Currant Creek Valley

“I’ll do that.”

It was now or never, she thought, and plunged forward. “So I don’t see a ring. Is there a Mrs. Delgado?”

Plenty of men didn’t care to wear a wedding ring, either out of personal preference or deliberate obfuscation. When she was interested in a man, she was scrupulously careful about double-checking that particular point.

Some hard-earned lessons tended to stick with a woman.

Sam Delgado blinked, obviously a little bemused by the question. If she hadn’t been watching him carefully for some sign of deceit, she might have missed the tangle of emotion in his gaze.

“As a matter of fact, there is. My brother’s wife.”

“But you don’t have one of your own?” she pressed.

“Not currently.”

His guarded reaction didn’t seem particularly encouraging. He could be engaged—another hot button of hers because of family history—but she hadn’t missed that sadness in his eyes and sensed he was telling the truth.

“Do you anticipate that changing anytime in the near future?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no. Why are you so curious?”

She shrugged. “Personal rule. I don’t date men who are married, engaged or otherwise involved in a long-term relationship.”

A corner of his mouth danced up. “I didn’t realize we were planning on dating.”

“Planning on it? No. But if the opportunity arose, I like to be certain ahead of time that both parties are...unentangled. Poachers bug the hell out of me. And men who allow themselves to be poached are even worse.”

He gazed at her for a long moment as if he wasn’t quite sure how to answer. “You don’t have any problem speaking your mind, Ms. McKnight, do you?”

“Please. Call me Alex. Especially considering we might be planning on dating at some point in the foreseeable future.”

He laughed as he shook his head. “Here’s something you should know about me then. Call me old-fashioned, but I like to be in the driver’s seat in these sorts of things.”

She gave him a sultry smile over her shoulder. “Oh, you foolish, foolish man. You might think you’re behind the wheel when it comes to most women, but that’s only because we’ve decided to hand over the keys.”

He chuckled that rough, sexy laugh that sent shivers down her spine again. “I don’t know what sort of p—er, pansies—you traditionally date, Alex McKnight, but I’m a former Army Ranger. Know what our motto is? Rangers lead the way. And we don’t just mean into enemy territory.”

She hadn’t been this attracted to a man in ages. She generally didn’t go further than second base with the guys she dated, but something about Sam Delgado made her suspect he was just the sort of guy to tempt her into changing her mind.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

She gave him a smile and a wave, tucking a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear as she picked up the basket of picnic supplies and headed for the door.

“Wait a minute,” he called out. “You can’t just leave. We were having a conversation here.”

Was that what he called it? She smiled. “I thought we were done.”

“What time am I picking you up tomorrow night?”

Oh, she really, really liked a man who took the initiative.

“I’m working tomorrow night until nine.”

“Perfect. I’ll probably be busy here until late and will need to unwind a little before I head to the hotel.”

“Do you play pool, Army Ranger Delgado?”

“I’ve been known to chalk a few cues in my time.”

“Great. Why don’t I meet you at The Speckled Lizard? It’s on Front Street, two blocks west of the center block of Main Street. It’s one of the few places that stays open late on a Thursday night during the off-season.”

“I’ll see you then. Tomorrow, twenty-two hundred, Speckled Lizard. It’s a date.”

She smiled and headed out the door, anticipation winging through her.

All in all, she was very glad she hadn’t hit him with a two-by-four.

CHAPTER TWO

SAM WATCHED BRODIE’S CHEF walk down the hill toward town swinging a picnic basket at her side, her blond curls bouncing behind her as she walked.

His heartbeat was still racing and he didn’t know what the hell just happened there. Right now, he felt as if he’d just spent the past thirty minutes tumbling around in a cement mixer.

This surge of adrenaline and anticipation and life churning inside him was unfamiliar, uncharted territory.

When he walked into this old firehouse, he certainly never expected to stumble across a woman like her, brash, funny, brimming with energy.

What was it about her? She was beautiful, yes, with those huge green eyes and the endless spill of hair, but he knew plenty of beautiful women.

Though he continued to insist it wasn’t necessary, Nicky’s wife, Cheri, was always trying to hook him up with some friend of hers or other. For a stay-at-home mother, his sister-in-law seemed to know an unusually large number of lovely women, many from her previous job as a public-relations executive.

While he might have been attracted to a few of those women Cheri had found for him, none of them had ignited these wild sparks that still snapped and buzzed through him, even after Alex McKnight had turned down a side street and disappeared from view.

He would have to tread carefully here. The situation had the potential to spawn a whole morass of complications.

For the next month, he would have to work closely with her on the Brazen project. She was the chef, after all. Not only that, he knew from conversations with Brodie that Alex was good friends with Brodie’s wife, Evie.

His whole life hinged on making a success of this project, on finishing the work on budget and on time and on doing a good enough job that Brodie would continue to contract with him and would recommend him to his friends around Hope’s Crossing.

Sam couldn’t afford to screw things up.

He looked at the scene below him, the neatly quaint downtown with its wide streets and graceful old historic buildings, the rows of established clapboard houses mingling with higher-end log homes.

Colorful spring blooms already burst out in patches, and the trees leading down the street had new pale green buds on them. He could imagine the place would be spectacular in the summer, with those raw, rugged mountains looming as a backdrop.

He breathed in the high mountain air. It seemed sweeter here, though he knew that was probably just the abundance of pine and fir trees around, sending out their citrusy fragrance.

This was the new start he wanted, that he needed, and he couldn’t afford to screw up his chances of making a life here.