Big Sky Reunion

She tried to repress a surge of annoyance. Or was it jealousy? In either case, it didn’t matter. She’d accomplished what she’d wanted. She could put up the flyer.

Placing the flyer on the window right next to the door, she held it with one hand while she pulled off a few inches of tape and smoothed it across the top of the sheet. She did the same along the bottom, then looked up only to be snared by a familiar pair of dark eyes.

Daniel. Standing on the other side of the window.

Gasping, she took a step back, nearly knocking over a chair that was behind her.

The man had an annoying habit of popping up out of nowhere when she least expected to see him.

His eyes crinkled with a smile and he winked at her.

Her stomach took a tumble. Confound his hide.

Before she knew it, he’d stepped inside the diner and was standing right next to her.

“Hey, there, Goldilocks. I thought that was my job, putting up the flyers.”

“I was just next door—”

“Hey, Danny!” Ivy cried. “Didn’t expect to see you this morning.” She hurried across the diner, all smiles and puppy-eager. “You want some bacon and eggs or a stack of pancakes this morning?”

“Uh, no, thanks. I already ate.” He glanced back to Melinda. “I’ll buy you a cup of coffee if you want.”

She lifted her chin. “No, I’d better get on with putting up these flyers. Got to get the word out, you know.”

“I just made a fresh pot of coffee,” Ivy announced, her smile now frozen on her face. Straight white teeth surrounded by rictus lips painted a pale pink.

“Maybe later,” Daniel said to Ivy, then took the flyers from Melinda’s hand. “I’ll come with you, introduce you around.”

“That isn’t necessary.” She reached for the door-knob.

Daniel’s big hand got there first. He opened the door.

She had little choice but to precede him out onto the sidewalk.

“Catch you later, Ivy,” he said as he joined Melinda outside. “Where to first?”

She remained frozen in place, a slow burn building in her stomach. “You still have women falling all over themselves for you, don’t you? Just like ten years ago.”

He lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug. “I haven’t noticed you falling all over me.”

Not recently, at any rate. “Ivy started hyperventilating the moment you walked in the diner. And then there’s April. Does she know Ivy’s after you?”

A low chuckle rumbled in his chest and he hooked his arm across Melinda’s shoulders, urging her down the sidewalk. “April doesn’t have a jealous bone in her body, if that’s what you’re asking.”

She bristled. “I wasn’t asking.”

“Good, because April’s my one true love and smartest mare in my breeding stock.”

Melinda dug in her heels. “Your breeding stock?” What on earth—

“I raise quarter horses, Mindy, and breed them.” His lips kicked up into another grin. “One day you’ll have to come out to the ranch. I’ll introduce you to April. You’ll love her.”

Her jaw went slack. As though he’d poured cold water on a raging wildfire, the burning sensation in her stomach vanished, leaving a residual of confusion. She frowned.

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

“Not about April.”

Which meant he might lie about something else?

He guided her into a real-estate office and introduced her to Rick Jennings, a tall, lanky man in his forties. “This is Aunt Martha’s niece. She’s reopening the knitting shop.”

Cordial and friendly, Nate welcomed her to town and was happy to put the flyer in his window.

Next came the grocery store. Melinda had picked up fresh produce there a couple of times in the past week, although she’d done her major shopping at the supermarket in Manhattan while Aunt Martha had her physical therapy session.

Daniel reintroduced her to Art Williams, the grocery store owner, whom she recalled from the summer she’d spent in town. She’d bought a lot of ice cream bars and bottles of soda in his store. He’d aged some in the past ten years and lost a good deal of hair, but he still had the look of Ichabod Crane with his narrow face and prominent Adam’s apple.

“Oh, I remember this sweet little lady,” he said with a knowing look. “Remember you taking a liking to her right off, too, Danny boy.”

Heat flooded her cheeks. Had her relationship with Daniel been that obvious? Evidently.

Daniel simply grinned and thumbed his Stetson farther back on his head. “You’ve always had a good memory, Art.”

Quickly deciding to take control of the conversation, Melinda explained about the flyer. When Art gave his permission to post the flyer in his window, she yanked one from Daniel’s hand and marched to the front of the store.

She felt Daniel staring at her, and her ears burned fiery hot as she taped the flyer to the window.

Enough was enough. She didn’t need an escort for this job. If Daniel wanted to spread the flyers around town, it was fine with her.

“I have to get home to check on my aunt.” She handed Daniel the roll of tape. “You can drop off any extra flyers at the shop. Just slide them through the mail slot and I’ll pick them up later.”

His finely arched brows rose. “You running out on me again?”

Guilt for the cowardly way she’d left ten years ago without confronting Daniel about DeeDee pricked her conscience. “I’m checking on Aunt Martha.” She tossed her hair behind her shoulder. “If you don’t have time to distribute the flyers, I’ll take care of them later.”

He leaned a shoulder against the side of the open door. “You’ve turned into a prickly little thing, haven’t you?”

Only when it comes to you, Daniel O’Brien.

She held out her hand for the flyers.

He pushed himself upright. “I’ll have the town painted with flyers in no time. You go on and look after Aunt Martha.”

“Fine.” She plopped the tape into his hand, whirled and struck out at a quick pace for the relative safety of Martha’s house.

Not that she’d be safe anywhere with Mr. Bad Boy O’Brien on the prowl. He made her feel things she didn’t want to feel, things she had no right to feel.