Hope opened her eyes. The morning light streaming in through the window was already bright. She looked at Chance, who slept on beside her, and then at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost seven. He was going to be late. She leaned over and kissed the tip of his nose.

He opened his eyes and smiled. “G’morning.”

“You might not think it’s so good when you hear that it’s seven o’clock already. You’d better get up. I’ll go and put the coffee on.”

He shook his head and his smile grew wider. “I’m not going to be late, because I’m not working until lunchtime today. I arranged for the guys to cover for me so that we could take our time this morning. I was going to take the whole day, and I still can if you want, but I thought you’d probably want to head up to see your dad.”

Hope grinned. “That’s perfect! I planned to see him this afternoon, but I didn’t expect you to be free this morning.”

Chance sat up and leaned back against the headboard. “I missed you. I wanted us to get a little bit of time together before I have to get back to work.”

“Thank you. I know it’s not easy for you to take much time off.”

“It isn’t, but it’s not impossible. Do you still want to go to Summer Lake? I promised I’d take you, and I can get a few days soon.”

“I’d love to, but not if it’s a problem for you. We can wait until a better time, if you prefer?”

He shook his head with a smile. “I don’t want to wait. Missy’s threatening to come up here if I don’t take you down there soon, and to say Dad and Alice are eager to see you again would be an understatement. I was hoping you’d say yes, because I need to get them all off my back.”

Hope laughed. “Then let’s go as soon as you can take the time off.”

“What about your dad? Don’t you need to get started with him? He’s been here waiting for you to come back so he can start teaching you about day trading.”

“I’ll check with him this afternoon, but from what he’s said, he’s not exactly just hanging around waiting for me. He’s getting on with business as usual, and he’s doing a lot of soul-searching. Coming back here and especially staying in the house has made him take stock and start thinking about his life and how he wants to live the rest of it.”

“In a good way?”

“The best way. He’s finally prepared to deal with his grief and open up to the possibility of really living again, instead of just existing and hiding in his work.”

Chance nodded. “Who would ever have thought that he and I would have so much in common?”

Hope smiled. “They say women are attracted to men who remind them of their father. I see so much in you that reminds me of him. Not just grief and the way it affected you, but you both have such a strong work ethic, you’re both loyal, and honest to a fault …”

“And what else?”

She laughed. “And broody.”

Chance shrugged. “I won’t deny that. I don’t mean to be broody, I just prefer to think than to talk most of the time, but I have been told a time or two that I come off as broody.”

“Don’t you worry about it. Broody is sexy.”

“It is?”

“It is, or at least it can be when it’s not overdone.”

He smiled. “Good to know.”

“Anyway, Mr. Broody, what do you want to do this morning? I don’t want to waste it in bed.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You think time spent in bed with me is time wasted?”

“It is if all we’re doing is talking.”

He slid back down under the covers and drew her with him, pulling the sheet up over their heads and rolling her onto her back. “I told you, I’m not big on talking.” As his mouth came down on hers, Hope wrapped her arms around him, loving the feel of his lean hard body against hers. Any time she spent with him was far from wasted—he was the best time of her life.

When they were both showered they took their coffee outside to sit on the back porch. Hope raised her mug to him. “I was so worried about what I was going to do with myself when I moved here, and yet now I’m here that seems silly.”

“Why, what do you mean?”

She smiled. “I mean that now I’m here I could quite happily spend my days just sitting out here on the porch, watching the clouds go by. I could cook for us in the afternoons and go riding and hiking and spend time visiting with my dad and Monique and all the girls.” She looked at him, wondering if he’d think she was lazy or aimless.

He smiled. “If that’s what you want to do, then you should do it. It’s not like you have to work, is it?”

She shook her head. She wasn’t sure if that was encouragement or if it was a dig at the difference in their financial situations. She smiled brightly, wanting to leave the subject behind. “I kind of do have to.  I’m all loved up and relaxed right now, but I’d be climbing the walls within a couple of days if I didn’t have anything to do. If I know my dad, I’ll have more than enough to keep me busy once we get started. He’s a hard task master.”

Chance looked concerned. “Are you going to be okay with that?”

“I am. I’m looking forward to it. He is tough, but he’s fair and supportive. He demands the best of everyone and he knows how to bring it out of them.” She nodded to herself. She’d known that about him all her adult life, but it had never occurred to her before to turn to him, to ask him to help her bring out the best of herself.

Chance’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket with a grimace which turned into a smile when he looked at the display. “It’s Missy. Do you want to talk about when we’re going to visit, or do you want me to put her off till we figure it out for ourselves?”

“Let’s talk to her about it, can we? Let’s see what will work.”

Chance nodded as he answered. “Hey, Miss. What’s up?”

Hope had to smile at the look on his face as he listened to whatever Missy was saying.

“Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker. It’ll be easier that way. No, I am not handing you over to her. I need to at least hear what’s going on. If I let the two of you cut me out of the loop, I’ll stand as much chance as a snowball in hell.” He hit the speaker button and laid his phone down on the table. “She wants to talk to you,” he told Hope with a rueful smile.

“Hi, Hope! How are you?” Missy’s voice rang out.

“I’m doing great thanks. How are you?”

“I’ll be doing better when you get that brother of mine to bring you down here for a visit. If he doesn’t do it soon, I’m going to have to come up there and I hate to fly.”

Hope chuckled. “We were just talking about it this morning. I had to go back to LA for a couple of weeks, but now I’ve got everything sorted, and I’d love to come see you. We just need to work out when Chance can take off work.”

Missy laughed. “Well, if he takes too long, you come by yourself. It’d be nice to see him, but you must know it’s you we really want to see. Dad doesn’t stop talking about you. He’s usually a bit of a grumpy bear, but he gets all chatty and smiley when your name comes up.”

Hope smiled at Chance. “I adore him, and Alice too. I didn’t get to know them too well; we weren’t in Oregon too long, but I love them.”

“They love you, too. And I have to say, I’m glad Chance finally got his head out of his ass. I thought he’d blown it when he left Oregon. He can be a bit dumb sometimes, but it’s only because he’s such a guy. He can’t help it.”

Hope chuckled at the way Chance blew out a sigh and shook his head. “I’m sitting right here; remember, Miss? I can hear everything.”

Missy’s laughter echoed down the line. “And? I’m not saying anything we don’t already know, am I?”

Chance rolled his eyes and shrugged his resignation.

“We hit a bit of a bump in the road there, but we got past it.” Hope didn’t want either one of them to think she was taking sides. She’d gang up on Chance with Missy about the fun stuff, but when it came to anything serious, she wasn’t going to pick on him just to get on his sister’s good side.

“Yeah, joking aside, Chancey, I’m so happy you got past it and found your way back to each other.”

Hope had to bite back a laugh at the sight of him covering his face with his hand.

“So, when do you think you might find your way down here?”

“How about next weekend?” Chance raised an eyebrow at Hope and she nodded; that sounded good to her. As far as she was concerned, the sooner the better. She wanted to go and see his family, and she also wanted to get back and get settled into her new life here.

“Really? You can come that soon? That’d be wonderful!”

“I’ll need to make sure it works with the guys, but I think it should. How about I give you a quick call tonight and let you know? I’m off this morning and the plan was to spend it with Hope, not on the phone with you.”

Missy laughed. “Why didn’t you say so? I’m gone! I didn’t expect you to even pick up, I was just going to leave you a message.”

Chance laughed. “Damn! It’s my own fault for picking up then.”

“It is! Don’t blame me. Okay, you two have a great day and I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye, Missy,” called Hope.

“Talk to you later,” said Chance. He shook his head at Hope when he hung up. “I told you she’s a piece of work.”

“She seems lovely, and you don’t fool me, I can tell you adore her.”

Chance nodded reluctantly. “She is pretty awesome really. She’s not had it easy, but she’s a feisty little madam. She doesn’t let anyone or anything stop her.”

“I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Well, you won’t have long to wait now. I’ll check with Mason and the guys, but we should be fine for this weekend.”

Hope nodded. “How do you normally get down there?” She’d been assuming they’d take her plane, but it occurred to her that he might have other plans, and she didn’t want to ride roughshod over them.

“I usually drive, but it makes for a long trip. It takes a couple of days to get there and the same coming back. I was thinking we might fly this time. There’s a little commercial airport about an hour away from the lake.”

Hope decided to ask. She didn’t want to tiptoe around. “Do you want to take my plane? It’ll be a lot quicker and easier. Is there a local airport nearer to Summer Lake?”

“Yeah, there’s one right there just outside of town.” She watched his lips press together as he looked away. She hoped she hadn’t offended him, but if she had then they were going to need to talk about it. It’d be crazy not to use the jet. He looked back at her and smiled; it was a forced smile, but at least it was there. “Sorry, honey. It’s going to take me a while to get over this damned pride of mine. Yes, we should take your plane. It’d be pretty dumb of me to say no, huh?”

She smiled. “I’m not going to agree with that last statement.”

He chuckled. “Thank you.”

After Chance had left for work, Hope wandered around the cabin. She really did love the place, even if it was smaller than she was used to. She’d get used to it. All that really mattered was that she was here with Chance. At some point, they’d build a place. She knew her dad liked the idea of them building on the part of Chance’s land that was closest to his own. She hadn’t asked what was happening about the joint ranch idea. It wasn’t because she wasn’t interested—more because she wanted to stay out of it. She wanted her dad and Chance to be free to talk to each other, for them each to do what was best for them without her being in the middle of it all. Chance hadn’t mentioned it since she’d got back last night, but then they’d had plenty of other things to talk about—and to do. Perhaps her dad would say something when she saw him this afternoon. She picked up the keys to the Land Rover, deciding she may as well head up there now.

She smiled when she spotted Shane standing out by the side of the driveway near the guest ranch. He waved and she pulled over.

“Hey, Miss Hope. I’m glad to see you back.”

“Thanks, Shane. It’s good to be back. Now I just have to get on with setting my life up.”

Shane nodded. “Cassidy told me you’re going to be working with your dad.”

“I am, that’s where I’m going right now.”

“Oh, don’t let me hold you up then.”

“No, problem. It’s good to see you.”

“You too. I thought you were home the other day when I saw the Land Rover parked at the cabin.”

“No, I only got in yesterday afternoon. Uncle Johnny and Aunt June dropped this off for me so I’d have something to drive until I buy my own.”

Shane nodded. “When you go car shopping, make sure you get something practical.”

Hope raised an eyebrow.

Shane grinned. “Sorry, I’m sure you’re quite sensible, and, of course, you’ll get whatever you want. You just reminded me of Cassidy. The first winter she spent out here, she had a VW Bug. Let’s just say it wasn’t ideal for the weather or the terrain.”

Hope laughed. “I don’t imagine it was, but I’m sure she loved it.”

Shane chuckled. “She did. I wasn’t so keen on it. Can you imagine trying to fit me into the passenger seat?”

Hope really couldn’t. Shane was a big guy; he had to be about six feet four. She shook her head. “I hope she’s got something bigger now?”

“Yup. I made sure of it.”

Hope smiled wondering how that had gone down. Cassidy didn’t strike her as a woman who would meekly do what her man suggested.

Shane laughed. “I bought it for her as a gift so she wouldn’t be able to argue.”

“Ah, wise move. I was thinking of getting myself a Land Rover like this one. Do you think that would be suitable?”

Shane cocked his head to one side. “I don’t see why not.” He met her gaze with a smirk. “Although I know a certain cowboy who likes all his vehicles to be American made, just like him.”

Hope nodded. “Thanks for the tip.”

“Hey, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, I know better than that.”

“I’m sure you do. And I’m not saying I’ll take your advice, but I’m grateful for the information.”

Shane laughed. “I can see why Cassidy thinks so much of you, you’re a pair together, aren’t you?”

“It seems we do have a lot in common.”

Shane turned at the sound of voices coming from the lodge. “I’d better get back and see what my guests are up to. Nice talking to you. I’ll see you around.”

“Okay, see you, Shane.”

As she drove up the valley, Hope smiled to herself. There were strong independent women living out here. Women she hoped would become her friends. A little shiver ran down her spine. If she and Chance got married, they’d be her family. She had a feeling that each of the Remington men had had to reevaluate their beliefs about traditional male and female roles. It might be hard for them, but they were adjusting. She knew Chance was struggling, as their conversation about the plane this morning had proved, but she hoped he’d be able to adjust as well as it seemed Shane had.

When she got to the Davenport Ranch she brought the car to a stop in front of Uncle Johnny’s house. Aunt June opened the front door and came trotting down the steps to greet her.

“Hopey! It’s so good to see you back. How are you? How was your trip?”

“It was good, thanks. I’m glad it’s done with. I shouldn’t have to go back again for a while now.”

“That’s good, dear. And are you here to see your father?”

Hope nodded. “Is he up at the house?”

Aunt June smiled. “He is. I’m proud of him. I think he’s ready to start living again, and it’s all down to you. He’s finally opening up again.”

Hope smiled. “It’s hard to believe the way things are working out, isn’t it? Who would ever have guessed that we’d both come back here—and be happy.”

“Not me, that’s for sure. I won’t keep you, if you’re on your way to see him. I know he’s been eager for you to get back so the two of you can get to work. Don’t let him work you too hard and take over, will you?”

“I won’t.” Hope was a little concerned that once they got to work, she and her dad might get carried away and end up working long hours. It was a trait they shared that once they got into something, they gave it their all. She wondered if she should delay starting until she and Chance returned from Summer Lake. She smiled at Aunt June. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yes, stop in when you’re finished, if you have time, but don’t worry if you don’t. I love that we’re all here now and we can see you any time. I just wish the boys would come back, too.”

Hope smiled. “I don’t think that’s very likely, do you?”

Aunt June laughed. “I think hell might freeze over first, but you never know. I’m a momma, I’ll never stop wanting my boys back. And I know your father is waiting to get you back. You’d better go, before I make you late.”