Page 7

She held open the door for him to walk through, and then led the way down a short hallway to an exam room. She motioned for him to take a seat in the leather and chrome chair that sat just inside the door.

He watched as she washed her hands with quick, efficient motions that made her thick, brown ponytail bounce between her shoulders. Speaking of things that bounced...

He tried but failed to keep his gaze from drifting lower to where her nicely rounded butt shifted as she dried her hands and snapped on a pair of blue latex gloves.

Not that he could see much detail through the light blue, baggy cloth. But even if he didn't have vivid memories of Colleen's perky little butt barely covered by her cheerleader's uniform as she pranced up and down the halls of Sweet Grass High School, his more recent sightings of her running up and down the road, sometimes in nothing more than running shorts and a sports bra, were enough to confirm that Colleen Murphy still had a world class ass.

And legs, and abs, and...

"Mind if I take a quick look?"

JT felt heat spread across his cheekbones, wondering if she'd caught him staring. Christ, he couldn't remember the last time he'd blushed in front of a woman.

Although he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Sometime around the time Colleen hit high school, she'd morphed from a cute girl into a gorgeous woman. At that point JT was no more able to talk to Colleen than he was to any other girl he found attractive.

He thought he'd grown out of his shyness with women, but obviously something about Colleen made him revert. Even after the funeral, when he'd managed to keep his shit together, the hand gripping his cowboy hat had been damp with sweat.

Awkwardly he held up his injured hand, and she carefully unwrapped the bandana with her gloved hands.

"Sorry," she said at his wince. "Some of the blood has dried so it's sticking. So, what—did you get in a fight with an ornery steer? Cut yourself on some barbed wire?" She looked up, a little half smile pulling at her plump, pink mouth.

"More like man vs. bagel," he replied.

"I thought you cowboys ate stuff like biscuits and gravy or fried eggs and hash for breakfast."

"Yeah, well, with the first guests arriving this weekend and a bunch of green employees to train, pretty much every meal is on the run." He sighed, thinking of everything that still needed to happen in the next few days.

As she bent closer, he caught a whiff of something floral and fruity. Perfume? Her shampoo maybe? Whatever it was it cut through the antiseptic smell of the exam room and sent a jolt of heat through his belly. Unable to resist, he closed his eyes and took a long inhale.

"Sorry, I'll quit poking around," she said and straightened.

JT sat back, relieved she'd mistaken his inhale as a sign of discomfort. To be caught staring was one thing. Caught smelling? That was just plain weird.

"Okay, I'm just going to take your vitals," she said, "and then I'll wash that out and get the doctor in here to look at it."

He obligingly opened his mouth as she stuck a thermometer in, then undid the snap at his right wrist so he could roll up his sleeve.

"How's your mom?" he asked as she wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his bicep.

She waited to answer as she pumped up the cuff. "She's been better," she finally answered. "I guess you could say we've all been better."

He couldn't miss the dark shadowed look that crossed through her eyes, the tired lines around her mouth.

Colleen had always seemed to him like a bright shining star, the girl who had it all. Looks, brains, a great family. And from what he'd heard until about a year ago, an amazing marriage to a big-shot doctor.

But apparently she wasn't any more immune to life's challenges than anyone else.

He was silent as she removed the cuff and flushed the slice in his palm with antibacterial soap and water.

She excused herself to go get the doctor, but as she got to the door, he called her name.

He found himself again tongue-tied at her expectant gaze. Finally, he managed, "I know you've got a lot going on, with your mom and your ex and all, but just make sure you take care of yourself."

That gorgeous mouth of hers tipped into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well, if I've learned anything recently, it's that if I don't take care of myself, no one else will."

After the door closed behind her, JT found himself wondering what it would take for Colleen not to feel like she was so alone. And what it would take to put that beautiful smile back on her face for good.

Chapter 3