Thunder Canyon Homecoming / A Thunder Canyon Christmas: Thunder Canyon Homecoming

But she found herself making excuses to walk past his office, trying to catch a glimpse of him, trying to figure out if there was any familial resemblance between herself and her boss. She had two brothers, and she loved both Jake and Josh, but there was just something about Grant Clifton that had appealed to her from the start.

A man didn’t rise to the position he was in without having a fair amount of drive and ambition, but he wasn’t ruthless or hard. Her own experience had shown her that he was a fair and compassionate employer; according to his friends, he was loyal and steadfast; the love he obviously shared with his wife of three years proved he was faithful and devoted; and when he talked about his mother and his sister, he demonstrated that he had a strong sense of family.

Was it possible that she might be part of his family? If so, would he grow to care about her as he obviously cared about Elise? Of course, if it turned out that Erin was his sister, it would mean that Elise was not.

How would he deal with that revelation? Would he resent Erin for bringing it to light? Or would he accept that she was as much a victim of circumstances as everyone else?

“Is everything okay?”

Erin realized that she’d been standing in front of the reservation computer for several minutes without inputting any data. She looked up at Carrie and managed to smile. “Sorry. I don’t know where my mind is today.”

“I think I know,” her coworker teased, nodding her head in the direction of the counter.

Glancing past her, Erin saw Corey standing there, and her heart gave that all-too familiar jolt.

“What’s he doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Carrie told her. “And honey, if you’re not interested, feel free to give him my number.”

Erin felt her cheeks flush as she moved past her coworker to the counter.

“Are you here to see if I was playing hooky today?” she asked him.

“Nope. Just to see you.”

“Any particular reason?”

“You were on my mind. In fact, you’ve been on my mind since I left your house last night, a detail that did not go unnoticed by my associates at the meetings I had this morning.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she remained silent.

“This is where you could say that you’ve been thinking about me, too,” he prompted.

She didn’t think his ego needed the boost of hearing the words, even if they were true. But she folded her arms on the counter and dropped her voice, as if making a confession. “What if I tell you that, as I drove to work this morning, I was thinking about playing hooky again because it’s much too beautiful a day to be cooped up inside?”

He leaned closer, so their faces were only inches apart. “Did you think about playing hooky again with me?”

“A girl has to have a few secrets,” she teased.

“Something tells me you have more than a few.”

It was an effort to keep her smile in place as his words struck a chord. He was right. She had more secrets than anyone in Thunder Canyon knew, more than anyone would possibly guess. And the longer she stayed, continuing to perpetuate the myth that she was just a California transplant looking for a change of pace, the guiltier she felt. She’d made friends with the people in town, listened to their confessions and hopes and dreams.

But she hadn’t told a single one of them her real reason for coming to Thunder Canyon. Not even Erika, who had chosen Erin to be the maid of honor at her wedding. And now Erika was married to Dillon, and Erin was fighting her attraction to Dillon’s brother, who happened to be good friends with Grant Clifton, who might be Erin’s brother. There were too many strings connecting all the players in the drama of her life, and they were getting all tangled up.

She’d been dishonest with so many people. Even if she wasn’t guilty of telling lies, she certainly hadn’t volunteered the complete truth. And she couldn’t help but wonder what they would think of her when they found out. Would the people who had become her friends understand why she’d been silent about her true purpose for coming to Thunder Canyon? Or would the truth cost her those new but treasured friendships?

Her mother tried to instill in all of her kids the importance of being honest. If you tell the truth, she’d pointed out to them, you won’t ever forget what you said. Erin understood the importance of the message and she’d tried to live her life accordingly. That had changed when she came to Thunder Canyon.

No, she admitted to herself, it had changed when she’d said that she was quitting her job in San Diego because she felt as if her life had stagnated since graduation and she wanted to explore some other opportunities. Her parents had been supportive—or tried to be. They’d also been hurt by her decision, but not as hurt as she knew they would be if she’d told him she was going to look for a family that Erma had told her was in Montana.

And that one little lie had led to more little lies. Since coming to Thunder Canyon, however, she’d been guilty of so many deceptions and half-truths she wasn’t sure she could even remember them all. And she feared that those half-truths were going to come back to haunt her.

Maybe she’d believed they were necessary. Maybe she still did. She couldn’t imagine how the tightly knit community would have responded if she’d slapped the newspaper clipping down on a table at The Hitching Post the first day she’d arrived in town and proclaimed that she was related to some or all of the persons in the photo.

Instead, she’d taken a more subtle approach. She’d gotten to know the residents of Thunder Canyon and asked some discreet questions about the families in that faded picture. Unfortunately, the responses she’d received to those inquiries had told her little. And although there was no shortage of skeletons in the closets of the residents of Thunder Canyon, she hadn’t heard any murmurs about anyone losing a baby more than twenty-five years earlier.

And then, by sheer luck, she happened to be nearby when Grant Clifton pulled a picture of his sister out of his wallet. Coincidentally, that sister was born on the same day in the same hospital as Erin, and she had some similar features to each of Erin’s brothers.

But Erin still didn’t know what to do now, how to verify her suspicion that someone at the hospital had somehow mixed up those two babies.

A hand waving in front of her face jolted her out of her reverie. She looked apologetically at Corey. “Sorry.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, darlin’?”

She could hardly deny that her mind had been wandering again, so she only shook her head. “No, I’m not sure. But it’s not something I can talk about. Not right now.”

“Will you keep me in mind, when you can?”

She wouldn’t have blamed him for feeling dissed by her lack of attention, but he seemed more concerned than offended, and she was touched by his offer. “I will,” she promised. “Thanks.”

“So why don’t we talk about your lunch plans?” he said. “Do you have a date with Stefan or can I steal you away for a little while?”

“Why are you so determined to take me to lunch?”

He shrugged. “It’s lunchtime, I’m hungry and I enjoy your company.”

“How could any woman refuse such a gracious in vi tation?”

“Stefan was booked, wasn’t he?”

“Until four-thirty,” she admitted.

“Then he won’t be putting his hands on you today,” Corey noted.

It was the hint of smugness in his tone that prompted her to tease, “Not until this afternoon.”

Erin retrieved her purse from her desk and came around to the other side of the counter.

“How does DJ’s Rib Shack sound?” Corey asked her.

“My mouth is watering already,” she told him.

He reached for her hand and was pleased when she didn’t pull hers away. It was a small thing, but it meant a lot to him because it proved that she was starting to feel comfortable with him.

“But we might have some trouble getting seated,” Erin warned. “We have a conference group that booked several large tables for lunch there today.”

“Are you forgetting that DJ is my cousin?”