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in here.”
    She pivoted, her heart crashing against her chest at the sound of another voice. Mason’s. “You scared the hell out of me. You could have turned a light on so you wouldn’t frighten me half to death.”
    He flipped on the overhead lights and headed toward her. “I was in the tack room. Heard someone come in. Since I wasn’t sure who’d be in the barn this late at night, I figured I’d come out to investigate before I announced I was here. Just in case it was an intruder who wasn’t supposed to be in here.”
    Her goose bumps returned and she wrapped her arms around her chest to hide her upraised nipples. Mason’s gaze strayed to her chest, his lips lifted, then he looked at her face again.
    “What are you doing out here? And why are you half-naked? You should know it’s cold outside.”
    “I needed some air, I’m hardly half-naked, and I forgot it was so cold until I was already at the barn.”
    He shook his head. “You never had a lick of common sense, woman.” He pulled off his jacket and moved so close she felt his body heat. “Come on. Slide into this.”
    Irritated at his attitude, she wanted to say no, but that would be childish, so she put his jacket on. It was warm from his body. It smelled like Mason. She pulled it tighter around her, the smell of leather and male almost overpowering to her senses. “Thanks.”
    “No problem.”
    They stood that way for too long, Valerie staring up into Mason’s so familiar face. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to move away, and he smelled so damn good. And that’s exactly what had gotten her into trouble earlier today. She stepped back and turned around. “So you got some new horses?”
    “Yeah. Gage is doing a great job training. He’s gotten us some beauties.”
    She walked along the stalls, stopping at a few to lay her hands on some of the new mares. “I can see that.” There were so many parts of ranch life she missed. The horses, the cattle. Riding alongside Mason.
    She missed Mason.
    No, she didn’t. She missed sex with Mason. That part had been incredible. Everything else between them had been a disaster.
    She reached up to pet a mare, doing her best to ignore Mason’s presence. “I guess you stay busy. Not much time for any . . . social life or anything.”
    “I haven’t gotten married again, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    She jumped when she realized he was right behind her. She turned to face him. “I assume you wouldn’t have been all over me in my room today if you were married to someone else.”
    “I was all over you?”
    “Yes.”
    “I think you threw yourself at me because you’re starved for sex.”
    If there had been a shovel nearby he’d have been a dead man by now. “You are so full of shit.”
    “So you’ve often told me.” He didn’t seem at all irritated; in fact he looked downright amused. Which just pissed her off even more.
    But she refused to let him get to her. “And anyway, that wasn’t what I was asking. I was just . . . concerned about you.”
    He crooked a smile around a piece of straw resting in the corner of his mouth. “Sure you were, darlin’.” He turned and walked away.
    She followed. “Don’t you ‘darlin” me, Mason. I’m not at all interested in your sex life.”
    He stopped and pivoted, then pushed his hat back and arched his brows. “Oh, so now we’re talking about my sex life?”
    Her entire body heated, from the tips of her painted toenails to the roots of her hair. “No. We are most definitely not talking about your sex life.”
    “Okay. Let’s talk about yours, then. Gotten any lately?”
    Her eyes widened. “Dear God. You haven’t changed a bit.” She spun on her heel and headed for the barn door.
    “Val.”
    “What?” She wasn’t about to stop.
    “I’ll come by and pick up my jacket . . . later.”
    “Asshole,” she muttered, shrugging out of his jacket and letting it drop to the barn floor. If the cosmos smiled on her, maybe it would fall into a