Tim sat up and rubbed the back of his head, eyeing his sister. “You’re not feeling the need to start another mud-wrestling match, are you?”

“No, I’m feeling the need to load the shotgun and have you put out of your misery.” She walked up to Tim, swiped a finger over his cheek and inspected it. “Do I want to know why you’re covered in chocolate?”

“No.”

“I miss all the fun.” She stuck the finger in her mouth. “Hmm.”

“Good?” Natalia asked.

Since their little tussle, there had been a definite shift in his sister’s bad attitude toward Natalia. It was almost as if she was forcing it now, as if she wanted to hide the fact she’d accepted Natalia. Respected her. Even…she’d probably deny this to her dying day…liked her.

“It’s…okay,” Sally decided.

Natalia shook her head. “Liar.”

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“It’s perfect. Or it would be if wasn’t on the floor.”

“Stop acting like such a princess.”

“I am a princess.”

“Whatever.” Sally rolled her eyes at Tim and took another lick.

Natalia came to her feet and cocked a hip. “Why do you keep eating it if it’s only okay?”

Sally took another finger swipe. “Well…maybe it’s slightly better than okay.”

“It’s way better.”

“It’s better than the stuff Seth supplies me with, that’s for sure.”

Tim quickly stood, not ready to explain to Natalia how they were all slowly starving to death, not when she’d actually forgotten she was mad at him. “Sally-”

“Seth’s supply?” Natalia asked very quietly.

“Yeah. Make more of this and I might not feel the need I’ve felt all week to supplement my meals with outrageously priced candy bars and junk food.”

Oh, damn, Tim thought, and turned to Natalia. “Nat-”

“What are you talking about?” she asked Sally.

“Oh…nothing. Right, Tim?”

With four eyes on him, Tim could have cheerfully strangled Sally. He didn’t want to lie, but how could he tell the truth without purposely, cruelly hurting Natalia?

“Tim?” Natalia turned and looked at him.

“Did I mention I hear my horse calling me?”

Natalia stared at him, then reached for a sponge. “And you guys think I’m crazy.”

“Yeah.” Sally grabbed Tim’s hand and pulled him toward the door. “Don’t get too close. It’s contagious.”


NATALIA FOUND herself watching Tim often. And though she didn’t catch him at it, she felt him watching her back.

He did nothing about the yearning shimmering between them, which was fine. She could resist him, too, and still enjoy being here. And enjoy it she did. Cooking was her greatest pleasure.

To her shock, Sally had come back into the kitchen after the dessert fiasco, right after Tim had left. Without a word, she’d helped clean up.

Then, casually as she pleased, had asked about Natalia’s family and background. This time, as Natalia talked about her father, the Crown Prince, and her sisters Annie and Lili-both princesses in their own right-Sally didn’t scoff or scorn.

Now Natalia sat on the porch swing watching Tim feed his menagerie of pity pets by moonlight. He’d had a long, long day, and still he didn’t stop, not until everyone and everything was taken care of. She knew he had to be tired. Misty, the horse, kept drooling on him while Pickles knocked him flat trying to get to his food. And Mrs. Pig…she stood at Tim’s feet and put up a fuss, bouncing as high as she could on her three good legs, looking like a Mexican jumping bean.

Natalia couldn’t figure out what the thing wanted until Tim scooped her up and held her like a puppy, stroking her belly.

In ecstasy, the pig’s head rolled back.

Propelled by a force she didn’t try to fight, Natalia got off the swing and walked to the gate. “You don’t have to feed them,” she said.

Surprised at her voice, he looked up. Then smiled a smile that warmed her. “I’m late. They’re starving.”

“No.” She shrugged, embarrassed to have been caught in a chore that had been pure pleasure. “They looked hungry, so…”

He put down Mrs. Pig, who promptly started wailing at his feet. “So…you what, Princess?”

Oh, wasn’t he ever so smug. “I go by Your Serene Highness, thank you very much.”

His grin widened, and damn him but he looked good enough to eat. “You’re changing the subject. What did you do with the animals?”

“You know what I did. I fed them. I admit it, I feed them when you’re not looking.”

He picked Mrs. Pig back up, who immediately stopped her ruckus. “Why?”

“Because they’re there, okay? Because I’ve…” Lost my fear. Somehow. I’ve become attached.

God, it was going to hurt to leave. Maybe she should rethink these extra few days and hightail it out of here right now. Right this minute, in fact. She had enough for her bus fare. But she’d given up on that idea from the moment she decided to forgo the wedding in order to have this adventure.

She should still leave. All she had to do was pick up the cell phone and call Amelia, and she’d be out of here within the hour.

But she was afraid of the strange, and oddly new, tugging on the strings of her heart.

Texas-the huge, wide-open place-had grown on her. So had the people, and the wonderful ranch hands who were so hardened on the outside, but sweet as kittens on the inside. Even Sally, the tough female cowboy she’d never forget.

But most of all it was Timothy Banning; also rough and tough, and able, and…staring at her with a heat in his eyes and a three-legged pig in his arms.

10

“WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?” Natalia whispered by moonlight, her eyes large and luminescent.

“You,” Tim said, and once again set down Mrs. Pig.

When he straightened, Natalia took a step back.

It made him smile grimly, for he knew exactly how she felt. She didn’t want to feel anything for him any more than he wanted to feel something for her. But it didn’t seem to matter. They’d tried to ignore it, but this…this thing was far bigger than that.

“Stop it,” she said. Since it was dark all he could go by was the tone of her voice, which was saying “back off” loud and clear.

But he knew her now, or at least he wanted to think he did. She was scared, and he of all people understood that, too. He’d never really felt this way about a woman, had never worried about getting her out of his system. The women in his life had always washed him out of their systems first.

Natalia didn’t seem eager to wash him out of her system.

It was incredibly arousing. She was arousing.

“You’re still staring,” she pointed out.

“Yeah.” He smiled. “You’re so beautiful. I know that’s not very original, and you’ve-” He started to say she’d probably heard it a thousand times before, but suddenly her eyes misted, threatened to spill over. “Natalia?”

“No.” Clearly embarrassed, she stepped back, not anticipating Pickles, who’d come up directly behind her. Her foot came down on the blind goat’s front hoof, startling the thing into a noisy riot.

The other animals pitched in, as well.

“Oh!” Natalia turned, held her hands out. “I’m sorry.” Awkwardly she stroked the goat, trying to reassure it, and also, face averted, swiping at a few tears glistening on her cheek.

“Hush, Pickles,” Tim said, stepping around the animal who didn’t hush at all. He took Natalia’s shoulders in his hands. “Talk to me.”

“Your horse is frisking you.”

Misty was indeed attempting to get into his back pocket with her soft mouth. He batted at her, but couldn’t have made himself heard over the amazing decibel level Mrs. Pig and Pickles had created. “Come on, we’re out of here.”

She had her hands over her ears. “What?”

“I said-Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Grabbing her hand, he led her out of the pen. Instead of heading back toward the house, he took her on the path toward the barns, only he didn’t turn in there, either. He led her behind them, to a slight rise, where they could sit on a grassy knoll in peace and relative quiet, and look over his land.

It was inky dark, but the moon, hung in the sky like a glowing beacon, lit the way. So did the stars, so many they were nearly on top of each other. And as they sat, their shoulders and arms brushing, he slid his arm around her waist and drew her slightly resisting body a little closer. “Better.” He cupped her face and looked into her troubled eyes. “Tell me. Do you want to leave now? Is that it? Do you miss home? Is my sister being a pain again? What?”

“You…really think I’m beautiful.”

Her nose was running, her eyes red. Her hair was loose about her face, framing it. She had a streak of dirt on her jaw, probably from one of his animals, the ones she said she didn’t like, but fed at every opportunity. His chest tightened. “You are beautiful.”

“You mean me, as a woman.”

“Yes.” Who did she think he meant? “Surely you’ve heard that about yourself before.”

“Only as a princess, and then, not so often really.” She sent him a watery smile. “But never as a woman.”

He’d nearly forgotten the princess thing. Had nearly convinced himself she’d forgotten, too.

“It’s why I did this,” she said. “Why I wanted to come here. I wanted to see what it was like to be an independent woman. Nothing more, nothing less, and…” Her voice hitched a little. “I have to tell you, Tim, I’ve never had such a great time.”

He thought of how hard she’d worked, of how much crap she’d taken from Sally. Of how she obviously had never lived in a world like this before, and yet she’d done it anyway, even after she’d earned enough to go where she wanted to go. “I figured by now you’d be running for the highway. This isn’t an easy life.”

“No. But it’s lovely. Here nothing matters, not what I look like or what I’ve done to stir up the press, nothing. It’s…real.” From somewhere behind them a cow let out a long cry. An answering cry came, then another.