Jake obviously thought she looked very nice, because he just stared at her, smiling, when Pam introduced them.

He was good-looking. Very good-looking. Tall and tanned, with dark hair and light silver eyes, and a physique that would have done a rodeo rider proud. How odd that a man who looked like that, and was rich, wasn’t married. Maybe he was a romantic and wanted that fairy-tale romance that both men and women dreamed of.

“We met a long time ago,” Mina began hesitantly.

“No, we didn’t. We’re just meeting now,” he said gently, and smiled. “Those long-ago, terrible days are done.”

She let out a breath. “Yes, thank God,” she replied, grateful that Pam had gone into the kitchen to check on the progress of lunch. “My mother was my worst enemy, most of my life.”

“I know that. But she’s gone. You’re safe, now.”

The way he said it made her feel warm and comforted. She smiled at him. “Thanks. For not blaming me, for what she did,” she added.

“How could anyone blame you?” he asked. His face tautened. “We all knew what she was. Rogan was furious when he realized what she’d tried to do to you, what she’d let her drunken boyfriend do. Australia is a long way away. We didn’t get any news from back home at all!”

“Cousin Rogan kept the ranch solvent, at least,” she told him. “I don’t know what I’d have done if he hadn’t. He bought me a computer and kept the bills paid until I learned how to buy and sell cattle, and especially until I started selling books. He was my biggest fan. He always believed I could get published.”

“So did I,” he returned. “Your cousin told me about SPECTRE. I bought a copy and I was hooked! I couldn’t imagine how a woman could write in almost a man’s style about mercs and cops and soldiers. You even know about weapons.”

She grinned. “I have a commando group that adopted me years ago,” she confessed. “They take me out on missions occasionally, so that I get a real feel for what I’m writing about. That’s how I came up with the idea for SPECTRE. I dedicated it to the guys.”

“I did wonder about the dedication,” he teased.

She laughed. “I also pumped Bart’s cousin Cody for information. He’s been sheriff of Carne County for years and years.”

“He has, indeed. He’s a good man. Shame about his wife.”

“Yes, it was. He tried to help me, before my mother died. He just couldn’t ever get anything on Henry that he could use to put him away.” Her face hardened. “Henry was a bottom-feeder.”

“I could think of some better adjectives.” He smiled at her. “You came through it, though. What doesn’t kill us…”

“…makes us stronger,” she finished, and laughed. “Cousin Rogan’s favorite slogan,” she recalled.

“And a true one.”

“Cook has lunch ready,” Pam called from the dining room. “Come and get it!”