Page 13 of Mystery at Rescue Ridge

Owen didn’t need the mental image of her naked in a bathtub stamping his thoughts right now.It did anyway.

“Sundays are lazy,” she continued.“At least, the mornings are.That’s when I get to sleep on fresh sheets and drink coffee while browsing online or reading, though surfing has seriously lost its appeal lately.”She shook her head again.“Too stressful.”

“Never was relaxing to me.”He was damn lucky if his cell battery wasn’t dead most of the time.The last thing he could see himself doing at night or first thing in the morning would be curling up to a laptop.

She studied him.“What’s that about?”

“What?”he asked.

“That frown?”

“I was picturing how uncomfortable it would be to have technology in the bedroom.”This time, he laughed.

“Didn’t think about it that way.But it’s a funny visual.”She smiled, and the mood lightened almost instantly.

“I’d end up breaking it,” he continued.“I’d roll over on it or some wild thing like that and, crunch, I’d break a thousand-dollar piece of technology.”

“Sounds about right,” she said, the smile widening.“Although I think laptops might cost more than that now.”

“Not mine.No, sir.”He motioned toward his cell.“Did you get a good gander at this dinosaur earlier?”

“I did.”The smile was gone now, but at least she wasn’t frowning.“How old is that?”

“I’ve had it for more than a decade.”

“How?I thought cell companies caused the batteries to die early when they wanted you to replace a phone.”

She had a point.He’d read that somewhere, too.

“Again, take a look over there.You’ll see that the battery is dead more than it’s alive.”

“Isn’t that dangerous out on the ranch property?”she asked.

“When I go out on the land, I’m usually out of cell range anyway,” he said.“I have no wife or kids who might need to reach me.”He didn’t intend for those words to come out like a pity party—party of one.“I’m good with it.”He added the last part a little too fast.

Evie’s eyebrow shot up.“I figured you would’ve been long married by now.”She sat up a little straighter and put out a hand, indicating she didn’t want him to comment.“You don’t have to respond to that.I’m out of line.Your personal life isn’t my business.”

He held up his left hand and lifted his ring finger so she could see for herself.“No band and no tan line.Meaning, I’ve never been married and, as far as I know, I don’t have any children running around out there that I don’t know about.”

“That you know about,” she said with a wink.

“It would be damn impossible for me to father a child, so, no, there are no little Owens running around without my knowledge.”

“How can you be so…” She seemed to catch herself.“Are you okay?”

“Fine.”He’d always been medically able until he’d shut it down.“As far as I’m concerned, the world doesn’t need any more Beaumont Sturgesses running around, and I couldn’t risk that happening.”

Evie sucked in a breath.

“Are you saying what I think you are?That you got surgery to prevent unwanted pregnancies?”

“I sure did.”

After she picked her jaw up from the floor, she asked, “And you don’t think you’ll ever regret the…permanenceof a decision like that one?”

“Me?No.”The snip-snip operation had the side benefit of ensuring he wouldn’t enter into a lasting relationship.

Evie took another pull of beer.“That’s a bold step, Owen.I’ll give you credit for that one.You knew what you wanted, or should I say what you didn’t want, and you made certain no mistakes were made.Gutsy move.”

---