofbeats growing louder as she did.
    He could pinpoint the exact moment she saw him, because she straightened, pulling back on Roo’s reins and slowing her gait. He started to walk toward her, and she dismounted, her smile faded now.
    â€œI have coffee, so you can stop frowning at me,” he said, holding up the thermos and the mugs.
    She squinted, her expression filled with suspicion. “Why do you have coffee?”
    â€œBecause I want to talk to you about something. And I figured it was best to try and bait you.”
    Kate screwed up her face, wrinkling her nose and squinting her eyes. “I am not a badger. You can’t bait me.”
    â€œSure I can, Katie. I bet I tempt you something awful,” he said, holding out the thermos and unscrewing the lid.
    Kate rolled her eyes. “Tempt me to plant a boot up your ass.”
    He left one mug dangling from his finger and straightened the other, then poured a measure of coffee into it. “Be nice to me or I won’t give you what you want.”
    He watched as the faint rose color bled into her cheeks, lit on fire by the first golden rays of the sun breaking through the cloud cover, adding a soft glow to her face. “You seem to be forgetting who you’re talking to, Monaghan,” she said, her voice gaining strength as the sentence picked up momentum. “Boot. Ass.”
    â€œYou do need your coffee. You’re cranky.” He held out the mug and she took it, wrapping her fingers around it like claws.
    â€œI
wasn’t
.”
    â€œWell, stop. I want to talk to you about the rodeo.”
    She took a sip of the strong black coffee and didn’t even grimace. But then, she would have trained herself to never make a face. She drank her coffee and her whiskey straight up and never complained about the burn. Kate never seemed to show weakness, never appeared to have any vulnerability at all.
    In that moment he wondered what it might be like if she