“Oh my God,” Alice moaned, staring at her breakfast plate as if it might leap off the table and bite her in the neck. “If I keep eating like this, I’m going to have to hire a moving van to get me back to Manhattan.”

“I told you not to order the Trucker’s Special.” Jenna started in on her own more modest plate of eggs and ham.

The diner was full at shortly after seven a.m. She and Alice weren’t the only women, but they were the only ones among the long-distance truckers, contractors, and farmers who didn’t look like they were about to put in a very hard day of physical labor. She tried not to search for Gard each time the door opened, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d gone to sleep with the memory of Gard’s mouth on hers and the sensation of the hard muscles in Gard’s shoulders flexing under her fingers. Gard’s strength was exciting, but it was the look on her face—barely restrained hunger—that had her tossing and turning half the night. Now every time the door whooshed open and someone who wasn’t Gard walked in, a wave of disappointment rippled through her. Foolish, probably, but the anticipation itself, a kind of sweet agony, was new and different. She’d never longed for a woman, not like this.

Alice leaned across the table conspiratorially. “It’s not safe for you to stay up here alone. You’re supposed to be taking a sabbatical for your health. This place is going to kill you.”

“Dramatic much?” Jenna smiled.

“You say that now. Give it a couple of weeks.” Alice narrowed her eyes in warning, but didn’t seem deterred from attacking the mountain of food on her plate.

Eating absently, Jenna checked e-mail on her iPhone. Just as she was about to fire off a response to a query from one of her readers asking when her next book was due out, she heard a female voice whisper, “So did you hear the latest about Gard Davis?”

Jenna almost turned her head toward the two waitresses leaning on the breakfast counter directly across from her booth, but managed to keep her eyes on her phone while she eavesdropped shamelessly.

“No, what?” the other waitress said.

“I heard from Shirley that Jerry Benson said that Gard was out to Ramiro’s way over in West Dover last night.”

“Well hell, a body ought to be able to drink wherever they want. What of it?”

“Seems odd she’d go almost an hour away when we have a perfectly good tavern right down the street, don’t you think?” the first cigarette-roughened voice shot back.

“I guess maybe she wanted a little privacy, which sure is hard to get around here.”

“Well, I’d say you’re right, considering she left the place with some young girl.”

The second woman scoffed. “What do you mean left?”

Jenna’s stomach took a wild dive.

“I mean left, as in drove off with her in her truck. Left the girl’s car right there in the parking lot.”

“Left the car, huh?” The second woman sounded curious now. “Who was the girl?”

“Jerry didn’t know her. Said she looked like a city girl.” The waitress made city girl seem unsavory. “Maybe Gard’s got a girlfriend she keeps someplace else. You know you never see her with anyone.”

“Maybe unlike some people, she doesn’t care to parade her private life all over the streets.”

“Oh, are you ever gonna let me forget that time Jimmy Williams and I got a little frisky in the back of his pickup truck?”

“Frisky?” the second woman exclaimed. “You two were buck naked and half the town saw you.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” The cigarette smoker laughed, her tone suddenly years lighter. “And I’d do it again too. He had the biggest damn—”

“Shh,” the other woman chided. “Not in front of the customers.”

Chuckling, the two women disappeared into the kitchen, reemerging a few seconds later with trays laden with enough food per plate for a family of four. Jenna wasn’t hungry any longer and pushed her plate aside. She reached for her coffee, pleased her hand was steady because the rest of her wasn’t.

“I gather you heard that,” Alice said with unusual nonchalance.

“Rather hard not to.” Jenna hated the annoyance in her voice, and of course Alice would pick up on it and know she was bothered. Damn it. So what if Gard blew her off because she had a date waiting somewhere else? They hadn’t planned anything. Dinner had been a spur-of-the-moment thing. The kiss had been completely unexpected, and she had been the one to start it, after all. Even if Gard had been interested, she wasn’t the type to stand someone up. Oh, hell, none of that mattered. Gard was a completely free agent. Just like she was.

Jenna carefully lined her fork and knife up on either side of the plate, drank her coffee, and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. She met Alice’s appraising stare with what she hoped was unconcerned cool. “You should be pleased.”

“Not if it hurts your feelings.”

Jenna sighed. “I told you if anything should happen between us, it won’t go anywhere. And I’m fine.”

“All right then.” Alice took another bite of pancakes and pushed her plate away with a groan. “At least it didn’t sound like it was the sheriff.”

“Huh. So you do have designs on the local constable.”

“If the circumstances were different, I certainly might. I don’t know how one goes about getting a date around here, though.”

“I imagine it’s the same as any other place,” Jenna said dryly. “People still eat, so why not ask her out to dinner?”

Alice snorted. “Out where? Oscar’s? With the whole town watching?”

“There are lots of upscale bed-and-breakfast places around here. Some of them have got to have nice restaurants. You ought to be able to find a swanky place to take her.”

“You’re pushing the sheriff pretty hard, aren’t you? Trying to eliminate the competition for the vet?”

Jenna thought back to the conversation she’d just heard about Gard and her date. “If I were out to squash the competition, I’d have quite a big job.”

Gard spotted the red Audi parked in front of Oscar’s and told herself to drive on by. Jenna might not even be inside. Alice could be in there alone, having breakfast by herself. Even if Jenna was there, she’d be with Alice and Gard would be interrupting. Besides, she couldn’t think of a single plausible excuse to stop, other than she just wanted to see her. And hell, that crazy impulse was reason enough to keep on going. She had a dozen calls to make.

None of them were urgent, though.

Just the same, her schedule might be light but she had mountains of paperwork to plow through after rounds. While she catalogued reasons to keep driving, her truck seemed to be navigating all by itself. Her Ford bumped off the road into Oscar’s and parked, completely on its own. She sat with the engine idling, her hands on the wheel, wondering what she would say when she saw Jenna again. The kiss was amazing, but not nearly enough? I want to sit and watch the sun go down with you beside me. I want to see the sunrise with you in my arms and make love to you before the world wakes up. I’m sorry I left—I wanted to stay.

Jesus Christ—she’d sound like a lunatic.

The dilemma was solved for her when Alice and Jenna came through the revolving door and headed for her. She’d parked next to the Audi. Not wanting to appear like some kind of stalker, just sitting in the lot, she shut off the engine and jumped out of the truck. Jenna made her way between the two vehicles toward the passenger door of the Audi. Gard had to jam her ass against her truck to make enough room for Jenna to get by because Jenna acted as if she weren’t even standing there.

“Morning.” Gard sucked in a breath as Jenna pulled open the car door. Jenna looked great in tight faded jeans and a navy top that was just clingy enough to show the curve of her breasts. Gard’s mouth went dry.

“Good morning,” Jenna said with a decided chill. She slid into the convertible and closed the door. Loudly.

Gard frowned. Where had the woman with the hot eyes gone? The freeze in Jenna’s gaze this morning was so icy she felt cold to the bone. Maybe Jenna regretted the kiss. Or more likely she was insulted by Gard putting her hands all over her and then walking out. She couldn’t blame her. She’d been sending mixed signals, and wasn’t proud of it.

Placing both hands on the open window ledge of the convertible, Gard leaned over as Jenna jerked her seat belt across her body and shoved it into the clasp. Alice, behind the wheel, started the engine, stared straight ahead, and did a pretty good job of pretending that she didn’t see Gard.

“I don’t blame you for being mad,” Gard murmured. “But—”

“You don’t owe me an explanation,” Jenna said tightly. “And I’m not mad. I don’t do mad where women are concerned.”

“Okay, but—”

“I’m sorry I put you in an awkward position last night. My mistake.”

“You didn’t—I—”

“Let’s just forget it happened. We got our signals crossed, no harm done.” Jenna gave her an empty smile that was worse than a slap. “I’ve got a lot to do this morning, and I need to be going.”

“Of course.” Gard took her hands from the door and glanced at Alice, who had swiveled in her seat and was regarding Gard with what might have been pity. “I’ll let you go.”

She backed up another inch as the Audi shot backwards, rocketed across the gravel lot, and bounced out onto the road. She watched for a few seconds until it disappeared. She was about to get back into her truck when the sheriff’s cruiser came from the opposite direction, angled off the highway, and pulled into the spot Alice had just vacated. Rina climbed out, glanced once back up the highway in the direction Alice had disappeared, and shook her head. “You’d think if she was gonna drive like that, she’d get a car that wasn’t quite so obvious.”