Chapter 1

Cassie swore her legs were just about done for. The diner was crazy all day. Maybe it had something to do with the amazing food that came out of the kitchen. Today Molly had made an incredible beef stew with homemade bread for lunch as a special and there wasn’t an empty seat in the place since it opened at six o’clock this morning. Her boss comes in to open, set up the diner then goes home until two. Her husband, on the other hand, stays most of the day and works the grill. Besides her father, she’d never seen people who worked that hard. Not only that they were always cheerful. It was a great atmosphere to work in even if her legs were screaming by the end of her shift.

She’d only been here for three weeks but it seemed that every day was the same, busy as ever. It wasn’t just the food either; Molly and Garnet were wonderful people and were really easy to work for. She figured they were both in their sixties, but still were young at heart, always smiling and cheerful to everyone they knew. They had one son Dylan, who was away at college. They had tried for years to have kids, then in her late thirties after being told that she couldn’t have any children, she got pregnant. Cassie hadn’t met him yet, but Garnet and Molly were very proud of him. He was going to be a lawyer.

She gathered up some dirty plates off a table and went into the kitchen shaking her head because it was noon and not once was there an empty seat. Garnet, Molly’s husband laughed at her expression of disbelief.

“Get used to it honey.” He patted his protruding belly, “I didn’t get this way by drinking beer. Molly was always a great cook. That’s why I married her.” he wiggled his eyebrows causing her to laugh.

“There are some perks,” Cassie said setting the dishes in the rack for the dishwasher. “I get great tips.”

Garnet watched her push the rack into the dishwasher and turn it on while absently brushing a loose tendril of fair hair behind her ear. It wasn’t the food that was getting her the tips and he and his wife knew it when she walked into the diner three weeks ago asking for a job. Cassie was stunning. If he was thirty years younger and single and not still in love with his wife, he’d be chasing her like a man obsessed.

She was only just twenty, but she acted ten years older. From the bits and pieces he and his wife got out of her without prying, she had a pretty hard life. Her father had raised her and had just recently died, leaving a lot of bills and she’d lost her mother early in life. From what Cassie had told them her father tried to be the best he could to her and run his own ranch, but soon became bankrupt. He died shortly after of a broken heart she said. He had loved ranching and losing it just took the life out of him.

It made him and Molly feel very protective of her. Cassie was a sweet girl and they took to her immediately. Molly especially. There had been several times that she’d warned the patrons off of her with a threat of banishment from their establishment after they’d made inquiries about their newest employee.

They’d listen if they wanted a home cooked meal, but sooner or later, someone wouldn’t care about the food when it came to that filly. Garrett cared about her, but he was more relaxed about it and new that she was old enough to look after herself. If it was something she couldn’t handle he’d certainly step in, but he didn’t believe in interfering unless he had to.

He cast another glance at her. Maybe she was still young in a lot of ways. She’d been there three weeks and he and his wife had noticed that she hadn’t’ dated anyone but there’d been loads of offers. She turned and walked out of the kitchen and he silently prayed that if she found someone here, they would be good to her.

“Cass.”

Cassie turned at the sound of her nickname that she somehow adopted since she started working here. Marla, another waitress that was about four years older than her rushed toward her with an odd look on her face. The reason why it was odd was because Marla was always laughing and teasing the customers no matter how rough a day was. She could also take banter like no one she’d ever met and toss it back to them.

“That’s the perks of growing up local.” She told her once when Cassie asked her how she could handle some of the comments that practically bordered on sexual harassment.

Now, however, she looked a little worried.

“What’s wrong?” she said darting her eyes around the diner thinking someone actually offended her.

She indicated with a nod toward a truck through one of the front windows that had just coasted up to the curb. It was large, shiny black and loaded with chrome. On the door was an insignia of a cobra inside a circle with the words Cobra Head Ranch underneath. “That’s Blake Eckert’s truck. I just want you to be aware of him. He is mean to the bone and I wouldn’t even try and joke with him.”

“Oh dear.” She said if the truck wasn’t intimidating, but looking at the size of the man that just rounded the back end of the truck was. If Marla wouldn’t joke with him this had to be serious.

“Don’t try and talk to him, “ she continued quickly, “just get his order. He’s very abrasive and doesn’t have any use for women except maybe Molly. I don’t know why, but he seems to respect her.”

Cassie hardly heard anything she said after that because the man stepped into the diner to several ‘hello Blake’s’ before returning to their meals. But that wasn’t what caught her attention. He was the size of a bloody mountain and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him! The breath of his shoulders were enormous and seemed to fill the doorway. Although she couldn’t quite see his face from across the room because his Stetson was pulled low over his eyes, his sheer size was intimidating enough.

She watched as he nodded his own greeting, but never returned words before he stepped in the door and walked down the aisle with a lazy walk that told her he was in no apparent rush. Then he sat in her section with his back to them.

“Cass.”

She averted her gaze to Marla who looked more worried. “He’s not pleasant to many people, so heed what I said. If he offends you just go and get Molly. Like I said she seems to be able to handle him well enough.”

“Gosh, you’re making him sound like a psycho.” She said wide eyed before glancing back at the man.

“He’s a bit wild, yes, but rich, and a temper to match every penny he’s worth. He’d probably be a handsome man if he didn’t look so mean all the time.”

“If you’re scared, I’m terrified.” She said not taking her eyes off of him as he lifted his Stetson off his head and placed it on the table beside his coffee cup and ran his fingers through his thick dark hair to ruffle it a bit to eliminate the Stetson’s imprint.

“You’d better hurry. He doesn’t like to wait.” Marla patted her arm.

“Oh.” She snapped into action and grabbed the coffee pot to head toward the new customer. Taking a deep breath she forced a smile as she approached. She wished Marla didn’t say anything and she wouldn’t be nervous, but she would treat him as she treated all others that came into the place, with respect and a smile. But when he lifted his head and settled his eyes on hers, her breath froze in her throat. Marla said he would be handsome if he didn’t look so mean, but he was really gorgeous!

Except for a few grey streaks at the temples, he had pitch black hair and frightfully intelligent pale green eyes. His skin had the tan of a man that was used to hard work on the range, like her father did, and about a day’s worth of stubble on a nicely proportioned strong square jaw. His nose was straight and she already knew he was filled with arrogance. Even his casual walk into the diner said so. Then one of his dark brows rose as he let his eyes move over her face in the same perusal that she was doing to him.

“Are you done woman?” he said in a tone of abrupt annoyance.

“P-pardon?” she darted her eyes to his. Even though his voice was terse, it was still husky and deep.

“Are you done staring long enough to offer me coffee.” He explained in the same tone.

Even before she said anything she flushed, “Sorry.” She mumbled filling his cup.

“Now a menu would be a start.” He continued not taking his eyes off of her, “Unless you mean to read my mind. Good luck with that. You won’t be the first woman to try.”

Oh lord, she forgot a menu and now she felt completely incompetent. Also, he didn’t seem to be the least bit concerned at how uncomfortable he was making her.

“I suppose you flash those blue eyes at any man and they are on their knees in an instant so they don’t notice your lack of skills.”

Now that was an insult. She jerked her eyes to his and flushed for an entirely different reason. She was angry. She was good at her job and if he wasn’t so darn distracting and Marla didn’t tell her stories, she’d have been with him. She did her best to steel her temper, “I’ll be back with a menu.”

“Don’t bother, I’ll have Molly’s special, thanks for telling me what it is.” He added with more irritability this time.

He was completely infuriating! She set the coffee pot on the table resisting the urge to scald his lap, and pulled out the notepad while gritting her teeth. No one was so rude to her before and she really didn’t do anything to deserve it. So what, she made a few mistakes, but it wasn’t cause for that attitude.

“Just because you look the way you do, don’t expect to go through life not working for something.” He continued.

She stopped writing and set her eyes on his blazing with anger. She wanted to tell him that she was going to college for two years because she finished high school a year early and was going to be a doctor until hardship fell on her father, that she had a very high IQ and her looks had nothing to do with it. Then she thought of Molly and Garnet and how good they’d been to her by hiring her right off the street when she came in for a job. Insulting one of their customers wasn’t an option. She couldn’t take business away from them. Instead she fought for a smile showing her straight, even teeth, “Sour dough, wheat or white?” she nearly choked out through her fury.

Oddly enough, that made him pause and look at her as if he didn’t expect her sweet reply despite her inner fury. Then he leaned back against the booth lazily and ran his eyes over her slowly with definite appraisal.

His handsome face may have even revealed a glint of approval, but he was a man made of stone and it didn’t take her longer than a minute to realize it. Now the arrogant man thought he had the right to look at her in such a way that it was obvious what he was thinking. She placed one hand on her hip and stared right back at him refusing to be intimidated. Then she raised her brows still waiting for his answer.

“Whole wheat.” He finally said resisting a smile. To someone who didn’t know him, it wasn’t the least bit noticeable which was his intent, but he was amused. This gal had spunk.

For the first time in a long time, he was intrigued by a woman. Most people would have been intimidated, frightened, or maybe even shocked at his attitude. Yet he could see fire flash in her sapphire gaze in anger and he had to give it to her, she didn’t act on it.

He wasn’t easy to get along with. He had friends, but he didn’t trust many people and those who knew him knew to stay out of his way when he was annoyed. His anger was a different story. People crossed the street to avoid him when he was in that kind of mood. Yet, here was this little gal who acted ten feet tall in standing up to him and she was little. He guessed that she was about five foot four. She wasn’t scrawny though, she had curves, nice curves. The uniform was a little to snug for his tastes. It was easy to see the outline of an hourglass figure and if he were her boyfriend, he certainly wouldn’t want someone to be staring at her the way he was right now.

She scribbled his order down then stopped and looked back at him.