An apple leaped out of the store manager’s hand and dropped to the floor, rolling bruisingly away. Normally, LJ would have chased it down for the man, but he wasn’t quite in the mood.

His mood wasn’t improved any when the manager abandoned the apple in favor of following him to the bulk bins, lurking practically in his hip pocket as LJ filled a bag with walnuts. There went the idea that the manager was interested only in the novelty of an out-of-towner hanging around the daughter of local ranching royalty. Nope, this guy thought he was protecting his inventory.

LJ’s plastic bag ripped and he retrieved a new one, careful not to use too much force as he transferred the walnuts over. Sometimes he wished people would outright call him a thief. An insult was a hell of a lot easier to respond to than a sideways look, or a clerk who always just so happened to be in the same aisle as you.

He took a breath and unlocked his jaw. “Nice weather we’re having, huh? Supposed to rain later this week.”

The manager’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t expected him to speak. Or maybe he’d screwed up his enunciation. He’d been letting it slip too often lately, when he was alone with Andra. Girl must have a thing for accents, because the steel melted out of her spine when he let his out to play.

“Um, is that so? What day?”

“Tomorrow. It’s already clouding up out there.” Actually, it’d still been hot enough to melt the tar on the pavement when he escorted Andra inside, but he needed something to say.

The manager nodded, relaxing a little.

LJ went back to Andra, double-checking her peach selection.

“Not bad. You want to get some ground beef? Highest fat they’ll sell you. We’ll need it for gravy. I’ll nab us some dried mustard and herbs, and we’ll be out of here.”

Before he’d even finished talking, she was pushing the cart toward the meat section. “I’m on it.”

LJ took a second look at her when she failed to tease him about needing more seasonings. She never missed an opportunity to tell him his spice collection was ridiculous.

Her lashes were down and her shoulders up, eyes skittering away from the other shoppers, especially the one pink-cardiganed matron who kept staring their way.

He ground his back teeth and headed for the fresh herbs. He should have known better, taken a few weeks to get people used to him before he showed up with a white rancher’s daughter. Hell, he did know better, but that didn’t make it less ridiculous. He wasn’t going to hide his friends just to keep the town gossips quiet.