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bunkhouse,” she said, making the word sound
mysterious. There was nothing mysterious about it, unless you thought cooking
and sleeping in what was essentially a live-in locker room was mysterious.
    “So what are you doing here?” she asked. “Did you get tired of
bunkhouse living?”
    Hell, yeah, he was tired of bunkhouse living, but that hadn’t
been the problem. As a matter of fact, he’d become ranch boss and moved into the
boss’s house less than a year before.
    Cole finished frying the bacon, then set it on a plate and
covered it before breaking the eggs into the hot grease. “I was hurt last year,”
he finally said.
    “What happened?”
    “A horse landed on my leg.”
    “Ow.”
    “Yeah.” He wanted to reach down and rub his leg, but he
concentrated on the eggs instead.
    “So they made you move out?”
    The whole complicated story loomed before him. Cole rolled his
shoulders. “There’s not enough room for guys who aren’t working, so, yeah. But
I’m getting back to work now. I won’t be here much longer.”
    “Me either.”
    He put bread in the toaster. “You just got here.”
    “I’m passing through.”
    Cole blinked at that, tension tightening his shoulders, but he
tried not to let it show. “Who could’ve guessed you didn’t want to settle in
Wyoming?”
    One of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. “You telling me I
don’t look like a Wyoming girl?”
    “You know damn well you don’t look like a Wyoming girl. And
that’s the way you like it.”
    Now both eyebrows rose as if she was surprised. Cole piled two
plates high with eggs and bacon and toast. He slid the plates across the
counter, added forks and knives and paper towels, and joined her at the
barstools to find out exactly who she was.
    * * *
    T HE MAN WAS SMARTER than he looked. She’d been trying to bait
him, force him to say something that she’d find insulting. Instead he’d spoken
the truth as if it were obvious to him. Grace wasn’t sure what to do with
that.
    “So how long are you staying?” he asked.
    She took a bite of egg instead of answering his question. The
flavor melted over her tongue and she hoped Cole didn’t hear the way her stomach
growled at the sudden pleasure. “Wow. The eggs are amazing.”
    “Bacon grease,” he said. “What are you doing out here?
Working?”
    Grace cleared her throat and told herself not to stuff the food
into her mouth, but damn, she hadn’t had a real meal in days. On the bus, it had
been granola bars and chips. She took a bite of bacon and spoke past it. “I
already told you. I’m passing through.”
    “On your way to where?”
    “Vancouver.”
    “Oh.” He smiled. “This is a strange route to Vancouver.”
    She shrugged and made a point of changing the subject. “Thanks
so much for breakfast. And coffee. The coffee’s great, too. Strong.”
    She felt his gaze on her, but caught the movement of his head
when he finally looked away. “You should try it after it’s been sitting at the
edge of a campfire all day. That’ll wake you up.”
    She was glad he’d given up the questions, because she wanted to
grab her plate and run back to her place so she could shovel the food in the way
she wanted to. If he pushed her anymore, that’s exactly what she’d do. But he
dropped the subject, so she slathered too much butter on the toast and managed
to get nearly a fourth of it into her mouth in one bite.
    God, she’d been really hungry. Now she wanted to groan in
pleasure. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. As a matter of fact, at this moment, Cole
Rawlins was pretty awesome.
    She didn’t register how many eggs were on her plate until she
dug into the third one. “How many eggs did you make?” she asked.
    “Four for you, four for me.”
    She laughed. “Do I look like I eat as much as you do?”
    “You look like you’re doing okay, actually.”
    Grace laughed so hard she almost had to stop eating for a
moment. “Didn’t I tell you I was a lumberjack back in