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She looked at hieted "Can I have another cup of coffee?"

Why had she hedged? "Sure" He poured and handed it over

"Thanks" After she took a drink, she asked, "So ill you do if another section of land is selected for this program?"

"I’ve been lookin’ at land in Montana My buddy Boden is one of those naturalists He doesn’t stock elk on his hunting preserve, which is just a backwards way of thinking when he already feeds the dauarantee an elk to the guys who pay the astrono fees"

"You’d have an outlet to peddle your elk flesh?" she asked with a grin

"Yep" Dalton grabbed her hand "So it’s all on your shoulders whether or not I o…"

"What?"

He shrugged and hated himself for the lie that was about to conant and warn him she hated ultimatums A shrewd look entered her eyes and vanished "Well Then let’s hope your land measures up in the end"

"Any chance you can tell ainst?"

"No chance But I will say I’m at the tail end of these inspections"

"Saved the best for last, huh?"

She laughed

"Are you coht?"

"I hadn’t planned on it Why?"

"Because I didn’t see you last night and I’arpluet to see the romantic surprise I had for you"

"What kind of root a surprise and refuse to tell you what it is"

Rory laid her hand on his cheek "You are a horrible tease But I’ll be there"

He pressed kisses up the inside of her wrist "Drive safe"

Dalton followed her vehicle out the gate and locked it behind hi her a surprise

He had a few hours to figure it out

Rory had just finished her last inspection of the day and was finishing up notes, when her phone rang with an unfamiliar number "May I please speak to Aurora Wetzler?"

"This is Rory"

"Ah, so I see you did list that as your preferred name This is Lonna Davis, administrative coordinator from the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit in Missoula We received your application for the opening in the Ag ood time to set up a phone intervieith the CESU director?"

Holy Shit Stay calo Since she hadn’t heard anything, she’d assuine the director is busy, so ould work best with his schedule?"

"He’s free Thursday afternoon Around three o’clock?"

"That would work"

"Excellent Is this the best nues I’ll be sure to let you know"

"Thank you soup she had to recheck the caller ID toYep Montana area code

A phone intervieas huge She hadn’t made it past the application status with any of the jobs she’d applied for in the last six otten a callback from the BLM in Cody, which she hadn’t expected She had an in-person there next week--barring any road-closing snowstor up her qualifications for a job in Yellowstone would’ve been the perfect time to tell him about the interview But then he’d et awarded a perlad she’d kept her et the Yellowstone job anyway

She’d looked at the job description for the assistant’s position in Buffalo and decided not to apply Although the fulltime job paid well, it was close to what she faced every day at the WNRC--busywork that had nothing to do with her degrees

As ood word for her with the Wyoot a callback from them she’d wonder how much of that was due to Dillon’s influence

But this CESU job…she’d applied for that one on her own So if she ht have a chance at scoring her dream job

Rory couldn’t help but squeal with excitement But it would be nice to have someone to share her excitement with

"No offense, Dalton, but this is not what I’d call a roet your blood pu table like a professional tennis player awaiting a serve "It sure does mine"