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The dream image said something, faintly, and Jeremy pulled on his hand as he asked, “What did she say?”

“She said . . . let me go.”

He woke up abruptly, jerking half upright before he even realized he’d been asleep. His heart was racing, and he felt a bit clammy.

Let me go.

He didn’t believe in supernatural stuff like messages from beyond, or the afterlife, or whatever they called it.

But he had no other explanation for this.

*

There had beenan underlying hum of tension between them ever since that evening. Nic didn’t know if it was coincidence or intent—on his part or even hers—but they weren’t alone together for more than a moment or two for the next couple of days. And when they were, it was always in the middle of a job or some work that required all hands.

And work was something the man couldn’t seem to get enough of. He seemed to be taking on more and more, and when she’d told him he didn’t have to work quite that hard, he simply said he wanted to learn. She’d believed it... until Maggie Rafferty had mentioned she’d told him about Dad’s heart attack. The timing lined up too perfectly to deny. He was taking on more work to help her father.

Which only makes you like him even more.

She’d just reached the point of accepting that fact when her mother dropped a figurative bomb on them. But, being Mom, she disguised it cleverly.

“If it’s all right with you, Jackson,” she’d said when he’d come down to watch the end of Jeremy’s riding lesson for the day and she was there, “Jeremy’s going to spend the evening with us. One of my favorite riding-related movies is on, and he wants to see it.”

“I . . . sure.”

It was unlike Mom to not invite him to stay as well, and that was Nic’s tip-off that something else was up. So, when it hit, she wasn’t surprised. Not that that stopped her pulse from kicking into overdrive.

“Jeremy can stay overnight. We’ve already discussed it, and he’s fine with it. So why don’t you two go out on the town?Jackson, you haven’t been to the saloon on a Friday night yet, have you? You can’t be an official Last Stander until you do that.”

And that simply, they’d both been maneuvered. They either had to do it, or one of them had to come up with a decent excuse to get out of it. Except... she didn’t want to get out of it. But maybe he did. Maybe he regretted those moments on the porch, regretted that kiss that had so blown her away. If he did, she wanted to know now, before she did anything stupid.

Well, more stupid than kissing him.

But then he kissed you . . .

He had. And it had lit her up from head to toe. And so she simply looked at him, clearly handing the decision over to him.

It was a moment before he switched his gaze from her mother to her. Just long enough, she guessed, to let Mom know he saw through her ploy. But when he did look at her, she couldn’t read his expression at all.

He’s an actor. He can probably turn that utterly neutral expression on and off at will.

But that would mean he’d meant her to see his response to her kiss. Or the flash of heat that had inspired her to take the reckless step. Or had he been so far away from his work in that moment that the actor part of him hadn’t even been present? She’d like to believe that.

When he finally spoke, it wasn’t what she’d expected at all.

“Do I have to dress up for this?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“He’s nothing likeI expected.”

“He’s really nice.”

“He seems genuine, not fake.”

The pronouncements kept coming at her, usually delivered in whispers even though the subject of them was on the far side of the saloon. Was, in fact, engaged in a game of pool with Last Stand’s unexpected pool shark, Joey Highwater. As usual when Joey played, a crowd had gathered to watch, but this time Nic was sure who she was playing was the main reason the crowd was so big. And she couldn’t help noticing the locals had come together in sort of a human wall, keeping the strangers a bit at bay, able to look and gawk, but not bother.

Last Stand was protecting him.