Cowboys & Angels Read Free Page B

wing.
    “I’ve found her,” he said. “My angel. She works at the resort.”
    “No kidding!”
    “She’s one of the ski instructors, and her name is Elle Masterson.”
    “Well, I’ll be.” Watkins stroked his mustache again. “What’s she like?”
    “Perfect.”
    “Hold on there, cowboy. No woman’s perfect. You know how I feel about Lou-Lou, but I’d be the first to admit she’s not perfect. Don’t go setting some lady on a pedestal. You’ll regret it.”
    “You’re right.” Privately, Trey didn’t think so. “But Elle is darned close. And she likes me. I can tell she does.”
    “Then why didn’t she identify herself when she hauled your ass to the hospital? Something’s not adding up here.”
    “I know, and I mean to get to the bottom of that. But the main issue is her principles. She doesn’t believe resort employees should get involved with resort guests.”
    Watkins nodded. “She must be a sensible woman, then. You can’t have that kind of thing in a fancy establishment like this. You need to respect her wishes on that.”
    “I will. And I do. But don’t you think this is a special case? She saved my life. And she likes me. I hate to waste time on rules and regulations in this situation.”
    Watkins smiled. “You’re talking about four days, right?”
    “Well, yeah, but—”
    “It’s not a long time, son. I know at your age it seems forever, but trust me, those four days will go by fast.”
    “I suppose.” Once again, Trey didn’t agree with Watkins. After eight months of searching for his mystery woman, he’d finally found her, and she was wonderful. He was eager to explore the possibilities, and they’d both be staying under the same roof, so to speak. He couldn’t imagine how time spent that way would go by fast.
    “You don’t believe me.” Watkins clapped a hand on his shoulder. “That’s okay. But don’t go back to your room and stare at the ceiling all night. Get your guitar and come down for a drink. I know these guys who are playing, and they’d probably let you sit in on a set or two. It’ll be good practice.”
    “Sure, why not?” Given that his hands were tied when it came to Elle, he couldn’t think of a better way to spend the evening.
    * * *
    A FTER A QUICK supper in the employees’ dining room, Elle climbed the stairs to her room on the second floor of the staff’s quarters. A printout of the next day’s schedule had been left on her desk, and she picked it up. No big surprise, Trey had registered for her group lesson first thing in the morning.
    She was one of three ski instructors employed by Serenity, but Annalise had been given the weekend off because these guests wouldn’t need advanced lessons. Elle and her colleague Jared could handle the Last Chance group, who were mostly all beginners.
    Switching Trey to Jared’s group would make an issue out of the situation, so she’d leave the schedule as it was. But she had to smile when she noticed that Jared had all women except for a guy named Watkins, and she had all men.
    Besides Trey, Elle would be working with Alex Keller, Nash Bledsoe, Jeb Branford and two of the Chance brothers, Gabe and Nick. Elle hadn’t met any of them, although she certainly recognized the names of the Chance boys. There was a third brother, Jack, but apparently he wasn’t into skiing lessons.
    All the men except Alex Keller had checked the beginner box on the sign-up sheet. Alex had checked the box indicating he had some experience, which meant he might be willing to help the others. All in all, it should be a fun morning. She loved taking nonskiers and turning them into enthusiastic fans of the sport.
    As she considered whether to hit the sack early to be ready for tomorrow’s activities, her cell phone chimed. For some reason, Amy, the bartender on duty tonight, was calling her. Elle picked up her phone. “Hey, Amy.”
    “Unless you’re in your jammies already, you should get yourself down here.”
    “I was