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the Wilsall rodeo. His buddies, Dane and Brian, had talked her ear off, flirting and teasing and suggesting she might like to go with them and shoot her ‘little film’ on down the road. Even Levi, the bronc rider who was some relation of Cole’s, had given his approval of the suggestion. Cole hadn’t said a word. He’d just looked at her, his blue eyes intent, hungry. And hot. Hot enough to burn her to the ground.
    She could still burn now when she thought about that —and grow cold as Marietta in February when she remembered Cole’s arms around the redhead in the ballroom.
    She straightened and lifted her chin. “You don’t have to come with me,” she told him and was grateful that her voice was steady and clear, not shaking the way she was inside. “It’s not necessary.” She hesitated, then pressed on, still steady, still clear, “And I wouldn’t want to take you away from your girlfriend.”
    His body suddenly shifted, and he turned, his gaze swinging around to meet hers. “What? She’s not my girlfriend!”
    “ Oh? Really?” Still steady. Just enough doubt in her tone to suggest otherwise. Nell raised a doubtful brow, then shrugged.
    Did he think she was an idiot? What other reason could he have for being at the Marietta Valentine’s Ball? Unattached single cowboys did not go to formal dances on their own—at least not lone wolves like Cole.
    “ She’s not!” Cole growled as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. “Whatever you say.” Nell gave a negligent shrug, as if it didn’t matter to her one way or the other, as if the sight hadn’t gutted her. She stepped out into the hallway.
    Dragging in a ragged breath, Cole followed her. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.” It sounded like an accusation. He kept pace with her down the hall.
    “ Why should I?” Thank heaven she didn’t have to go far. Her room was fairly close to the elevator. She fumbled her room card out of her tiny evening bag. “This has nothing to do with you.”
    His scowl deepened. “Then what are you doing here?”
    “ We’re scouting locations for the series I work on. My boss, Grant. And me. This is work.” And thank God for that. He needn’t think she’d come just because of him.
    “ Here?” He stared at her, shaking his head. “You work in L.A.”
    “ Not always. We go on location. And we’re considering two episodes of reality TV set on a Montana ranch. Couples trying it on for size, learning new things—seeing what they’re willing to do or learn to do for love.”
    Cole just looked confused. As well he might. What did he know about trying to make things work for love? They hadn’t spent more than two days together and he’d suggested they get a divorce. They hadn’t tried at all. Nell glared at him.
    Cole rubbed a hand against the corded muscles of the back of his neck. “So your being here is a ... coincidence.” It wasn’t quite a question. She couldn’t tell whether he was relieved or not.
    “ Sort of. I would have told you I was here. I would have tried to talk to you. We need to talk, Cole.”
    “ Why?”
    “ Because you can’t just send divorce papers and expect me to sign them without an explanation! I need to know why. I need to know what went wrong.”
    Cole snorted. “Nothing went wrong—if you don’t count my old man’s heart attack and the second mortgage he took out on the ranch without telling anyone and the fact that city girls have no business marrying Montana ranchers—”
    “ Only city girls who get asked to marry them,” Nell retorted.
    Cole ’s jaw worked. “I didn’t ... I wasn’t ... thinking straight.”
    Nell ’s heart stopped. “What do you mean, you didn’t? You didn’t ask me?”
    “ We weren’t in the real world that weekend,” he protested, his voice ragged. “It was ... like a dream.”
    The most beautiful dream of her life. “And that’s bad?” Nell reached the door to her room and turned to look up at him. He was so close