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She couldn’t begin to guess what they might be. Just thinking about his motives made her stomach flip around like a trout on the end of a line.
    On the other hand, Jean was her friend. She had been kind to her and given Cassie a chance to prove herself, when all she had for experience was ten years spent cooking for her family’s cattle ranch.
    How would she be able to live with herself if the deal fell through because of her?
    Anyway, what did it matter who signed her paycheck? She probably wouldn’t even see him during that thirty days. The president and CEO of Maverick Enterprises most likely didn’t have a spare second to spend hanging around supervising a dude ranch in western Wyoming. He would probably be here for a few days and then crawl back under whatever rock he’d been hiding under.
    The realization cheered her immensely. She could handle a few days. She was a strong and capable woman. Besides, he didn’t mean anything to her anymore. Any feelings she might have had for him so long ago had shriveled up and blown away in the endless Wyoming wind.
    â€œTen thousand dollars,” she said promptly. With that much, she’d have all she needed to make the down payment Murphy wanted.
    â€œYou really think you’re worth that much?”
    She refused to let him see her flinch at his words. “At least.”
    â€œOkay. Fine. Ten it is.”
    She had never expected him to agree. The very fact that he did left her as wary as a kitten in the middle of a dogfight. “One month, then. For Jean’s sake.”
    At least he didn’t spin her platitudes about how she wouldn’t regret it. Instead his dazzling smile sent a chill of premonition scuttling down her spine. She ignored it and held the door open for him to leave in a blatant message even Zack Slater couldn’t disregard.
    After a pause he sent her another one of those blasted smiles and obediently trotted for the door. As he walked out into the cool June night toward his own cabin next door, she couldn’t help wondering if she had just made the second biggest mistake of her life.
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    He was already up and dressed when he heard her leave her cabin an hour before sunrise.
    From his comfortable spot in the old wooden rocker, Zack listened to the squeak of her screen door, her footsteps on the wooden planks of her porch, then her sleepy, muffled curse as she stumbled over something in the predawn darkness.
    He grinned into the hidden shadows of his own front porch. His Cassidy Jane had never been much of a morning person. Apparently, she hadn’t changed much in the past decade.
    His smile slid away. Wrong, he reminded himself again. Maybe she still wasn’t crazy about getting up early, but she was no longer the same girl he had loved ten years ago. Everyone changed. He couldn’t come back after so long and expect her to have waited for him in suspended animation like some kind of moth trapped in glossy amber.
    She was a different woman, just as he had changed drastically from that wild, edgy ranch hand. The only thing they shared was a bittersweet past ten years old.
    But last night in her house he had seen glimpses of the girl she had been, like some kind of ghostly reflection shimmering under deep, clear water. The way she tucked her hair behind her ear. The stubborn jut of her chin as she had argued with him. Those luminous blue eyes that showed every emotion.
    She was the same but different, and he wanted to find out all the ways she had changed over the years.
    He would see this through. He had come too damn far to back down now. If nothing else, he could at least explain to her why he had left. He owed her that much.
    On impulse, he rose from the comfortable old rocker and followed her on the gravel pathway toward the lodge, maintaining a discreet distance between them.
    The early-morning air was cool, sharp and sweetwith pine pitch and sagebrush. He inhaled it deeply into his lungs, listening