The Texan's Tennessee Romance / The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess: The Texan's Tennessee Romance / The Rancher & the Reluctant Princess

“That’s because I don’t like what I’m doing now. That isn’t true for you.”

“Yeah. Um. Right.”

They disconnected a few minutes later on a pleasant enough note, though Aaron’s warnings about Casey’s possible career jeopardy had left Casey feeling tense and irritable. To distract himself, he settled more comfortably in his chair and focused on the beauty of the wooded hillsides around him. And then he realized that an even more appealing picture had taken shape in his mind—Natalie Lofton, standing wet and startled in front of him, her thin, almost-transparent shirt revealing just enough to make his pulse race.

He was a bit surprised by the clarity of the mental image. His life was in enough turmoil right now, he told himself. He didn’t need an inconvenient attraction to a woman who seemed to be in as much of a quandary as he was.

Or maybe that was exactly what he needed, he mused, tugging thoughtfully at his lower lip. Hadn’t Aaron just said that he should start seeing other women, forget about Tamara, put his troubles out of his mind? Which meant he should be open to possibilities as he worked on the cabin in which Natalie was staying.

He would be seeing her again, he thought with a buzz of anticipation. Soon.

Chapter Two

Casey Walker was in Natalie’s cabin again, this time in her bedroom.

Sitting at the round oak table in the kitchen with her computer in front of her, Natalie could hear him banging around as he removed the wobbly old ceiling fan and prepared to install another. She hadn’t been able to resist expressing her concern about his ability to handle that task, but he’d scowled and assured her that he knew what he was doing. He and Kyle had installed a new fan in one of the other cabins only the day before, he’d informed her.

When he finished replacing the fan, he was going to hang the new mirror in the bathroom. He planned to accomplish both those tasks before he left today.

Listening to the unnerving noises coming from the back of the cabin, Natalie wondered if Kyle was investing too much confidence in his wife’s cousin.

She had offered to help, but Casey had politely declined. She suspected that he hadn’t wanted her watching him. At least he’d had the foresight to turn off the electricity to the back part of the cabin, so he was working in the sunlight streaming through the big bedroom window.

She’d just happened to observe, of course, that he looked very good standing in that sunlight, which brought out the gold strands in his blondish-brown hair.

Frowning, she turned her attention back to the monitor in front of her. It showed how frustrating this research was that she was so easily distracted by the sight of a young stud in a tool belt. Hadn’t she learned her lesson when Thad had been so eager to distance himself from her after the humiliating debacle at her law firm? Great-looking young guys were always on the prowl, hunting for a good time, but quick to disappear whenever any sign of trouble cropped up.

So maybe she’d noticed Casey looking at her when he thought she wouldn’t see, and maybe she was aware of a muted sizzle between them. Maybe she would have been intrigued by the possibility of a careful holiday flirtation if it hadn’t been for the cloud hanging over her head. As it was, she had neither the time nor the energy to give in to impulse now. Or at least she tried to convince herself of that, even as she savored another mental image of the way Casey looked in his soft work shirt and weathered jeans.

Maybe she had a little extra time…

A particularly loud thump from the back room made her start. After a momentary internal debate, she rose and moved that way, half expecting to find pieces of ceiling scattered across the floor of the bedroom.

Casey glanced around when she stopped in the doorway. The old ceiling fan sat on the floor at his feet, entirely in one piece as far as she could tell. Wires dangled from the fixture in the ceiling, but it seemed that everything was under control.

“Sorry,” he said. “I set it down a bit more heavily than I intended. I hope I didn’t distract you from anything important.”

Oh, he distracted her, all right. She just didn’t think it was a good idea to let him know that. “No, I was just checking to see if you need any assistance. Maybe I could help you hold the new fan while you install it?”

“Actually, Kyle showed me how to balance it while I connect everything. It’s just a small, fairly lightweight fan. But thanks for the offer.”

She nodded. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me for anything.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Back at the kitchen table, she stared again at the long list of names on her computer monitor. During the past thirty-six hours, she had shortened the list of suspects. By two names. Both of whom were dead. And she’d gotten to the point that she wasn’t even entirely sure of their innocence. She hoped Beecham would call her today. If not, she was going to try to reach him and ask if he’d made any further progress with his investigation. She was certainly making no headway with her own.

Disgusted with herself, with the entire situation, she pushed the computer away with a low growl. A beeping sound made her pull it back again.

Hey, Nat. U there?

The instant message had popped up on her screen from a sender whose screen name was “GlitRChik” and whose avatar was a slightly crazed-looking fairy.

I’m here, Natalie typed back. What’s up?

Been doing some snooping.

Natalie replied quickly, Call me on my cell, Amber. Don’t put anything in writing.

Sorry

A moment later, Natalie’s cell phone chimed. She lifted it to her ear with only a perfunctory glance at the ID screen. “Hello.”

“Hi, Nat.”

“Don’t write anything down,” Natalie repeated firmly. “Especially on your computer. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I think I have some reason to be concerned.”

“I know you do,” Amber Keller, Natalie’s former assistant, sympathized. “I didn’t think about IMs leaving a paper trail.”

“They do. As I said, I’m probably being overly cautious, but still…what have you learned?”

“Not a lot,” her friend and former subordinate confessed. “Just one sort of interesting tidbit.”

“Which is?” Natalie prodded, even as a series of thumps sounded from the bedroom, making it hard to concentrate.

“Hang on a sec.” She stood and moved toward the kitchen doorway, thinking she would hear better if she went outside to the big wooden deck attached to the back of the vacation cabin. Closing the door behind her, she let a brisk, late-autumn breeze toss her hair as she sank into a green-painted Adirondack chair. “Okay. Now. What interesting tidbit?”

“Cathy Linski just bought a new car. A pretty fancy one. Convertible.”

Frowning, Natalie asked, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, a month ago, Cathy was whining about not having any money and being on the brink of bankruptcy. Now all of a sudden she’s spending money like crazy. When someone asked her what’s going on, she just laughed and said she came into a windfall and she’s going to enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Oh. That is interesting,” Natalie murmured, following Amber’s line of thought. She wondered if Beecham knew about this development.

“Yeah. It’s not much to report—might have nothing at all to do with your situation—but I thought you’d want to know.”

“That’s all you have?”

“I’m afraid so. Everyone’s been pretty closemouthed around here for the past couple of weeks. Nobody mentions you at all.”

Natalie bit her lower lip, then released it with a slight sigh. “Okay. Thanks, Amber. Let me know if you hear anything else, okay?”

“You got it. I’d better get back to work. Steve’s not nearly as tolerant as you were about personal time during the workday.”

“Don’t risk your job because of me. You can always call me when you get home. It’s not like I’m doing anything else in the evenings.”

“You want my advice? Try to have a little fun while you’re there in the mountains. You’ve been working too hard for a couple of years. This is your first time off work in, like, forever. Surely there’s some interesting guy there who can help you work off some frustration, if you know what I mean.”