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could keep a houseplant alive. In truth, her priority was her daughter and had been for the past four years.
    â€œReally? No boyfriend, huh?” One eyebrow shot up. “I thought... Never mind.”
    â€œI have a three-year-old daughter,” she blurted out. If he was thinking of asking her out, which he probably wasn’t, she wanted him to know up front. So many men weren’t interested in a woman with someone else’s kid.
    â€œI’ve seen you with her. She’s adorable.”
    â€œThanks.” She took a sip of the coffee, surprised how nervous she was. Alex was so not like the men she’d known. He had a job! True, it apparently was only part-time, but still...
    She debated telling him she’d done jail time, but she reminded herself he hadn’t asked for her life history. Or for a date. And yet, if her daughter hadn’t scared him off...
    â€œWould you like to go to a movie this weekend?”
    â€œReally?”
She hadn’t meant to sound so shocked. The word had just slipped out. But she couldn’t believe he was actually asking her out.
    â€œYou do go to movies, don’t you?”
    She laughed nervously. “Sure. I mean, yeah, I’d like to.”
    â€œGreat. We can go to Bozeman and see one that’s rated for kids if you don’t want to get a sitter.”
    Who was this man?
“You’d be all right with Jodie coming along?”
    â€œSure. Or we can see something else if you’d rather. I’m new at this, but I’d be happy to pay for the sitter.” He sounded as nervous as she felt.
    She laughed, and he seemed to relax. When he smiled, his brown eyes shone. “Maybe it should be you and me the first time.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she’d said. She felt her face flush with embarrassment. “I mean—”
    â€œThen it’s a date.” He smiled broadly and asked for her number. She watched him type it into his phone. A moment later she heard her phone ping, alerting her to a text. “I just sent you my phone number. Text me with what night would work best for you, and we’ll come up with a time. Might as well have dinner before the show. Do you like Italian, Asian, Mexican or all-American?”
    â€œAll of the above,” she said. Then, looking at her phone, she realized what time it was and shot to her feet. “I need to get back to work.” Even with Bo gone and things in a panic at the office, she didn’t like taking more time than she should have for her coffee break.
    â€œTalk to you soon,” he said as she rushed out the door, smiling to herself.
    * * *
    R AYMOND J AY S PENCER J R . couldn’t take his eyes off the woman for more reasons than one. He hadn’t believed it when he’d first seen her. It was as if his prayers had been answered—if he’d prayed. Praying had gotten him nothing as a kid when his old man was beating the crap out of him. He’d known then that there was no God. No teacher or neighbor or anyone had saved him from his father. He’d come to realize that all he had was the old man. Maybe he really did deserve what he got, like his father kept telling him.
    â€œBo-Peep,” he said, trying the name and tuning out her pleas and reasons she needed to get back to town. The first time he’d crossed her tracks, he’d stared at the fresh horseshoe prints in the trail for a long moment. He’d spent the past three weeks making sure his path hadn’t crossed another soul’s.
    This morning, though, his feet hurting, hungry and ill-tempered after all this time hiding out in the mountains, he couldn’t help himself. Mostly he was sick of walking after he’d lost the horse he’d stolen. The damned animal had gotten spooked by a grizzly, thrown him and taken off, never to be seen again. The fall could have killed him, so he’d promised himself that if he ever did see