Six Weeks To Catch A Cowboy. Brenda Harlen

could have had a thick, juicy steak at Diggers’—or anything else on the menu.”

      “Mmm... I do love their strip loin, but this is better,” she told him.

      He spooned up the last of his soup which, along with the sandwich, had sated his gnawing hunger but was, by no stretch of the imagination, better than steak. “Why?”

      “Because if we’d walked into Diggers’ together, the whole town would be buzzing about it before the meat hit the grill.”

      “And that would bother you?”

      “I don’t like being the subject of gossip and speculation,” she said.

      “You’re not worried that people will remark on my truck being parked outside your apartment?”

      “I wasn’t—” she frowned as she stacked the empty bowls and plates “—until just now.”

      “I’m sure they have better things to talk about,” he said, attempting to reassure her.

      “You’re the closest thing this town has to a celebrity,” she reminded him, as she transferred the dishes and cutlery to the dishwasher. “Everything you do and say is major news.”

      “Then the gossips are going to throw a ticker tape parade when they find out about Dani.”

      She sent him a quizzical look. “Who’s Dani?”

      “My daughter.”