Black Hills

completely and beautifully Farley.”
    “I know it. I know, but Lil, this morning, over breakfast in this diner, I’m fumbling around, trying to . . . I don’t know slow it down, calm it down. Be sensible. He just keeps smiling at me.”
    “Well, four times puts a smile on a guy’s face.”
    “Stop it! He says, ‘I’m going to marry you, Tansy, but you can take some time to get used to it first.’”
    “Wow.” Lil’s jaw dropped before she managed to close it and take another drink. “Well. I repeat, Wow.”
    “It doesn’t matter what I say. He just smiles and nods, and when we go outside, he gets ahold of me again and kisses my brains out. I felt them leak out of my ears. I think I lost half my brain in Montana.”
    “Have you set the date?”
    “Will you stop it! You’re not helping.”
    “Sorry, Tans, but you’re sitting there, stress-eating Fritos and telling me a good man, a really good man, loves you and wants you. A man you had multiple orgasms with—I assume.”
    “Yes, multiple was a factor. He’s very . . . attentive and energetic.”
    “Now you’re just bragging.”
    “Some. God, Lil, he’s sincere and sweet and just a little scary. I’m messed up over this, over him.”
    “Which would be a first. I like that you’re in love with him, and all I can think is good. It’s good. All I can be is happy, and a little bit jealous.”
    “I shouldn’t have slept with him,” Tansy continued. “Now I’ve complicated it even more, because before I could think I just had the hots for him, but now I know I have the hots for him, and I’m crazy about him. Why do we do that? Why do we end up sleeping with them?”
    “I don’t know. I slept with Coop.”
    Tansy ate another chip, washed it down with wine. “I thought you’d hold out longer.”
    “So did I,” Lil admitted. “Now we’re mad at each other. I think. Or I snapped and snarled at him this morning. Which I knew, even as I was doing it, was ninety percent defense and ten percent truth.”
    “He broke your heart.”
    “Into countless pieces. Farley’s incapable of doing that to you.”
    Tansy’s deep, dark eyes went soft. “I could break his.”
    “Yes, you could. Will you?”
    “I don’t know, that’s the problem. I don’t want to. He’s not what I was looking for. When I thought about what I might be looking for, down the road, it sure wasn’t a skinny white cowboy.”
    “I don’t think we get to choose as much as we tell ourselves we choose.” Thoughtfully, Lil dug into the bag of chips. “If I could pick, it would be Jean-Paul. He’s a better choice for me. But he wasn’t the one, and I couldn’t make him the one. So I ended up hurting him even though I didn’t want to.”
    “Now I’m depressed.”
    “Sorry. No more talk of broken hearts.” Deliberately Lil shook herself as if shedding a weight. “Let’s talk about sex with Farley. Spare no details.”
    “No.” Amused, Tansy pointed at her. “At least not on one glass of wine. And since I’m driving, no more for me. I’m going home and I’m going to think about something else. Anything else. You’ll be all right here?”
    “There’s half a dozen armed men outside.”
    “Good. But I meant regarding Cooper.”
    Lil blew out a breath. “I’m going to take the late shift, thereby avoiding that problem, as he’ll take first duty. It’s not a solution but it’s a plan. Tansy, just one question. Don’t think first, just answer. Are you in love with Farley? Not just crazy about, but in love with.”
    “I think I am. Now I’m even more depressed.” She pushed to her feet. “I’m going home to brood.”
    “Good luck with that. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Alone, Lil fixed herself a sandwich and a short pot of coffee. She sat at her kitchen table, eating her dinner and polishing her pieces for the website.
    She braced, every muscle on alert, when the door opened. Then relaxed again when her mother came in. “I told you not to come tonight.”
    “Your father’s here, I’m here. Live with it.” At home, Jenna opened the fridge, sighed once at the contents, then took out a bottle of water. “You’re working, and I’m interrupting.”
    “It’s all right. I’m just fine-tuning some articles for the Web page, on our new princess.”
    “I saw her. Lil, she’s beautiful. So elegant and mysterious. She’ll be a huge draw for you.”
    “I think so. And she’ll be happy here. Plenty of room once we finish her permanent habitat.