Page 23 of Moonlit Colorado

Dane lifted his chin at me. “Good morning.” All sexy and gruff. His eyes were full of questions that I didn’t want to answer. Much less answer them in front of my brother.

Gah, I needed to act normal, which wasn’t easy when I was ready to yell at the man. I’d asked him last night if he knew Dane Knightly, and he’d lied to me.

Thehell.

Emma glanced back and forth between us. “Have you two met before?”

Dane opened his mouth.

“We met at Silver Linings,” I blurted. “I spilled coffee on him. Had no idea who he was.” I stared at him, begging silently for him not to add any more. I assumed Dane had some sense of self-preservation, but what did I know? He’d been pretty uninhibited with his words last night.

Tingles ran through me, goosebumps raising all over my skin.

After I’d left the party, I’d stayed at Piper’s. I hadn’t breathed a word about Mr. Black or how I’d almost accepted his offer to spend the night with him. I’d been hoping the man would leave town soon, and I’d never have to see him again. As if the last evening had been some weird dream. I could go back to my regular, small-town life and pretend the masquerade ball hadn’t happened.

Not so much.

Dane’s questioning gaze lingered another second. “Good to officially meet you, Grace.”

He held out his hand. The contact was just as electric as it had been last night. When I pulled my hand away, my palm slid against his, and I tried to hide my shiver.

“You too,” I said, teeth clenched. Less than twelve hours ago, I’d been ready to head up to his room to get those hands all over me. “Ashford, why didn’t you tell me Dane was in town? I thought he wasn’t coming to the grand opening.”

Ashford shrugged and took a swig of his coffee. “It’s impossible to get this guy to nail down his plans. I didn’t even know until a couple of days ago.”

“My fault entirely,” Dane said.

I felt a blush spread up my neck and into my cheeks. Should I say that I’d been at the party too? Would that make it more obvious that I’d seen him there, or less?

Dane held out a cardboard tray of drinks. “I believe you ordered an autumn spice latte.”

Change of subject. Okay. Yes.

“I did.” I took the coffee, careful not to brush his fingers. I’d had enough of that. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to drink it far away from you. Because of, you know, running into you the other day.” I snapped my mouth closed to stop my rambling.

Dane turned and held out another drink to my niece. “This one’s a hot cocoa, Maisie, and I believe it has your name on it.”

While Ashford and Dane chatted with Maisie, Emma sidled over to me. “Are you okay? You’re jumpy this morning.”

I drank a hefty gulp of latte, and it burned the roof of my mouth. “Got worried when I couldn’t find Maisie by the craft tables.”

Emma and I watched my niece, who already had a thin mustache of chocolate above her lip from the cocoa.

If my brother had said something to me about Dane being in town, thenmaybeI would’ve guessed his identity. Maybe I wouldn’t have talked shit about Dane Knightlyto his face. And he’d just stood there and let me do it. Encouraged me to spout my opinions. About him. About his hotel.

Oh, crap. Dane hadn’t known I was Ashford’s little sister, right? Had he been playing some kind of game with me? Though I couldn’t imagine why. Not unless Dane secretly wanted Ashford to kill him, because I had my doubts about the reasonableness of Ashford’s reaction if he’d found out.

I had to make sure that Ashforddidn’tfind out. If only because I couldn’t take the sheer embarrassment.

Dane knelt on the grass, ignoring the dampness, and held out a gift bag to Maisie. “I brought you something from New York. That’s where I’m from.”

“Really?” Maisie thrust her cocoa into Emma’s free hand and reached for the gift bag. Digging inside, she pulled out a snow globe of the Manhattan skyline.

“Wow,” she whispered. “This isamazing.”

Dane glanced up at me. My skin went hot again.

Maisie shook it, marveling as the specks of white swirled inside.

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