

DOMINIQUE HADN'T MISSED his "Let's go home," a comment that could have been an offhand one, but she didn't think so. For a man like Nick, a man with a heart the size of the whole Teton Range, that statement would have significance.
The comment itself wasn't nearly as worrisome as her reaction to it. She'd loved hearing him say that, loved listening to his soft baritone resonating with his anticipated pleasure. She wrapped herself in that warmth and allowed his suggestion to run in a continuous loop through her mind as he drove down the dark road toward the ranch.
She wasn't surprised when he switched on the truck's radio so they were serenaded with country tunes on the way back. The music maintained the happy mood they'd established at the bar. She also wasn't surprised when he reached over and took her hand.
Foolish or not, they were falling for each other. She couldn't deny that her heart had melted when she'd watched him dancing with his mother. But that was only the final item on a list that had grown with each moment they'd spent together. First she'd been impressed with his care and compassion in the meadow. Sure, she'd also been impressed with his body, but his kindness hadn't escaped her notice, either.
Later on she'd met the two adorable dogs he'd rescued, and that night she'd seen him at his most vulnerable, when he'd discovered the truth about his parentage. They'd bonded over that, whether they'd meant to or not.
She'd also seen his playful side. The image of him leaving her room wearing a towel and clenching a cigar between his teeth would stay with her forever. A woman would have to be made of stone not to succumb to the charms of Nick Chance.
Add to that his obvious interest in her, and she had a recipe for disaster. They needed time to discover if this was a relationship that would last, but they were running out of it. If she ripped up her life on the basis of an affair of a few short days, no matter how charming the guy, everyone she knew would figure she was back to her old flaky self.
They would be right. Giving up a successful business and trying to start over in a new town that was part of a highly competitive market was financial insanity. Even Dominique, who tended to ignore the bottom line, could see that.
Nick glanced at her. "You're very quiet over there."
"I'm thinking."
"That's a bad sign."
She turned toward him. She adored that strong profile, loved kissing those firm lips. "You know what's happening."
He met her gaze briefly. "Yeah. I've been fighting it from the first time I saw you, but I don't seem to be winning that fight."
"Me, either."
He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "Good to know I'm not in this mess alone."
"Not by a long shot."
He took a deep breath. "I want you to stick around, Dominique, and I know how ridiculous that sounds. I know you can't just set up shop here in Shoshone, or even Jackson, and be sure you'd earn a living. You've built a successful business back home, and you'd be crazy to abandon that just because I can't stand for you to leave."
"My mother suggested I should try to get the ranch to hire me to take pictures of your horses for the Web site. Mind you, she wasn't imagining I'd move out here. She only wanted me to open up a new avenue of business."
"In that respect, it's a good idea. But that alone wouldn't support you if you moved here. Not even close."
Dominique decided she might as well lay out every possibility, to make sure she wasn't missing anything. "She thought I could interest people in having a professional photograph of the horse they bought. You know, to hang up somewhere."
"Maybe, and I'm not saying they wouldn't, but---"
"Nick, I'm embarrassed to be throwing out these ideas, but I thought I should at least mention it."
"Definitely. But I've watched this process a lot over the years, and people who have just bought an expensive animal are usually recovering from sticker shock. They might not be willing to shell out another dime. Some might, but it's---"
"Grasping at straws. I know."
"At least you're trying to find an answer, and all I am is a wet blanket." He sighed. "I want like hell to say you could survive as a photographer out here, but I don't know that you would."
"So we should both consider this a nice interlude and let it go at that."
"Goddammit." His grip on her hand tightened. "That isn't working for me, Dominique."
"For me, either." Rash thoughts ran through her mind. If she couldn't make money as a photographer, she'd do something else. She'd apply for a job at the Lickity Split or the Spirits and Spurs. She'd waited tables before. She could wait tables again if it meant being with Nick.
Then she caught herself. What was she doing? Photography was her calling, and to abandon the business she'd painstakingly built because she'd fallen for a guy was the sort of thing she would have done a few years ago. How discouraging to think she'd been on the brink of doing it again.
She took a deep breath. "This is why I said we shouldn't get involved in the first place, remember?"
"Who could have predicted we'd be so perfect for each other?"
"Pam. When I talked with her that first day, she told me I was your type. She said you wouldn't be able to have a no-strings-attached affair with me, and she was right on the money. But we both charged ahead anyway."
"Yeah." Nick was silent for the rest of the drive home, but he didn't let go of her hand.
As he pulled the truck into the circular drive and switched off the engine, she gazed at him, her heart aching. "Let's cut our losses. I'll see about changing my ticket so I can fly out tomorrow. If I can't, I'll move back to Pam's until I can get a flight."
His jaw tightened. "It's probably a good idea."
"It's a terrible idea, but I don't have a better one."
"You could always stay here rent free, and maybe help Mary Lou or something while you tried to get your photography business going."
"Our relationship is still in the baby stages. I could change my whole life around for nothing."
He cleared his throat, as if he might want to argue that point, but after a brief hesitation, all he said was, "Right."
"Besides, my financial independence has been a long time coming. I spent too many years living hand-to-mouth, but thanks to a dose of reality and Herman's guidance, I have a thriving business. I'd be foolish to give it up for something that may or may not work out."
"Yes, you would." Nick squeezed her hand and released it. "Guess that's it, then." He reached for his door handle.
She reached for hers, too. Later she might cry, but for now she just needed to get out of the truck and away from Nick before she weakened. She was making the right decision. She needed to see it through.
"Stay there and I'll help you down."
"I'm perfectly capable of---"
"I know you are! It's a courtesy, a way of showing that I respect you and...oh, never mind." He climbed out of the truck.
So did she, and found him waiting for her. She glanced up into his shadowed face. "This is my fault. If I hadn't walked out into that meadow and taken your picture, then none of this would have happened."
"But then I would have missed some of the most wonderful moments of my life."
Her breath caught. "You don't regret any of this?"
"Not a single second."
Swamped by an emotion she dared not voice, she swallowed the lump in her throat. "Me, either."
"You can't go anywhere until tomorrow."
Her battered heart kicked into a faster rhythm. "I know, but it would be easier if we---"
"Are you kidding?" His laugh was low and rich with desire. "I can't speak for you, but I won't sleep a wink knowing you're right down the hall and you'll be gone in the morning."
What he was suggesting made no sense at all. They were trying to disengage from each other, not entangle themselves even more. And yet, he was right. She wouldn't sleep, either.
There was plenty of air to be had out here under the stars, but she couldn't seem to draw much of it into her lungs. "I suppose..." She stopped, and then rushed the last part. "If neither of us will be sleeping, we might as well keep each other company."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Taking her hand, he led her up the porch steps and into the house.
Although his touch literally made her knees weak, she managed to climb the stairs and walk down the dark hallway without making him carry her. No doubt he would have---could have---but she wanted him to save his strength. They bypassed her room and stepped into his, where he'd left a light burning.
His bed was gorgeous. The headboard depicted a forest scene of two wolves baying at a full moon. But when she noticed that the covers were turned back and a single rose lay against the snowy sheets, she nearly lost it. "Oh, Nick. I would have missed this."
He drew her into his arms. "And I would have missed this." His lips found hers in the sweetest, most gentle kiss they'd ever shared.
Tears threatened to fall, but she squeezed her eyes shut to hold them at bay. She wouldn't cry tonight. Tonight she would make love with Nick.
They undressed each other slowly, pausing to touch, to kiss, to murmur words of appreciation. Up to now, Nick had given her the best sex of her life. But tonight was about more than sex, and he seemed to realize it, too.
When at last he urged her down to the cool sheets, he framed her face in both hands. His green eyes glowed with purpose. "I will never forget making love to you."
"I won't forget making love to you, either."
He gave her a slow, sensuous smile. "That's why I wanted you here, so I could make sure of that. Everything else was fun, but I do my best work on a bed."
Anticipation surged through her, leaving her achy and wet. "I don't know, Nick. We've had some spectacular sex."
"Yeah." He leaned down to trace her lips with his tongue. "But this is the time you'll remember."
She understood what he meant. With fingertips, mouth and tongue he explored every inch of her body. By the time he reached her toes, she was writhing on the bed, so hot from wanting him that she was whimpering.
But he wasn't finished. Rolling her over, he kissed her nape, her shoulders, the curve of her spine, the small of her back, the backs of her knees. He licked her bare bottom, and before she quite realized what he had in mind, he turned over on his back and scooted up between her thighs. He urged her to lift her hips.
Crazed with lust, she complied, and then sank down against his waiting mouth. Shamelessly, she took the climax that he seemed so eager to give her. She longed to scream at the top of her lungs, but others shared this house, so she buried her cries in the pillow as he made her come, his strong hands holding her tight.
By the time he rolled her to her back, she was gasping for breath and still vibrating with the force of her orgasm. The snap of latex barely registered, but when she felt him, full and hard, moving into her, she knew he was ready to take his pleasure at last.
"Open your eyes," he murmured.
Sliding both hands up his muscled chest slick with sweat, she lifted her gaze to his.
"Pam was right." He eased his cock into her with steady deliberation. "You're my dream girl."
"No." She rebelled at the hopelessness of that statement. "I can't be."
"Sure you can." He completed the connection, settling against her with a sigh. "A guy doesn't always end up with his dream girl."
"I want you to be happy."
"I'm happy now." He drew back and pushed home again. "That has to be enough."
"If only---"
"Shh." He leaned down and nibbled at her lips. "No regrets. I feel your arms around me, your legs around me, and I'll never forget being cradled by your body. I'll never forget the sensation of my cock sliding into you. Warm... Wet..."
Another orgasm hovered near, fueled by his touch and his erotic voice. "This is good, Nick."
"You bet it is." He began to pump faster. "It's the best, Dominique. No, don't close your eyes. I want to watch you come."
She locked her gaze with his as the pressure mounted. They'd been lovers such a short time, and yet he knew her, knew what she needed to send her over the edge. And he gave it to her, stroking until she lifted to meet his thrusts.
"That's it." The heat in his eyes urged her onward. "Now, my love. Now."
They rocketed upward together, arching across the night sky. And as she drifted back to earth, his words caught her, easing her descent. My love.
THE NIGHT HAD BEEN HEAVEN, but the morning was hell. Nick stumbled through it with as much grace as he could manage. Dominique had returned to her room before dawn. As if by mutual agreement, they said nothing to each other when she slipped out.
He dressed quickly and headed for the barn, where Butch and Sundance were more than glad to see him. He played around with the dogs for a while before heading into the barn to work. Better not to watch Dominique leave. Yet, as Fate would have it, he looked out the door just as Pam was loading Dominique's suitcase into the Bunk and Grub Jeep.
A moment later, Dominique came out and climbed into the passenger seat. She glanced over at the barn, and he ducked back into the shadows, reluctant to let her see him gazing after her like a lovesick fool. Which he was.
But this was as it should be. He felt no ambivalence as he used the time-honored therapy of mucking stalls to work through his angst. The dogs looked on with a soulful doggy gaze, as if they knew he was in pain. He'd live with that pain as long as necessary. He loved her, and because he loved her, he had to let her go.
When Pam's Jeep pulled out of the drive, he refused to watch it leave. Instead he kept shoveling. He would always be grateful for what they'd had together. Nothing could take that away.
"Did I see Dominique leaving with Pam just now?"
Glancing up, Nick discovered Emmett standing in a shaft of sunlight coming through the barn door. The dogs jumped up to greet him.
Nick dumped another load of straw into the wheelbarrow. "She's headed back to Indianapolis."
"That seems kind of sudden." Emmett scrubbed a hand over each of the dogs in turn.
"It's for the best."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No." Nick leaned on his shovel and studied Emmett. The guy was acting natural as he stood there petting the dogs, so he probably hadn't talked to Jack about Nick yet. "How was your picnic?"
Emmett looked away. "I think maybe I'm too old to get started with the picnic thing."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No." Emmett adjusted the tilt of his brown Stetson. "But I think you have the right idea. I'll grab me a shovel."
"Emmett, wait."
The foreman paused, his bushy eyebrows lifted. "What's up?"
"What can you tell me about Nicole O'Leary?"
Emmett stiffened. "Who?"
"Nicole. My mother."
Emmett stared at him. "How in the hell did you find out about that?"
"Remember when Jack told me to go through that old trunk of Dad's?"
"Oh, Jesus. I didn't even consider..."
"Neither did Jack. I found the document from when I was born, the one where she said if anything happened to her, I was to be sent here to be raised by my father." Nick was surprised that he didn't feel the usual sharp pain when he discussed that piece of paper. Either he was already healing, or that pain had been replaced with a deeper one involving Dominique.
Emmett ran a hand over his face. "I'm sorry, son. I wondered if this day would ever come. I told Jonathan he should... But that's not important now. Who knows you found it?"
"Jack. Well, and Dominique. She walked into the office right after I'd pulled it out of the trunk."
"Surely that's not why she's leaving?"
"No. That situation is...complicated. So did you ever meet Nicole?"
Emmett gestured toward a couple of old wooden chairs over by the barn door. "Have a seat."
Leaning his shovel against the back wall, Nick walked out of the stall and over to one of the chairs. The dogs followed and plopped on the floor, one next to each chair.
Emmett broke off a piece of straw from a nearby hay bale and stuck it between his teeth. "It's times like this I wish I hadn't given up my chaw."
"It's times like this I wish I'd started chewing."
"Don't take it up, son. It's a nasty habit." Emmett gazed straight ahead. "So you want to know about Nicole."
"Yeah. And don't sanitize it, Emmett."
The straw wiggled in the corner of Emmett's mouth as he chewed it slowly. "All right. She was one of those free-love people. Do whatever feels good and don't worry about the consequences. She was an artist, but I doubt she ever made much money on her paintings. Jonathan and I got the impression her folks were rich and they supported her."
Nick could see some parallels with Dominique, but there were some glaring differences, too. Dominique had tried to avoid getting tangled up with him. Plus she was fiercely independent and determined to hang on to the business she'd built.
"So you did actually know her, then?"
"Oh, yeah. I was at the bar---back when it was called the Rusty Spur---with your dad when Nicole breezed in. She was a knockout---long dark hair, green eyes, great figure." Emmett glanced at him. "You have her eyes."
"And that explains so much. Nobody else in the family has green eyes. When I used to ask Mom, I mean Sarah, she'd---"
"She's still your mother." Emmett's voice had an edge to it. "I don't want you ever throwing this up to her, and if you take after your idiot big brother and start calling her Sarah now because she's not your biological mother, I'll whip your butt. And don't think I can't."
Nick smiled. "I know you can. Don't worry. Sarah is my mom in all the ways that count. She only kept the secret because she loved my dad so much. I get that." And he had Dominique to thank for helping him see it.
"Good thing you do. You gotta understand how it was. Here was your dad, divorced and lonely, depressed. Letting his folks do most of the raising of little Jack. Then Nicole shows up. He knew she wasn't going to stick around, but he enjoyed her while she was here. I guess they got careless, but neither of them realized they'd created you before she took off again."
"So I really was a total surprise to him." The document had said as much, but Nick felt better hearing it again from Emmett.
"A total surprise to him and to his new wife, Sarah, who was already pregnant with Gabe. Along comes this five-month-old baby delivered in a taxi by a lawyer, a baby conceived during an affair your dad had more than a year ago, before he'd even started courting Sarah."
Nick could picture the shock of that. "My dad never did like admitting his mistakes."
"Nooo, he surely didn't. You were the talk of the town for a while, but he convinced everyone it would be better to raise you thinking Sarah was your mother. As time went by, some who knew the truth moved or passed on, and others forgot it."
Nick contemplated that for a while. "He must have thought if I ever found out, I'd pass judgment on him."
"Probably." Emmett chewed on his straw. "He was always pretty hard on himself, so he must have figured you'd be hard on him, too."
Nick sighed. "Jack has a lot of Dad in him."
"That he does, son. That he does."
"So what happened to Nicole?"
"According to the lawyer who delivered you, she went skydiving. Chute never opened." Nick winced.
"Yeah, I'm sure your dad had the same reaction. If you ask me, it was a dumb thing for a new mother to do, but she wasn't that sensible in the first place."
"You didn't like her."
"A person couldn't dislike Nicole. She was a lot of fun. But she was young and immature." Emmett glanced at him. "You said Jack knew you'd found out. What about your mother?"
"I'll talk with her soon."
"And Gabe?"
"Soon."
"Don't let it go too long, Nick. Gabe has a thing about being treated like the baby of the family. He wouldn't like it if he thought you were trying to protect him from this news."
"You're right." Nick stood. "I'll go call him again. That is, if you don't mind finishing up that stall."
"Glad to do it." Emmett rose from his chair and rested his hand on Nick's shoulder. "No one meant any harm, son."
"I know, Emmett. I know."
Emmett gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Go call your brother."
"Right."
Back in his room, Nick steeled himself against the lingering scent of Dominique's perfume, grabbed his cell phone from the dresser and took it downstairs. Once there, he flopped into one of the big leather armchairs.
Before he could dial Gabe's number, he noticed that he had a text message. Sitting up straight, he checked it eagerly, forgetting that Dominique didn't have his number. She'd never needed it.
The message from Gabe had been left the night before, while Nick was at the Spirits and Spurs.
Nick thought Jack probably would hit the roof. When a horse foundered, the anklebone protruded through the hoof, the same condition that had killed the great racehorse Barbaro. But Gabe had a little of the savior in him, too.
And now Nick could tell him the big news in person.


