Chapter One “But Daddy, I have to find a yellow folder before Monday or Mrs. Patterson won’t let me have my fourth star, and if I don’t have the fourth star then I don’t get to go on the field trip to the Planetarium with the students who got all four stars for the special project.” The sound of his daughter’s plaintive vocal recitation rose a few octaves as they stood in the aisle of Schulze’s Corner Drug Store. Cole Connors was a product of the rough Texas ranchlands that his family had forged a life from for the last seven generations. Standing a few inches over six feet tall, he was all muscle and weather-hewn skin. No one would ever mistake him for anything other than a cowboy even if he weren’t dressed in his usual work gear of well-worn jeans, sturdy brown work boots coated in a thin layer of red dust, dark blue, long-sleeved chambray shirt, along with the leather belt and large silver rodeo buckle he had won at the last Settlers’ Rodeo the past summer. Touching a slender finger to the brim of his chocolate Stetson, he pushed it back from his forehead as he bent down to rest on his haunches in front of the seven-year-old female who stood looking back at him with his same colored eyes…gunmetal gray that could either go dark as a storm cloud when upset…as they were now, or almost silver when infused with excitement. There was no mistake, the pair were related to each other. The eyes were too much alike, as were their temperaments…much to his consternation. Patience would never be listed as one of his long suits, but he found he had to wrestle with it more and more each day since his daughter had come to live with him just over two years ago. Most of the time he thought they were doing okay…until it came to times like this one when the pint-sized female was on the verge of a meltdown over something as silly as a yellow folder for school. “I’m sure Mrs. Patterson will understand if there are no yellow folders to be had in any of the local stores.” “No, Daddy, she won’t! Most of the kids got theirs in Lubbock. I asked you to take me there last weekend, but you had to work, just like the weekend before that one…you always have to work.” The voice fell quiet after that last bit. Her lower lip clamped shut as she gnawed on it in her usual nervous manner. “Yes, Emmie, I had to work. Ranch work doesn’t follow a set schedule like most other people’s jobs. Mother Nature has a lot to say about my schedule and she doesn’t wait around for excuses. I’ll have a word with Mrs. Patterson and explain.” Cassie found herself silently shaking her head. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop on someone else’s conversation, but from her spot on the other side of the shelf in the next aisle, she couldn’t help but hear the little girl’s voice and feel a twinge of reciprocal understanding for her situation. She might be a grown-up, but she could remember a time or two when she felt the odd one out in class because she didn’t have the right materials. Of course, there had been a different reason for her not having the items than the one used by the man who blamed it on Mother Nature. Dismissing that walk down memory lane, Cassie took her basket with its four items to the cash register. “Did you find everything you needed, hon?” Margaret Schulze, wife of the owner of Schulze’s Corner Drug Store, gave her the usual friendly greeting from behind the checkout counter. “How are things working out for you at Ozelle’s place?” In character as Delilah Jones, she smiled in return. “Things are fine. Thanks again for pointing me in the direction of Miss Ozelle’s when I first arrived in town. She’s a real sweet lady and that small apartment I was able to rent from her is just right for me.” “Well, being a single, working lady such as yourself, it’s good to have a decent and safe place to call home. Glad I could help out.” Delilah had to admit she had been surprised at the friendly reception she garnered from most of the people she met when she first arrived in the small west Texas town of Red Cliffs. The undercover persona she was using was not exactly one that often enticed such friendliness from most folks…particularly of the older female variety often with their holier-than-thou, look-down-the-nose at attitudes about working girls such as herself. Not that she was a ‘working girl’ in that sense of the word…she drew the line at just how much ‘undercover’ work she would do! But being a bartender in a hot spot such as the Aces Wild Saloon was not in keeping with the family-friendly, small-town atmosphere that most females in the quiet ranching community participated in. “Oh, by the way, there’s something else I could really use,” Delilah spoke up, remembering the conversation she overheard a few minutes earlier. “You wouldn’t by any chance have a yellow folder someplace in stock in the back, would you? There isn’t one on the shelf and I really need one of those.” She hoped the smile she gave the older woman would help to entice her to at least take a look in the back storeroom. “Hmmm… seems like Albert was telling me we’ve had a lot of people buying yellow folders lately. I don’t recall seeing any more back there, but just a sec and I’ll go take a look myself. Be right back.” The woman hurried through the half swinging doors behind her into the storeroom area. The sound of items being moved around on shelves quickly followed. It wasn’t but a couple of minutes and the woman came back…. the popular item held in her hand with a triumphant smile. “Imagine that! You’re in luck. There was one stuck in the middle of a group of red ones. Stuck out like a sore thumb. I keep telling my husband he needs better glasses.” She rang up the folder along with the remainder of Delilah’s items and bagged them all. The sale completed, Delilah picked up her bag, sliding it over her arm. Instead of going out the front door of the shop, she turned toward the direction of the fourth aisle and went in search of a certain little girl. She reached into the plastic bag, attempting to extricate the folder from amongst the other items, her head bent to the task as she rounded the corner of the aisle. Delilah came to a sudden halt as she met an immovable object…the rock-solid wall of a tall man’s chest. “Oh my!” “Watch out, miss!” Surprised at the sudden contact, they both spoke at the same time. A pair of strong arms had shot out automatically to steady the person he had just barreled into. The cowboy registered two things at that instant. The person he had almost run over in the aisle was a lot shorter than him and was definitely female. The second thing he was aware of was a desire to maintain contact with the soft skin where his hands still held contact on her upper arms. It was a reaction that both surprised and annoyed him at the same time. That reaction was nothing compared to the one he experienced when his eyes went down to see the identity of the woman. Cole’s gaze registered on the fact that a pair of the bluest eyes he had ever seen stared back at him. For a fleeting moment, the thought went through his mind that perhaps she was wearing those colored contact lenses because he had no idea eyes could ever be that blue without the aid of artificial enhancement. They were definitely the type of eyes that could draw a man into their depths and drown him there…if he weren’t really careful. With immense willpower, he moved his glance away and then noted other things that identified the woman as not a local…at least not anyone ‘local’ he was familiar with. Her hair was a definite giveaway on that one. He supposed he was looking at his first real platinum blonde. Cole had heard the term before, but never seen it up close. Her hair was long, falling down her back curl upon curl. A bright pink headband secured it from her face, leaving a fringe of bangs to fall just over her eyebrows. It was a sexy hairstyle…or at least it was on this particular female. The rest of the package caused a decided flare of heat to respond low in his jeans and that registered in the tightening of his grip on the slender arms. A jean vest with sparkly beading on the two shirt pockets matched the tight jeans that molded slender legs. The white blouse should have had a couple more buttons done up…if he was being prudish but that was far from his mind at the moment. No, this female was not local and spelled trouble. The blue eyes blinked a couple of times, as they held his gaze…seeming to attempt to focus on something else. Were those eyelashes real? There was no time to contemplate that issue as she spoke at that moment. “Excuse me. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Her voice had a husky quality to it. In another setting, it might be described as sexy, bordering on sultry. But under the bright fluorescent lighting of the store, surrounded by shelves of diapers and ointments for bunions, there was something lost in the translation. There was nothing lost in translation when his hands were dislodged from her arms in one swift move, and she met his gaze with one that was all business. It was his turn to blink a time or two. “Same here,” he muttered, putting out his own behavior. Her eyes left him to move to his daughter who stood a foot away watching them with a solemn expression. Cole was caught off guard again by the woman as he watched those blue eyes go from the cool blue of an icy lake, to the warmth of a blue mountain lake in summer as they rested upon his daughter. He experienced yet another foreign sensation…strangely akin to envy. “Hello. My name is…Ms. Jones,” she said. “I couldn’t help overhearing your earlier conversation. Seems you need a yellow folder for your class?” She nodded slowly. “Yes, but there isn’t one here. Now I won’t get the stars I need.” Her voice wasn’t whining, just full of sadness. “Well, I think I may be able to help with that situation. I asked the nice lady behind the counter, and she found one for you. Here you go.” Delilah withdrew the yellow folder from her bag and handed it to the child. The transformation was instantaneous. Her eyes lit up and her voice mirrored her sudden excitement. “Oh, Daddy! Look! I have a yellow folder. Now I can go to the Planetarium with everyone else!” Cole looked at the sudden change in his daughter with the advent of the folder and then he looked at the smiling woman. For a moment he was rendered speechless. Then he found his voice as the blue gaze settled on him. “Emmie…where are your manners?” her father reminded. The little girl clasped the folder against her chest with both hands, her excitement tempered by the tone of her father. “Thank you very, very much, Ms. Jones.” “You are most welcome…Emmie, correct?” “Yes…my name is Emmie, and this is…” Cole stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. “Cole Conners,” the man finished, once more in control of the situation and his senses. “That’s really very kind of you to do that for my daughter. I should have thought of asking Mrs. Schulze myself. How much do we owe you for it?” His hand was already reaching for the wallet in his back pocket. “That’s not necessary. I’m just glad a crisis was averted.” “Nonsense,” he spoke up in a tone that usually was reserved for those he issued orders to daily at the ranch. He pulled a dollar bill from the leather wallet and handed it across to her. Delilah looked at the money and then looked up into the eyes that regarded her with a shuttered coolness about them. With a bit of a quick jerk, she removed it from his hand, her lips narrowed into a line that was being controlled. “Enjoy the Planetarium, Emmie.” She flashed one more genuine smile at the little girl then turned away from the pair, disappearing around the corner from their view. “She was a really nice lady, Daddy. I like her.” Cole drew his eyes back from the empty space the woman had last stood in, to gaze down at the upturned face of his daughter. A frown creased his brow. “And she was a stranger. What have I told you about talking to strangers?” “Yes sir…I remember. But she was nice, and you were standing right here. I didn’t think that would be bad.” He felt foolish. Which was yet another reaction that was foreign to him. He knew the appearance of the woman had keyed him up, and he really didn’t want to explore the reasons for that. He just knew that he was taking out his frustrations on his daughter and that wasn’t right. His expression softened, his hand smoothing gently over the dark hair that fell straight over the child’s back. “I’m sorry, Emmie. I didn’t mean to snap at you. And you are correct…I was here and therefore, you were in a safe position to respond to the lady. Now let’s take your folder and let me get the items Marcella needed so we can get checked out.” A few minutes later, with the bottle of peroxide and the box of Bandaids his housekeeper had requested, they stood at the counter as the purchases were rung up. The rancher paid for them and then received the change back from Mrs. Schulze. He looked at the extra amount of money in his hand. “Excuse me, Ms. Margaret, but you gave me an extra dollar in here.” He held the extra bill out to the woman. “That’s not from me, Cole,” she responded with a twinkle in her eyes. “That nice Miss Jones said to give it to you. She said you would know where to put it.”