Husband for Hire by Susan Wiggs Page A

plan, he felt drawn to her.
    Drawn to this girl who grew up in a trailer park, nurtured on grand dreams that had no chance of ever coming true. This girl who dyed hair for a living.
    As they walked along a beaten earth path that bordered her property, he kept trying to focus on Denver, his plans, his ambitions…Lauren. But his attention kept getting tugged in a different direction altogether. It was nuts. A basic animal attraction. Twyla had the most amazing looks. No guy with eyes in his head could help himself.
    And Brian was simply an added distraction. He reminded Rob painfully of himself at six—abandoned at Lost Springs, hungry for a connection, showing up in the Spruce Room every Sunday during family hour, “just in case.”
    He eyed the weary-looking, paint-thirsty house. There was something sorry and neglected about the property, an air of thwarted plans, aborted possibilities.
    This was bad, he told himself. He barely knew this woman yet he wanted to know everything.
    He had spent his whole life trying to forget and escape small towns, small farms, small people and their small dreams. So what was he doing back here, finding himself more concerned about Twyla’s broken porch rail than anything else in the world?
    “We need a game plan,” he said, walking to his car.
    “What do you mean?”
    “For your reunion.”
    “But I never said I’d—”
    “I never asked. I’m telling you.”
    “Just like a doctor,” she said. “Arrogant.”
    “Now, look. People are going to ask how we met, all that stuff. It would probably be a good idea to coordinate our stories.”
    She burst out laughing. “Oh, this is so insane, and it’s going to be so much fun!”
    He looked down into her laughing face, her merry eyes. “You need more fun in your life.”
    “You’re beginning to sound like one of my customers.”
    “Just stay away from me with your scissors.” He grinned. “I’ll be up sometime Friday on a flight to Casper. I’ll call you during the week. Mrs. Spinelli’s travel agent took care of all the bookings to Jackson.”
    “Oh, God. We’re really going to do this, aren’t we?”
    “Are we ever.” He hesitated. Instinct made him want to say goodbye with a kiss. Instead, he handed her a business card. “All my numbers are there.”
    “Thanks. See you on Friday, then.”
    As he drove away from the farm, a plume of dust obscuring the view, Rob had a feeling that he had just done something he shouldn’t have.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    “S OMETHING’S WRONG ,” Twyla said, scowling at Sadie Kittredge’s reflection in the circular rose-tinted mirror.
    “It’s my usual set.” Sadie craned her neck, turning her head this way and that.
    “I don’t mean your hair,” Twyla said. “I mean with this whole thing. This whole reunion thing.”
    She took a rake and added some loft to Sadie’s bright, glossy curls. All week long she had been thinking about going back to Hell Creek, returning like a conquering hero with a trophy doctor at her side. The problem was, she wasn’t the conquering-hero type. Or conquering heroine, for that matter.
    But a long time ago, she had been. Her father had taught her to dream, and she knew there was magic in dreams. Meeting Rob, facing the challenge of going back home made her want the magic back. It made her want the fire—even at the risk of getting burned.
    “Okay, so tell me what you’re thinking,” Sadie said, “and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong.”
    “That’s why I love you so much,” Twyla said. “What I’m thinking is that I’m such a different person from the one who left Hell Creek seven years ago. I’m too old to play games like this. I shouldn’t care what they think of me.”
    “You’re never too old to find validation.” Sadieworked for the county schools as a family therapist, and she was annoyingly good at what she did.
    “So what do I need to validate, Herr Doktor?” Twyla asked.
    Sadie swiveled herself around in the chair to face her.