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was about cities. She was about cities. She didn’t do animals. Didn’t do plants. Didn’t do this whole country thing. But still. What an idiot.
    She forced her eyes open, turning again to the cowboy guy who’d come to her rescue. Six something feet of him. In jeans, boots and an ancient college t-shirt. Yale? Did cowboys usually go to Yale? His face was all handsome planes and angles. His eyes incredibly dark. Dark eyes. Serious eyes. Eyes that were being politely averted. Oh God. Oh no. Holly felt a sudden deep blush start in her toes and proceed steadily north. Not only had she just made an unbelievable fool of herself. She was also pretty much naked.
    Inclining her head, pressing her lips together, striving for dignity though there was little to be had, she made a move to step down from the chair.
    With a couple of long strides, Ben closed the distance between them and offered her his hand. Holly opened her mouth, on the point of refusing, on the point of saying something. But no words came. Instead, she felt his fingers close around hers, felt his eyes lock on her eyes –  and felt them hold her there for a second. Then, just as quickly, she pulled her hand away, stepped carefully down from the chair, and was somehow relieved to be jolted by the stony coldness of the floor beneath her feet.
    "Thanks. I–"
    Ben took a step backwards, opening up some space between them, hooking his thumbs into his jeans.
    "You okay?"
    "Yes. I’m so sorry. You must think I’m an idiot. Well, I mean, I am an idiot. Obviously." She heard herself laugh nervously. "It’s just that, I suppose I’m out of my comfort zone, and–"
    Ben’s eyes had settled on hers again. She could see now, even though she was inching away from him, that they were a very dark blue.
    "And um, well I’d heard there were wolves in Montana, and when I saw it, I mean, when I saw the dog, I just…" She clasped her hands together in front of her. "I’m a photographer, you see, and I spend a lot of time in cities and…" Why was she gabbling? She never gabbled. "I’ve been quite busy and…" Busy? Seventeen cities and as many hotels in the last month alone. Four days ago she’d woken up in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, convinced she was in the Paris Ritz, only to discover after a series of very confusing phone calls that she had a same-day check-in arranged at the Istanbul Hilton. She wasn’t busy. She was insane. "And a lot has been going on, you see, so…"
    Ben continued to watch her, as if any moment now her incoherent ramblings might actually yield some sort of meaning.
    "So–" She stopped talking, stopped edging away from him, and smiled weakly.
    Ben smiled a slow smile back at her.
    "I suppose what I’m trying to say is… I panicked."
    His smile widened a little. "Don’t worry about it. Long as you’re ok."
    "Right…" she smiled back. "I’m Holly, by the way. Holly Winters."
    "Ben. Ben Cormack."
    Neither of them moved.
    "I’m your– , I’m Nuthatch’s nearest neighbor," he continued.
    "Couple of miles from here, as the crow flies."
    "Cormack?" She recognized the name.
    "You’re named in the will my fa– . You’re his preferred buyer?"
    Ben nodded. "I heard that."
    "Right." She said again.
    "We should talk then, I guess." It came out more like a question than a statement.
    "If that’s what you’d like. If you feel you–"
    "Yes. Oh, I do. Yes. Definitely. So I’ll just… If it’s alright with you, I’ll just, um, I’ll go and–" Holly closed her eyes for a second. Inhaled. Blew out a short breath and flashed an apologetic smile at him. "I’ll be back in a minute…"
    * * *
    Ben stood in Mac’s cozy old kitchen, the smile fading from his lips while he listened to the somehow intimate sound of her bare feet padding down the hall. He exhaled a long, slow breath. So that was Mac’s daughter. There was a pack of unopened coffee lying on the counter. He opened it, unhooking his old friend’s coffee pot from above the range as if nothing