Kade leaned back against the seat. He tolerated Jonas Murray, but he didn’t really like the man. Jonas was a good-looking, athletic guy women were drawn to. Kade didn’t like the idea of Jonas with Ellie.

Kade closed the menu. When the waitress walked up, Ellie ordered a salad, and Kade ordered a burger. Both of them ordered coffee. Wendy, the daughter of the café owners, Sally and Chill Cummings, filled their cups with the steaming brew. A few minutes later, she returned with their orders, set them down with a thud on the table.

She smiled. “Nice to see you, Kade. It’s been a while.” “Wendy, this is my new cook, Ellie Bowman. She’s taking Mabel’s place till she gets back from Phoenix.”

Wendy darted a quick glance across the table. “Good to meet you, Ellie.”

“You too, Wendy.”

Her attention returned to Kade, and her smile broadened. “Anything you need, just let me know.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Wendy sashayed away, hips swinging. She had a great figure, and she knew it.

“That woman has the hots for you,” Ellie said.

Kade nearly lost the mouthful of coffee he had just taken.

“She’s Chill Cummings’s daughter. She’s only twenty-two.”

“So? You’re what, fifteen or sixteen years older? Thirty-seven or eight?”

“Thirty-seven. The way I feel lately, I’m surprised you didn’t think I was a lot older than that.”

Ellie laughed. It was a soft rumbling, sexy sound that sent his blood heading south.

“So . . . you prefer more mature women?”

Was she flirting? He could only hope. He wasn’t interested in twenty-two-year-old Wendy Cummings, but he was sure as hell interested in Eleanor Bowman.

“A lady about your age would do just fine.”

Faint color rose in her cheeks. She took a drink of coffee. So did Kade.

He set the china cup down on the table. “If you want to meet some locals, there’s a country western band plays at the Elkhorn on Friday nights. Just a couple of musicians who drive up from Eagle, but they’re really not too bad. I’ll take you if you want to go.”

She eyed him across the table, clearly reluctant. “That’s a good idea, but it might be better if I went by myself.”

Kade picked up a french fry and dabbed it in the ketchup he’d squeezed onto his plate. “Women around here don’t go to bars alone. That might be old-fashioned, but that’s the way it is.”

Ellie’s forkful of salad paused halfway to her lips. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Kade knew exactly what she was thinking. That she didn’t want to go out with him. It didn’t take much for a man to recognize that look in a woman’s eyes. He stopped eating as a thought suddenly occurred. “You don’t think I killed Heather, do you?”