“It’s no trouble.” He saw it as his duty, actually. He was moving to Montana to keep the past on lockdown. To do that, he’d need to keep an eye on Elena Rollins. “And I’ll ask one of the ranch hands to bring over an extra utility vehicle for you tomorrow so you can start exploring the place.”

“Thank you.” A warm light touched her gaze for a moment—a hint of genuine pleasure.

“I’ll clear my schedule for the afternoon to accompany you.” Somehow, some way, he needed to rein in his attraction to her before then.

He hoped like hell that it was tough tonight only because he was tired. But he suspected that was a whole lot of wishful thinking.

Her smile faded and he could see her defenses falling into place as he tried to shore up his own.

“In that case, I’ll see you then.” She gave a regal nod, all but dismissing him. “Sleep well, Gage.”

Wheeling around to leave, to put as much space between them as possible before he did something he would regret, he already knew he wouldn’t have a moment of sleep that wasn’t filled with red-hot dreams of her.

Four

Shortly before noon the next day, Elena caught herself checking her watch again and cursed.

Curled up in the window seat of the spacious bedroom, she adjusted a gray cashmere throw over her legs and told herself to stop thinking about her upcoming appointment to explore the ranch with Gage. The man had dominated her thoughts this morning when she was supposed to be compiling notes for her lawyer to answer her ex-husband’s latest bogus claim about their supposed “shared debt.” But time and time again, while she was compiling digital copies of her old credit card statements from the months before she and Tomas split, her thoughts veered to the powerful man determined to play host to her this week.

Fluffing a silk pillow behind her back, Elena forced herself to relax. She glanced out the window with its glorious view of the Bitterroot Mountains, still capped with snow even though signs of spring were everywhere else. She had to admit she felt insanely comfortable in Gage’s home—on a surface level at least. It wasn’t surprising, considering the Egyptian cotton sheets, thick Turkish bath towels and fresh flowers on her nightstand. She hadn’t been surrounded by this much luxury since the time she’d visited Gage’s family in New Zealand. And despite some vivid dreams of Gage the night before, she’d had the best night’s sleep she could remember in ages.