âIf itâs all the same to you, Iâll call it a night.â
âNot yet.â Chase reached up and brushed her cheek with his thumb. âIâd give anything to know why you were crying.â
Kate froze. The touch of his thumb on her cheek and the warmth of his hand surrounding hers sent a rush of heat all the way through her body and out to the very tips of her ears and toes.
She tugged at the hand held tight in his.
He refused to let go. âTell me what made you sad. Please.â His rich baritone wrapped around her like a lush, sexy blanket, warming her in the chill night air.
Her gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips and a new fire burned from the inside. Chase Marsden was a good-looking man with full, sensuous lips that begged to be kissed.
âLet me help you.â
âIâm supposed to be here to help you,â she whispered, feeling herself fall into the manâs eyes.
Chapter One
Chase sat back in his chair at the Lucky Lady Saloon in Foolâs Fortune, Colorado, letting the three-hundred-dollar-a-bottle whiskey and the lilting sound of Sadie Lovelyâs voice wash over him.
Today marked the anniversary of his obligation to his grandfatherâs will. In order to inherit all of what his grandfather left him, he had to agree to live at the Lucky Lady Ranch for two entire years without leaving for more than one month out of each year.
Finally, he was free to choose wherever he wanted to go, whatever he wanted to do and whomever he wanted to do it with.
But he wasnât really. In the past two weeks, heâd gone from anticipating leaving the ranch to his overseer to promising to stay until things settled down with Sadie.
Fifteen years older than him, she was a friend from his former playboy life, really an acquaintance whoâd saved him from being mugged by thugs and drowning in a gutter when heâd been too drunk and stupid to help himself.
Tough as nails, with a heart of gold, Sadie had held off the thugs with a .40-caliber pistol she kept strapped to her thigh beneath her evening dress. Sheâd dragged him into her home, sobered him up and asked for nothing in return.
Heâd offered her his friendship, and even got to know her grandson, Jake, a cute little boy with curious green eyes. He wasnât sure what had happened to cause Jakeâs mother to crash her car, hadnât asked and Sadie hadnât volunteered the information. It was clear she was raising the boy to the best of her ability.
When sheâd come to him two weeks ago, scared and in need of his help, heâd opened his doors to her, set her up with a job at one of the businesses heâd inherited from his grandfather and helped her move her and her grandson into his big empty house on the Lucky Lady Ranch until she could get set up in a place of her own.
Sadie ended her song and descended from the stage to sit in the chair opposite Chase. In her late forties, she was still an attractive woman, with smooth curves and a sultry smile. âIâm glad you came.â
Chase sat forward, the mild buzz from the alcohol clearing as he leaned forward. âI came as soon as I got your message. I must say Iâm surprised you agreed to perform tonight.â
She shrugged. âI never know when a threat is real or just a threat. All I know is that I canât live my life like this. I have to work to support my grandson. Speaking of which.â She bit her lip, the lines around her eyes more pronounced than usual. âI want to make sure youâre still good for my backup should anything happen to me where Jakeâs concerned.â
âIâm his godfather now. Iâd do anything for the kid.â
She reached across the table and touched his arm. âEven raise him as your own?â Sadie held his gaze.
Chaseâs chest tightened. âThat wonât be an issue. Heâs got you.â
âIâm serious. I have a bad feeling.â
âWe moved you from Leadville to give you a new start. Hopefully, whoever burned down your house wonât follow you here. You should be okay.â
She smiled. âI have a limited number of skills. Changing my name and hair color hardly constitutes going incognito when all Iâm qualified to do is sing and...â
Chase covered her hand. âLook, Sadie, youâre done with that other life. You donât have to go back to entertaining men. You have a good job here, where all you have to do is sing for a living.â Though he subsidized her earnings, he wasnât telling her. He owed her his life.