She raised her gaze to the snow-covered peak. “Uh-huh.”

“The ranch is in a valley just at the foot of that mountain. When I was a kid and I’d get turned around, I’d ride for high ground. When I could see the mountain, I knew my way home.”

As he spoke she could almost see a younger version of Zane riding a horse through the wilderness, headed for a mountain that would forever mean home.

“I’m not sure that would work with freeway signs,” she said.

He squeezed her arm and released her. “Then you’ll have to invest in GPS.”

“Believe me, I have it. Every real estate agent’s best friend.” But GPS wasn’t nearly as exciting and romantic as a mountain that would always lead one home.

“So one day you’ll be telling your children about the mountain,” she said. “And they’ll want you to tell them about the times you got lost and had to fight off a big black bear with nothing more than a canteen and a broken branch.”

“I like to think I’d be smarter than that. A canteen’s not much of a weapon.”

“What if the bear is thirsty? You could distract it with the promise of water.”

Zane turned back to the tents, but not before she saw him smile.

“Good to know,” he said. “But I’m not planning on having kids.”

“But you have to. If you don’t, the family line won’t go on. You’re the fifth generation. Doesn’t there have to be a sixth?”

“Chase can take care of that.”

She started to say that his brother didn’t seem to be a big fan of ranching, but decided she didn’t want to go there with Zane.

“Don’t you like kids?” she asked.

“Sure, but liking them isn’t the problem.”

She eyed his perfectly muscled body and doubted there were any problems there. “So what is? I would think a wife and a few kids would be the next logical step.”

He glanced at her. “It’s not that easy. Most women find the ranch too isolated.”

She wondered if his ex-wife had felt that way. Phoebe thought about the beauty of Zane’s place, the history and the feeling of belonging. She thought of family traditions, of never having to fight freeway traffic, of silence and snow and Zane to wake up to each morning. Then she carefully popped her fantasy bubble because she knew better than to dream about things she could never have.

“Where there’s love, there’s enough of everything,” she said. At least that’s what she’d always believed. She’d never actually dared to test the theory for herself.

Zane was looking at her in such a way that her heart suddenly began throwing itself against her ribs. She felt tingly and hot, as if she was getting a fever. Her mouth got dry, but other parts of her did exactly the opposite.

Would Zane mind if she pulled off her shirt?

Before she could ask, Cookie rang the bell for supper. Phoebe turned and ran toward the wagon, leaving temptation and all her impossible fantasies behind.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MAYA LEANED FORWARD and laughed. “He actually accused me of sleeping with the professor to get an A, if you can believe it.”

“Was the professor sexy?” Eddie asked.

“What did you do?” Gladys said at the same time.

“I went to my professor and explained what was going on. He was furious. I don’t know that he cared about me as much as he resented what the jerk’s comments said about him. I’d done all the work, I’d gotten the good grades on the test, and at the end of the term, I’m the one who had the internship.”

Gladys patted Maya’s arm. “Back in my day a woman had to have real determination to have any kind of professional career. To be honest, I never wanted more than to be Ephraim’s wife and stay home to raise our children.”

“I’ve seen mothers with their kids,” Maya told her. “I think a career was the easy way out.”

All three women laughed. Zane reached for another cup of coffee to hide his smile. He would never in a million years have pictured his high-powered take-no-prisoners ex-stepsister gabbing with two grandmother types—somewhat warped grandmothers, that was—over roasted marshmallows and an open fire. She’d sure mellowed over the past few years, although he knew if he said that to her, she would tell him that he was the one who had changed. Maybe they both had.

He shifted slightly, so that he stretched out on the ground, with his feet pointing toward the fire. Phoebe was across from him and just a little to his right. He could watch her without turning his head.

Firelight brought out hints of red and gold in her dark brown hair. Shadows danced across her cheek. She pulled her long branch from the fire and tested the softness of the marshmallow she’d been roasting. When the hot center gushed out over her fingers, she jerked her hand back and licked the sticky mess from her skin.

The quick movements of her tongue reminded him of kissing her and holding her. The memories had a not-surprising result on his libido and his dick. Half frustrated and half resigned, he shifted so she wasn’t in his line of sight. Maybe if he couldn’t see what he couldn’t have, he wouldn’t want her so bad.

Maybe the steers would fly the rest of the way.

He grinned at the thought. Maya glanced at him and raised her eyebrows.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m a man who enjoys life.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. Tell me another one.”