So far, he didn’t see the problem. “And?”

Worried blue eyes finally met his. “She’d heard you were here.”

“How would she hear a thing like that?” he asked.

“One of the neighbors apparently saw you turning in here earlier in the day yesterday. Somebody asked Hank about it, and he told ’em to mind their own business. Dooley apparently wasn’t so circumspect.”

Grady was indignant. “Seems like a lot of commotion over you having a visitor.”

“Not just any visitor,” she reminded him. “You.”

“So what?”

“Grady, don’t play dumb. You know how the Hansons will feel when they hear about this. It’s bad enough that people are probably calling every ten seconds to report that you’ve been stopping by to help out. When they hear you were here overnight, they’re going to go ballistic.”

He reached for her hand, but she snatched it away. “Karen, nothing happened last night.”

She scowled at him. “Don’t you think I know that? But it’s appearances that matter.”

“Really?”

“With Caleb’s parents, it is.”

“And their opinion matters to you?”

“Of course it does. He was their son. This was their home. I have a duty…”

He found himself battling exasperation. “The only duty you have is to yourself.”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong. People don’t live just for themselves. You have to consider the impact your actions could have on everyone you care about.” Her gaze challenged him. “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

He regarded her with confusion. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t you? You told me you want to buy this ranch because of your grandfather,” she reminded him. “It’s never been about you, has it? It’s been about your sense of duty toward a man you admire and love and to those who came before him, people you never knew at all.”

The accuracy of her assessment made him pause. “Okay, you’re right.”

“So you have your obligations and I have mine. I don’t want to hurt the Hansons, Grady. I really don’t.”

“And my being here will hurt them.”

She nodded.

Because he hated seeing her so unhappy, he stood up. “I’m sure the highway has been plowed by now. My truck will make it down your driveway. I’ll go.” His gaze locked with hers. “If that’s what you want.”

“I do,” she said, but there was little conviction in her voice. Clearly she was struggling with herself.

Again Grady took pity on her. He would go, but not before he stepped closer, trailed a finger along her cheek. Unable to resist, he rubbed the pad of his thumb across her lower lip, needing to know if it was a soft as it looked. It was, and it quivered beneath his touch.

“It’s okay, Karen,” he told her quietly.

“It’s not,” she said. “I shouldn’t be insisting that you go. If something happens-”

“Nothing is going to happen. I’ll call you when I get to my place, if it’ll make you feel any better.” He forced a grin. “Though I’d think you might actually feel better if I slid into a ditch.”

She stared at him, clearly aghast at the suggestion. “How can you say a thing like that?”

“I am a thorn in your side, aren’t I?”

“True,” she admitted with her unfailing candor. Then she sighed. “But I’m starting to get used to it.”

Another tiny triumph, Grady concluded. He would savor that on the long, cold, risky ride home.

Chapter Seven

Grady stayed away for two weeks. Even though it was something she’d once hoped for, Karen found herself watching the driveway day after day, regretting the attack of conscience that had had her sending him off after the snowstorm.

She knew he’d gotten home safely, not because he’d called, but because his housekeeper had. It was as if he’d taken her cue and decided to go one step further, cutting off all contact. The disappointment she had felt the second he had left had only grown in the days since that afternoon.

“You certainly look miserable,” Gina declared when Karen drove into Winding River to have a spaghetti dinner at the restaurant where her friend was filling in as cook. Tony had used Gina’s willingness to step in for him as the perfect excuse to take his wife on a long-promised trip to Italy.

“Just what every woman wants to hear,” Karen said. “Maybe I should have stayed home. I can probably boil pasta as well as you can.”

“Ouch,” Gina protested.

“Well, I can.”

“But your pasta isn’t homemade. Mine is.”

“You’ve got me there, though I doubt I’d notice the difference.”

“Which brings us back to miserable,” Gina said, sitting down opposite her. “I’ve got some time to talk. We’re not that busy. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Karen said honestly. There was nothing good or bad going on in her life. Every day it was just more of the same exhausting work and loneliness. She’d had a brief respite, thanks to Grady…which made it seem even more depressing now.

“Hey, this is me you’re talking to, not those nosy in-laws of yours,” Gina said. “Tell the truth. Is this about Grady Blackhawk?”

Karen’s gaze shot up. “Why would you think that?”

“Just hazarding a guess. You two were spending a lot of time together until I told you I’d heard rumors floating around town about him being at the ranch the night of the snowstorm. Is he still coming by?”

“No.”

“Did you two have a fight?”

“Not exactly.”

Gina regarded her with exasperation. “This is like trying to get information out of the CIA.”

Karen grinned despite herself. “Sorry. I’m not being deliberately tight-lipped. I just don’t know what to say. After you called, I explained what you had said, and I told him it would be best if he left. He seemed to understand.”

“But he hasn’t been back,” Gina concluded. “Hasn’t called, either?”

“Nope.”

Her gaze narrowed. “And that really bothers you, doesn’t it? Were you starting to trust him, Karen? Maybe even like him? Was this turning into something for you?”

Karen felt compelled to deny it, even though the truth was that Gina had hit on the problem. “It was a pain in the neck at the outset,” she said. “It’s a pain in the neck now. Nothing’s changed.”

“Except that you’ve realized that the pain is actually a gorgeous, sexy man,” Gina guessed, clearly not buying her disclaimer.

Karen sighed. “Yes, well, there is that.”

“And that maybe you wouldn’t mind getting to know him a lot better,” Gina continued. “At least if there weren’t all these obstacles in the way.”

“But the obstacles are real,” Karen said despondently. “Caleb, his parents, the ranch-how can I overlook any of that just because I’ve been feeling a little lonely and Grady has filled a void in my life?”

Gina stood up. “I’m getting you a glass of wine. No, a whole bottle of wine.”

Karen regarded her with alarm. “I can’t drink and drive all the way back to the ranch.”

“You’re not going to. You’re going to drink and walk to my place and spend the night.” Gina walked off toward the bar before Karen could protest.

While Gina was gone, the rest of her words sank in. When she returned, Karen studied her intently, then asked, “Since when do you have a place in Winding River?”

Gina winced. “You caught that, did you? Since I agreed to stick around and help Tony out. I couldn’t keep crashing at my parents’ place, so I rented an apartment here in town.”

“For how long?”

Gina shrugged. “Yet to be determined,” she said, casting a look across the dining room to a table by the window. The man who’d been hanging around off and on since the reunion was sitting there with an empty wineglass and a stack of paperwork. He looked as if he’d set up a permanent office right there. At the moment he was the only other customer.

“Do you want to tell me who he is and what’s going on?” Karen asked, studying her friend’s face with concern.

“Nope,” Gina said.