He’d gotten the puppy for her so she’d have company on lonely nights, but for some reason, he was the one lonely at night. So he spent every night at her place and just woke up bright and early to go back to the ranch for another day of work. They made a room for Libby at Becca’s house, and Libby loved sleepovers. They’d all play a game together—usually slapjack or I spy or something easily doable with a four-year-old, and then they’d tuck in Libby together and then go to bed early themselves. Not that there was much sleeping getting done. It was a challenge to remain quiet enough throughout sex so they wouldn’t wake up Libby down the hall, but that was part of the fun. Becca and Libby woke up extra early to have breakfast with him, and he kissed both his girls goodbye as he headed out in the morning. Libby spent the day with Becca, “helping” in the salon and chatting with customers as if she’d always been there. That weekend, Becca took her into Casper for some new school clothes, and Libby had loved her cute, frilly little dresses so much she hadn’t wanted to take any of them off. She’d slept in them, too, curled up with little Alaska in her bed, and her room got ever pinker and girlier because Becca couldn’t resist buying Libby girly things. She loved spoiling his daughter.

Hank had never been so damned happy. Life felt pretty damned perfect. Was Wyoming the same as Alaska? No, it wasn’t. There were far too many people around, even in this small town, and everyone wanted to know your business. People started recognizing him as Becca’s boyfriend and would stop him in the street and ask how they were doing, or if Becca could squeeze someone in later that afternoon for a highlight.

Like he knew what a highlight was.

It wasn’t the wild, untamed wilderness of northern Alaska, that was for sure. There were no moose, no foxes hiding in the bushes, no rivers brimming with salmon and crusted with ice from the mountains. There was scenery, and it was nice, but there were ranches and cattle and he stayed in a cozy little house with a bedroom for Libby and a bedroom for him and Becca, and it wasn’t quite the same as his rough-hewn cabin he’d shared with his brothers. No, it wasn’t quite the same at all . . . but that didn’t make it bad.

With Becca around, nothing seemed quite so bad.