Free Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl Page B

complicated. And the word is out that I drink on the
job.”
    His eyebrows flew up. “Do you?”
    “No. Never. I rarely even drink at parties.”
    “Only in saloons?” he asked.
    She smiled. “Only in saloons.”
    “Lucky me.”
    “Yeah.” She’d stopped eating, and when her smile faded, she
stared at her plate.
    “Hey, Grace?”
    “What?”
    “I’m sorry about that. You being fired by that asshole.”
    When she looked up, he saw surprise in her eyes. Just a brief,
bright flash, and then it was hidden by old anger. “It’s no big deal. Nothing
new. I’ve got to learn how to keep my mouth shut.”
    “Maybe not. You did the right thing.”
    “Ha. The right thing. It didn’t help her. I probably made it
worse. You should have seen her scrambling to defuse the situation. Begging me
to stop. It was all about me, wasn’t it? Me telling myself that I’m not the kind
of person who’d just stand by while a man treated a woman like a worthless dog.
The worst part? Turns out I’m exactly that kind of person.”
    “No, you’re not. You said something. You didn’t just sit there
and ignore it because you were scared.”
    She smiled again. A grimace of a smile, bitter and hurt. And
then she jumped to her feet. “Thank you for breakfast. Again.”
    “Hey, wait. What are you doing today?”
    She was already walking toward the door, her bare feet silent
against the wood. She was so much smaller without her heels. “I’ll probably walk
around town some more. See what there is to see.”
    “Ah. The antlers.”
    She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “The what?”
    “The antlers. Haven’t you seen the antler arches yet?”
    Her expression defaulted to grumpy again. “I have no idea what
you’re talking about.”
    “I don’t know how you missed them. They’re right in the town
square.”
    “Antlers?”
    “Yes. Elk antlers. Thousands of them. The National Elk Refuge
comes all the way up to the city limits.”
    “And there are elk there?”
    “Not right now, but they’re around if you drive up into the
mountains. They come down to the refuge during the winter.”
    “And bring their antlers?”
    He grinned. “Something like that, yes.”
    “Oh.” She didn’t leave. Her hand was still on the doorknob, but
she just stood there looking thoughtful.
    “Want to go for a drive? I’ll show you around. There’s a lot
more to see than just the town, you know.”
    She glanced in the direction of the Tetons, even though the
blinds were closed.
    “Come on. It’ll be fun.”
    “Aren’t you busy?”
    “Nope. I’m off work today, so it’s either you or laundry.”
    “I win out over laundry, huh?”
    “Only because I did a load last weekend. Otherwise it’d be
laundry all the way.”
    That relaxed her. An insult. That was what soothed her prickly
stance and made her laugh. Another thing that set her apart from the women of
his past. “Then I’d better take you up on it. I might not be so lucky next
weekend, and I’ll go crazy if I stay cooped up any longer.”
    “Come back when you’re ready, then.”
    She was back in three minutes. Cole was still washing the
dishes and shouted for her to come in.
    “I’m sorry. I should’ve stayed to help, right? People don’t
cook for me very often. Let me…”
    “Believe me. It’s no big deal. A lot easier than cleaning a
stew pot on the trail, I can tell you that.”
    “I’m sorry,” she said again, sounding as if the words scraped
her throat as they came out.
    “You can make me dinner sometime.”
    She looked slightly panicked. “I hope you like sandwiches.”
    “Peanut butter?” he asked.
    Grace’s cheeks flamed red. “I haven’t had time for a real
shopping trip,” she said sharply.
    Yikes. “I was just kidding.”
    She crossed her arms and wandered over to look at the books on
his coffee table. By the time Cole dried his hands, her cheeks had faded to
pink. He was glad he hadn’t been standing next to her and made a note to