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Sam dumped the glass into the bucket.
“Shit happens, man. I got it.” With a few flicks of the bartender's broom, the glass disappeared into the bucket.
An ear-splitting whistle blared. “Josie!” Chris waved at Josie, who had just exited the dance floor.
Her face flushed, she whispered something into Willie's ear, then made her way through the crowd to them. How she managed to move in those tight jeans, Sam had no idea.
His gaze roved higher to the black Western-style shirt unbuttoned to the third button, and his fingers itched to test the strength of that third button, an impulse he stuffed down. Josie was the enemy. No matter what she'd told him in the office earlier, he knew she was holding out on him. Treasure hunters had been after Rebecca's Bounty for years. He wouldn't help—not even if the hunter in this case was more intelligent and sexy than the others.
“Hey there.” She stuck out her hand to Chris. “I don't think we've been formally introduced, I'm Josie Winarsky.”
“Chris Layton.” He made a big show of kissing her knuckles, which made Sam's hackles twitch. “So what are you doing in Dry Creek?”
She nibbled on her full lower lip and dropped her gaze to the floor. “I'm at the Rose O'Neill Dry Creek Artist Colony.”
“Very cool, so what kind of artist are you?”
Angry at his own loss of self-control, Sam lashed out. “Con artist.”
Josie's head jerked up but before she could respond, Chris—ever the peacemaker—drew her attention back to him. “Ignore him. He's not used to being around such a beautiful woman. I, however, am the fun Layton brother.”
His brother flirted like that with every woman he met. Sam never cared before, but this time the move irritated him. Unable to keep his hands to himself, he flicked the back brim of Chris' black cowboy hat. Josie laughed that smooth alto song that made him forget there were other people in the world.
“I figured you two were brothers. So, if you're Mr. Excitement, what does that make
him?” She nodded her head toward Sam.
“The closet freak.” Chris draped his arm around Josie's shoulder and sent Sam a slick smile. The little bastard knew exactly what he was doing.
“Mmm-hmm, I knew that already. It's always the quiet ones.”
Sam's frustration spiked. “I am right here.”
“So how long will you be in Dry Creek, Josie?” Chris scooted his barstool back to make more room for her.
“I'm spending the next few months painting.”
“Oh, you're doing more than that. You're planning to fit in a little treasure hunting, aren't you? Josie here had Rebecca's diary the night we met in Vegas. Very convenient, wouldn't you say?” His blood pressure pushed into the danger zone at the memory of finding the map in Vegas and crashing down from his post-coital high.
The friendly look disappeared from her gray eyes. “I told you already what happened in Vegas was a coincidence.”
“Did you make a copy of the diary before you gave it to me this afternoon? It won't help without someone who knows McPherson's Bluff to guide you, so you might as well go back to Vegas because no one here is going to lift a finger to help.”
“What happened between us in Vegas had nothing to do with that treasure.” Her bottom lip, the one that had tasted of lime, trembled. “They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but it seems like you left behind your entire personality.”
Heat wound through him. He'd like nothing better than to be Las Vegas Sam, but he couldn't do that in Dry Creek. Here his place was defined. The steady one. The serious one. God, he hated it. And here she was, reminding him of the man he'd become—exactly the kind he swore to Michael he'd never be. His ire escalated and demanded release on the nearest target, blinding him to the unfairness of his actions.
“You were just priming me to get information about Rebecca's Bounty. Somehow you knew I've been searching the historical documents for clues about its location, trying to see what others had overlooked. That's why Vegas happened and why you found me here.”
“I didn't know about any of that until you said it. I slept with you in Vegas because I wanted to, not for information but because I liked you and, like a complete moron, I thought you liked me too.” She shrugged her shoulders, a tightness visible in her jawline.
Sam searched her face, looking for signs of deception. But instead of glancing away, she held his gaze, righteous indignation blazing in her gray eyes. The unfamiliar sensation of being in the wrong curdled the contents of his stomach. “That was totally uncalled for. I'm sorry.”
“Not as much as I am.” Josie spun around and threaded her way between bar patrons, her pace slower than before but her head held high.
That had gone completely shitty.
He and Chris sat in silence until Josie's white-blonde hair disappeared in the crowd. When it did, Chris shoved his stool back and stood.
