Maybe, listening to the two of them go back and forth with their opinions, she’d see where she needed to be. Who she sided with most.

  By previous agreement, the three of them connected in the diner’s parking lot, but before Lily could even get more than a thank-you out, a woman she’d never seen before came up to the three of them.

  “Do you know if there’s a hotel in town?” she asked, leaving Lily to wonder how the young woman could have missed it. It wasn’t like Chatelaine was all that big.

  “There’s just one motel,” she answered, figuring the unknown woman, with her wavy short brown hair and green eyes, had just broken up with someone, or found out some other bad news. She seemed distracted—and not in a happy way. “It’s called the Chatelaine Motel,” she continued. “You can’t miss it, it’s right at the tail end of Main Street here. It’s an old two-story motor lodge with rooms that open onto the parking lot, has a second level walkway and is desperately in need of some updating. But it’s clean.”

  She was babbling, wanting to help, needing desperately to unload on her sisters, and getting odd vibes from the stranger in their midst.

  “I’m Lily...Fortune,” she said then, stumbling over the last name in her attempt at friendliness, at which time Tabitha rescued her with, “I’m Tabitha Buckingham and this is our sister, Haley Perry.”

  “We’re known around here as the Perry triplets,” Haley told the younger-looking woman.

  So weird, as soon as they tried to be welcoming, the woman kind of turned away from them, hunching her shoulders, as she half mumbled, “My name’s Morgana,” and hurried off down the street.

  Haley, always the journalist, watched her go. “Interesting,” she said, with that needing to know more tone in her voice. “She definitely didn’t want to give her last name. I’ll bet there’s a story there.”

  “Yeah, she did react kind of odd...” Tabitha was saying, as Lily moved them toward their destination.

  Lily had no focus for Haley’s penchant to make a story out of everything. She’d only squeezed out enough time for a quick sandwich before she had to get back to the ranch. With it being Friday, they had two check-ins that afternoon. And then it would be tomorrow and her and Asa’s celebration would loom...

  If nothing else, she needed to let her sisters know she might need a little help keeping up appearances at their soiree. They deserved to understand why, after all the trouble they and Esme and Bea had gone to throw the party.

  As it turned out, she only ordered coffee—because it’s all her sisters wanted and she was glad for the faster service. And to not have to choke down food.

  “I need to talk to you both about Asa,” she said as soon as they had their cups in front of them, Lily on one side of the table, Tabitha and Haley on the other.

  It just felt better to her that way.

  “What’s up?” Tabitha asked the question, but both sets of eyes were trained on her, sending compassion in waves.

  Which was exactly why she’d called them. She wasn’t all that good yet at sharing private details of her life with her siblings, but for some reason, it suddenly all came tumbling out of her. Probably more than should have. Way more than Asa would have wanted to share. She told them more about making love on the couch in Vegas on their wedding night. About the night on the couch at the ranch. And then, leaving out the part about the photo and the S in the trail, about having had sex with her husband in name only out in the woods the day before.

  She didn’t mention the dog, either.

  “He loves you,” Tabitha said softly, a smile on her face.

  And Lily shook her head, saying, “He loves me like a friend. He’s not in love with me. Every time, as soon as it’s done, he reverts back to just friends. We’ve had sex, but we’ve never slept together. Or even been in bed together. And when I tried to talk to him about giving the marriage a real chance, he adamantly refused.”

  Haley swore mostly beneath her breath.

  “Did he say why?” Tabitha asked.

  Lily gave her sisters the abridged version of the things Esme had told her, and then added, “In his mind, to try is to risk failure, and he’d rather have me as a forever friend than take a chance at losing me.”

  Tabitha’s eyes grew a little moist. Haley raised her brows and shrugged.

  “So you just have to show him differently,” she said, shocking Lily. Haley was supposed to have been on her give-up-on-him side of the battle. The side who knew she wanted children, and if he wouldn’t give them to her, she couldn’t settle for less.

  “I agree,” Tabitha told her. “You’re head over heels in love with this man. How can you even consider giving up on a chance that he’ll change his mind?”

  Lily’s heart clunked at that. She’d been so deafened by her own inner war, she’d failed to think about Tabitha’s having lost the love of her life to death.

  Failed to even think about the fact that her sister knew exactly when it was that you had no chances left.

  “People change all the time.” Haley’s tone was unusually soft. She started pointing then, as she threw out a list of to-dos. “Play the femme fatale,” she suggested. “Make him see you as more than just his buddy. Be the woman in his life. Do your nails. Put on makeup. Buy a sexy teddy. Hit him where it hurts.”

  Lily glanced at Tabitha, who was nodding. Could something that...doable...really work? It wasn’t her, but neither was dressing up as she had for her wedding. She’d done it once, so she supposed she could pull it off again. All except Haley’s last suggestion. She had no desire to ever hurt Asa. Period.

  “And I’d talk to him some more about it, too,” Tabitha said. “Let him know that as long as the two of you keep open communication, and work at it, you can get through the tough times.”

  Something Tabitha hadn’t had a chance to do with her baby’s daddy.

  But it made sense.

  Reaching over, Haley slid her opened hand beneath Lily’s on the table and then clasped her fingers. “Bottom line, though, sweetie? You have to trust your heart. It will tell you when to go, if it comes time to do so. Until then, you keep trying.”

  That. Right there. Truth rang loudly within her. Settling both her heart and her head.

  Giving Haley’s hand a squeeze back, she reached for Tabitha’s, too. “I love you both. You know that, right?”

  It wasn’t something she generally said aloud.

  And she held her sisters answering avowals of love close to her heart as she insisted on being the one to pay for their coffee and headed for the door.

  On the way to the rest of her life.

  One way or another.

  * * *

  Lily was in the four-wheeler, escorting a family back to their cabin, when Asa got the call about the dog. The exuberant guy had been with Lily since she’d returned from town, and Asa headed up to the office, letting himself in with his key, helping himself to a soda from the cooler in the little store that took up one side of the reception area, and then heading behind the desk to drop money in the drawer.

  He was killing time.

  Waiting for Lily to return.

  Needing to prove to her that they could make their future work. There at the ranch together. With their horses and other animals. Maybe even with them both living on the premises.

  They’d have the best part of a lifetime partnership without the traps that eventually got to one or both parties and turned love into hate.

  The dog came bounding in before her, dragging his leash, and he could hear Lily laughing at the boy’s antics. The little guy ran in and jumped up on Asa, as though it was his job to welcome Asa to his own property.

  Lily didn’t look as happy to see him. “What’s up?”

  From her reaction, Asa could tell she knew he wouldn’t be at the office at four in the afternoon if there wasn’t a situation.

  “I got a call about the dog.” He started in and stopped when she interrupted him.

  “I figured,” she told him, sounding calm, businesslike. “As soon as I saw your four-wheeler outside. How soon is he leaving?”

  “That’s what I needed to talk to you about,” he said then, moving closer to her. “It turns out that someone recognized him from the photo. There was a rancher renting a place just this side of town who moved on without warning, leaving in the middle of the night. The dog was his. And, it appears, was left behind on purpose.”

  Lily was staring at him. And he could read in her expression the things she wasn’t saying.

  “So...you want him?”

  Eyes narrowed, she studied him. “Do you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Me, too.” There was nothing businesslike or sedate about her as she ran around the desk she’d put between them and went straight for the dog, bending down to put her arms around him. “Oh, and, if it’s okay with you, his name’s Max,” she informed him, before letting loose with a slew of baby talk that cut him out completely as she let Max know that he was home, and would be loved and have a happy life.

  Max, Juniper, Sunshine...any name was fine with him.

  As long as it brought that radiant smile to his wife’s face.

  “I think he approves.” Lily looked over at him and giggled as the dog gave a lick across her chin.

  Asa joined the two of them on the floor then, needing to be a part of the moment. To play with the dog—Max—and let him know that he was a part of them now.

  He watched in amusement as Lily grabbed a toy and started playing tug-of-war with their new pup.

  Max grabbed hold, pulled, and was growling playfully. Chuckling, Lily looked over at Asa, handing him her end of the rope.

  Inviting him into their game.

  Taking the rope, he pulled, but not too hard. He didn’t want to break the young dog’s teeth. Or get too rough with him, either.

  When Max tired, helping himself to a drink from the dish Lily must have put down earlier, and then lay down, watching them, Lily sat there on the floor and smiled at Asa.

  “Thank you,” she told him.

  “Right back at you,” he murmured back.

  And just like that, they’d become parents.

  Chapter Eighteen

  If Lily had had any doubts about the seduction she’d planned for Friday night—having stopped at the GreatStore on the way home to pick up everything she’d need—Asa’s involvement with Max had silenced them.

  As good as he was with a stray dog...she knew he’d be a hundred times better with a little human. The man was father material all the way. She’d had enough of them in and out of her life to be able to tell the greats from the maybe nots.

  He’d grown up with a definite no for a father.

  But that didn’t mean that all men were that way. Asa being a case in point.

  He’d done so much for her, and now she was the one who was going to have to fight for their future.

  To that end, she had the night all planned out.

  She took Max out and then, taking him with her, excused herself to bed while Asa was still going over bids and figures for some of the remodeling projects they’d talked about doing before summer. She needed their newest family member shut in her room, hopefully asleep on her bed, when she made her move.

  She’d washed her hair that morning and covered it so it didn’t get wet during her quick shower. The lingerie thing...she’d never in her life thought of herself wearing one.

  It was one piece, red with black trim and lace, and mostly see-through. The silk garment came with spaghetti straps up top and snaps for an easy open crotch.

  She felt naughty just putting it on.

  Her first glimpse of herself in her bathroom mirror almost had her calling off the whole thing. And then she heard her husband’s boots on the stairs and knew that she couldn’t give up. She couldn’t let fear—hers or his—win.

  Shivering, noticing how clearly her tightened nipples showed through the fabric, she grabbed the makeup she’d purchased for her wedding day. Applied it as best she could as the artist had done it for her in Vegas. And then took her new, wide barrel curling iron and did her best to reproduce the waves the hotel’s expensive stylist had created out of her usually boring, straight dark strands.

  She’d looked at shoes, too, but the GreatStore’s selection was most definitely not femme fatale, so she had decided to paint her toes and just go barefoot. She’d done that, giving them time to dry, before pulling her socks and boots back on in time for check-in.

  The one thing she hadn’t done, in Vegas, or that afternoon, was go the artificial nail route. Her fingers lived on working hands, and that was just fine with her. She could dress up to please her husband at night after work, but she couldn’t be dealing with pieces of plastic sticking out on the ends her fingers, worrying about breakage, all day while she worked. She’d smoothed and buffed her short nails, though. Lily wanted to tempt Asa, to show him a different side of her, not pretend to be someone she was not.

  She was attempting to give him a lifetime.

  Not a moment in time.

  Asa had been upstairs fifteen minutes, long enough for his nightly rinse off—something she knew about because, for the past weeks, she’d heard his shower running as she lay in bed, picturing him naked in there.

  Her time had come.

  Unless she was going to put it off...give herself more time to think about it...give him more time to come around on his own.

  Standing at her bedroom door, with Max snoozing on her bed, just as she’d hoped, she stared at the doorknob.

  Was she chickening out?

  Or being wise?

  Hanging from the doorknob was the new shirt she’d purchased to wear to their wedding party the next night. Feminine. Silky. White. Would look great with the new black jeans she’d bought.

  And...if there was any chance that a celebration of her and Asa’s love could be for real...it was now or never.

  She opened the door. Shivered as the cool night air hit her skin. Then turned the knob, held it, and let it slowly release as she closed Max in behind her.

  Lily stepped lightly down the hall. Not to be sexy, but because she didn’t want Asa to hear her until she was right there. In his face.

  A seduction in the hall didn’t have any ring to it.

  Pulse racing, she faced his closed bedroom door.

  There she was. Doing it. Just as her heart had directed.

  A light shone beneath the door.

  Was he reading?

  Still in his attached bathroom?

  If she just walked in with no warning, would she be interrupting something that was none of her business?

  Maybe she should wait until the light went out.

  Or...knock first.

  With a shaking hand, she rapped lightly, once, and then reached for his door handle and turned it. Stiffened her shoulders. Feeling more like she was going into battle, not moving toward sex.

  He’d been in bed—slept in the raw, she saw—but was halfway out of it by the time she stood in the doorway. His pillow was propped up, his tablet on the bed.

  And...

  “Lily? What in the hell are you doing?”

  Not at all the response she’d expected. Perhaps she should have waited until his light was out...

  “I’m hoping I’m about to have sex.” The words tumbled out, sounding less awkward than she felt. “You’re good at it, Asa. And while you aren’t doing it with anyone else, and since we’ve done it before...”

  In some part of her mind she knew that rambling wasn’t sexy.

  Nor were the words spitting out of her.

  But the way he was looking at her...with some kind of fascinated horror...

  She should have opted for the putting-it-off choice minutes before in her room. Given herself more time to think it all through.

  Because he wasn’t moving, or speaking, she took a couple of steps toward him, worried that she wasn’t pulling off the teddy look after all.

  Then stopped herself, just barely, from wrapping her arms around her chest.

  When he didn’t stop her advance, she continued forward, stopping only when she reached him, standing there nude beside his bed.

  That’s when she looked down.

  And saw his body’s response to her presence.

  She was most definitely, gloriously wanted.

  The sight, the knowledge it brought, emboldened her, and she reached for his chest with both hands, sliding her fingers through the springy hair there. Purposely gliding over his nipples.

  Asa groaned. He reached for her.

  And...

  Gently pushed her away.

  “We can’t, Lil.” His voice sounded strained. But then he moved briskly toward the pair of pants thrown over the chair in the corner of his room.

  He had them on, up, and fastened before he turned, grabbed a robe off the back of his bathroom door, and tossed it to her.

  “Here, put this on.”

  She did so at once. Not for his sake, but for her own. Never in her life had she ever wanted to cover up so badly.

  But she wasn’t running.

  She’d been right to know she was walking into battle.

  And, humiliation aside, her reason for being there was stronger than ever.

  “We can’t do this,” he said, standing there in the middle of the room, his arms crossed.

  “Yeah, we can. We’ve already proven that.” Her words weren’t planned. They were coming from a desperate place, a hurting place, that had been given free rein.

  He shook his head, seemingly not the least bit affected by her continued presence in his room. “And as great as those moments were, Lil, we have to live platonically so that nothing gets in the way of our partnership, running the ranch, and most importantly...us. Our friendship.”