Page 36 of The Maverick's Homecoming

She didn’t answer immediately. Then she groaned. “Finn, you are impossible.”

“Come on. Just work with me here. Dinner. My place. Six tomorrow night.” She was shaking her head. For a moment, he felt certain that she would shut him down.

But then she grumbled, “Fine. Six.”

He took great care not to look as triumphant as he felt.

CHAPTER Five

“Big place,” Kenzie said when Finn answered the door.

“Big and empty,” he replied in that charming, rueful way of his. Like he was kind of embarrassed to be tall, hot…and rich, as well.

“I brought red.” She showed him the bottle. “Not that I can drink any. But, hey. It’s a nice wine and I assume we’re having steaks?”

He took the bottle and stepped back. “Thank you. Come on in.”

She crossed the threshold into an enormous great room with wide-plank cedar floors, a fireplace of natural stone and tall windows framing views of the endless prairie and the distant mountains. “It’s beautiful,” she said. The little furniture he had was expensive, with two giant sofas, a couple of club chairs, a big coffee table and some floor lamps. No rugs. “I remember the family who lived here.”

He was nodding. “The Rawlingses.”

“Yeah. Fourteen years ago, they sold their business in Seattle and opened a tractor dealership in town. What they hadn’t factored in was that Tenacity was already in a slump. When things kept getting worse, their dealership went bust.”

He made a thoughtful sound. “I did hear that they had a lot of family money, so I’m thinking they landed on their feet.”

“Well, good for them,” she said solemnly. “Too many lost too much trying to make a go of it during the tough times.” And then, she put on a smile. “On a lighter note, I love what you’ve done with the place.”

“As in…not a thing?”

She shrugged. “You said it, I didn’t.”

“I’ll get there, just you watch.”

“I have no doubt.”

“And the Rawlingses’ loss was definitely my gain,” he said. “I got a great price for the property, including the house, the barn, twenty acres and enough furniture to get by for a while.”

“You planning on buying a few horses and running cattle?”

“One horse, maybe. Someday. But you know me. I like my Stetson as well as the next guy. At heart, though, I’m a town boy and I sell real estate. I’ll leave the cattle ranching to the experts.” He swept out a hand. “This way.”

She followed him past the wide staircase and into the kitchen, which was as big and impressive as the living room. There were acres of stone countertops and the giant Wolf range had a copper hood to match.

“Ginger ale?” he offered. “Sparkling water?”

“Sparkling water sounds good.”

He poured her some fizzy water over ice, opened the wine and served himself a glass. “Real nice,” he said with an approving nod.

“Glad you like it.” She raised her glass and he tapped it lightly with his.

And then, for the longest time, they stood there at the enormous island grinning, staring deeply into each other’s eyes.

Finally, Finn tipped his head toward an archway. “It’s nice out. Come on…” She fell in step behind him and he led her past a full-size pantry, a laundry room and the mudroom.

When they reached the back door, he pulled it wide. “After you.”

She went onto the covered back deck, where a round cast-iron table was set for two. He had a charcoal cooker going. He must have added mesquite to the coals for extra flavor. It smelled so good. She walked to the edge of the deck and admired the rippling prairie grasses, the big red barn in the distance and the rustic split-rail fencing.