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chuckle she gave as she stopped his hand from dislodging the seed. The soft, heated rub of her tongue as she slid the seed against his skin with excruciating slowness. The endless, aching moment as they stared at each other. The explosion of need.
    They hadn’t even made it all the way into the trailer, barely across the raised threshold onto the thin carpet. They hadn’t gotten all their clothes off. But, Lord, they had needed. They had loved.
    It was ten years ago. Ten damn years ago.
    The reminder did no good. His body recognized no divorce, no decade apart. It recognized only what it had known, and wanted to know again—Kalli.
    As she swallowed a bite of watermelon, her gaze brushed over him, halted and returned. He had an uneasy feeling that despite the curtaining of the tablecloth, she knew his jeans felt bindingly tight. With a slight frown, she glanced at the uneaten fruit before him, then back to his face. He saw the exact moment the memory hit her, and didn’t try to stem his fierce satisfaction at the stunned look in her eyes and the sweep of color in her cheeks.
    She looked away, dropped the watermelon rind as if it had burned her and wiped her hands hastily on her napkin.
    “Jasper, now that you’re done eating, would you like to come in and see our office setup?”
    “Sure would.”
    Walker stayed perfectly still, hoping his failure to join them would go unnoticed. Kalli didn’t so much as glance his way. But Lodge turned back.
    “You coming, Walker?”
    “No. I need to pick up stock for tonight soon as I finish this coffee.”
    The older man gave an acknowledging wave.
    “Now, where’s this computer I’ve been hearing about, Kalli?” Lodge’s question carried back to Walker. “I’ve been thinking of a better setup to link home to the store. Which reminds me, when’re you coming to the store to let my Esther pick out clothes that’ll make you look less like New York and more like Wyoming?”
    With that less than subtle hint, the committee chairman took Kalli’s elbow and started into the office.
    Roberta cleared the table, removing Walker’s untouched watermelon without a word. But he felt her piercing look.
    “Guess you want to finish your coffee before you pick up stock, huh, Walker?”
    “Yeah.”
    “In that case, you can fold up the cloth and put it in the back of my car along with the mug when you’re done.”
    “Sure, I’ll do that.” He swallowed the tepid liquid.
    She picked up a box of lunch paraphernalia, letting loose her parting shot as she walked away. “Tablecloths can come in mighty handy, can’t they, Walker? Hide a multitude of sins. Sins and other conditions.”

Chapter Three
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    DAMN WALKER RILEY. Damn him, damn him, damn him.
    It wasn’t fair to be sitting at a picnic table minding your own business, and be hit by a lightning bolt of memory. Damn Walker Riley.
    Their paths hadn’t crossed much these past two days, though Kalli heard “Walker says” a hundred times a day—at the rodeo and at the hospital, where he, too, received permission to visit outside regular hours. Of course he never showed up at the same time she was there.
    She’d seen him only twice—when a cowboy stopped to look over the operation and when a curious citizen made a get-acquainted call. Both times Walker had appeared as suddenly as a storm cloud, maneuvered distance between her and the newcomer and introduced her as “Ms. Evans” in a tone that declared “hands off.” Then he’d disappeared just before she would have informed him that the Riley Personal Bodyguard Service was most definitely unwanted.
    But she had him now. She’d ordered Gulch to inform Walker that his attendance was required first thing this morning at the meeting she’d called with Gulch, Roberta, Tina, the head of the ticket office and Tom Nathan, who was leaving today to return to the circuit where he produced a series of rodeos. She wouldn’t set Walker straight about his interference, not with an