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first sight.”
    “Next you’re going to tell me you don’t believe in happily ever after either.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head with a grin tugging at the corners of his full lips. “What kind of therapist are you?”
    She didn’t return his smile. “A good one. One who knows what I’m talking about and uses hard facts to get through to people who’ve see far too much reality in their daily lives to believe in fairy tales.”
    She leaned one elbow on the railing and faced him. “The people I work with don’t need illusions. They need coping skills because life isn’t some kind of fantasy. Most people you meet aren’t good, and they don’t want to help you.”
    Gage narrowed his eyes, trying to see more than what she would allow anyone to see. Leah wondered for a moment if she should have just kept her mouth shut. There was something about this man that made her usual calm, reserved demeanor take a vacation and made her tongue run away without her brain. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up telling him her life story, and no one deserved to bear the weight of that nightmare.
    He shook his head and gave her a look filled with such empathy that it nearly brought tears to her eyes. She steeled herself. Leah didn’t want his sympathy. She’d gotten enough of that when she was a kid, from teachers, therapists, and social workers as she bounced from one foster home to another. She was an adult now.
    “Don’t do that either. Don’t act like you understand where I’m coming from. You don’t know me.”
    Reaching a hand out to pet the horse at the fence, Gage sighed. “You’re right, I don’t, and I get the feeling there aren’t many people who really do. But you should probably drop the eat-shit-and-die attitude or you’ll never understand where other people are coming from. No one wants to open up to someone they’re sure is a hard-ass.”
    Gage walked away before she could even formulate a response. In truth, she wasn’t even sure how to respond.
    She wanted to rail at him, to throw the reality of her past into his face and embarrass him for his audacity in thinking he could make assumptions about her. In his worst nightmares, he couldn’t imagine even half of what she’d been through. Staring at his broad back, walking away from her toward the cabin he was staying in, she took in the confident swagger.
    “Arrogant ass,” she muttered. “If you think this is an attitude, you’re in for a treat.”

Chapter Four
    T HE KNOCK ON the back patio door jerked Leah upright in bed, struggling to remember where she was. She rubbed at her eyes as the pounding came again.
    I’m at Heart Fire Ranch. New job, new life.
    The mantra she’d been reciting to herself since she’d received the call offering her the position did nothing to shake the nightmares that had plagued her into the early morning hours, keeping her tangled in the sheets, crying out and waking herself, wanting to hide under her bed, the way she’d done when she was little. Leah brushed her curls back from her face and took a deep breath as she swung her feet over the side of the bed.
    “Coming,” she called as she shuffled to the door and swung it open. Seeing Gage standing in the doorway, she groaned. “You again?”
    “I see a good night’s sleep hasn’t done anything to improve your mood.”
    She glared at him but he only chuckled. It was too early in the morning to deal with his misguided attempt at humor. She glanced at the clock on her stove as she made her way back into the room.
    “You do realize it’s only . . . oh.”
    “Indeed, Sunshine. It’s almost ten a.m., and I’d think you’d be far more grateful for my presence when you see what gifts I bring.” He held up two cups of iced coffee. “I knew you liked iced after I saw it spilled in your car yesterday, but I wasn’t sure what kind you liked best so I guessed. I figured a guy can’t go wrong with caramel and vanilla. I’ll give you your