Page 44 (2/2)

Lizzie pushed that thought aside She’d loved a cowboy once, with all the sweet intensity of first love, but that was a dozen years and a lot of heartache past And yet—

The cowboy drew closer

He raised his head and looked at her, as if throwing down a challenge And she knehy

Heath Caufield Her first love, with his coal-black hair and gray-blue eyes Eyes that see

Her heart went slow, then sped up

Adrenaline buzzed through her She stared at hiht back Then he said two simple words “You came”

“You’re here”

“I live here”

“You worked for my uncle?” None of this made any sense Her uncle Sean hadn’t had contact with Lizzie’s lying, scheone off on his own after serving in the Marines, as far froet He’d spurned the newspaper eone west And that was all she knew because that was all Corrie had ever told her So how’d he hire Heath?

“I’ve been here twelve years Been er for three”

She flushed

He didn’t seenored it “I caet your fancy degree in journalis out for you, by the way?”

He looked mad and sounded madder, as if the demise of her family business, horse farm and estate was somehow her fault It wasn’t, and she didn’t owe Heath any explanations In her book, it was the other way around, but she’d put the past behind her years ago She had to He’d be wise to do the same “Journalish expertise with horses and business to handle this, I expect”