Page 275 of The Cowbears of Curvy Bear Ranch

He cocked his head to one side, puzzled by her razor-sharp interest. She shifted in her seat and averted her gaze. Weird. Maybe they were moving into more personal territory too fast. He didn’t have a lot of experience talking to women. He preferred to talk to horses. He understood animals, but people? Notsomuch.

“Do your parents still live around here?” sheasked.

“No.” His heart clenched. “We lost my mom a few years ago and my dad a few yearsbeforethat.”

“I’msorry.”

“Thanks. When they moved to the ranch, it was nothing but rock-infested land. They worked hard to clear the hills and turn the pastures into a good place to raisehorses.”

“And kids,”shesaid.

“And kids,” he agreed. “My brothers and I were very lucky to have such good parents. Howaboutyou?”

“My parents are great. They live in, um,Chicago.”

“Why’d they decide to move there from Miami?” he asked. “It’s freezing. Don’t get me wrong, I love the snow. But sometimes I wonder what it would be like to move to a state like Florida orCalifornia.”

“It’s overrated,”shesaid.

“So you decided to drive clear across the country to marry a cowboy?” heasked.

It seemed rather odd, but maybe she needed a change of pace. Abby, Carol, and Madison had come from big city life to the ranch and they all seemed betterforit.

“I needed a new perspective,”shesaid.

When she didn’t elaborate, he let it slide. He wasn’t one to pry into anyone’s business. His bear, on the other hand, wanted to know everything about her. How long had it been since her last relationship? Did she taste as good as she smelled? Did she want to hop into bedwithhim?

He chuckled.Oh, bear. If only you could stop talking for two damn minutes, I’d be forevergrateful.

His bear huffed inresponse.

“So what did you do in Florida?” heasked.

“What doyoumean?”

“Forwork?”

“A little of this, a little of that. I never stayed anywhere for very long,”shesaid.

“What did your friends think about your plan to move?” heasked.

“I didn’taskthem.”

“I thought women talked about huge life changes with each other,”hesaid.

“I don’t really have anyfriends.”

“So you did odd jobs and didn’t have any friends. You weren’t in witness protection or something, were you?” hejoked.

Her jaw dropped and a hint of fear crept into the corners of her eyes. Jesus, had he accidentally hit on something? The more he thought about it, the more her story wasn’t making sense. Nothing major stood out, but parts of their conversation didn’t add up. Like why would she take such a circuitous route to get to the ranch? Why didn’t she have any friends totalkto?

“Maybe we should head back,” she said. “We’ve been gone for awhile.”

“It’s only been about thirty minutes,” he said, noting that she hadn’t answered his question. Could she be a criminal ofsomekind?

His eyebrows knitted together for a moment before he relaxed. He’d been watching too many cop shows recently. Everyone on TV seemed to have some dark, ulterior motive. Maybe he needed to switch over to one of those idiotic reality series that Carol loved to watch, so he could stop being so suspicious of every littleinconsistency.

“We should head back,” Sharon saidfirmly.