Read Online Whenever You Come Around by Robin Lee Hatcher - Free Book Online Page A

Then he mirrored her earlier shrug. “I sort of fell into guiding. Needed work and got hired on by an outfitter out of Cascade. Eventually I decided to work for myself.”
    “And you never aspired to do anything else?”
    “Not really.” The last thing he wanted was for Charityto pity him. If she didn’t know what had happened to his dad and the events that had followed, then he’d just as soon keep it that way. “I mean, nothing that matters much in the overall scheme of things. I’ve got a good life. I don’t see any reason to change it.” He removed the plates and glasses from the basket on the scooter and slid them to opposite sides of the table.
    “Did you ever . . . Did you ever want to get married?” she asked.
    “No.” The word sounded sharp in his ears. He looked toward her again and tried to soften the next one. “You?”
    An expression he couldn’t define flittered across her face. Wistful? Painful? Fearful? Something. “I didn’t want marriage for a long time. I wanted to be on my own. It was better that way. But lately I’ve had a change of heart. If I . . . If I could find the right man, yes, I’d like to get married.”
    “Have you got somebody in mind?” In Buck’s experience, most women had somebody in mind when they asked about marriage. Several local gals had thought he was the one for them. It had taken some convincing to change their minds. All of them were now married to other guys and he was happy for them—and happy for himself.
    “No,” Charity answered after a few moments of silence. “Nobody in mind. I was in a relationship with a man named Nathan for over a year.” She shrugged a second time. “It didn’t work out, and we stopped seeing each other this past spring. I haven’t done any dating since then. I’ve been sort of . . . reevaluating.”
    He wondered if Nathan was the cause of the sadness he sometimes saw in her eyes. He hoped not. She didn’t look sad right now. Still, he had a sudden distaste for the fellow,whoever he was. He had to be an idiot to have let Charity get away.
    Uneasiness washed over Buck, although he couldn’t pinpoint the cause. It was followed by another wave of frustration over his current circumstances. He was trapped inside the house, unable to get out, unable to work, unable to even spend time with the horses. The days and weeks of his confinement—or at the very least his dependence upon others—stretched before him like an unending parade.
    C HARITY TURNED TO THE REFRIGERATOR AND WITHDREW the salmon. After seasoning the fish with coarse-grained salt and ground black paper, she placed it skin side down in a nonstick pan. The pan went straight into the oven on the rack above the potatoes. By the time she turned around, Buck was no longer in the kitchen—and it bothered her that he was gone. It bothered her even more that it bothered her.
    She walked to the living room entrance. Buck was back on the sofa, left hand on Cocoa’s head while the fingers of his right hand tried to scratch a spot beneath the cast on his leg. “Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
    He looked at her. “It already smells good.”
    Not knowing what else to do with herself until the fish and potatoes were ready to come out of the oven, she went to the nearest chair and sat on it. Not for the first time, her gaze roamed the living room. There weren’t any feminine touches anywhere. It was a man’s domain, without knickknacks or unnecessary adornment. A fine layer of dust lay on all flat surfaces; she was tempted to do something about that.
    Then she remembered the framed photographs on a shelf in a bookcase that was mostly empty of books. She’d noticed them a couple of days ago but hadn’t taken the time to look at them. Curious now, she got up and crossed to the bookcase.
    On the far left were a couple of family photos from when Ken and Buck were still young kids, both of them taken in the outdoors, one of them with Buck showing off a large