By the time Sean’s horse wandered into town, Christine’s butt was completely numb and the rest of her ached. The fact that she’d ever thought she was in shape was laughable. Her legs hurt. Her abs hurt. Her arms hurt. She couldn’t imagine, if she ached this bad, how she was going to feel after she had a night’s sleep.

Right now, all she wanted to do was get off the horse, take a hot shower, and climb into bed. Plus, getting away from Sean seemed like the best idea. Her mind was racing from being this close to him, feeling his arms wrapped around her and his sculpted chest against her back.

Plus, she would be lying to herself if she said that him being so dedicated to his ranch wasn’t intriguing. She had never felt that passionate about anything in her life. Becoming an auditor was just a means to an end. Her college counselor had advised her that it was the best route for her to take. An accounting degree wasn’t glamorous, but it paid the bills.

She swallowed as she felt her emotions rise in her throat. What was happening to her? Perhaps it was the emotional rollercoaster she’d been on since Parker had threatened her job. She either needed to get serious or find somewhere else to go.

She was going to have to call Tylinn tonight and ask her if every field assignment was this emotionally taxing. Maybe it was just this one. Parker had given it to her because he knew that it would break her. Better to have her quit than for him to fire her. It would look better for her uncle.

Sean slowed the horse as they approached the row of buildings that ran the length of the road in front of them. The sign that said Susan’s Diner shone against the encroaching evening light. Food sounded amazing, along with getting off this blasted horse.

Once the horse had stopped, Sean jumped down and held out his hand for her. She reached for it gratefully and shifted so that her body could slide of the horse.

“Wait—” But Sean’s protest was lost as he tipped back. He clung onto her and the two of them crashed to the ground. Christine could feel the impact of him landing on his back through his chest. Her hands splayed out against his shirt. Red hot heat permeated her skin.

“I’m sorry,” she said. Was it wrong that she was impressed that he’d kept his arms wrapped around her? That he’d given himself as a sacrifice to keep her safe?

Thanking him seemed prudent. But she needed to make sure he was alright first. “Are you okay?” she asked, peering up into his face.

His eyes were pinched shut, and his face was contorted in a look of pain.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked, glancing down to make sure his arms and legs weren’t twisted in an unnatural way. He didn’t look like he’d broken a bone. Relieved that she hadn’t seriously maimed him, she peeked back up at him. He still hadn’t opened his eyes.

“Sean? Can you speak?”

He groaned. “Dragon? Is that you?”

Christine rolled her eyes as she moved to get off of him. But her legs were numb from the horse ride and before she knew what she was doing, she kneed him between the legs.

Sean let out a yelp and lifted his head off the ground. “You kneed me,” he said. His voice dropped to barely a whisper.

“I’m so sorry,” she said as she knelt next to him. She reached out but wasn’t quite sure what to do, so she just left her hands hanging in the air. “What can I do?”

Sean curled to his side. “Just don’t touch me,” he said.

Christine dropped her hands and nodded. “Got it.” She rocked back onto her butt and sat cross-legged next to him. Not sure what to say, she opened her lips and said the first thing that came to her mind. “That was very Mr. Darcy of you.”

He groaned a response.

She realized that he might not know who Mr. Darcy was. “Mr. Darcy? From Pride and Prejudice? It’s my all-time favorite movie. The way you saved me? It was totally something he would do.”

He whispered something that sounded like “crazy lady” but she wasn’t sure. So, she decided to sit back and wait for his pain to go away.

After a few minutes, he peeked up at her. His face was no longer contorted in a look of pain.

“You okay now?” she asked.

He nodded with his head still lying on the gravel. “I’ll be fine. Just, stay over there. It’s dangerous for you to touch me.”

Christine held up her hands. “Well, yes. I have been known to inflict pain on unsuspecting cowboys. Why do you think they call me the dragon?” She shot him a look, and he scoffed.

“I had a sense,” he said as he pressed his hands down on the ground and sat up. Once he was standing, Christine joined him. He swept his gaze over her. “Are you okay?”

Christine studied him. Was he really asking her if she was okay? Sean Petty was challenging everything she’d thought she knew about him, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Auditing a man she disliked was much easier than auditing a confusing one.

“I should be asking you that. You selflessly sacrificed yourself for me. Are you okay?”

“Selflessly? Hmm, I like that. If reporters reach out to you and ask you about this incident, those are the exact words I want you to say.” He peered over at her and gave her a small smile. “That and compare me to Mr. Darcy. It’ll drive the ladies crazy.”

She laughed, for the first time in a long time. And it felt good. “I’ll make sure to do that.”

Sean straightened and started to move toward the doors of Susan’s Diner. His gait was slow—it seemed he was trying to shake off what had just happened.

Christine moved to follow him, but as she took her first step, her left leg gave out, causing her to stumble. Thankfully, she didn’t go down, but Sean noticed, and the concerned look in his eye caused heat to race across her body again. She felt like a woman going through menopause.

“You okay?” he asked, reaching out and brushing his fingers against her skin. Zaps of electricity jolted up her arm from the feather-light touch.

“I think so,” she breathed out. When she could finally process her thoughts through her clouded brain, she realized that he was staring at her with a puzzled expression. Desperate to redeem herself, she said, “Well, as good as I can be. I did just ride a horse in a position that no one should ever ride a horse in. I really don’t think my legs will go back to normal after today.”

Sean’s gaze moved down to her legs. “Well, that would be a pity.” When he glanced back up at her, she saw that his cheeks hinted pink. He parted his lips and shook his head. “I didn’t mean it to come out that way.”

Christine raised her brows. “What did you mean?” Had he just complimented her legs? What was happening?

He growled and nodded toward the diner. “Let’s get some food. It must be the low blood sugar that’s getting to my head.” He grabbed Jersey’s reins and clicked his tongue. She began to walk behind him. Once they were at a post, he tied her up.

Christine followed him, wincing with each step. “Sure. That’s what you meant.”

He shot her a look but then moved toward the front doors of the diner and pulled it open. He waved her in. When she stepped inside, her eyes widened. It was a quaint diner with checkerboard tiles and red leather booths.

A woman with her hair pulled back in a messy bun was standing next to a table with a pad of paper in one hand and pen in another. When Sean cleared his throat, she looked over at him.

“Sean!” she said, waving to the couple she was talking to and making her way over. Her gaze ran over him the closer she got. “What happened to you? You look like you were run over and hung out to dry.” She motioned toward Christine who suddenly realized just what she must look like. “So do you, sweetie.” Desperate to redeem herself, she ran her fingers through her snarled hair.

Sean waved away her comment. “We need some food, Susan.”

Susan smiled and took two menus from the stack next to her. “Well, you’ve come to the right place.” She nodded in the direction of a far table and Sean followed. Christine winced as she kept pace with him.

Sean slipped into the booth, and Christine moved to sit, but then paused. There was no way she was going to be able to relax until she saw the damage that had been done by the Montana wind and heat. She smiled at the woman who was waiting for her to sit. “Bathroom?”

The woman dug around in her apron and pulled out a key. “The one inside is out of order. You can use the spare out back,” she said, motioning toward the front door.

Christine took the key and nodded, heading back outside. Once she was inside the bathroom and had locked the door, she turned and gasped. Her hair was windblown and knotted. Her mascara seemed to have melted in the Montana heat, and she had black rings under her eyes.

She turned on the water and let her hands fill up. It took a few good scrubbings until her face was clean. When her hands were dried, she pulled her hair from her ponytail and raked her fingers through it. When she finally looked presentable, she headed back out of the bathroom and around the building. Just as she neared the door, her phone rang.

She stopped and pulled it from her back pocket.

Tylinn.

Smiling, she swiped the screen and brought the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Chris? That you?”

“Tylinn?”

“I can’t hear you. Your reception must be bad. Can you hear me?” Tylinn’s voice was scratchy and cut out every few seconds.

“Tylinn? I can sort of hear you. Can you hear me?”

“I can’t hear you, so I’ll make this short. Hope things are good in Montana. Parker’s on a hunt for your blood. If you don’t do well, it’s gonna be the end of you.”

Before Christine could answer, the call cut off.

She pulled her phone from her ear and stared down at it, her stomach sinking. What was happening to her? Just because she’d misplaced some files for a big case, suddenly, she couldn’t handle anything. The longer she was here, the more she realized that Parker really was setting her up to fail.

She gritted her teeth as she pulled open the front door. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She’d succeed if it was the last thing she did. There was no way she’d let Parker get the better of her. She’d rock this audit and then march into his office Monday morning and quit. She was done being intimidated by that small, bald man.

When she got to the booth, she sat down with more confidence than she’d felt earlier. Suddenly, the distraction that Sean was causing wasn’t as bad anymore. Whatever she’d been feeling from their previous encounter was just stress induced. She needed to get her head on straight and accomplish what she’d come here to do.

Sean was studying her as she set the key down on the table and picked up the menu. “You look. . . better,” he said, running his gaze over her.

“I do clean up well.” She let his compliment wash over her. Despite her better judgement, heat raced to her cheeks.

“I meant, you look pretty pleased with yourself. Was your trip successful?”

In a matter of seconds, the heat on her skin changed to the heat of embarrassment. What exactly had he thought she was doing? “I wasn’t—I mean, that’s not why I went in there.”

He held up his hands. “I get it. Everyone does it. I mean, they wrote a children’s book about it.”

Christine stared at him. What was happening? How had this conversation changed so quickly?

Sean smiled and leaned forward. “I was just kidding,” he said, laughing.

Christine rolled her eyes. “Seriously? How old are you?” She read her menu, grateful for the distraction it gave her.

He smiled, but then his expression stilled. “Sorry. Sometimes I speak without thinking,” he said.

“Oh. Has this happened more and more since your accident?”

“What?” He looked confused for a moment, and just as he moved to ask more, the waitress returned to see if they were ready.

They ordered and she wrote the items on her pad of paper. After she was finished, she tucked the bathroom key into her pocket and made her way toward the back where she pushed open the swinging door.

Now alone, Christine stared at Sean. Time to ask the questions she needed answered. She took a long drink of water and then placed the cup down. “So, tell me about the Petty ranch.”

Sean was sipping on his water as he eyed her. Once half the glass was gone, he pushed it away and cleared his throat. “What do you want to know?”

Not sure how to approach this, she decided it would be best to sound the least intimidating. Less like she was investigating him. “How long have you worked there?”

He drummed the table with his fingertips. “Work? More like lived. And my whole life.”

“And that’s been how long?”

He leaned closer to her. “Are you asking me how old I am?”

She shrugged.

“I figured the government knew everything about me.” He sighed and leaned back. “Twenty-nine. The Petty Ranch has been in my life for twenty-nine years. Next question.”

So he was only four years older that her. She pushed away the butterflies that flitted around her stomach. Why did it matter how old he was? She was acting like a star-struck teenager. “Okay. How have things been for your grandfather? Financially?”

Sean’s playful expression turned stony. He shifted on his seat as he dropped his gaze to the tabletop. “I’m surprised you didn’t get all the dirt before you came out here.”

Well, that answered one question. The Petty Ranch was in trouble. Just how much, was something she was going to have to figure out, but there were problems. “I think you have a skewed idea of what exactly the government knows.”

Before Sean could answer, the waitress came back and deposited their plates in front of them. Sean seemed to take that as a sign to keep quiet as his focus shifted to his food and getting it inside of him.

Christine studied him as she thought back on the previous events of the day. So much had happened in such a short amount of time that she really hadn’t had any time to process it all.

As they continued to eat in silence, her mind began to clear. She’d been ridiculous to think that there was any attraction between her and this cowboy. The man called her a dragon for heaven’s sake. They were from two different worlds and she was here to audit his grandfather’s farm.

It was best to keep things platonic between them. For all parties involved.

For the rest of their meal, they kept their conversation light. Instead of delving into each other’s pasts, Christine talked about the latest news or the weather, which Sean seemed compliant to respond to. Once they paid and headed out, Christine began to feel like she was starting to get a grip on whatever could be going on between her and Sean.

As they rounded the corner of the building to see Jersey working on a patch of grass, Sean stopped. His gaze was focused on the ground. Christine glanced up at him. What was happening?

“Can you. . . can you just make sure you give us a chance before you decide?” His voice was low as he brought his gaze up to meet hers. There was something there. A pain that she’d seen earlier that day when he’d walked into the kitchen and she’d met him for the first time.

“Sean, it doesn’t work like that. I gather the information and report back. I’m not a judge. It’s not my job to decide what happens.” She reached out and touched his elbow. He had to know that she wouldn’t lie. If there was nothing to hide, then they would be fine.

“But I’m sure they take into consideration what you say. If you tell them we are working to make things better, that has to make a difference.” His gaze searched hers as if he were desperate to find an answer that she wasn’t sure she could give him.

“I can try, but I think you overestimate my influence.”

He studied her and then shot her a half smile. “That’s all I wanted to hear.” He started to walk toward Jersey.

Christine wasn’t sure she’d given him the right answer. She couldn’t lie to him. If she did find out that something had been omitted or a deduction taken when it shouldn’t have been taken, she was going to have to report it. He had to know she’d do that. It was her job.

“Sean, if there’s something to find, though, I have to report it. You realize that. Right?” She reached out and grabbed his elbow before he walked away.

He turned and looked down at her. He forced a smile and nodded. “Of course. I understand.” With that, he turned and loosened Jersey’s reins from the post and rubbed her behind her ears.

Not wanting to stand outside and discuss this further, Christine decided that the best thing she could do right now was to take a shower and get a good night’s sleep. Then she’d face everything else in the morning. She followed behind Sean as he motioned toward the motel a few buildings down.

“Let’s get you checked in,” he said.

Christine nodded. That was the best idea she’d heard in a long time.