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smile.
    Slightly dazed, she took a while to locate her gel pen and notepad in her purse. After writing down her name and number, she carefully tore off the piece of paper and handed it to him. He studied it briefly before he folded it and stuffed it in the front pocket of his shirt.
    “Well….” he said. The word just hung there until Faith realized he was waiting for her to finish it.
    “Oh! Yes—well, I guess you better take me back to my car.” She paused. “You are planning on taking me back to my car, aren’t you?”
    He rolled his eyes. “No. I plan on keeping you out here at Sutter Springs all night long.”
    “Sutter Springs?” She looked around. “Where are the springs?”
    Slate laughed. It was almost as sexy as his smile.
    “Mostly dried up by the overpumping of groundwater for irrigation, but if you walk down to that arroyo”—he pointed to the spot where Buster had disappeared—“you’ll find enough water to get your feet wet. Although people don’t come out here for the water.”
    Faith leaned closer to the windshield. “Can your dog swim?”
    “He’s a hunting dog, for God’s sake. Of course he can swim.”
    She turned back to him. “So what do people come out here for?” Slate shot her a suggestive look, and her face heated. “Oh.”
    He chuckled. “You sure get flustered easy. I don’t think I ever remember Hope blushing.”
    Faith wasn’t surprised. It seemed she and her sister had nothing in common. Still, she refused to stop searching for similar traits.
    “So tell me about her.”
    His eyes squinted. “Hope?” When she nodded, he shrugged. “She’s Hope. Sassy and controlling. Smart and funny. Determined and stubborn.” He smiled and stared off as if conjuring up her image. “I’ve never seen a woman who loves to set goals as much as she does—she was the busiest little bee you’ve ever seen in high school.”
    “Did she go to college?”
    “She was saving up to, but then Hollywood distracted her.”
    The sun slipped farther beneath the horizon, replacing the vibrant colors with soothing pastels. The hours spent on the road finally caught up with her, and she leaned back and rested her head against the window.
    “So I guess she’s a talented actress.” There was a long pause, and she glanced over.
    Slate slouched back against the door, his eyes crinkled in thought. “Talented? I don’t know if I’d go that far. Entertaining is probably a better word.”
    “So she’s not any good—” A mournful howl brought her head up. “Is that a coyote?”
    “Nope, just Buster. He must’ve found something.”
    Faith rested her head back and tried not to think about the somethings that were wandering around in the growing dark waiting to jump through the open window.
    “You really do look like her, you know.”
    She turned. Slate stared back at her from across the worn leather, the last sparkle of sunlight highlighting his wheat-colored hair, dusting his long lashes, and reflecting off the gold flecks in his eyes.
    “I do?” she asked.
    “Identical.” A corner of his mouth tipped up. “Except for the hair and those.” He reached over and tapped her lips with his index finger.
    “My lips?”
    “No, your straight teeth. Hope has a crooked one.”
    The thought of a crooked-toothed sister made her smile. “I had braces.”
    “And a scissor-happy barber.” Again his hand reached out, but this time it seemed in no hurry to leave. His warm fingers brushed over her forehead and slid through the strands of her hair. “But I guess it’s not so bad.”
    “You mean it’s kinda cute in a short ugly kinda way.” She made a lame attempt at Kenny’s country twang.
    The grin got wider, revealing a set of perfect teeth. “Something like that.”
    The smile faded as his hand stopped stroking and rested against the side of her neck. Through the open window came the chirps and creaks of insects as the purple of dusk settled in around them. There were at least a million