Harlequin Special Edition November 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Kathy Douglass

Author:Kathy Douglass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

A half hour later, Ava sat on one end of the sofa, Colt on the other, both with pads and pens on their laps. Discussion time.

Colt was looking around the room. “Plush tan sofas, a kilim rug, floor pillows. Abstract art on the walls. I’m surprised the living room doesn’t match the paint upstairs and the floral wallpaper in the bathrooms.”

“I brought my furniture from my condo,” she said. “When I got here, everything was so unfamiliar that I knew I had to bring my own things to feel connected, more comfortable. So I donated Iris’s furniture and sent a moving truck for my own. It helped. I did keep a lot of Iris’s things, though.”

His gaze went to a framed photograph of Iris with two of the alpacas—Lorelai and Rory—on the mantel. “So she lived here alone? She never married, never had kids?”

“Nope. Apparently, she bought this place when she was twenty-nine. I don’t know much about the history, other than she got the land for a song and fixed up the run-down house and barn. But she stayed here alone, building her ranch, her industry with yarns and fleece-stuffed duvets and pillows. She had two friends that I know of, the women from her knitting circle. They’re coming tomorrow afternoon to tell me how the festival worked last year.”

“One o’clock, right? I’ll keep Ryder occupied so you three can talk.”

“Sounds good,” she said.

“That and this entire morning has been a great example of how our arrangement can work,” he said. “When I had to do something and I couldn’t keep an eye on Ryder or if he’d be freezing in no time, I asked you if you were free to watch him. Is that too up in the air for you, though? He’s on a schedule but he’s portable. Your schedule might not be as flexible.”

“I can always spread straw or clean out the pens earlier or later, depending on when you need me to hang with Ryder. I think it’s working great, too.”

“Good. Then we’re done. Quickest not-a-meeting ever.”

But don’t get up. Don’t leave. Don’t go upstairs. Just stay.

He was so close. Just a few feet away, tall and muscular all over her couch. Maybe I’m back, she thought. After two years of staying single, of being afraid to even date because of how her ex-fiancé left her because she couldn’t have children of her own, all her nerve endings were tingling. She wanted to kiss Colt Dawson.

Maybe because she knew this was a finite thing. That he was leaving in under three weeks. But if the way she already felt about him, the pull to him, the anticipation of seeing him, talking to him, being near him was any indication, she was in real danger of falling in love with him.

So back off, she ordered herself. Just do nothing.

Get back to the ranch. “Vivi and Maria will be able to give us the lowdown on the festival. How it went, how the prep was. I

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