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remember Lafferty.”
    Bliss’s stupid heart skipped a beat and her throat went dry. “Lafferty?” she said automatically, then wished she could drop through the hay-strewn floor. What was he doing here?
    In the shadowy light, he glanced over his shoulder. Gold eyes clashed hard and fast with hers.
    She froze.
    Gone was any trace of the boyish charm she remembered. This man had long ago shrugged off any suggestion of adolescence and was now all angles and planes, big bones, hard muscle and gristle. A few lines fanned from his eyes and bracketed his mouth. His hair, though still blond, had darkened and was longer than the style worn by most of the businessmen in Seattle.
    â€œWell, what do you know?” he taunted, turning on a worn boot heel and giving her an even better view of him. The skin of his face and forearms where his shirtsleeves were pushed up was tanned from hours in the sun and the thrust of his jaw was harsher, more defined and decidedly more male than she remembered. A day’s worth of whiskers gilded a chin that looked as if it had been chiseled from granite. “It’s been a long time.”
    Not long enough! Not nearly long enough. “A good ten years.”
    â€œGood?”
    â€œThe best,” she lied. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that he’d hurt her.
    â€œI knew you’d come,” her father said and propped the pitchfork against the wall. He crossed the short distance between them and gave her a bear hug with arms that weren’t as strong as they once had been.
    â€œDid I have a choice?”
    â€œAlways.”
    She laughed as he released her. “No one has much of a choice when you set your mind, Dad. Mom used to say that stubborn was your middle na—” She bit her tongue and reminded herself that her mother, proud and ever faithful, was gone. And her father was hell-bent to marry someone else.
    â€œThat she did,” John agreed. “That she did.”
    The moment was suddenly awkward and Bliss, as much to change the subject as anything else, said, “I hope I didn’t hear you shouting a couple of minutes ago.”
    â€œMe?” Her father’s eyes twinkled. “Never.”
    She turned to Mason. “He’s not supposed to get overly excited.”
    â€œI’ll keep that in mind.” Shoving callused hands into the back pockets of his jeans, Mason smiled, a sizzling slash of white that was neither friendly nor warm, just downright hit-you-in-the-gut sexy. Well practiced. A grin guaranteed to turn a young girl’s heart to mush.
    But she wasn’t a young innocent anymore and all of Mason’s wiles, to which she’d been so vulnerable long ago, couldn’t touch her. Not now. Not ever again. Her fingers curled into fists and her fingernails dug deep into her palms.
    â€œGood.”
    His gaze raked up and down her wrinkled blouse and the tangle of her hair, only to pause at her eyes. “How’ve you been?”
    As if he cared.
    â€œFine…I mean, great. Just great. Really.”
    â€œYou look it.”
    She felt a blush climb up the back of her neck. “It must be because of all the clean living I do, I guess.”
    Mason laughed. “Right.”
    Her father snorted.
    â€œYou don’t believe me?”
    â€œI know you.”
    â€œDid know me. A long time ago. I—I’ve grown up.”
    â€œI noticed.”
    Bliss wasn’t fooled by Mason’s well-honed charm. Not a bit. How many nights had she cried bitter tears over this two-timing, thoughtless bastard? In an instant, she wanted to strangle him and wasn’t about to listen to any of his cheap compliments. She’d made that mistake before. Years ago he’d cut her loose and broken her heart; she’d never trust him again. Folding her arms under her breasts, she asked, “So what’re you doing here?”
    His smile only broadened as if he was amused by her