Josh (6 page)

He saw Sierra’s spirits lift considerably as she read aloud the sign above it:

“If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”

Seeing her smile, he winked. “If you like that, you’re going to love Flora’s Diner.” He pointed to the gaudy wooden building painted pink and bright lavender, with shocking pink letters spelling out the name.

“Flora’s been a fixture in this town since my grandfather came here. And her daughter, Dora, is older than my dad. The two of them know everybody for miles around and can tell you anything you want to know about anyone’s business. Believe me, there are no secrets in a town this small.”

“That must be a comfort.”

He chuckled. “Unless you’re the one with the secrets they’re all sharing with your neighbors.”

She lifted a brow. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“We like to say that the good thing about living in a small town is knowing everything about your neighbors. And the bad thing about living in a small town is having all your neighbors know everything about you.”

She shared a laugh, and Josh was relieved to see that her wonderful smile had returned.

At the end of the street he pointed to the Paintbrush Church, with its gleaming white steeple pointed heavenward, and the Paintbrush Elementary School next to the Paintbrush High School, with its new football field and modern track. “Just beyond town is the fairground. During rodeo days, the town swells to about five times its normal population.”

“Do you take part in the rodeo?”

He shook his head. “I leave that to my brother Jake. He’s always been crazy enough to try his luck with a bucking bronc or an angry bull. Quinn and I are more than willing to stand back and cheer him on.”

“Is Jake a rancher, too?”

“Yeah. It’s the family business. And now he’s our veterinarian, as well. We never say it aloud, but we’re pretty proud of him.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “It takes guts for the youngest of the family to travel a thousand miles away from home to chase a dream. But as I said, if you’re looking for a crazy, gutsy guy, Jake’s your man.”

“Are you saying it doesn’t take a crazy, gutsy guy to climb the Tetons during a storm to locate lost hikers?”

Josh grinned. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”

After making a slow tour of the town, Josh brought his truck to a halt in front of the diner. “I don’t know about you, but right about now I could use a good, hot meal.”

She nodded. “Sounds wonderful. That’s not to say that your steak-and-egg breakfast wasn’t really good. But my stomach is telling me that it hasn’t been filled for hours.”

She climbed from the truck and followed Josh inside the ancient diner. Arranged on one side were a couple of old metal tables and scarred wooden chairs, and all of them were filled by people who called out greetings to Josh as he led her toward the gleaming counter, lined with a row of old-fashioned stools.

The minute they were seated a plump woman hurried over to greet them.

“Josh Conway. Haven’t seen you in weeks. Busy time up at the ranch?”

“You bet.” Seeing the way she was studying Sierra, he said, “Dora, this is Sierra Moore.”

Dora stuck out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Sierra. Coffee?”

Sierra accepted her handshake. “Yes, please.”

“Make that two,” Josh called, as she started away.

“You don’t need to tell me that,” the woman said with a laugh. “The day you come in and order tea, I’ll know you’re not feeling like yourself.”

While she poured two cups of coffee, a white-haired woman peered at them from the pass-through to the kitchen. “Josh Conway. How’re you, honey?”

“Great, Flora.”

She stared at the woman beside him. “Don’t tell me you finally got yourself a serious girlfriend.”

“Just a friend, Flora.”

“Tell that to someone else. A female that pretty is never just a friend.”

Josh ignored her little jibe. “Flora, this is Sierra Moore.”

The older woman gave her a bright smile. “Any friend of Josh Conway’s is more than welcome here.”

“Thank you.”

Flora’s daughter, Dora, set down two steaming cups of coffee and indicated the faded, plastic-coated menus. “You decided what you want?”

Before they could say a word her mother called out from the kitchen, “The special today is chicken and dumplings. You don’t want to order anything else.”

Josh winked at Sierra. “That settles it for me. Make mine chicken and dumplings.”

Sierra couldn’t help laughing. “Make that two.”

Dora nodded and shouted out the order to her mother, even though the old woman had obviously heard every word. Then Dora proceeded to place two premade salads in front of them before turning away.

The rest of the meal was delivered on steaming plates, along with homemade rolls and Flora’s special honey butter.

Both Josh and Sierra cleaned their plates before sitting back to sip their coffee.

Sierra turned to him. “I can’t remember the last time
I had a real home-cooked meal in a diner. This was amazing.”

Having overheard her, Dora stepped closer. “If you liked Ma’s chicken, you’re going to love her coconut cream pie. It’s the best in the West.”

“I’m sold.” Sierra smiled. “I have to try it.”

“Me, too.” Josh winked. “I’m not about to pass up a piece of Flora’s homemade pie.”

They were still grinning as they dug into the mile-high confection, and both were sighing with pleasure by the time they’d finished.

Dora picked up their empty plates. “It’s nice to see a pretty young thing like you enjoying Ma’s pie without worrying about your figure.”

“Why, thank you,” Josh deadpanned, causing both women to roar with laughter.

“Be sure to tell your mother that I’ve never tasted coconut cream pie that good,” Sierra said.

“I will.” Dora studied her a minute, then asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be a photographer, would you?”

Both Josh and Sierra shot her puzzling glances.

Josh arched a brow. “Have you taken up mind reading, Dora?”

The woman laughed. “Don’t I wish? It just dawned on me. There was a man in here asking if anybody knew a beautiful photographer who was supposed to be in the area.” She puffed up with importance. “Someone in town told him that if he wanted to know anything about anybody in these parts, he ought to ask at Flora’s Diner. But Ma and I told him we’d never heard of her.” She turned to Sierra. “Since you’re the prettiest woman who’s been in our place in a long time, I just now put two and two together.”

“How long ago was the man here?” Sierra asked softly.

“Yesterday. Handsome devil,” Dora muttered. “And oh, such fancy clothes. I’m betting he paid more for his watch than I did for that new truck I bought. Ma and I thought about locking him up in the cooler and keeping him for ourselves, but we resisted temptation.”

She turned away, laughing uproariously at her little joke.

Seeing the stricken look of Sierra’s face, Josh dropped some money on the counter. “Thanks, Dora. Bye, Flora,” he called to the older woman in the kitchen.

At once the white-haired figure popped up at the pass-through. “Bye, you sweet, sexy thing. Bye, pretty woman. Hope you’ll both hurry back.”

Sierra managed a weak smile before turning away.

Josh led the way to his truck. Once inside he turned to her. “Okay. Either something you ate doesn’t agree with you, or the news Dora delivered just added to your misery. I’m betting it’s the news.”

She nodded, staring hard at her hands.

“Want to talk about it? I’m a good listener.”

She shook her head. “No. But thanks for the offer to listen.”

“Anytime.”

She shrugged. “Maybe… later.”

“Okay. Would you care to pay a visit to the chief of police?”

As his words sank in, she seemed to shrink back against the seat. She lifted her gaze to his. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I do. Especially if the good-looking guy asking about you at Flora’s happens to be an ex-husband.”

“I’ve never been married.”

“And the guy?”

When she remained silent, Josh shrugged. “Okay. Suit yourself.”

As he turned the key in the ignition and began to drive along Main Street, he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She’d gone somewhere else in her mind.

A dark place, from the looks of her. And not one she cared to share with him or with anyone.

At least not yet.

Sierra Moore looked as though she desperately needed someone to trust. And though he barely knew her, he knew that at least for tonight, he and his family would make her feel not only welcome but safe.

W
e’ve been on the road a long time.” Sierra had grown silent, content to drink in the sight of the spectacular scenery, which seemed so foreign to her. Aspen and cottonwood trees and foliage lined the road in every shade of red and orange and gold imaginable. “When do we get to your ranch?”

“We’ve been on it for the past ten miles. You’ll be seeing the house pretty soon now.”

“This beautiful land is all yours?”

He nodded, and found himself seeing it through her eyes. “I guess the vastness of it can be pretty overwhelming if you’re not prepared.”

“So much land. And all of it so breathtaking. Do you wake up every morning and pinch yourself?”

That had him laughing. “Actually, most mornings there’s no time for anything except chores. And believe me, when you’re mucking stalls, you’re not thinking about how grand and glorious all those cows are.”

That had her laughing. “Sorry. Shoveling cow manure is just not an image I wanted to carry in my mind.”

“I know. You want to see grand mountain peaks covered with snow and cowboys on horses herding cows beneath a spectacular sunrise.”

“Exactly. And if you’ll find such a scene, I’ll snap it and make a fortune selling it in galleries.”

“I’d be happy to be one of those cowboys. Right after I finish shoveling the manure. Which reminds me. I’d better warn you.” Josh looked over with a mock-serious frown. “Here in Wyoming, we have an awful lot of cow manure to shovel.”

“Is that the price I’ll have to pay for room and board?”

“Absolutely. All our guests are expected to lend a hand with ranch chores.” That sexy grin was back on his lips. “I should also warn you that our ranch doesn’t have a hot tub. But it does have a jet tub in the guest suite. I hope that’ll be enough to ease your aching muscles.”

She returned his grin. “I guess, after shoveling manure, I’ll be happy to have the jet tub.”

They were still laughing as they rounded a curve and caught their first glimpse of the ranch house in the distance.

“Oh.” The word slipped from Sierra’s lips and was drawn out in a long sigh of pleasure. “Talk about spectacular.”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help smiling. “Big Jim built the original structure, and it’s been added on to a number of times through the years.”

“Big Jim?”

“My grandfather. Everybody calls him Big Jim.”

“And your dad? Is he Big Something-or-Other?”

Josh was enjoying her zany sense of humor. She was unlike any woman he’d ever met. He’d watched her interaction with Mitch Carver and noticed her obvious concern when she’d realized that he and his rangers had spent a great deal of time and energy searching for her on the mountain. That kind of genuine interest in someone she’d just met was rare and wonderful.

“Cole Conway is just ‘Pa.’ ”

“I’ll probably call him Big Pa. Or else Big Cole. To distinguish from Big Jim, of course.”

“Then there’s Ela.”

“Who bakes that wonderful corn bread,” Sierra put in.

“Right. She’s Arapaho, and has been with us forever.”

“Arapaho. How fascinating. I can’t wait to ask her all sorts of questions about her people.”

He was grinning. “I’ll just bet you can’t. And then there’s Phoebe, who came to live with us shortly after our mother disappeared and—”

“Wait.” Sierra held up a hand. “Your mother disappeared? How? Where? When?”

He shook his head. “When I was ten. And that’s all I know. She disappeared one day without a trace, and there’s been no information uncovered since. My father hired private detectives, and the state police and Chief Fletcher did all they could, but in the end we have no more information now than we did when it first happened. We don’t know if she’s dead or alive, if she was kidnapped or if she abandoned us. All we know is that she disappeared without a trace.”

“That’s horrible.” She looked over at him. “And here I am, barging in on your life without offering a thing in return.”

He lay a hand over hers and was caught once again by that quick rush of heat. “It happened a long time ago. By now it’s old news.”

“Not to you and your family.”

He saw the flare of heat in her eyes and found it oddly touching. Though she was hearing this news for the first time, she understood without question the depth of his pain and was able to relate to it.

She had, it seemed, that rare gift of empathy. She was doing to him exactly what she’d done to Mitch Carver. In just minutes she’d managed to win over his respect and his friendship.

The truck slowed and came to a stop at the rear of the house, where several vehicles were parked.