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Out under the winter moon—a wolf moon, if she recalled—India inhaled the unmistakable scent of winter, filling her lungs with air that was clean and pure. She stayed close to the house, mindful of coyotes.
The stars overhead sparkled in a stunning array. Even the Milky Way was visible. After being back in New York for so long, she had almost forgotten what the sky looked like in a really dark place.
As beautiful as the night was, loneliness struck hard, reminding her that Aspenglow was no longer her home. She kept walking, refusing to give in to the dark thoughts dogging her heels. This time with Dottie was precious and temporary. At some point, India would return to New York, and her life would get back to normal.
She was lucky to have a wide circle of friends and an active social calendar. She loved her job and the challenges it offered. She had healed emotionally. There was no reason in the world for her to be melancholy.
But the feeling persisted, robbing the night of its joy. She wanted Farris’s arms around her, yearned to bask in the warmth of his big, muscular body. Was that urge nothing more than sexual attraction?
What would happen if she acted on those impulses?
Eventually, cold toes and fingers forced her back inside. Under the stinging spray of a hot shower, she gave herself a pep talk. It wasn’t like her to wallow in self-pity. From now on, Farris Quinn was just another guy.
It was a whopper of a lie, but she was trying to think positively.
It felt good to curl up in a comfy bed with an interesting book. She read for an hour and then yawned so many times in a row she knew it was time to turn out the light. Sleep came almost instantly.
Sometime around three a.m., a noise awakened her. Not very loud, but close by. Her heart racing, she sat straight up in bed.
It wouldn’t be Dottie. Farris’s mother took medication to help her sleep and thus slumbered deeply.
Maybe the sound was outside.
She listened intently, almost forgetting to breathe. There it was again. Footsteps? An intruder? Had she forgotten to set the alarm when she came inside?
Another sound had her climbing out of bed and grabbing the nearest weapon. The gas-log fireplace was flanked on the hearth by a set of useless though decorative tools. One of them was about to get used, decorative or not.
India grabbed the brass poker and tiptoed toward the door. She didn’t want to open the door at all. But if she called 911, help would be slow in coming, given the ranch’s remote location.
Adrenaline shored up her courage. Stealthily, she hefted the poker, turned the knob and opened the door. Every cell in her body jumped to high alert.
Earlier, she had turned off the hall light before going to bed. In the interim, someone had flipped the switch again, now illuminating the small foyer that connected the two bedrooms. A large man stood there, juggling two pieces of luggage.
“Oh,” she said, feeling foolish. “It’s you.” Heat flooded her body. She had thought about him for hours, and now here he was.
In an effort to ignore the disturbing fact that she was so desperately glad to see him, she went on the offensive. “I had no idea you were coming home tonight. You scared the hell out of me.”
Farris looked tired but no less sexy. There were shadows beneath those beautiful blue eyes. His black hair was mussed. The ends of a navy silk tie hung from his jacket pocket. His once-crisp dress shirt was open at the collar. “I told Mother,” he said. “I sent her a text around eight tonight.”
“Dottie went to bed early. I suppose she forgot to mention it to me...or assumed it didn’t matter.”
He set down his bags and reached for her. India was shocked for a split second. But then she realized he meant to disarm her. She’d still been holding the poker over her head. Farris tugged it from her grasp and leaned it in the corner, his expression quizzical. “Were you really prepared to bash in someone’s skull? The India I remember didn’t even like to use mousetraps in the barn.”
“People change,” she said. Now that the immediate intruder emergency was over, she found herself weak and shaky. Not to mention feeling at a distinct disadvantage. Her long-sleeved flannel pajamas were neither new nor particularly flattering. She had packed them knowing they would be good for the cold Wyoming winter nights.
She certainly hadn’t expected to encounter her ex-husband while wearing the dismally unsexy pj’s.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he said quietly.
His body language said he was not in the mood for a fight, verbal or otherwise. India could relate. She wrapped her arms around herself, glancing down to see if her nipples were poking against her top.
Turned out, they were. But there was nothing she could do about it, so maybe Farris wouldn’t notice.
India sighed. “It’s okay,” she muttered. “I let my imagination run away with me. I should have known it was you. Why so late, though? I thought the last flight came in around nine thirty.”
“I missed my connection in Salt Lake. They were going to put me up in a hotel and get me on the six a.m. flight tomorrow morning. I decided I’d rather rent a car.”
“You drove three hundred miles in the dark through the mountains?”
He shrugged, giving her a small grin that still had enough wattage to make her legs tremble. “At least half of it was interstate.”
She shook her head in disgust. “Men,” she said.
“What can I say? I wanted to get home.”
“If you were in such a big hurry to get home, why did you extend your trip?”
Farris’s sculpted jaw jutted. His eyes flashed blue heat. “I think you know the answer to that, India.”
