Page 19 of Second Chance Saloon

She weaved through chatting guests and other staff members, smiling at anyone who caught her eye. “Rea filled me in. Where’s that difficult guest?”

Luis let out a relieved breath. “Thank you for coming. I don’t really know what to do with him. He refused to check in. I asked if he wanted to get back to the airport. He didn’t.”

“Where is he now?”

Luis gestured toward the emerald couch in the corner of the lobby. It faced the floor-to-ceiling double door, leading out to the terrace restaurant.

“I think he fell asleep. He smelled like he bathed in alcohol.”

Jackie groaned.

Great. A drunk. How delightful.

She squared her shoulders. It was fine. She could manage this. And if things got out of hand and he got aggressive, the hotel security could deal with him.

“He’s more pathetic than dangerous,” Luis added as if he could read her mind. “I brought him a bottle of water after he slumped there. He told me his fiancée left him at the altar.”

Her chest squeezed with sympathy. That was rather sad. No wonder he didn’t want to stay in the honeymoon suite. If it was her, she probably wouldn’t have even come.

“Thanks, Luis.” She gave him a nod and set off in the direction of the couch.

Even before Jackie saw him, she could hear his snoring. A worn straw cowboy hat covered his face. His legs were crossed at the ankles, and a small smile tugged on her lips when she noticed his old cowboy boots and belt adorned with a large buckle showing two horses. The gray T-shirt stretched across his broad chest, showing off nicely shaped shoulders.

Jackie’s heart tripped over itself, something familiar stirring deep in her core. It had been a while since she had been in a real cowboy’s company. She had grown up on a ranch outside Austin, so this stranger pressed the homesick note on the keyboard of her heart.

Home was the place she had avoided for years now, if she could help it. The memories, the whispered promises of forever with the boy who had been her everything, and the reminders of the life she wanted but couldn’t have … They were too much.

She crouched next to the man and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, sir?”

He didn’t even stir.

Jackie put her hand on his forearm and shook it. “Sir?”

He jolted upright, his hat falling to the floor.

Every cell in Jackie’s body froze the instant she met his gaze. She fell into his green eyes—through the years, through all the heartache and all the tears. It was like someone had cast a spell, stopping time.

Apparently, fate had a wicked sense of humor. How else could she explain that the wifeless disgruntled honeymooner at her parents’ hotel was the same boy she’d never managed to get out of her head, heart and mind?

She swallowed a thick lump in her dry throat. “Mitch?”

He looked as shocked as she was. “Jacqueline van Moetlier. Well, hello.”

The corners of her eyes pricked with hot tears. This was too much. Seeing him like this, out of the blue, after everything that had happened …

Realizing her hand was still resting on his skin, she jumped up, flexing her fingers like they’d been burned. Then, without another word, she turned and ran.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jackie

Mitch Craigton was here. At the Mexican Jewel. He was here, right where she was, and her mind short-circuited whenever she tried to wrap it around that simple fact.

Jackie paced the room, tugging and pulling at her hair in frustration. The overwhelming ache spread through her insides like some kind of mutated virus, ravaging everything in its wake.

It had been ten years since she’d snuck out of his bedroom, leaving a short handwritten note on her pillow as the only goodbye.

She groaned, pushing her back against the wall. The air conditioning had switched on as soon as she had entered the room, and cool air raised the hairs on her bare forearms; the soft hum of the unit reminded her she wasn’t dreaming. Closing her watery eyes, she slid down and sat cross-legged on the wooden floor.