Although Quinn loved every square inch of the historic log cabin, he didn’t sleep particularly well. He’d stayed by the fire until the last ember winked out and stirred the ashes with an iron poker to make sure he could safely leave it.

Then he’d climbed the hill to the cabin, but not before glancing at the house to see if any lights showed. Nope. Evidently Kendra had gone to bed.

Later, as he’d tossed around on the perfectly comfortable double-bed mattress, he’d considered the possibility that Kendra wasn’t sleeping, either. That would be too bad. He wanted to make her life better, not worse.

Despite a sleepless night, he’d have to say his life was infinitely better thanks to Kendra. He’d never expected to find another woman who turned him inside out. Not in this lifetime. Kendra was a one-in-a-million miracle. Consequently, his body, mind and heart were all a-twitter.

He’d lost track of how often during the night he’d glanced at his watch. Despite having a phone to tell time, he preferred a watch. He seldom wore it to bed—only when something important was happening in the morning. Like seeing Kendra again.

The watch lit up at the press of a button and he’d pressed the hell out of it until he could finally justify getting up. It was a wonder he hadn’t broken the damn thing.

The bathroom was tiny but suited the purpose. He shaved, including his upper lip, and showered in a stall the size of an old-fashioned phone booth. But others had managed it and so could he.

He dressed in a clean pair of jeans and shirt, although he’d come back and change into his clothes from yesterday before working on the bike. He hadn’t counted on a repair job when he’d packed for this trip. Minor issues, though, in the bigger picture.

After making his bed, he donned his jacket and hat before stepping onto the porch. A pearlescent sky and crisp mountain air greeted him. He took a deep breath, savoring the aroma from the pines that clustered around the cabin.

His property was flatter than this and not blessed with so many trees. The Lazy S was better for a breeding operation that required a lot of pasture, but not as picturesque as this. Would have been nice to have his sketchpad but he’d been traveling light.

One truck was already parked by the barn and a second one pulled in. Good. He wanted to help feed and now he wouldn’t have to loiter around waiting for someone to show up and put him to work.

As he started down the hill, Zane came out of the original barn followed by Cody. They paused, glanced his way and looked at each other. Then they both responded to a greeting from the tall, lanky cowboy who climbed out of the truck that had just arrived.

The three of them gathered for a pow-wow, quite possibly about him. Maybe not, but that look between Cody and Zane had been telling. The lanky fellow was likely Faith’s dad, the one who’d taken off early yesterday to get a haircut.

Only natural that the men of the ranch would keep an eye on the interloper. At least on this first morning, he’d come out the right door.

“Morning, gentlemen,” he called out when he was a few yards away.

“Morning, Quinn.” Zane introduced Jim Underwood, Faith’s dad.

Quinn extended his hand. Everything about Jim indicated that ranching was his line of work, from the slight bow to his legs to the squint lines fanning out from the corners of his eyes. Both came from hours in the saddle.

“Pleased to meet you, Quinn.” Jim met his gaze with a slight nod of acknowledgment, one seasoned cowboy to another. “Heard you had a bit of trouble with your bike.”

“I did. Hoping to fix it soon. I don’t want to impose on Kendra’s hospitality for too long.”

“Did I hear my name mentioned?”

He turned and there she was, cute as a bug with her hair pulled through the back hole of a gimme cap decorated with the Guzzling Grizzly logo. “Morning, Kendra. Great hat.”

“Isn’t it?” She flashed him a smile and glanced at his upper lip. Her eyes widened for a split second but she didn’t allow her attention to linger. “I love my Stetson, but this makes for a fun change of pace.”

“Looks great, Mom,” Cody said.

“Thanks.” She turned to him. “Where’s your blushing bride? She’s usually Johnny-on-the-spot for the morning feeding.”

“Like I was telling Jim a minute ago, she’s a little under the weather.”

“Oh, no! That’s unusual. She’s one of the healthiest people I know. Should I go check on her?”

Cody shook his head. “Typical Faith, she’d rather ride it out on her own. She assured me this wasn’t anything to worry about.”

Quinn had to laugh at himself. He’d been so positive they’d been discussing him earlier, but more likely they’d been talking about Faith. He wasn’t as important as he’d imagined. “I hope she gets better soon.”

“Thanks, Quinn.” Cody gave him a smile. “She does, too. She’s extremely interested in that Harley repair.”

Jim chuckled. “She would be. That girl loves engines of any kind.”

“Hey, Quinn,” Zane said. “Was I hallucinating or did you have a mustache yesterday?”

“Uh, yes, I did, as a matter of fact.” Damn. He hadn’t factored in how the missing mustache could be interpreted by Kendra’s sons. “Turns out it was a pain. Food got in it and I had to trim it all the time. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort.” He avoided glancing at Kendra, but his peripheral vision told him her cheeks were pink. Her upper lip wasn’t pink anymore, but women had makeup for that kind of thing.

Clearly Zane wasn’t buying his lame explanation, either. “I see.”

“I had a mustache several years ago,” Jim said, clearly oblivious to the undertones of the conversation. “Finally concluded the same thing. Then Deidre and I got together and she made me promise never to grow one. Said she didn’t relish kissing a scrub brush.”

“I got the same lecture from Mandy.” Zane kept his attention on Quinn. “She has extremely delicate skin so I—” He was interrupted by a loud whinny from the interior of the barn.

“Winston wants us to speed it up.” Kendra started toward the barn. “I’m sure the rest of them are ready for breakfast, too. Let’s get ‘er done.”

Bless Winston. Quinn didn’t know enough about McGavin family dynamics to guess whether the conversation would have become even more pointed, but he’d rather not find out. He’d hung onto the work gloves Zane had loaned him the day before. He pulled them out of his pocket.

The group coordinated their efforts to get the feeding done. Partway through, Zane was called away to handle the rescue of a bald eagle with a broken wing. Quinn ended up paired with Kendra for the rest of the feeding routine.

When they happened to be picking up hay flakes at the wheelbarrow at the same time, he paused before grabbing the next one. He lowered his voice. “Look, I’m sorry about shaving off the mustache first thing this morning. I just wanted it gone. I didn’t think about how it would look to your sons.”

“It’s okay. They would have had their suspicions even without that.”

“But I just confirmed their suspicions.”

“Oh, well.” She glanced down the aisle to where Cody and Jim were working. “We’d better keep moving.”

True, but he coordinated his rhythm with hers so he had another shot at conversation. “Then you’re okay with them drawing conclusions about us?”

She shrugged. “So they know that we kissed. That’s not such a big deal.”

“Speak for yourself. I thought it was a huge deal. I barely slept last night thinking about it.”

She looked shocked by the news. “You really didn’t sleep?”

“Not much.” He carried the hay into the next stall.

“You need your sleep,” she said the next chance she had to speak to him. “You’ll be working with machinery this morning.”

“I’ll only be draining the fuel tank. I’m not planning to solder it until this afternoon.”

“Then you should take a nap before you do that.”

He couldn’t resist. “Only if you’ll take one with me.”

She flushed and her eyes darkened. “I have a riding lesson this afternoon.”

“Just my luck.” He gave her a wink.

“You’re flirting.”

“Yes, ma’am.” And he’d keep doing it, too, because she liked it.

From that first meeting in the bakery, when she’d pretended to fall under the spell of a coffee drink, he’d picked up a craving she might not have acknowledged to herself. It resonated with him because he had the same craving.

They’d each lost the person they’d given themselves to, heart and soul. After that they’d virtually closed the book, figuring the story was over. What if it wasn’t?

Meeting Kendra had nurtured the hope that he might find that kind of happiness again. Every time they were together, that hope grew stronger. Last night he’d kissed her and hope had transformed into something more solid, a real possibility.

What if she was his second chance and he was hers? But it wasn’t that simple. He’d put down roots, building a business and raising his kids on the Lazy S. Her roots were even deeper than his. She’d spent her entire life here.

He didn’t have answers. But if he kept finding opportunities to kiss her, maybe answers would come to him.