"You'll see. Trust me." He clasped her hand in his and led her outside. "It's just a short drive." He helped her into his truck. They rode down the gravel road in silence.

Macie was a little unnerved, not knowing where they were or what they were doing. They walked a ways and stopped.

"Hang on." She heard a rustling noise and then Carter picked her up and laid her on something soft flat on the ground.

"Carter-"

"Ssh. Don't be scared. I'm here. Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them." He nibbled around the edges of her lips as he slid off the blindfold. One last sweet kiss and he moved away.

She felt him lay down beside her.

"Okay, darlin', you can open them now."

Macie blinked her eyes open and stared at the sky above her, which was a magnificent swath of pitch black, punctuated with silver stars. Stars so big she could almost reach out and touch them. Stars bursting with light so bright it was as if she were part of the Milky Way.

"Omigod. It is beautiful."

"Isn't it?"

"I've never seen anything like it." That wasn't a lie. She was absolutely floored.

"There's no moon tonight and no clouds. No streetlights or air pollution to diffuse the pure blackness of the sky."

"Is it always like this in Wyoming?"

"No. Maybe once or twice every couple of years. I've seen it in the summer when it's hot as hell, and in the dead of winter when it's ice cold. I have to admit I like layin' on a blanket much better than bein' wrapped up in a parka."

"Me too. Thank you for sharing this, it's spectacular."

Carter reached for her hand. He swept his thumb over her wrist; he always had to be touching her. It wasn't annoying; it was soothing, and becoming a familiar and welcome quirk.

They stargazed in awestruck silence. She had no idea how much time passed. Her mind blanked to everything the majesty stretched out before them and the sweetness of the man laying beside her.

She blinked and Carter was above her.

"I didn't bring you out here to have my wicked way with you, believe it or not."

He ran his fingers down the line of her jaw and she shivered.

"But I want you. I want to make love to you like this. With starlight on your face. With warm sage-scented night air around us and a soft blanket below us. No one around for miles. Just you and me, Macie. As alone as we've ever been."

They undressed each other slowly and rolled over the blanket, skin to skin. Exchanging soft kisses, gentle caresses. A whispered word, a low moan. No hurry. The sexual heat between them simmered, rather than boiled.

In the breathtaking moment beneath the shimmering stars when Carter slipped inside her body, Macie also felt him slip into her heart.

Chapter Twenty-five.

Colby and Channing McKay arrived with four pickup loads of bull riding equipment and half the population of Crook County, Wyoming.

Or so it seemed to Gemma.

Happy as she was to see wild child Keely McKay, her quiet friend/nemesis Amy Jo Foster, four teenage boys, and a dog named Shithead, Gemma wondered if she and Channing would get a chance to talk privately. Lord knew she needed it.

She wanted to know if she was acting like an old fool because she'd fallen head over heels in love with Cash Big Crow.

Macie had overtaken the kitchen and shooed her out. Cash loitered in the paddock setting up the mechanical bull, while Colby and two teenage boys tied one of the practice barrels between two trees. The other boys were hauling more stuff out of the vehicles and carrying it into the barn. Keely and Amy Jo were arguing while they dragged piles of brush for the evening bonfire.

Where there were cowboys, there were campfires.

Didn't take long for the heated argument between the girls to reach her ears.

"He won't let you, Keely, and it'll just piss him off if you ask him, so drop it."

Gemma's brows lifted. Sweet Amy Jo cursed now? Didn't take long for Keely McKay to corrupt her.

"Why are you acting like my mother?"

"Because I'm trying to keep you from getting killed."

"Puh-lease. Do you know how many times I've watched-"

"Watching isn't the same thing as participating."

Keely let loose a sultry laugh. "That's what I've been trying to tell you for months, but do you listen to me? No."

"We are not talking about...that kind of stuff. We're talking about you wanting to climb on that stupid mechanical bull. Colby won't let you."

"Maybe I can sweet talk Cash."

Amy Jo released a disgusted sigh.

"Or Carter would let me do it."

"Wrong. Carter won't let you get away with half the shit that Colby does. So give it up."

"If they don't let me try it, I'll sneak out on my own and do it."

"Oh, no you won't. I'll tell."

"You are supposed to be my friend and back me up on this."

"I am your friend. And if you wind up dead, who will I room with in Denver? We already paid the deposit. We're finally gonna whoop it up, away from-"

"How's it goin', girls?" Gemma asked.

Amy Jo gasped and whirled around guiltily.

Keely jumped. "What are you doin' sneakin' up on us, Gemma?"

"Seein' if you were up to no good."

"She's always up to no good," Amy Jo grumbled.

"Don't I know it." Gemma smiled. "I couldn't help but overhear you talkin'. You two movin' someplace?"

"Yep. We're getting the hell out of Dodge and starting massage therapy school in Denver in September."

"It's a temporary move," Amy Jo amended. "The school has an accelerated program, so we'll be living there for a year."

"Both of you? Together? In an apartment? With no supervision? Sounds like a disaster."

"Sounds like an episode of Sex in the City: Wild Wyoming Women."

"Keely!"

"You should've seen the look on Dad's face when I told him I wanted to open a massage parlor."

"Good Lord, Keely."

Keely smiled cheekily. "Well, I'm glad you're here. We were just talkin' about a...man versus woman situation. Men always havin' the upper hand, tellin' us what we can and can't do. You think you could ask Cash if-"

"No. And if I see you anywhere around that mechanical bull, Miz McKay, I'll tell your dad what I saw you doin' in Cheyenne last year. That oughta get you grounded, oh, for life."

"Grounded? Need I remind you I'm twenty, not ten?"

Gemma lifted her eyebrows. "Need I remind you the legal drinkin' age is twenty-one, and you doin' a half-nekkid-"

"Fine. I'll shut up now."

"Good. Besides, that thing is not one of them wussy bulls they use in cowboy bars and charge you five bucks to try. That one of Colby's is a nasty piece of machinery and the closest to getting on the back of a real bull. It's dangerous."

"Told ya so," Amy Jo said.

"Why don't you try to stay out of trouble and see if Cash's daughter needs any help in the kitchen?"

"Her name's Macie, right?" Amy Jo inquired politely. "She seems nice."

"She seems young." Keely demanded, "Hey, are you using her as free slave labor just because she's too young to know better and because Cash is working for you?"

"No. She's a professional cook and she's older than you, smarty." Gemma debated on mentioning Macie's relationship with Carter, but Keely would find out soon enough.

"No way. How old is she?"

"Twenty-two."

Keely and Amy Jo exchanged a look. And a grin. Then they ran to the house.

Gemma yelled, "No askin' her to buy you guys booze. You ain't old enough to drink!"

"Well, I am. Let's get shitfaced."

Gemma turned and smiled at Channing. "Macie's camper is empty and I know she's got beer."

"You're on."

Once they each had a cold one, Gemma said, "Married life agrees with you, Mrs. McKay."

"Does it ever. Colby makes me ecstatically happy. I thank my lucky stars every day that we found each other."

"You should. How you getting along with the McKays?"

Channing swigged her beer. "Great. Carolyn is awesome. Don't see much of Cord or Colt. You know what Keely is like. Carson would like me more if I was knocked up. And before you ask, no, I'm not pregnant, and since we've been married less than a year, no, we aren't actively trying to populate the world with more wild McKay boys." She smirked. "We are practicing a lot though."

"Some things never change."

"Speaking of pregnant...how is it that I never knew Cash had a daughter?"

"No one knew." Gemma shared what she'd learned. "So, he's workin' for me, but he's also tryin' to have a relationship with Macie."

"What's she like?"

"She's a good kid. Hard worker. Sweet, but not a pushover. Wise beyond her years." Gemma shot Channing a sly look. "And she's doin' some serious practicin' with your brother-in-law Carter."

"No way."

"Yep. Though they pretty much keep to themselves."

"Colby is so going to pay for not telling me that bit of family gossip." She paused. "Cash doesn't have a problem with Carter and Macie doing the nasty right under his nose?"

"He has a big problem with it. Not a lot he can do; they're both adults."

"True. So, tell me about you and Cash doing the nasty. He finally wear you down?"

"Nope. I finally swallowed my pride and tracked him down."

"And?"

Gemma downed her Coors. "And I am so in love with that man it's not funny."

"'Bout damn time you realized that."

"But it didn't start out that way. I've always liked him even when that weird connection between us scared me to death. When he agreed to take over the Bar 9 foreman duties with certain personal stipulations, I didn't know what to expect. Cash has always been a loner. He's set in his ways. He can be a little ornery. A little distant."