Free Cowboys & Angels by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page A

back at Emmett and Pam. Pam looked as if someone had just handed her the moon.
    Her expression haunted Trey as he said goodbye to Watkins and walked back to his room. The covers on the bed and the scattered pillows bore mute testimony to the wild passion that he’d shared with Elle less than an hour ago. But it wasn’t love that she felt for him.
    If he was honest with himself, he’d have to say that no woman had ever looked at him the way Pam had looked at Emmett. They’d desired him, but they hadn’t gazed at him with their heart in their eyes.
    He’d imagined himself in love several times, but had he been? Or had he been in love with the idea of love? If so, then he needed to grow up. This emotion he felt for Elle seemed substantial, but he couldn’t swear it was love. It could be gratitude mixed with her mystery-woman allure and his intense sexual attraction to her.
    Watkins had known Mary Lou for years. Emmett had known Pam for years. Trey had known Elle for less than twenty-four hours. During that time they’d had some amazing sex, but not much conversation.
    If he expected Elle to ever look at him the way Pam had looked at Emmett, then he needed to spend time getting to know her and letting her get to know him. That probably meant—and this was a slightly depressing conclusion—not having sex.
    Or maybe they could have sex, because they both wanted to, and then they could have a long conversation. He wasn’t even sure she’d be interested in having a long conversation with him. Maybe all she cared about was the sex. That thought was the most depressing of all.
    If it was true, though, he might as well find out now. He’d started out wanting Elle in his bed, which was a goal any man with a pulse would understand. She was just that hot. But now he wanted more than that for the two of them.
    Maybe he’d subconsciously had that goal all along, but until seeing Pam and Emmett together, he hadn’t realized how much he wanted their kind of relationship. He didn’t want to wait years for it, either.

7
    T HE SHOPPING TRIP to Jackson took much longer than Elle would have liked, but Jared seemed in no hurry. All thoughts of squeezing in an hour of alone time with Trey disappeared. Once they returned to the resort, making the video sapped the rest of the day.
    By the time Elle glanced at her watch, it was time for the bachelor party to begin in the bar. Fred was working the party, giving Amy the night off, which meant Elle wouldn’t be asked to help out. That gave her no choice but to wait for Trey’s call signaling the end of the bachelor party.
    She decided to use the time to decorate her Christmas tree, but the tree was small and her decorations few. She liked Christmas well enough, but having two parents in the military had meant that anything could come up to derail the holidays—a move or a deployment of one parent or the other. Her mother and father had never established family traditions. Flexibility had been the key element for the Mastersons, and Elle had grown up thinking traditions weren’t necessary to a happy life.
    That made her the perfect employee for a resort that offered Christmas holiday ski packages. She worked straight through, which allowed both Jared and Annalise to spend a few days at home with their extended families. Her parents treated Christmas so casually that it seemed silly for her to fly thousands of miles to be with them for the holidays.
    She hung the last ornament on her tree long before she could expect Trey to call or text, so she decided to turn on her computer and do a Google search for the Last Chance Ranch. Now that she’d met all three Chance brothers, she was curious about the place. She vaguely remembered that they sold horses, so they should have a website.
    Wow, did they ever have a website! The images were spectacular, and she quickly realized why. Dominique Chance, Nick’s wife and one of the skiers this morning, was a professional photographer. Elle had seen