Chapter 2

“Smile, Miss,” the plane’s captain said as she stepped onto the Jetway. “You’re in the biggest little city in the world.”

Beth Spence bristled inside yet obliged. After all, the man did just defy physics for the past ninety minutes and got her there in one piece. She adjusted the tote bag on her shoulder and limped through the passageway and into the Reno-Tahoe International Airport terminal. On the outskirts of the waiting area, a tall, spindly airport attendant stood behind an empty wheelchair.

“Will you be heading to baggage claim, Ms. Spence?” the young, dark-haired man asked.

Beth slowed to a stop, which didn’t take much effort considering her lack of speed to begin with, and glanced down at the walking cast on her left leg, then up at the attendant. Before he had a chance to make his own comment about her expression, she flashed him her winningest showgirl smile and waved him off.

“Thank you,” she told him, “but I won’t be needing any assistance.”

“But, Ms. Spence,” he pleaded. “The airline received several calls from a Delaney Callahan insisting—no, warning—that if we didn’t take you to baggage claim, she would have whoever was responsible drawn and quartered. She even named the four horses who would be up to the task.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to keep my limbs attached to my torso.”

Beth laughed. Only Delaney could bring a genuine smile out of her after the month she’d had, and the woman wasn’t even here yet. “Consider you and your limbs safe, my friend. My big sis is way more bark than she is bite.” She winked at him and then spun on her good heel, continuing on her way.

Her left ankle throbbed, and her throat grew tight. On any other Tuesday, she’d have been thrilled to make the trip from Vegas to Meadow Valley to visit Delaney, Sam, and her adorable niece, Nolan. But this was a pity party disguised as a visit.

“I’m sending you a ticket,” Delaney had told her when she called the week before. “All expenses paid, open-ended, stay as long as you like.”

“All expenses paid?” Beth had asked dryly. “Like, all forty bucks? Or do I get to check a bag too?”

“Baggage is free,” Delaney responded, playing along. Beth could hear the artificial perkiness in her sister’s tone. “Up to two checked bags.”

“I’m busy,” Beth lied, though what was the point? Delaney knew exactly what Beth had been doing since being released from the hospital and what she’d be doing for at least another four to six weeks. Absolutely nothing, unless you counted wallowing. She’d be doing so much wallowing. Just because her sister had gotten her out of Vegas didn’t mean she’d gotten Beth out of her funk.

“Sam and I will pick you up in Reno and bring you back to Meadow Valley. Ticket’s already purchased and in your inbox, so I won’t take no for an answer…unless you want to cough up that forty bucks.”

So here Beth was, on the day she should have been stepping out of a taxi and into Times Square, finally transitioning from Vegas showgirl to Radio City Rockette. She should have been dancing her way through the company’s summer preparatory programs before beginning rehearsals for the Christmas Spectacular in early autumn. Instead, she was headed for Middle of Nowhere, California, on an open-ended ticket, final destination unknown, but it was certainly not the city that never sleeps.

The pain in her ankle increased with each step, a constant reminder that the girl who had been a dancer since the age of four now couldn’t make it a few steps without wincing or swearing under her breath. She should have let the guy do what he was asked and take her where she needed to go. But pride was funny like that. It knew what was best for you yet chose the opposite. If you let yourself believe you can’t even walk to baggage claim, the next thing you know, you’ll start believing the doctors that your dancing days are over. That was what the voice in her head told her. Still, Delaney would take one look at her and know she was in pain, and that poor guy who was just doing his job would actually get drawn and quartered.

“Sorry, airline guy,” Beth mumbled under her breath. “You deserved better.”

When she finally made it to the baggage carousel, her rolling suitcase had already been pulled from the belt and placed in a clump of other unclaimed luggage. Had it really taken her that long to get there?

She sighed, lifted and extended the arm of her case, and began rolling it toward the exit.

She expected to find her sister standing inside the doorway, arms waving as she yelled, “Bethy!” Instead, she slowed her approach as she noticed a tall, dark, and clueless…cowboy?…looking right, left, and just past her as he held up a piece of white paper with Beth Spence scrawled on it in black marker.

“Who are you?” she asked when she was only a few feet away from him. “And please tell me you’ve got something parked outside that doesn’t have four legs and hooves.”

He startled, his head dipping so his bright blue eyes met hers.

“Shit,” he said softly. “Where’d you come from?”

“Well, that’s a hell of a greeting,” she answered, letting go of the suitcase handle and crossing her arms as she appraised him. “But I asked you first.”

He looked at the sign in his hand and then at her. He pulled a phone from the pocket of his jeans and swiped at the screen. Now he was glancing from his phone to her and back to his phone again.

“I guess this is you, right? Beth?” He showed her the photo on his phone, a selfie she and Delaney took years ago at a New Year’s Eve party. “You look different,” he added.

Beth’s pulse quickened. “You mean younger?” The words came out more defensive than she’d intended.

He raised his brows. “No, it’s just… You’re smiling in the photo, so I wasn’t sure if—”

“Ooooh,” she interrupted. “So this is the part where you tell me I’m prettier when I smile or that I should be happy to be in the littlest big city…or the biggest littlest city…what the heck did the guy say?”

The stranger held his hands up in surrender, his phone with the picture of her in one and the sign with her name still in the other.

“The biggest little city in the world? And you can smile or not smile. Makes no difference to me. I’m just making sure I have the right person before I take you back home. I don’t need your sister having me drawn and quartered for accidentally leaving you stranded at the airport.”

Beth sighed. Whoever this guy was, Delaney definitely sent him.

“Sorry,” she told him. “I didn’t mean to bite your head off. It’s just been a day.” Or a week…or month.

He crumpled the sign and tossed it into a nearby trash can, slid the phone back in his pocket, and held out his hand.

“Eli Murphy, your ride back to Meadow Valley…in a truck with wheels. No legs or hooves.”

Beth grabbed his hand, his rough palm warm against hers.

A muscle pulsed along the line of his jaw. A half smile played on his lips. Was she a hypocrite for thinking the guy would be really good-looking if he smiled?

Not if she didn’t say it out loud.

“Wait, you’re the veterinarian who helps Delaney with her rescue shelter?”

Eli nodded.

“So…not a rancher, then?” She nodded up at his hat. Then, because she couldn’t help herself, she let her eyes roam down the length of his long, lean, yet decidedly firm build to where a pair of dusty, square-toed cowboy boots poked out from the worn hem of his jeans.

He gave her a single shake of his head. “Not anymore,” he replied coolly.

Also not much of a talker, she guessed. What would help make this whole situation less excruciating would be if he wasn’t much to look at either. But regardless of the pain she felt with every step and the foul mood that set in every time she realized she was on her way to Meadow Valley instead of Manhattan, Beth’s vision was still intact.

She was going to give her sister hell for not only forcing this trip on her and then not being the one to pick her up but also for giving her zero warning about the tall, dark, and brooding not-a-rancher-anymore vet she sent in her place.

“Beth Spence,” she finally added, not able to take another second of silence. “Congratulations on being the second person my sister threatened on my behalf today and on escaping the consequences. I don’t know if I can say the same for the guy with the wheelchair at the gate.”

Eli winced. “Turned him down, did you?”

“Cold.” She dipped her gaze to their still clasped hands and cleared her throat.

Eli loosened his grip.

“If you’ve got something to prove to yourself or your sister, I’m happy to let you hoof it back to Meadow Valley. You’ll probably make it in a day or two, pending traffic and wildlife.”

Beth stifled a grin. Brooding with a side of biting wit, huh? “Thanks. I’ll take the ride if you promise that’s the end of your comedy show.”

Eli barked out a laugh, and dammit if she wasn’t right about what he looked like when he smiled.

He grabbed the handle of her suitcase and tugged it toward the door.

“Well then, Ms. Spence, your double-parked chariot without hooves awaits.”

Beth pulled her phone from her tote and found a message she hadn’t seen before she’d disembarked from the plane.

Delaney: Nolan spiked a fever. It’s nothing. Just an ear infection, but had to run her to the pediatrician and then pick up antibiotics. Sending my friend Eli to grab you. Warning, he’s painfully good-looking and easily spooked, so be nice.

Beth groaned.

“Touché, big sis,” she mumbled, then followed Eli through the automatic doors.

“Sorry in advance if Bethy talks your ear off,” Delaney had said when she’d called him that morning. So color Eli Murphy relieved when the woman conked out for the entire ninety-minute ride.

“I’m not good at small talk,” he’d told Delaney.

“It doesn’t have to be small talk. Just steer the conversation toward something you know, something that makes you feel more comfortable. Beth can talk about anything.”

His comfort zone was animals, so if the small talk had veered into personal territory, he’d decided to grab whatever fun animal fact popped into his brain first. Thankfully, he’d had no need to worry because by the time he pulled onto the Murphy property, his passenger was still snoring away.

He put the truck in park and relaxed his shoulders, not realizing they’d been hunched in anticipation the whole ride.

He reached for her arm to nudge her awake, but her sleeveless denim top made him hesitate.

Seriously, Eli? Tess’s voice played in his head, and he could see her dark brown eyes rolling as she spoke. I’m not going to be jealous if you wake a stranger. Hell, I’m not going to be anything, babe, because I’m still dead.

He knew that. Of course he knew that. It had been three years already. But despite it stating the obvious, her voice was still there. He could still conjure it, remember it, and that was all that mattered, preserving her memory the best he could.

He shook his head and scrubbed a hand across his jaw, then cleared his throat.

Beth didn’t stir.

He watched her chest rise and fall, wondering how she could possibly be comfortable with the window as a pillow.

She hummed softly with her next exhale, the sound breathy and sweet—and strangely intimate. He’d met her less than two hours before, and now he knew the noises she made when she slept.

He dipped his head toward the long, tanned legs beneath her army-green shorts, then to the air cast on her left.

She let out a soft snore, and he laughed. She made the sound again, but this time it was punctuated with something that sounded like a whimper.

His head shot up, and he noticed her eyes—her lashes—were damp.

Eli cleared his throat again. “Beth?” he said softly. When she still didn’t respond, he spoke louder and finally gave her shoulder a quick shake. “Beth!”

She gasped, knocked her head on the glass, then sat bolt upright.

“Shit!” she hissed, rubbing her temple. Then she turned to him, her green eyes wide with tiny gold flecks gleaming in the glint of the sun. “Did I doze off?” she asked with a laugh.

He was probably supposed to say something, but he couldn’t look away from her eyes.

“Hellooooo? Eli?” Beth waved a hand in front of his face.

“Huh? Sorry. I was just—”

“Staring?” she interrupted. “Don’t worry. They’re used to it.” She gave her shoulders and chest a little shimmy. “You don’t spend your early twenties as a Vegas showgirl without a little ogling.”

“What?” he asked, incredulous. “Jesus. No. I was not staring.”

She raised her brows and crossed her arms.

What the hell? This was worse than small talk. This was…

“The female ferret will die if she doesn’t mate once she goes into heat!” he blurted.

Good god. Could the floor in the truck just open up and let him plunge into the fiery depths of hell? Please?

“Oh my god!” Beth stared at him now, horrified.

But then she doubled over, laughing. Squealing with unbridled giggles. Eli thought he might have even heard a snort.

“Oh my god!” she said again, out of breath, shoulders still shaking as she straightened in her seat. “I don’t know what to ask first, if that’s even true or why it’s the first thing that comes to mind when you get flustered.” She swiped at the corners of her eyes where tears fell freely, but these were, without a doubt, tears of joy.

Eli couldn’t help it. Her laughter was infectious, the momentary joy contagious. Was he mortified beyond recognition? Abso-freaking-lutely. Was he laughing anyway? Yes. Yes, he was.

When they’d both caught their breath and the laughter finally died down, he had to ask.

“So…what are the odds of you keeping my random ferret fact just between the two of us?”

Beth squeezed his forearm and smiled sweetly. “Zero to none, Dr. Murphy. Zero. To. None.”