Free Cowboy Underneath It All by Delores Fossen Page B

“I’m so sorry” again. She also just kept pulling him, and Kane didn’t like the direction they were heading. Right toward the women’s bathroom.
    â€œThe waitress told me about your sister,” he repeated, hoping it would stop her. It didn’t. In fact, Eliza didn’t stop until she had him inside the ladies’ room, and had shut the door.
    â€œI didn’t think you were still in the dark, not about that anyway,” she said, as if that explained everything. It didn’t explain squat. “No one in this town would have kept that a secret from you.”
    Well, they hadn’t after the fact, but he would have liked a heads-up even if it’d come from the gossip mill.
    â€œWhy’d you bring me in here?” Kane asked. “And since when did you start wearing dresses like that?”
    All in all, that last one just wasn’t a very good question, especially considering everything else that was going on. He followed it up with a comment that wasn’t very good, either. “It makes you look like, well, a woman.”
    She glanced down at her dress. Then gave him a look that was anything but flat. Her left eyebrow lifted. “I am a woman. A twenty-eight-year-old one. You’re the only man in Spring Hill who hasn’t noticed that.”
    Well, he was sure noticing now.
    Eliza had always been a looker, even as a kid. But she’d always been just that. A kid.
    Until right this minute.
    â€œYou’re really twenty-eight?” he asked. That was a year older than the last woman he’d gone out with in South Carolina. Then Kane remembered something really important he should be addressing. “Why are we in the ladies’ room?”
    â€œYes, I’m twenty-eight. Only four years younger than you. And that’s the reason we’re in here.”
    Kane did a mental double take. “Say what?”
    Eliza huffed. “I lied, all right! That’s what I’m sorry about. I heard from Lucky McCord that you were getting out of the Air Force and moving back to try your hand at running the ranch. Most people thought you’d never actually return, since you’ve owned the place for over a year and had barely stepped foot on it.”
    â€œBecause I had to finish up my military commitment.”
    â€œI know, and I kept telling folks that you’d be home, but I wasn’t expecting you until next week.”
    â€œI finished up earlier at the base than planned.” He stopped. “How’d you find out I was coming home today?” He no longer had family here, and Kane hadn’t gotten around to telling Lucky or anyone else the exact day he’d be arriving, since he’d been so busy out-processing from the Air Force.
    Another huff from her. Obviously, these were not questions she wanted to hear, but Kane was trying to make sense of it. And it was just the beginning of the things he needed to ask her.
    â€œI went to your place to check on it, and there was an electrician there from San Antonio,” she explained. “He said you’d wanted the house checked to make sure everything was working fine because you were moving back today.” She huffed. “You know, it wouldn’t have killed you to let someone know.”
    Heck, he never let anyone know that. Kane just showed up. He’d been doing that for years, and no one had complained. Not until now anyway.
    Since he wasn’t getting anywhere with this discussion, he moved on to the next questions. “And what does any of this have to do with you lying? Better yet, what lie did you tell?”
    â€œ Lies ,” she corrected. Eliza groaned, squeezed her eyes shut a moment and leaned against the aqua-painted concrete-block wall. “God, I’m so sorry, but I told my sister that you and I had been texting and calling each other. And we do talk, remember?”
    Yes, around Christmas Eliza had called to chat. It was June now. And,