Everyone was already digging into breakfast when Kris made it into the ranch house the next morning. She'd hoped by this time Mason would have eaten and gone to do whatever it was he normally did during the day.

Yesterday, as soon as she'd cooled her horse down and put her tack away, she'd disappeared into the bunkhouse. Last night, she'd had Lane ask Martina to fix a plate he could bring down to the bunkhouse for her. Her excuse was she wanted to spend more time studying the ...