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ahead. I’ll spread a blanket and
set out lunch.” When he was done, he squatted down beside her on a dry slab of
stone that jutted out over the water. “That little pool in the middle is deep
enough to swim in, if you ever get the urge. Though it tends to run a little
fast in the spring.”
    “Oh, I’ll get the urge all right. I imagine it’s pretty
refreshing on a hot summer night.”
    “Oh yeah. Many’s the night I’d sneak out to skinny-dip in
that little pool. Never thought anybody knew—until I was old enough to bring a
girl here with more on my mind than swimming. Miss Jack came out and gave me
what for. Seems she had a camera installed in the cottonwoods.”
    Haley laughed and Wyatt sucked in a breath. He’d heard folks
say a woman’s laughter was like music but he’d never believed it until now.
    “Well, feel free to bring your girl out here any time,
Brody. Just make sure I’m not skinny-dipping before you do.”
    “I’m between lady friends at the moment,” he said,
struggling to resist the urge to touch her. “But I’d be happy to skinny-dip with
you any night of the week.”
    Haley snorted and bumped his shoulder. “I just bet you
would.” With that, she got up and headed for the picnic blanket he’d spread
under the umbrella of an old oak tree. “Come on, cowboy, let’s eat.”
    Lunch consisted of grilled chicken breasts, pasta salad, and
thick slices of beefsteak tomatoes. Haley surprised him by handing him a
longneck bottle of Coors. He twisted off the top and took a long drink.
    “Ah, Colorado Kool-Aid. Nothing beats a cold beer on a hot
day.”
    She clinked her bottle against his. “You got that right.”
    After they ate and Haley repacked the containers in her
saddlebags, she propped herself on her elbows and stretched those long legs
out, crossing them at the ankles. Wyatt did the same, stealing glances at her
as she gazed out over the river.
    “So what do you do when you’re not picnicking by a river,
Haley Kilpatrick?”
    She took a deep breath of clean country air and swiveled her
head to look at him.
    “I’m a barrel racer, or I was. Mostly I train them now.
Geronimo there is a champion barrel horse. So is Molly, the mare I brought with
me. She’s due to foal soon. Before all this happened, I’d planned to start a
breeding program at a place my brother rents outside of Austin. My other brood
mares are still there.”
    “Why’s that?”
    Haley raised an eyebrow. “Well, I only own a two-horse
trailer and I really didn’t know what I’d find here. For all I knew, this place
was as run-down and neglected as where I came from. I mean, I didn’t even know
I had an aunt, much less that she’d passed and left everything to me.”
    Wyatt stretched out on his side, resting his head in his
hand. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and stroke Haley’s cheek. Maybe
capture her chin and kiss those pretty, full lips. But he didn’t. The way she
kept tracking his movements out of the corner of her eye told him she was
feeling skittish and the last thing he wanted to do was scare her away.
    “So, what do you think of Junction?”
    Haley removed the old straw Resistol and set it down in the
space between them, then stretched out, hands behind her head. Wyatt swallowed
at the sight her lush breasts pushing against the confines of her white,
sleeveless shirt.
    “Well the town looks like it’s seen better days but most
small Texas towns do. I checked out the Yellow Pages and it has all the
services I’d need to start my breeding program and keep this place running. And
the ranch, what’s not to love? I mean, d’oh, I have a waterfall in my backyard.
Don’t reckon I got the temperament to run a bar, though. I expect I’ll go on
ahead and sell it.”
    Wyatt grinned. “So, you’re staying?”
    She nodded once. “Yup. I’m staying.”
    “What about your brother in Austin?”
    Haley sighed and closed her eyes. “I don’t mean to sound
like the evil stepsister from