Wyoming Sweethearts. Jillian Hart

hadn’t answered that particular prayer yet, but there was always a first. She was determined to hold out hope.

      “We have to fend for ourselves tonight.” Uncle Frank looked up from his laptop on the kitchen table the moment Sean came through the door. “The girls are in Jackson trying on the dresses for Autumn’s wedding and dragged Mrs. G. with them. I told her you and I could throw something on the barbecue or hit the diner. What do you say?”

      “The diner.” He’d just finished cleaning out three stables and feeding all the horses. That explained where Autumn was, who practically lived in the barns. “Where’s Tucker?”

      “His fiancée is cooking for him, but he didn’t see fit to extend an invitation to us.” Frank grinned and pushed away from the table. “Let me grab my hat and my keys. How did the horse rescue turn out?”

      “Good. The inn has some gentle animals, and some good horses have a caring home.” He turned on his heel and headed right back out the door.

      “Then it’s good news all around.” Frank seemed in an unusually chipper mood but he didn’t explain as he hopped down the steps. Buttercup dashed up to the fence and mooed, her bright eyes sparkling. “Hey, girl. I’ll come see you later. How’s that?”

      A discontented moo trailed after them as they headed to the garage.

      “Tucker’s about ready to take possession of the land he bought.” Frank hopped into the driver’s seat of his big black pickup.

      Sean climbed into the passenger seat and buckled in. He liked his uncle. He couldn’t count the number of times Dad had said, “You remind me of my brother.” Sean supposed he and Frank were alike in some ways. They both liked the outdoors, loved animals, had ranching in their blood. Sean liked to think he was as even-tempered. “Does that mean the Greens are officially moved off the land he bought?”

      “They leave tomorrow for Florida. Retirement. I can’t picture that.” He started the engine and gunned down the driveway with the speed and skill of someone who had done it thousands of times. Trees whipped by along with rolling green fenced fields full of grazing horses. The view of the Tetons and the Wyoming sky could knock the breath out of you. Frank turned the truck onto the paved county road. “I’m going to wind up like my dad. I’ll be here until the end of my days.”

      “It’s not a bad life sentence.”

      “I reckon not. Say, I hear you’re on the rebound,”

      Frank said as if he were discussing the weather and not dropping a bombshell.

      “Where did you hear that?” He chuckled. “Who am I rebounding with?”

      Then he knew. He remembered Eloise’s hand beneath his, the feminine feel of her slender fingers entwined between his. The talk they’d shared on the porch in plain view of anyone walking by. “Cady told you, didn’t she?”

      “She mentioned seeing you and Eloise together.” Frank kept his gaze on the road as if indifferent, but there was no missing his knowing grin.

      “We were having a cool drink after fetching the horses. No big deal.”

      “No big deal. Sure, I get that. Except the two of you were holding hands.”

      Nothing was private in a small town. Sean chuckled. “Looks are deceiving. Cady saw me comforting a friend, that was all.”

      “A friend. If that’s what you want to call her, fine by me.” Uncle Frank’s ear-to-ear grin said he knew differently.

      He would be wrong. “Eloise has had a tough time. We were talking about it. Friends do that.”

      “You don’t need to convince me.”

      As if that were even possible. It looked as if his uncle had already made up his mind. Sean shifted on the seat to watch a hawk glide by over the long stretch of field. He and Eloise knew the truth. On the rebound?

      He shook his head. It would take a long time before he would be ready to jump in and risk a romantic relationship, rebound or not.

      Talk turned to the subjects of the ranch and family until town came into view. The truck rolled to a stop in front of the diner’s wide picture windows and a familiar fall of straight golden hair and a cute profile drew his attention. Eloise sat at a booth with a fork poised in midair, listening intently to something her dinner partner said.

      Dinner partner. Sean’s brain clicked into gear. Her date. She was on a blind date this evening. He frowned at the guy who wore a white dress shirt and dark slacks and had a wholesome, all-American look to him. Sean bristled. He didn’t trust that guy. He unlatched his seat-belt, opened the door and dropped to the ground. On the other side of the sun-streaked glass, she turned toward the window, toward him, and her gaze arrowed to his.

      Surprise flashed in her gentle green eyes before she returned her attention back to her dinner date. In that one moment he felt dismissed, a friend and not more, just as he’d insisted on being.

       Chapter Five

      He’s coming into the diner! That single realization sent nerves zipping through Eloise’s stomach as she watched George cut what remained of his chicken-fried steak into tiny pieces. She trained her eyes on her dinner date but her attention slipped toward the opening door even if her gaze didn’t. The door swung open and in the background Sean sauntered in. He planted his hands on his hips but he didn’t glance her way. His mile-wide shoulders squared as he ambled down the far aisle with his uncle and out of her field of vision.