Alice Sharpe - Cowboy Cavalry

“As a matter of fact,” he added, as though sweetening the deal, “on my way home I’m stopping to meet with one of the descendants I told you about. You’re welcome to come along and meet him, too.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Just to get a feel for our approach. The man I’m talking to is the great-great-grandson of a guy named Matthew Dalton. Dalton was a lawyer in Green Ridge. He married a woman named Mary two days after the robbery and they left town the day after that. Accounts hint it was all very sudden. Maybe he was the fourth man, who knows? Hopefully we’ll learn something that can help us piece together the truth. Will you give me a chance, say a week or so to try to awaken a little curiosity in you?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly.

“If it’s your job—”

“I... I work at home,” she said quickly. “There are arrangements that would have to be made, of course, but it’s not that. My car is kind of on its last legs...”

“You can ride with me.”

“It’s not the getting there that worries me,” she said. “I just don’t know how comfortable I’d feel on your turf.”

“Well, you can leave whenever you want, of course.” He shook his head and added, “I didn’t even think. Is there someone you’d like to have come with you? A family member, a friend?”

“No,” she said and quickly averted her gaze. Luke had once told her he could read her mind just by staring into her eyes.

When still she hesitated, he lowered his voice. “Just so you know, one of my brothers is married and expecting a baby any second, another is getting married this summer and Pike’s girlfriend is due for a visit at the end of the week. She’s a private investigator in New York. In other words, there are lots of women around so if you’re worried about being stuck with a bunch of guys, don’t be.”

“I’m not worried about being with men,” she said.

He flashed her a devil-may-care smile. “Really? Now that’s...interesting.”

In that moment, Luke’s memory pierced her heart like a poison dart. He’d had this same throw-caution-to-the-wind-and-say-whatever-he-was-thinking quality.

“Sorry, I was just joking around,” he added quickly. “Thought I’d lighten things up.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

“Please say you’ll give my suggestion some thought.”

She glanced at his uneaten food as her mind raced, then she glanced at her watch. She’d been away almost two hours!

“If you’d rather travel on your own,” he said, “that’s fine, too. We’ll pay for you to rent a car or buy you a ticket. Just promise you’ll keep an open mind.”

“No matter what you think of me, I am capable of being fair,” she said.

“Good.”

She nodded once. “Okay, I’ll come. I’ll meet everyone and look around, all of that. But you and Mr. Dodge have to understand that none of it may change my mind and I expect both of you to respect that I have a right to my opinion.”

“I get it,” he said. “And I appreciate your honesty.”

“Under the circumstances, I’ll take the rented car.”

“Fine. If you trust me to do it for you, I’ll make the arrangements and have it delivered to your house later today. Let me jot down directions to our ranch,” he added. “Or give me your email address and I’ll send them to you.”

“That won’t be necessary. Let’s say we meet at the Hertz car rental place at the airport tomorrow morning at nine. I’ll follow you to your interview and then on to your ranch.”

“That sounds great,” he said. “And, Kate, thank you for giving us this chance.”

“Just remember that’s all it is,” she said softly, meeting his gaze straight on, bracing herself for the intensity in his eyes. “A chance.”

Chapter Two

Frankie was almost positive there was more to Kate West than met the eye, although there was nothing at all wrong with what met the eye. Midtwenties, long spun-gold hair, forget-me-not blue eyes, skin like polished seashells.

But there was something else, too. How many times had she looked at her watch for instance? Gary hadn’t said a word about her being distracted when he met her. Did that mean she normally wasn’t or had Gary been too engrossed in preproduction dilemmas to notice?

She’d contacted Gary first. He’d immediately called their historian, Patrick Lowell, to make sure she was legitimate. Pat was a fuddy-duddy of a man, a former junior college teacher turned freelance researcher, hired by Gary for several projects through the years and thorough with dates and facts. He’d confirmed Kate’s claims. Gary called Frankie who left the ranch in Falls Bluff and drove all night to meet with Gary and Pat.

Pat had admitted he didn’t know much about Kate’s current situation, just that she’d once been a grammar schoolteacher in Arizona. He’d suggested Frankie invite her to the ranch so she could meet the family. Gary had seconded that idea. Obviously, they both thought Frankie’s family would be more successful at winning her over than Frankie would.

But Frankie had settled on lunch instead and he’d gone to the restaurant dead set against inviting her anywhere. Once she’d met everyone, then what? What in the world would he do with a stranger intent on causing him problems? It was a busy time of year and taking care of her would fall on his shoulders. He really didn’t like babysitting people. Left to his own devices, he would have invited her to do her best to convince the world the documentary didn’t deserve to be made and he’d do his best to prove her wrong by making sure it turned out so damn good, there could be no doubt.

But he wasn’t in this by himself; Gary was involved, too, and so when Kate unconsciously laid the groundwork for an invitation, he went ahead and made it. The truth was that getting to know her was not an unpleasant idea. Who didn’t like a little mystery in a woman? He was even a bit disappointed that she wanted to drive separately.

But first he wanted to know what she was hiding and that’s why he’d paid for lunch and left the restaurant before her, which wasn’t easy as she was obviously champing at the bit to be gone herself.

Why? Had she privately arranged to talk to the backers earlier than she’d claimed? Had she agreed to the ranch trip just to mislead him? He intended to find out, even if it meant he had to sneak around a little.

From the restaurant exit, he glanced back at their table to see the waiter boxing his untouched lunch. Waste not, want not, huh? Maybe she had a dog. He hurried to his car and had just ducked inside when she stepped onto the sidewalk. She turned a fair number of heads as she walked down the block, blond hair floating out behind her in the gentle breeze, skirt swirling around excellent legs, small white paper bag dangling from one hand.

Babysitting her wasn’t going to be that difficult, he admitted to himself. He just had to remember to treat her like a loaded keg of dynamite and not the living, breathing, sexy beauty that she was.

As she came to a halt at a nearby bus stop, her gaze darted between her wristwatch and the street until a bus passed Frankie’s parked car and pulled to a stop in front of her. She boarded. He wasn’t sure where it was bound because he’d been too busy admiring Kate’s willowy form to notice the destination. He followed along behind as it made its way through traffic, expecting a downtown route. Instead it slowly made its way toward the suburbs and one of the many small communities surrounding Seattle proper. He continued following its stop-and-go route, watching as Kate made a couple of transfers, curious now despite the increasingly remote possibility her destination had anything to do with him. She finally got off the bus and began walking.