She stepped into the reception area, only to find it empty.

“Looking for the guy who brought in the poodle?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes.”

“He’s out front. Pacing. Poor guy. He’s pretty frantic.”

Montana walked out the door and saw Simon at once.

Even though he wore a shirt and tie, he looked mussed. His thick hair was a mess, as if he’d been running his fingers through it.

He was tired, she thought, remembering that Kalinda was supposed to have had a major surgery today. Compassion and worry for him blended with her own pain at seeing the man she loved but couldn’t have.

“How is she?” he asked as he jogged toward her. “Have you heard anything?”

“They’re doing an X-ray right now. We’ll know soon.”

He swore. “I can’t believe what happened.” He told her about the toys and the drawer. “It’s my fault. She’s jumped like that before. I was irresponsible.”

She instinctively touched his arm, then wished she hadn’t. Heat flared between them. Heat that mocked her with its intensity.

“You weren’t. It was an accident. They happen. It’s not like you deliberately hurt her.”

“I should have closed the drawer.”

“Yes, you should have, but you didn’t. If her leg is broken, they’ll set it and she’ll heal.”

He shook his head and started pacing. “Is this what they go through? The good parents? I want to hit something. I want to rush into the examining room and take care of her myself.”

“I don’t remember you mentioning you went to vet school,” she said, keeping her tone deliberately light.

“You’re not helping.”

“Sure I am. To answer your question, yes, this is what those parents go through. Although they’ve loved their children for years and you’ve known Cece a few weeks, so it’s worse.”

She didn’t get into the dog-versus-child debate. That wasn’t the point.

If only, Montana thought as she watched him. If only he’d been able to care for her in return. Even a little. They could have been great together.

The front door opened and Cameron stepped out.

Montana had met him once before. He was in his early-to mid-thirties, tall, good-looking with dark wavy hair. Added to that, he loved animals and was raising his daughter by himself, so he was probably being stalked by most of the single women in town.

“Hi, Montana,” he said.

“Cameron.” She turned to Simon. “This is Dr. Cameron McKenzie. Cameron, Dr. Simon Bradley. The human kind of doctor.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cameron said, holding out his hand.

“You, too. How’s Cece?”

“She’s fine. Nothing’s broken. She pulled a muscle and scared herself. She needs to take it easy for a few days, which is tough with a dog. She’s already been given something for the pain and an anti-inflammatory. We’ll send both home with her, as well.” He glanced between them, as if not sure who would be responsible for the little dog.

Simon stepped forward. “She’s coming home with me.”

Cameron gave him the rest of the instructions.

Simon listened intently and nodded. “I’ll go back to my office and get her carrier,” he said.

“No problem. She’s pretty sleepy from the pain medication. Take your time.”

Cameron went back inside.

Simon turned to her. “Is it all right that she stays with me?”

“Sure. Let me know when you want me to get her. I can keep an eye on her while you’re at the hospital.”

He nodded. “Thank you for this. You didn’t have to help.”

“Of course I did. Not only is Cece my responsibility, I’m still your friend.”

His gaze locked with hers. “I hurt you, Montana. I’m sorry about that, but apologizing doesn’t justify what I said.”

Nor did it change the outcome. “You felt trapped.”

“You’re making excuses for me?”

“No, I’m saying I understand why you reacted the way you did. I knew the rules when we started.”

“I’m not sure that’s true.”

Stay, she thought, wishing begging would help. If only he would stay with her, be with her, love her back.

“Call me if you need anything,” she said, then turned back to the building.

She thought about offering to help him with Cece, but she knew what would happen if they spent the night together. She knew they would most likely give in to the ever present passion. And then what? Right now she needed to take care of herself and that meant protecting her heart.

So she did what was right rather than what she wanted and slowly, painfully, walked away.

MONTANA WATCHED AS NEVADA sat across from their mother in Denise’s cheerful kitchen.

“I did it,” Nevada said firmly. “I applied at Janack Construction. They have the last of their permits and have put out the word they’re hiring. I have an interview next week.”

Denise smiled. “You can stop looking worried. I’m not going to tell you this is a bad thing. You have to do what makes you happy.”

“But I’m leaving Ethan.”

“You’re not going to work for him anymore. There’s a difference. As you said, he’s more interested in his windmills, anyway.”

Nevada drew in a breath and smiled. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not.” Her mother turned to Montana. “How are you doing?”

There was concern in her tone and sympathy in her gaze.

“You heard.”

“That you and Simon aren’t seeing each other anymore? Yes. I heard.” Her mother reached across the table and took her hand. “Anything I can do?”

“No. If I asked you to change Simon, you probably couldn’t. And even if you could, I don’t want him to be different. I love him the way he is.”

“That’s usually best. Women think they can change a man, but they’re often wrong.” Denise straightened. “Do you want me to talk badly about him or ask one of your brothers to beat him up?”

Despite everything, Montana laughed. “I’m good. He can continue life unscarred.” The laughter faded. “You know what I mean.”

“I do. I just want you to know I’m here for you.”

“Me, too,” Nevada told her. “Whatever you want. We can call him a jerk or worse, if you don’t want him beaten up.”

“Maybe next time.”

She couldn’t blame Simon for what had happened. As her mother had said, trying to change someone was a losing proposition. People changed because they wanted to, not because someone made them.

“On a more cheerful subject,” she said, turning to her sister. “I have someone you should meet.”

Nevada rolled her eyes. “You aren’t seriously considering setting me up with someone, are you?”

“Yes. You haven’t had a date in months.”

“Years is more like it,” Nevada grumbled. “I can’t find anybody I’m interested in. Or if I am interested, they’re in love with someone else.”

Montana blinked at her. “You’re interested in someone who’s married?”

“No. Don’t be an idiot. Of course not. I’m just saying that once, maybe, there was a guy…” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”

Montana glanced at her mother, who looked equally intrigued. She would have sworn she knew everything about Nevada’s personal life. Apparently she was wrong. Her sister had been keeping secrets.

Nevada leaned toward her. “Fine. Tell me about this guy you want me to meet.”

“His name is Cameron McKenzie. He’s the new vet in town. He’s tall, with dark wavy hair. Very cute. He moved here about a month ago. He took over Dr. Rivera’s practice. Rumor has it he has a daughter. She’s pretty young. Six or seven. Adorable, or so I’ve been told.”

“Where’s the wife?” Denise asked. “Kent has taught us all that the ex-wife is important to the equation. You’ll want to find out about her before you get involved.”

“I’m not involved.” Nevada slapped her hands on the table. “Mom, I haven’t even met the guy.”

“He sounds very nice.”

“Montana said he was cute, with a kid. How does that make him nice?”

“He likes animals.”

“Kill me now,” Nevada moaned. “Just make it quick.” She looked at both of them. “I can get my own guy.”

“I’m sure you can,” her mother said calmly. “The problem is you won’t. I want to see you happy.”

“I am happy.”

“You’re changing jobs and you don’t have anyone special in your life. Sell it somewhere else.”

Nevada turned her gaze on Montana. “Are you in on this?”

“I swear, it wasn’t planned. It just happened spontaneously.”

“Let’s try to keep that from happening again.”

Despite Nevada’s obvious annoyance, Montana grinned. “I’ll do my best.”

OVER THE NEXT WEEK, Simon braced himself for two events that never happened. The first was a final, hard push by the town to convince him to stay. The second was Montana “just happening” to show up in places where he would see her. Because she had to know that every time he looked at her, he wanted her with a desperation that nearly drove him to madness. Neither occurred.

He ran into Mayor Marsha twice, some women from the city council once and played golf with Josh, Ethan and Raoul Moreno, the former NFL quarterback who was married to Pia. No one mentioned that he was leaving or hinted at one reason why he should stay. Josh even asked about his next assignment, and the four men debated the merits of working in the States versus traveling to Pakistan.

He didn’t get it. He knew he would be an asset to the community, that the new hospital would have state-of-the-art facilities that would tempt any medical professional. Arranging to have patients come to him instead of the other way around added a layer of logistics, but was somewhat doable. He knew—he’d seen multiple presentations on the process over the years. Still, they were all silent on the subject.

He also hadn’t run into Montana anywhere. Once, leaving the hospital, he thought he caught sight of her turning the corner, but he wasn’t sure and by the time he’d reached the corner himself, she was gone. Although Cece showed up regularly in Kalinda’s room, Montana remained elusive. The one time he’d hung around until it was time for the dog to be picked up, he’d met her boss instead. Max Thurman had been the one retrieving the dog.

He’d gone so far as to question Reese, a regular visitor, about how his aunt was. The kid had blinked at him. “Which one?”

Simon had said it didn’t matter and walked away.

Not seeing her was even more difficult than seeing her all the time, he realized. At least when he was with her, he could lose himself in her presence. He could inhale the scent of her body, listen to whatever she was talking about, argue with her, make her laugh, touch her. When they were alone, he could make love with her, losing himself in her passion and healing himself in the process.

She was a part of him and being without her was as painful as cutting off an arm.

But he knew he had to keep moving, to heal, to push himself and to concentrate on the financial rewards of leaving and the emotional rewards of staying single.

But he wanted more.

He left his hotel Saturday morning, more because he was restless than because he had somewhere he needed to be. A little boy from Guatemala with a malformed face had had his last surgery the previous day and would probably be cleared to go home at the end of next week. Kalinda was getting ready for her next surgery, but in the meantime was happy and healing.

Everyone he treated, the burn victims, those in accidents and those simply born with differences, were managed, fixed or in the process of getting back to normal. He had nothing to do.

He walked toward the center of town, not surprised to find the area by the park set up for yet another festival. Crowds filled the sidewalk and spilled into the closed streets. The smell of barbecue and caramel corn filled the air.

From what he could tell, Fool’s Gold had festivals nearly weekly in the summer. Someone had told him about the Fall Festival, which was before the Halloween Festival but after the End of Summer Festival.

He’d been told he couldn’t miss the Saturday Day of Giving in December, and that the Live Nativity was always fun because the animals were real and last year one of the goats had eaten Mary’s gloves and then thrown up over everyone.

As he wove through tourists, he imagined the mountains covered with snow and then couldn’t help picturing Montana’s face softened by the glow of candles.

He paused to buy a hot dog from a vendor and overheard two women talking about the new construction project.

“It’s going to be huge,” one was saying. “A big, fancy hotel and casino. Shops, too.”

“I heard there might be an outlet mall. I’d love that.”

“My Frank is applying with Janack Construction. We’ve heard they’re a good company to work for.”

“That’s what Julia told me when I was getting my hair done. That’ll be a boost to the economy.”

He eavesdropped as he ate, then finished his soda and dropped the can into a blue recycling bin. He was about to head back to the hotel when he heard a whisper of sound. The faintest of laughters, but unmistakable, even in the crowd.