Max let out a plaintive yowl. Taylor hugged her friend, then opened the car.
“Tay…” Taylor looked back at Carolyn. “Call anytime. No matter what.”
“You know I will.”
* * *
TAYLOR HAD DRIVEN away late Saturday morning as Cole headed out to the fields and returned to the farm midafternoon, parking the SUV closer to the bunkhouse door than usual. Cole stood at his kitchen window, eating a sandwich and watching as she opened the rear door and pulled out a large animal crate. It toppled awkwardly in her arms, and she struggled to lower it to the ground without dropping it.
Taylor half carried, half dragged the crate to her door and disappeared inside. A moment later she came back and collected a box and then closed the hatch door.
Taylor had a pet. Cat? Dog? Dragon?
Cat. He vaguely recalled her mentioning a cat.
He finished his sandwich then went to the slow cooker, where his dinner was simmering, and took off the lid. The one perk of the guest ranch was that he rarely had to cook for himself during the guest season, and during the slack times, he threw whatever was available into a slow cooker and let it do its thing. Tonight it was doing frozen meatballs in sauce. Pasta, lettuce, Italian dressing and a loaf of bread, and he was set. Not bad for a non-cook.
He’d just put the lid back on the cooker when a knock sounded on the door. He set down the spoon he’d used to stir the sauce and headed across the kitchen, wondering what Taylor needed now.
After he and Dylan had lost all their money to Mike and Cal, they’d shared one last beer in Mike’s living room while the old guys settled in for the news, and he’d been tempted to turn the conversation back to Taylor. But Taylor’s past was none of his business, and he had no reason to be curious. Still, he kept flashing on Mike mentioning that if Taylor wanted something, her grandparents made certain she got it. If Cole read things right, Karl now regretted overindulging Taylor. Cole certainly regretted it, but that didn’t stop him from being struck by just how good she looked standing there on his doorstep, her long blond hair falling around her shoulders instead of being caught back in an elastic or swept up in a bun-thing.
“Hi,” she said in a voice that made him think that she was taking pains not to engage him in any way. “I’d like to go into the cellar via the back door, if that’s all right.”
“Sure.”
She was three steps back down the walk before he could say anything else, which was probably a good thing, so he closed the door. Leaned against the counter. Stroked his chin, then headed back to the door and followed Taylor around the house and down the cellar steps. She already had the key in the lock.
He stopped at the top step as she fumbled with the key. “How’d your interview go?”
She continued jingling the stubborn lock until it finally popped free. “Good,” she said without looking up at him. “I hadn’t realized anyone knew about the interview.”
“I guessed,” he said. “From the dress you wore.”
“Ah. And have you guessed where I was today?” There was a note in her voice that put his back up.
“I’m not spying on you. We live together, remember?”
One corner of her mouth tightened before she pushed the door open and stepped into the dark cellar. A light snapped on, and after some scraping and general banging around, she reappeared with a largish empty wooden box. “Bed for my cat,” she explained. After setting the box down beside her, she relocked the door and slid the key under the flowerpot next to the step.
“If you ever lock yourself out, now you know how to get back in—unless you pushed the slide lock at the top of the stairs.”
Cole shifted his weight, and she let out a small snort.
“You did, didn’t you? Well, you never know when someone’s going to sneak into your house, steal a chair and go through your things.”
“It was locked when I moved in.”
“Ah.” He stood back as she wrestled the box up the steep stairs, but couldn’t keep himself from reaching out to take it as she got close to the top. Taylor’s hands dropped to her sides. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell people that I interviewed.”
“Why? You’re here to get a job, right?”
She shrugged carelessly, but Cole wasn’t getting a careless vibe from her. “I like to keep things to myself until they’re a done deal.”
“It isn’t like people are going to make fun of you if you don’t get the job.”
“I don’t like to advertise failure.”
“You haven’t had a lot of failures in your life, have you?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you look me up?”
Caught. He’d been…curious. It was good to know one’s adversary.
“Didn’t you do the same with me?” he asked, feeling certain she had.
Her mouth twisted a little. “If I say no?”
“You’ve got more willpower than I do. I like to know who I’m dealing with.”
“What did you find out?”
“You don’t fail. Or rather you didn’t, until recently.” Mainly because she got a lot of help along the way. “What did you find out?”
“That you are pretty much off the radar.”
He liked things that way. “Yup. No newsworthy successes or failures. No arrests or convictions either.”
“So I assumed, or Karl wouldn’t have let you on the place while I was here.”
“Thereby saving you nineteen ninety-nine for the whole people-finder report?”
“Maybe.”
“Where’d you interview?”
She shook her head and started walking again, leaving Cole to carry the box.
“You don’t think you’ll get the job?” he guessed.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. “Oh, I’m going to get the job.” He tilted his head in a questioning way, and she drew in a breath. “I don’t talk about things until they’re settled. Good business practice.”
“Or you’re afraid of jinxing yourself.”
“I’m not afraid of jinxing myself,” she snapped just a little too quickly. “And just so you’re mentally prepared, I’m not moving immediately.”
“Why not?”
She turned back toward him. “I have some catching up to do financially.”
His eyes narrowed. “I assumed—”
“Incorrectly, it seems.” She gave him a cool smile.
“This wasn’t what we agreed on,” he said in a low voice.
“How so?”
“Karl told me you could stay here until you got a job. You just said you were going to get this job, therefore, you’re going to leave once you do.”
She blinked at him. “That wasn’t the deal.”
“It was. Trust me.” He leaned closer. “Better yet, call your grandfather. Ask him.”
He watched her jaw set as she considered his words.
“I leased a farm because I wanted to get away from people, not so that I could share my life with them. I entered into the agreement in good faith. I let you stay here temporarily for Karl’s sake. But what I really want is