"Can I help....you?!" Courtney exlaimed in disbelief.

Ryan Knight, the man she'd given her heart to only to have him stomp all over it, showed no such surprise at seeing her.

Courtney blinked, thinking perhaps she'd conjured him up because of light-headedness. No such luck. He was still standing in front of her when she opened her eyes a moment later.

Ryan had been everything to her, and meant everything. He'd starred in all her dreams, answered all her hopes.

Even now, she had the strongest urge to leap across the sedate oak desk, grab him by the collar of his flannel shirt and demand to know why he'd had to break her heart. And why did he have to look better now than he had three years ago? What was he doing in Oregon? Why couldn't he have stayed in Chicago? Why couldn't he have gained fifty pounds and gotten a beer belly? Was there no poetic justice?

Apparently not. His low-pitched voice was as seductive as ever. "Nice to see you again, Courtney. You're looking--" he quirked an eyebrow at her "---different."

She glared at him, still knowing him well enough to know that his words were no compliment. Conservative attire -- bland and beige -- was a requirement at the Fell Federal Bank, however.

Apparently the same right-wing dress code didn't apply to U.S. Marshals. Ryan was casually dressed, looking ruggedly handsome in jeans and an open flannel shirt with a T-shirt underneath, standard attire for men in the Northwest. It didn't look at all standard on him. Her anger rose. Why had he shown up now, after all this time? Unless...

Could it be? Was it possible that he'd tracked her down to declare his love for her, to say how sorry he was to have let her go, that he wanted her back? For months after their breakup, she'd dreamed of that. Had it really come to happen? She couldn't speak for a moment.

Giving him her perkiest employee-of-the-month smile, Courntey said, "What are you doing here?"

If he was going to declare his love, now was the time. It could happen, it could...

"I'm here on business."

The wild fantasy came crashing down. Nothing had changed. Ryan's work still came first.

"And I'm not leaving your side until I get the answers I came for," he added. "I'll move in with you if necessary."

Their gazes locked in silent combat a moment or two before Courtney vocalized her feelings. "Over my dead body!"

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