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with such hope in his eyes that Austin didn’t see how she could have refused, without her heart turning to stone first. “I have a safety seat in Garrett’s truck and everything.”
    â€œOf course,” Paige said softly. “See you back at the ranch.”
    Calvin nodded and headed for the truck.
    Garrett smiled, spread his hands as if to say What can you do? and followed.
    â€œHe’s so happy,” Paige murmured, watching them go. Her gaze followed the man and the boy, tender, alight with affection.
    Austin wanted to take her into his arms, then and there. Hold her tight, the way he used to do, way back when.
    When.
    When she loved him.
    When she would have trusted him not only with her heart, but with her life.
    When she still believed he felt the same way about her.
    â€œWho?” Austin asked, keeping his distance. “Garrett or Calvin?”
    She smiled, and the earth shifted under Austin’s feet.
    â€œBoth of them, I guess,” Paige answered with a wistful look and a little shrug of her shoulders. “Calvin adores Garrett.”
    Austin wanted to spread his fingers, slip them into her hair. Rub the pads of his thumbs over her delicate cheekbones and then kiss her, but he didn’t do that.
    There were things he could have said, should have said, maybe. And still couldn’t.
    I was only eighteen, Paige. Things were happening toofast between us and the feelings were way too overwhelming and I didn’t know how else to put on the brakes, so I cheated and made sure you knew it.
    Even as a teenager, Paige had known exactly what she wanted. A career, first of all. Then marriage and a home and babies.
    Austin, confused and scared shitless by the emotions Paige could stir in him, seemingly without half trying, hadn’t wanted to go on to college, as his older brothers had, or stay home and learn to run the ranch, either.
    And love Paige though he did, he sure as hell hadn’t been ready to move into some off-campus apartment and play househusband while his bride attended nursing school. Rodeo had been his consuming passion for as long as he could remember, and its siren song was impossible to resist.
    Austin came back to the here and now with a jolt, and while he was able to shake off the memories, mostly anyway, the mood remained.
    Paige got behind the wheel of her car.
    Without Calvin there to serve as a buffer, the connection between Austin and Paige seemed even more intimate than before. It made Austin uncomfortable, in a not entirely unpleasant way.
    â€œSince Esperanza is away taking care of her niece for the next couple of weeks,” Paige said, as though she and Austin were mere acquaintances and not two people who had been able to turn each other inside out once upon a time, “Garrett’s making supper for Julie and Calvin tonight. Tate and Libby and the girls will be there, and we’re invited, too.”
    She wasn’t looking at him. No, she was too busy backing out, turning around, pushing her sunglasses back up her nose.
    â€œJust one big, happy family,” Austin said sourly. He was still smarting a little from the exchange with Garrett in front of the auditorium. He couldn’t very well blame Garrett for his low opinion—Austin had spent years living down to it.
    Paige glanced his way before pulling out of the familiar parking lot onto the road. “What’s your problem now?” she asked with a note of snarky impatience.
    â€œWho said I had a problem?” Austin retorted.
    In the backseat, Shep gave a little whine, as if to intercede.
    â€œIt’s hopeless,” Paige said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œTrying to get along with you, that’s what.”
    â€œExcuse me, but it seems to me that you’re not trying all that hard,” Austin pointed out. Reasonably, he thought.
    â€œWhat you mean is,” Paige replied heatedly, “that I’m not bending over backward to make you