The Triplets' Rodeo Man. Tina Leonard

never been close, even though it was a reasonable assumption that a man who had so much to live for would be grateful for a kidney. After all, Josiah had given him life; Jack felt that returning the favor was good for his heavenly record. But no, neither Josiah nor Cricket seemed to feel the need to give Jack a little reciprocal gratitude.

      He didn’t feel it would have been too much to ask of Cricket to hang around, make him some eggs, act appreciative, maybe even slightly worshipful. She was very difficult to understand, and he didn’t like that. Women shouldn’t make a man think too long and too hard; otherwise it took all the fun out of the pursuit.

      Her hair had been every bit as soft as he’d imagined, and her skin had smelled sweet, like roses and strawberries. It had been a gentle, clean fragrance that made him burrow his face against her neck, her breasts. Her touch had driven him completely insane.

      He had never, ever, had a woman leave him without saying goodbye. He had always been the one who’d left. There was something final about a woman who departed of her own accord; it left the other player no moves on the chessboard.

      At least the electricity had come back on this morning. Jack grabbed the blanket off the floor, where they’d made love in front of the cheery—and romantic, if he did say so himself—fire he’d built in the fireplace. A strange spot on the blanket caught his eye; dumbly he stared at the stain. And that’s when he realized that Cricket Jasper had been keeping secrets. She hadn’t offered him the slightest clue that she’d been a virgin, which felt somehow as if she’d cheated.

      She wasn’t a virgin anymore. Now it stung like crazy that she hadn’t hung around for a goodbye kiss. Jack felt worse than at any time in his life, even when he’d been thrown flat on his backside—and maybe even stomped—by an assorted collection of ill-tempered bulls, as he tossed the blanket into the washing machine.

      Cricket’s desertion served as a reminder of the other people in his life who seemed to move on without saying goodbye. He didn’t have to put up with this crap. After he’d tidied up the place so that no one would ever know he’d been there, Jack grabbed his stuff and headed back to the one place he knew was a safe harbor—the rodeo circuit.