From Highrise to High Country by Barbara Dunlop

Author:Barbara Dunlop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-05-05T14:18:30+00:00

* * *

Austin wasn’t proud of himself for what he was about to do—snoop in Ruby’s bedroom. But when she’d missed dinner, then eight o’clock had rolled around, he had to wonder if she’d moved from the ranch back into town.

Making love with her had been fantastic for him. And it had seemed the same for her yesterday. But when he hadn’t seen her this morning, and as the hours had ticked past, he’d wondered if she’d masked her feelings. Maybe she regretted giving in to their physical attraction—regretted it enough to leave.

Glancing both ways down the second-floor hall, he slowly and silently opened her door. He breathed a sigh of relief to see her belongings on the dresser and the bed, her small suitcase upright in the corner.

He hadn’t chased her away.

He didn’t even care that she’d been gone all day without an explanation again. All he cared about was that she was still around.

Voices sounded downstairs and he quickly pulled back into the hall, shutting the door behind him.

“Well, that’s good news.” McKinney’s voice carried up the stairway.

“It’s another treasure trove.” Ruby’s voice this time.

Austin couldn’t help smiling at the sound.

“Kiera Brooks called it the Compton’s back parlor,” she continued. “So I was expecting... I don’t know...a sitting room with a patterned rug, French Provincial chairs, a Tiffany lamp and a china cabinet. But it’s a whole building. Madeline said it used to be a garage.”

“I think it started out as the ‘rug, chairs and lamp’ thing a long time ago,” McKinney said as Austin headed for the stairs. “As I understand it, Mrs. Compton eventually moved to the second floor above the garage then expanded the whole thing.”

“She has high ceilings, stacks of shelving,” Ruby said. “Everything is cataloged, cross-referenced.”

Austin could see them now, standing together in the dining room.

McKinney braced herself on the back of a chair. “There are a lot of students cycling through to do the work.”

“I read that you had a college,” Ruby said. “But it sounded like everything was remote.”

“Most of the classes are. They have agreements with institutions in Denver and Phoenix. Do you want some pie? Did you have dinner?”

“Pie sounds wonderful.”

Austin came to the bottom of the stairs, but they didn’t hear him, their backs turned as they left for the kitchen.

He hesitated, unsettlingly tense as he considered Ruby’s possible reactions to seeing him today. He’d hate it if she seemed regretful or embarrassed. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted to see a smile on her pretty face, even better if there was an intimate twinkle in her eyes just for him, for the secret they shared.

The front door shut with a bang, startling him as his brother appeared in the foyer.

“You’re back,” Austin said, moving to greet Dallas.

“Sierra didn’t want to miss the rodeo.”

Austin had a moment’s pause. “Tell me you’re not riding in it.”

The annual Jagged Creek Rodeo was coming up in just a few days. Dallas had competed in it as a teenager before he’d turned pro and had usually won half the events.

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