Her mother took the bowl to the cookie sheets and began scooping batter into neat rows. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s not much to say. The interview went badly. I was expecting Elliot Janack and I got Tucker instead.”

“I thought you liked Tucker.”

Nevada thought about how desperately she’d been in love with Tucker all those years ago. Not real love — but she’d been young and foolish and caught in a world she’d been unprepared for. Cat had been as much a revelation as Tucker himself.

“Liking him isn’t the problem.”

She briefly explained about their short past, the lone sexual encounter, sparing her mother the details. “I was embarrassed about what had happened between us, but he kept bringing it up. I swear, he only wants to hire me now to improve his reputation. I’m not interested in that. The job is a great opportunity, but not under those circumstances.”

“Did he ask you to have sex with him so he could redeem himself?”

“No, but I don’t want a pity job.”

Denise put down the spoon and faced her. “You’re saying he wants to give you a job to make up for being bad in bed?”

Nevada winced. “It made more sense when I was just thinking that in my head. With you asking the question, it sounds stupid.”

“There’s probably a reason for that.”

Denise Hendrix had married young and had three boys in less than five years. Determined to have a daughter, she’d gotten pregnant one last time, only to find herself having triplets. She’d handled the shock with her usual grace and humor, raising six children with an ease that left most people amazed.

A widow for the past eleven years, she’d finally started dating. But her social life didn’t keep her so busy that she didn’t have time to tell her children exactly what she thought. That was both a blessing and a curse.

“If Tucker was genuinely worried about his reputation, he wouldn’t hire you,” her mother said. “He would run as far and fast as he could, or try to sleep with you now and move on. Why would he risk you telling the entire crew about your night together?”

“He knows I would never do that.”

“Does he? It doesn’t sound as if he took the time to know you at all.”

“Things were complicated back then,” Nevada mumbled, not wanting to get into the whole Cat situation. Sure, Tucker had been lousy in bed, but Nevada had been the one throwing herself at him the second she’d found out he and Cat had broken things off. She’d practically begged him to sleep with her. Unfortunately, their brief encounter hadn’t won her anything and had instead broken her heart.

“If your dreams matter, then you’ve been given an excellent opportunity. I’d hate to see you miss it and have regrets later. They can be the hardest thing to live with.”

Nevada stared at her mother. “Do you have regrets?”

“Not very many. I’ve been lucky — I had a wonderful husband and I have my children.”

“We are pretty amazing.”

Denise laughed. “Yes, you are.” She touched Nevada’s arm. “This is what you said you wanted. Why let a single night get in the way of that? You’re both adults. You can agree to put it behind you and move on.”

“You’re being rational. That’s always unnerving.”

“It’s important to keep you guessing.”

Nevada drew in a breath. “You’re right. I do want the job. And it was just one night. Hell, it was five minutes. I should be able to forget that.”

Instead of returning to her cookies, Denise walked to the cordless phone and picked it up. “You can call right now.”

Nevada groaned. “This reminds me of the time I took Pia’s Teen Talk Barbie and snuck it home. You made me go right back and apologize.”

“And you were the better for it.”

“Maybe.” She stared at the phone. “Okay. I’ll call.”

Knowing thinking about it too much would only make things harder, she pulled Tucker’s business card out of her jeans pocket and dialed. Two rings later, she heard his familiar voice.

“Janack.”

“Hendrix,” she said before she could stop herself. “Um, it’s Nevada.”

“Hey. What’s up?”

She cleared her throat. “I thought we could finish our interview.”

Silence stretched between them. Her insides clenched. Damn him, he was going to tell her no. He was going to say he’d changed his mind.

“Great. You free right now? I’m heading to the job site. I’d like to show you what we’re doing.”

She opened her mouth and closed it. “Um, sure. I can meet you out there.”

“See you in twenty minutes.”

He hung up.

Nevada did the same, then set the phone back in the charger. “I’m meeting him at the job site. We’re going to talk.”

Her mother grinned. “Are you sure that’s all you’ll be doing?”

“Mo-om.”

Denise laughed, then hugged her. “You’ll be fine.”

“You can’t know that.”

Denise smiled. “I’m pretty sure.”



TUCKER STOOD BY THE SIDE of the road. The first work done by his crew had been to clear an area for parking and heavy equipment. Now with that finished, the real effort would begin. Building a casino-hotel resort would take hundreds of thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars over nearly two years. His plan was to come in early and under budget. For that he needed the right team and a fair amount of luck.

He turned as a light blue Ford Ranger drove toward him. Nevada pulled in next to him and climbed out.

She looked good, he thought, taking in the jeans and T-shirt. Sensible, but sexy. One of his favorite combinations. Not that he would say that to her. He wanted her working for him and that meant they would be spending a lot of hours together. The best way to get through that was to act professionally. Besides, he’d long ago learned that finding any woman irresistible was a disaster. He didn’t need to go there again.

“What do you think?” he asked, nodding toward the vast expanse of land.

“It’s a hundred acres, right?”

“Yes.” He pointed to the east. “We go about a third of the way up the tree line.” He indicated the rest of the track. “We’ll cut into the mountain.”

“Won’t that provoke the spirits?” she asked, her brown eyes bright with humor.

“You’re forgetting I’m one of them. They’re delighted to see me.”

“That’s right. You’re part of the Máa-zib tribe through both your parents?”

He nodded. “About an eighth, give or take a little.”

“So technically you or your dad had to be the ones to buy the land. A company couldn’t own it.”

“Right. We’ve leased it back to the corporation for the project.”

“You’re a land baron.”

“I’m part owner.”

“Still, it’s impressive.”

“Are you impressed?” he asked.

She grinned. “I could be.”

“Tell me what else it would take.”

“You could show me the plans for the place.”

They walked to his truck and he pulled a copy of the plans out from the backseat. After opening the tailgate, he spread them out.

“We’re using every inch of land,” he said. “There’ll be a road circling the entire development. The casino is here, along with the hotel.”

He watched her trace the different elements of the plan.

“You’re keeping the grove of the oldest trees,” she said, not looking up at him. “I like the walking trails.” She moved her finger to the mountain. “This is going to require some serious blasting to remove that much earth.”

“Ever done any blasting?”

She turned to him. “No, but I’d like to.”

“Stick with me, kid.”

“Tempting.”

He wasn’t surprised she could be wooed more by the promise of a big explosion than a corner office. Nevada had always been like that — eager, interested. Smart. He remembered her ability to call him on any bull. They had stayed up late a few times, arguing about everything from politics to sustainable construction. She was someone he’d enjoyed talking to, when he’d surfaced from the Cat-induced haze long enough to have a conversation.

He wanted to tell her he was sorry about what happened between them. Not the bad sex, although that was damned humiliating to think about, but the rest of it. He’d wanted to be her friend back then but hadn’t been able to think of anyone but Cat.

“I thought there was going to be an outlet mall,” she said.

He pulled out another large roll of paper. “We won’t be developing it. It’s too small a project.”

“Aren’t you the snob.”

“The last project I worked on was a thousand-meter suspension bridge in Africa. No, I don’t build malls.”

One corner of her mouth turned up. “Of course you don’t.”

He leaned against the truck. “You’re not mad anymore.”

“I wasn’t mad.” She straightened. “This is a great opportunity. You’re bringing a lot to the town.”

“We appreciate their cooperation.”

“Don’t you always get that?”

“Some towns aren’t interested in change or growth.”

“Fool’s Gold isn’t like that. This project will bring a lot of jobs and tourists. We already get a decent tourist trade, but nothing like the numbers this will bring in.”

“Why’d you come back? You could have found plenty of jobs in other places.”

“This is my home. I grew up here. My family founded this town.” She smiled. “In a settler kind of way. Obviously the Máa-zib tribe was here first.”

“Obviously.”

He understood the concept of roots, he just couldn’t relate to it. He’d never had anywhere particular to call home. His dad had always kept a condo in Chicago but they’d rarely been there. His home was wherever the next project was.

“Want to hear about your team?”