Maggie Duffin worked the figures in her head, only tapping the calculator a few times as she balanced the till and filled out the books for the night. The numbers kept her mind from wandering an hour down the road to Three Rivers, where her sister now lived with her new husband.

And Chase Carver has nothing to do with it, she told herself in a stern voice, writing the final total at the bottom of the page. Daddy had stopped checking her work months ago, something that made Maggie feel more grown up despite still being months away from her twentieth birthday.

She slipped the books in the top drawer below the cash register just as the door chimed. “We’re closed,” she said as she reached for the dust mop so she could sweep the aisles.

A pair of cowboy boots walked toward her and she looked up. Looked up, right into the beautiful, crystal-blue eyes of Chase Carver.

“I just need a couple of things,” he said, swiping his chocolate-brown cowboy hat from his head to reveal his sunny blond hair. His strong jaw twitched, and Maggie’s gaze slipped across his handsome face to his lips.

She hadn’t kissed him in so long. Her fingers drifted to her mouth as she remembered the love she’d felt in his touch, as the faint taste of mint tickled her taste buds, as the scent of his cologne hit her in the nose.

“Chase,” dripped from her lips. She blinked and straightened her shoulders. She wouldn’t go all soft at the sight of him. Her father had made it clear that he was too old for her, and Chase hadn’t done anything to fight for their relationship. He’d just gone on back to Three Rivers Ranch. At this point, Heidi saw Chase more than Maggie did, a fact that made her heart sink every time she considered it.

“We really are closed. I’ve already done the books and everything.” She positioned the dust mop between them so she wouldn’t somehow leap into his arms.

“I’m not gonna buy anything.” He looked at her with all the emotion he always had. He seemed older, though only five months had passed since she’d stopped driving from Amarillo to Three Rivers, since he’d come to Christmas dinner and made the mistake of mentioning the word “marriage” to Daddy, since he’d started shopping at another farm supply store.

“Oh? Did you already stop by Palmer’s? I bet they appreciate that.” She couldn’t help the acidic bite in her tone.

Chase flinched but recovered quickly. “I just have two things to do before I go back to Three Rivers.”

“Do them, then.” Her heart raced as he stepped closer.

He took her effortlessly into his arms despite the dust mop. Leaning his mouth close to her ear, he whispered, “I’m sorry. I want to see you again. The summer dances start up again in a couple of weeks, and I want to dance with you.” He swayed now, and the song they’d first danced to almost a year ago started up in her head.

Maggie melted into his embrace, the way she always had. She’d dreamed of this day, and now that it was here, she wasn’t sure how to react.

“I’m miserable without you.” His lips landed on her neck, and she couldn’t help herself; she leaned into his touch and held onto his broad shoulders to keep standing.

“I don’t know, Chase.” He voice was made of air and heat, and Chase certainly heard it.

“I don’t care about how old you are,” he said, pulling back. “We belong together.”

Maggie took a deep breath, getting a noseful of Chase’s masculine scent mixed with the smell of feed and plastic from the supplies on the shelf nearby. Daddy had said there was a wide ocean of fish to choose from, that she shouldn’t sail off into the sunset with the first man who came along.

Maggie had tried dating in the last five months, but no one held her interest for longer than one night. Only Chase. It had always been Chase, despite him being six years older than her.

“I can’t lie to my parents again,” she said, though a tiny part of her deep inside wanted to do exactly that. And she hadn’t technically lied the first time. She just hadn’t told them about Chase. Even after they’d found out, they hadn’t forbidden her from dating him. Things had progressed for a few more months until Daddy had put his foot down.

“I don’t want you to.” Chase slid his hands up and down her arms.

“They won’t be happy about our relationship.”

“You’re not going to live with them forever.”

“I still am living with them though.” She glanced around the store. “Daddy wants me to take over the store when he retires.” Maggie had worked at the store for over six years. She liked it well enough. She knew it would provide for her and her family, whenever that came along. Without any brothers, and with Heidi already married and living out at the ranch, the store would go to Maggie if she wanted it.

Until Chase, she’d wanted it. Now, she didn’t know what she wanted.

Bridgette, her next youngest sister, was away at cosmetology school and had never shown an interest in running the supply store. And Kayla was a senior in high school, all wrapped up in designer jeans and the coolest way to get her hair to stand up higher. She hadn’t stepped foot inside the store in months.

“We’ll take one thing at a time,” Chase said, a smile slipping across his face. Maggie basked in the warmth of it, glad that what they’d shared last summer and fall was alive and well.

“So I apologized,” he said. “That was the first thing I needed to do.”

“And what’s the second?”

His eyes sparkled like sapphires as he leaned down. “This,” he said just before touching his lips to hers. Everything in Maggie rejoiced to be kissing him again, and while she had no idea how the issues between them would iron themselves out, she didn’t care.

She wanted to kiss Chase Carver every day of her life. Every single day.

* * *

Chase left the supply store, happier than he’d been since Christmas. He’d suffered through some miserable months at the ranch, first watching Frank and Heidi get married and move into their new homestead. He was happy for them, he really was. But he had a hard time being around Heidi, because she reminded him so much of Maggie.

He sighed as he climbed into his truck. His smile wouldn’t go away. Maggie had accepted his apology, kissed him like they could pick up where they’d left off five months ago, promised him she’d call him later that night.

The folder sitting on the seat next to him caught his attention. He glanced at it, could see the papers inside without having to open the folder. He reached over and swiped them onto the floor. He hadn’t said anything to anyone about why he’d needed to go to Amarillo earlier than he normally did. Frank hadn’t asked, but he had looked at Chase for an extra moment.

But Chase didn’t want him to know he was trying to get funding for a ranch of his own. His idea to find his own land, start his own ranch, was still in its infancy, and he hadn’t done much more than ask around the IFA here in Amarillo and meet with a loan officer at the bank. He’d worked at Three Rivers Ranch for the past five years, after a year of college and a year drifting across Texas, trying to find himself.

He didn’t have enough credit or income to get the money he needed for his own ranch. The drive back to Three Rivers passed in a blink as Chase worried about how he could provide a stable life for Maggie.

Her father had made the situation very clear to Chase: he wouldn’t have his daughter living in a cowboy cabin on a ranch. A homestead was fine. Marrying a ranch owner who could provide a stable, rich life was perfectly okay. But Chase had neither a homestead nor a way to provide for Maggie, and her father had asked him to please back off.

Chase had respected the man’s wishes, though it had nearly killed him to do so. He’d always vowed he wouldn’t hurt Maggie, and then he did.

Is this the right thing to do? he prayed for probably the thousandth time since Christmas. In the end, God had given him the idea to find a ranch of his own. If he had a ranch and a house for Maggie, he’d be able to give her everything Frank had given Heidi. Her father wouldn’t be able to object to their marriage.

Armed with the idea, he’d come to Amarillo, but he was leaving with only part of what he wanted.

“The most important part,” he told himself as he turned north to start the drive from town to the ranch. He’d gotten Maggie back, at least a little bit. He didn’t want to put her in a difficult position with her parents, but he couldn’t go another day without her in his life.

As the miles passed, the peace he craved descended on him. He recognized the Lord’s hand in his life, knew that yes, trying to get Maggie back in his life permanently was the right thing to do.

* * *

The smell of something burnt hung in the air when Chase pushed into the cowboy cabin he shared with Matty. He groaned. “Matty, what did you try to make?” No one answered, and Chase spied a note sitting on the kitchen table.

Sorry about the stench. The windows are all open. Heidi made dinner, and I’m hanging out at the homestead.

Chase didn’t waste another second inside the house that smelled like overcooked eggs. He headed back outside and down the gravel path that led between the cowboy cabins and the rest of the ranch buildings. He passed horse barns, feed silos, and the calving stalls before he reached the lawn that led to the homestead. The new building was beautiful, and Frank Ackerman had done almost all the work himself.

Chase climbed the steps to the deck, seeing Heidi through the sliding glass door. She stood at the counter, stirring something that looked dangerously like brownie batter in a large bowl. He steeled himself to be near her without saying anything about her sister—a feat that might be impossible—and entered the house.

“Hey, Chase.” Frank lifted his hand from the living room, where a basketball game played on the color television.

Matty turned in his direction, his face breaking into a smile. “I tried to cook eggs, but it didn’t go so well.”

“I’ve told Matty never to try cooking again,” Heidi said. “There’s chili here, and I’m making my Death By Chocolate brownies.” She tossed a grin at him, but paused before she turned back to the oven. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he managed to say. He picked up a bowl and reached for the ladle in the chili pot. He didn’t make eye contact as he dished himself dinner, and he turned toward the couches in the living room.

“You went to Amarillo today?” Heidi asked, her voice in the upper end of the curiosity range.

He pressed his eyes closed and drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, Frank wanted a load of chicken feed and twine.”

“Mm hm.” Heidi came around the counter and stood in front of him. “You didn’t go to my family’s store, did you?”

“No, Heidi,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t go there anymore.”

“I don’t see why not,” she said, edging a little closer. “Daddy’s hardly there at all anymore. You could see Maggie without him knowing.”

Chase shook his head. “I’m not interested in sneaking around with your sister.”

“But you are still interested in her.”

“Heidi—” Chase cut off as Frank sidled up beside her.

“What are we whisperin’ about over here?”

Chase looked up at his boss. “Nothing.”

“He’s still in love with Maggie.”

“Heidi.” Chase exhaled and set down his bowl of chili.

Frank drew his wife into his side, and Chase wanted to escape the circle of their affection. Even breathing in burnt eggs would be better than this.

“Are you going to avoid her forever?” Frank asked.

“I don’t need to avoid her,” Chase said. “We live in two different places, and lead two different lives. I have to go out of my way to even see her.”

Heidi sucked in a breath and covered her mouth.

“What?” Frank asked.

“You saw her today.” Heidi stumbled away and picked up the phone mounted to the wall.

“I didn’t,” Chase said, choking on the lie. “Heidi, don’t call her.”

She dialed anyway, turning back to Chase with a wicked grin on her face.

“She’s entirely too gleeful about this,” Chase grumbled. “And she hasn’t even put in those brownies yet.” He speared Frank with a hard look. “I get all the corners.”

“She just wants her sister to be happy. And we want you to be happy too.”

Chase’s chest constricted, though he knew he’d hurt Maggie. “Maggie’s not happy?”

“Heidi calls her almost every day.” Frank cocked one eyebrow and turned toward his wife when she laughed. She hung up and practically skipped back to Frank’s side.

“He stopped by the store.”

“Just to apologize,” Chase said quickly. “There’s nothing going on between us.” He volleyed his gaze between Frank and Heidi. “I’m not going behind her dad’s back. I just need—I mean, I’m going to….” He trailed off, because he really didn’t know what he needed or what steps he was going to take to convince her father that he could provide a good life for Maggie.

“Going to what?” Frank asked, his gaze sharpening in that annoying way he had.

Chase gave up the idea of getting anything to eat tonight. “I’m going to buy a ranch of my own.” He swallowed down the sick feeling in his stomach.

Heidi and Frank wore identical expressions of surprise. Heidi recovered first and moved around the counter. “I better get these in the oven and make another batch.”