She didn’t know. Shecouldn’tknow.
Her dad coming for her that night had set her on a whole different path, and she’d changed. She didn’t really want to put a foot out of line. That had dictated most of her actions in the years since.
Now that she was twenty-two it wasn’t like her dad was going to come after her if she was out making out with some boy. It wasn’t a rebellion anymore.
But it was definitely...definitelyoutside of her experience.
Anyway. She didn’t want to go on a date with a man she had to...talk herself into going out with. In her opinion, that kind of thing should be blindingly obvious. You should be unable to deny the attraction between yourself and the person who wanted to date you.
In theory, she figured.
Maybe that was another problem with waiting so long. She’d had too many years to build it all up into a fantasy. Now she couldn’t imagine having less than that fantasy.
She drove on the winding road that led out of town to the Garrett family ranch. The bed-and-breakfast was a beautiful Victorian that had recently been painted, all deep green and glorious berry colors, honoring the Victorian origins of the home, which had been ordered from a catalog back in the late eighteen hundreds.
It was an oddity, out there on this ranching spread that had otherwise rustic buildings. But it was the original home that had been situated on the property.
Violet loved it. It was just so... It was like a storybook. Parts of her life had been decidedly unlike a fairy tale, so any moment she could grasp that felt magical... Well, she would take it. She walked up the front steps and went inside, admiring the way she had the entryway done up. She was really quite tempted to put up Christmas decorations now, even though it was before Thanksgiving. She wondered if that was too much of a controversial move. She didn’t want to be controversial. She didn’t think people went to a bed-and-breakfast seeking controversy.
The entryway was lovely and old-fashioned, with a coat tree by the heavy wood door, and a bench positioned to the left for people to sit and put their shoes on. Even though it was late in the day, pale sun still streamed through the green-and-purple glass that was framed in the door.
Violet hummed as she laid out the tray and started to put the cookies on it, arranging them lovingly. She liked for guests to be greeted by ample sweets and a choice of warm beverages. Especially this time of year. Some hot tea. Some coffee. She knew that there were two couples coming in tonight, plus her lone guest, who was related to the family in some way. Sadie had explained it, but Violet had been busy trying to plan out portions and meals and the menu for the next week. She was excited to try some new things. It turned out she was very good at cooking savory foods, in addition to baking sweets, and more than that, she really enjoyed it.
She went into the back to start making coffee, fussing around in the kitchen, which had been transformed into something more commercial, but still smaller than the bakery kitchen, which allowed her to bake quite a few things at once. And then she heard the door open, and hurriedly closed the urn that had the coffee in it, carrying it out toward the entry. And she stopped dead in her tracks. Because she couldn’t walk, breathe and take in the sight of the man who had just walked into the bed-and-breakfast.
He was tall. Broad, built like a mountain. He had black hair, and black eyes that looked at her with a piercing sort of knowledge from beneath the shadow of the brim of his cowboy hat. His hat was black. His T-shirt was black. He looked like an outlaw. An outlaw come to kidnap her. Take her away.
She was used to cowboys. She had spent a lot of her childhood in Texas, and happened to be the daughter of a cowboy. Happened to be the niece of several cowboys. And there were a great many ranching families in the immediate area. But she had never seen a cowboy quite like him.
His lips hitched into a half smile. “Afternoon, ma’am. My name’s Wolf Garrett.”
But what Violet heard was: my name is Trouble.
She could only be grateful that trouble was one thing she was very, very good at avoiding.
CHAPTER TWO
WELL. THEWOMANin front of him was a sexy little package, no mistake.
He had been thinking that it might be nice to find a little fun in Copper Ridge, but he hadn’t anticipated that the fun might actually be in the bed-and-breakfast that his cousin was putting him up in on the ranch property.
“Sorry to just barge in.”
“It’s a...a bed-and-breakfast,” the woman said. “It’s fine.”
She was petite, extremely cute, with dark brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. She wasn’t tall by any stretch, her head coming just to the center of his chest. But she was curvy. And then some. In all the places he liked to see them. “Still,” he said.
“I was just... I was bringing out drinks. If you want something other than coffee...”
“A coffee would do me just fine,” he said.
He had dinner plans with his cousins tonight, which meant that getting a little bit of fire in his blood would help. Although... The innkeeper was helping with that.
Hereallyhoped that this wasn’t his cousin’s wife.
Though, she looked young. He wasn’t the best at gauging age between twenties and thirties; could be anything. People started changing at different rates, after all. But he knew that his cousin’s wife was in her midthirties, and this girl did not look near that age.
“You’re not...Sadie,” he said.