The coffee in the coffee maker was cold. I started a fresh pot—a strong fresh pot—and then headed back to my room to shower while it brewed. The doorbell waylaid me.

Who could be coming at this hour on a Saturday? Then I laughed to myself. This hour? It was ten, not six a.m. It could be anyone. Of course, if they were looking for either Talon or Marj, they’d be out of luck.

Still in my boxers and tank top that I’d slept in, I walked to the door and looked out the peephole.

I rolled my eyes. Who should be on the other side of the door but my ex-fiancé, Colin Morse.

I hadn’t seen him since the rehearsal dinner the night before wedding. He had never bothered to show up later on the wedding day to apologize or anything. I had no idea where he had gone, and at this point, I didn’t rightly care.

Curiosity more than anything forced me to open the door.

He looked the same—handsome in a refined and priggish way—why had I never noticed that before?—with blondish hair, greenish eyes, boringish khaki trousers and white cotton dress shirt. His gaze zeroed in on my breasts. I crossed my arms.

“What are you doing here, Colin?”

“Can I come in?”

“No.”

“Come on, Jade.”

“Fine.” I stepped backward.

He strode into the foyer. “I took the red-eye to Grand Junction. I’ve been here since six this morning. It took me a while to find this place. It’s not exactly on a map.”

“The Steel property is pretty big.”

“I’ll say.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“I…I want to tell you how sorry I am.”

“You know, Colin, if you’d had the balls to tell me this before the wedding, or at least at the rehearsal dinner, we could’ve saved a little bit of money by canceling. Not a lot, mind you, but a little.”

“I didn’t really think this was about the money.”

Unbelievable. Colin had grown up with a silver spoon shoved so far up his ass he didn’t know reality. “You didn’t? You know my dad lives a modest life. You know I do too. He spent twenty grand of his hard-earned savings to give me the day of my dreams, and we weren’t able to get any of that back. Not a freaking penny.”

“I intend to pay your father back, Jade.”

“Great. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.” I tapped my bare foot. “Did you really come all this way just to tell me that?”

His cheeks reddened. “No. I…I came to tell you that…I think I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

He could not be serious. “Yeah? And what might that be?”

“Letting you go.”

I shook my head, laughing. “This is rich.”

“I’m serious, Jade. I still love you. I never stopped loving you.”

“Then why in the hell didn’t you want to marry me?”

“I got scared.”

“Scared. Okay. And you think I wasn’t scared? Binding yourself to another person is pretty scary thing, Colin. But we had seven years under our belts.”

“Yeah, I know. You were my first and only serious girlfriend. I just started wondering if…”

“If what? If something better was out there?”

He bit his lip.

That fucking bastard.

“Well, here’s news, Colin. We are over. You blew it.”

“Come on, Jade. We should be back from our honeymoon by now, settling in together. Both of us starting our careers at Dad’s Denver satellite.”

“Yeah, we should. But you know what? I’m here, hanging out with Marj and her brothers, and I’m having a great time. I’m really glad to be here. My bar results are due any day now, and in the meantime, I’m working for one of Marj’s brothers at the winery. I’m learning lots of stuff that I’m becoming passionate about. All in all, I’m glad we didn’t get married. I think it really would’ve been a mistake. So I should thank you.”

His lips trembled. “Please don’t say that.”

“Why not? You embarrassed and humiliated me in front of all of our family and friends, Colin. At the time, I didn’t think I could ever forgive you for that. But I can now, because I think it was the right thing in the long run.”

“Jade—”

“I don’t want to hear it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have lots to do today.” I took his arm and started walking him out the door.

He turned and grabbed me, pulled me into him, and pressed his lips to mine.

I gasped, and he slid his tongue into my mouth. Everything about this kiss felt wrong. I tried pushing him away, but his strength defeated mine.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

The voice came out of nowhere. Heavy footfalls. Toward us. Powerful arms wrenched me away from Colin’s grasp.

Talon stood, glaring, his eyes afire. “Who the hell are you?”

Colin stumbled backward. “It’s okay. I’m her fiancé.”

“Her what?” Talon said through clenched teeth.

“Talon, it’s all right,” I said, wiping Colin’s taste from my lips. “He was just leaving.”

“You never touch her again.”

Colin stood his ground. He wasn’t as tall as Talon, but he was buff, a great athlete. “Or what?”

In an instant, Talon jammed his fist into Colin’s cheek. Caught off guard, Colin fell against the wall. Talon grabbed him by the neck and punched him again, this one landing square on Colin’s nose. Blood oozed from his nostrils, while Talon gripped his shoulders and threw him to the floor, kicking his stomach. Colin groaned, covering his nose.

“Talon,” I yelled. “Talon, stop! Please!”

He kept kicking Colin, who lay on the floor doubled over.

I grabbed Talon around the waist, my heart thundering. “Please! You’re really going to hurt him.”

No change.

“Please! For me!”

Talon froze mid-kick. His facial features went blank, and he backed away.

I bent to Colin. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’ll be fine, I think,” he choked out. “I’ve taken worse on the football field.”

“I’ll show you worse.”

I looked up. Talon’s dark eyes were glazed, ferocious.