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driver’s side door and was pushing it slowly as he steered.
    She refused to ogle his butt as it bunched and relaxed with every slow step. But, boy, it was tempting.
    The hysterical note in her voice must have penetrated for he paused and looked at her. Of course, he’d put his cowboy hat back on and pulled the brim down low.
    “Well, now, it can’t stay here in the middle of thedrive, can it? I was just going to move it to a more appropriate spot. Our manure pile is a bit far but that would be the best place for this piece of—”
    “My car is not! It brought me all the way from New York.”
    “A miracle. I guess I’ll just have to push it to the parking lot then. Adele’s in her office. I’ll leave your keys at the front desk. If Adele says she has a meeting, tell her Ward can’t make it. He’s doing his good deed of the day.”
    “And so that would make you Ward?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Ooh, she thought, her eyes narrowing to angry slits. How had he guessed she would hate being addressed as “ma’am” as if she had blue-rinsed hair? She’d noticed the crow’s-feet fanning out from the corners of his eyes. He was easily thirty. Older than she.
    “I’d say it’s a pleasure but then I’d be lying. Oh, and don’t touch any of my stuff.”
    The interview was going better than Tess would have expected for someone who was jinxed, plagued by handsome men who wandered into her life and caused total chaos. That she’d managed to push the specter of Ward Whatshisname and her smoking car to the far recesses of her mind as she shook Adele Knowles’s hand was quite an accomplishment.
    Much of the credit had to go to Adele Knowles. The older woman was like a breath of fresh air. Chic in a pair of light beige trousers and a belted cardigan of a deep evergreen that made her blue eyes that much brighter, she’d greeted Tess politely, asking how she might help her. When Tess told her that she’d come to inquire about any open positions and dutifully relayed Ward’s message about his not being able to meet withher, those eyes widened with surprise. Unwilling to trust her fate to a rude cowboy, Tess had hurriedly added that Ava Day had suggested she try her luck at Silver Creek.
    Adele had brought Tess to an airy office and invited her to sit on a pretty indigo-and-cream-patterned upholstered chair. Before settling on the matching one, she asked if Tess might like a cup of tea.
    Tess thanked her and declined. “I’ve been driving for the past six days and have consumed more caffeine than I ever thought physically possible.”
    “Six days? Quite a journey.”
    And so the interview began. Adele listened without interruption to the explanation she’d asked for of how Tess, who’d lived all her life in New York City, had come to be job hunting in Acacia, even though it must have been obvious to her that the story Tess told—of needing a change after her husband’s death—had been carefully edited.
    “I’m sorry for your loss,” Adele offered when she’d finished.
    “Thank you. My husband and I were estranged when I learned of his illness.”
    “Nonetheless, he’d been someone you loved.”
    “Yes.” That was the simple truth. But though she had the strong impression that Mrs. Knowles was a deeply sympathetic person, Tess couldn’t bring herself to say any more than that.
    Tess felt a wave of gratitude wash over her when Adele Knowles nodded and moved on to a new topic.
    “Why Acacia, may I ask? Our town is somewhat off the beaten track.”
    The understatement of the century.
    With a trace of embarrassment Tess told her about Anna and her grandmother’s scarf. “And so that’s how I got to Acacia. Anna was convinced I had to go as close to where my finger landed as I could. She had completefaith in the luck the choice would bring. I did look for jobs in Acacia first, though, because honestly it didn’t occur to me that the blob of green on the map contained anything other than trees. Unfortunately