Chapter Ten
Donovan didn’t know exactly what had happened as he saw the sheriff leaving the back of the café. But the man’s devastated appearance told him how it had ended. Had Max Lander tried to get her back? He hoped not, even though that had been Goldie’s plan and why she’d hired him.
The problem was that leaving wasn’t in the cards right now even if he could bring himself to walk away from Goldie.
He worried though that Malcolm didn’t just know where he was, that sending Arnie up here to buy the café was part of some plan.
If so, Goldie was now in the middle of whatever the crime boss was up to.
With everything that was going on, Donovan felt it was a sure sign he should move on.
But he was too short on funds even if he hadn’t wanted to see how this ended with the former café owner once she got her money from the sale.
Maybe he could still talk her into taking off to some island in the tropics for a while.
As he pushed open the back door of the café, he spotted Goldie slumped on the floor at the end of the hallway and rushed to her.
Dropping down beside her, he took her in his arms. At first, she resisted before melting into his embrace in tears.
He smoothed back her long hair, the tendrils that had come loose damp, brushing it aside so he could look into her eyes.
She really was beautiful in an innocent, fresh way that he wasn’t used to.
For a moment, he was filled with a need to make her happy, to get her what she wanted more than anything. Even if it was that damned sheriff. Max was the one who should be holding her. The damned fool didn’t deserve her.
He thought about the man he’d seen in the alley.
The sheriff had seemed wrecked. So what was keeping them apart?
Goldie seemed to believe that love could heal whatever was wrong between them.
Whatever demons were holding the sheriff back, they were strong.
What kind of love would it take to overcome them?
Not any kind of love Donovan had ever run across.
“I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it,” he whispered after her sobs had stopped.
She straightened, wiped at her tears and lifted her chin defiantly. “Good guess.” As she began to struggle to get to her feet, he helped her up, rising with her, holding her.
“I’m here for you,” he said and saw something flash in her eyes. For the first time, he worried about what the sheriff had said to her to upset her this much. He had a sudden fear that it’d been something about him.
“This isn’t working,” she said, drawing up to her full height. She let out a nervous laugh. “I have no idea what I was thinking when I contacted you.” Her gaze refused to meet his. He felt his stomach drop.
“Let me guess. I saw the sheriff leaving. He was here about me, wasn’t he?” He saw the answer as she still couldn’t hold his gaze. “What did he tell you?”
She swallowed before she met his eyes again. “Apparently I took you away from your girlfriend, Lolly Mandeville, down in Laramie?”
He chuckled. “Lolly and I are just old friends.” It wasn’t a bald-faced lie. Had he grown up in Laramie it might have been true.
Goldie didn’t look convinced. Maybe he didn’t lie as well as he thought he did, he realized.
“Hey, you’re missing the point here. The sheriff checked into me?
” he continued. “He’s obviously jealous, and wasn’t that the point of this?
” He saw her hesitate. “Did he also tell you that I come from a wealthy family, which is why I’m free to do whatever I want rather than hold down a boring job?
” He didn’t mention that the old wealth had evaporated over the years.
“I’m sure that must look suspicious too. ”
“Is there any reason Malcolm Mandeville might be interested in Dry Gulch?”
Donovan was taken aback for a moment. The sheriff had figured it all out? Maybe the man wasn’t as clueless as Donovan had thought—at least about his job. “Are you kidding?” He shook his head. “What makes you think Mandeville is interested in Dry Gulch?”
“Both you and Arnie show up here.”
“Well, you know what I’m doing here. As for Arnie, I heard that he’s always dreamed of owning his own café in a small town.”
“Did Malcolm give him the money?”
“I wouldn’t know, but he might have loaned it to him. No matter what your sheriff thinks about Malcolm, he’s a pretty generous guy.” That was a lie, but he could see that Goldie wanted to believe it.
He wondered himself how Arnie had heard about the café coming up for sale. It was suspicious that Arnie had shown up after Donovan had come here. It would be just like Lolly or her father to have him followed. He wouldn’t put anything past either one of them.
Donovan saw Goldie weaken. She wasn’t totally buying his story, but he could see that she wanted to.
“But you did recognize him when you saw him on the street that day, right?”
“It took me a while,” he said. “I didn’t really know him. He was cooking at the ranch the last time I was there.”
She shook her head. “It’s just strange that you’re both from the same place, know the same people.”
“Not so strange,” Donovan said, smiling. “While Arnie is apparently going to make Dry Gulch his home, I’m just here temporarily, at your request, so I can’t imagine the two of us have anything more in common than Laramie.”
“And the Mandevilles.”
“I know you’re upset, but I think the sheriff is making more out of this than is warranted.
What’s important is that he cares about you.
You’re making progress with Max, we’re making progress,” he said.
“The man I saw leaving through the back door of the café looked like someone had kicked his puppy. Goldie, he still loves you. Whatever is holding him back seems to be killing him.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes. “He just doesn’t love me enough.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I’m guessing that warning you about me wasn’t the only reason he stopped by the café.”
“I don’t know,” she said with sigh. “I didn’t really give him a chance to say much more.”
He grinned. “Don’t give up now. I haven’t given up. I have a couple of things we could do to kick up the heat.”
She shook her head, but he could see she was tempted and that was good enough for him.
He kept thinking about what the sheriff had told her.
Max had connected him and Arnie with the Mandevilles.
No one wanted to know what was going on more than Donovan himself.
What was Arnie really doing here? Malcolm had to be footing the bill for the café, given how much Arnie was rumored to have offered for it.
He still didn’t know why Malcolm had taken an interest in Dry Gulch but suspected it might have something to do with Lolly. That woman was way too much like her father.
Not only was she dangerous, but she could be a loose cannon.
THAT EVENING, GOLDIE found Josie waiting for her just inside the hotel. She needed her lawyer to look over the sale, but more than anything, she needed her friend. She hadn’t seen Max since their earlier encounter at the café.
Josie took her hand, squeezed it and met her gaze. “Ready?”
She’d never be ready. Instead, she wanted to blame Max, telling herself that she would have never put her café up for sale if not for him forcing her to take such desperate steps.
But she knew in her heart that this was all her doing, so she had only herself to blame. She had wanted to do something drastic to get Max’s attention and she had. Now she felt she had no choice but to go through with it. Although she knew Josie would have advised her otherwise and did.
“You don’t have to do this,” Josie said as if seeing the battle going on inside her.
“Yes, I do. I called Max’s bluff. He knows how much the café means to me.
” She met her friend’s gaze, trying hard not to cry.
“He hasn’t even tried to stop me.” She could see that Josie had a lot more to say, but the door opened.
For just an instant, her heart leaped. She’d wanted so desperately for it to be Max.
Arnie walked into the hotel, followed quickly behind by Goldie’s Realtor, Beth Simpson. “Let’s get this over with,” Goldie said to Josie.
The four of them took a small area deep in the lounge so there was little chance they would be interrupted. Beth produced the paperwork. Arnie took his time looking it over and so did Josie before glancing at Goldie. She’d already read the copy Beth had sent her the night before.
“It looks like everything is in order,” Josie said, but her gaze pleaded with her friend to stop this before it was too late.
As Beth produced pens for them to sign, the front door of the hotel opened yet again. Goldie swung around to look, her breath catching in her throat for just an instant before she saw that it was Cordell—not Max. She swallowed, pulse still pounding.
Had she really thought he’d show up at the last minute to save her—to save her café and the love the two of them had together?
How could he have not seen how badly she was hurting after their run-in at the café?
You are such a fool. As she turned back, she saw Josie’s sympathetic expression and fought back tears.
Angrily, she took the pen Beth offered her and quickly signed the papers. Max wasn’t coming. He’d made his feelings clear. They were over. Her life in Dry Gulch was over. Goldie’s was over.
Arnie signed the papers needing his signature in record time. “I’ll be taking possession right away,” he said as he handed Beth the completed sale. His gaze went to Goldie. All she could do was nod as he rose to leave.
She couldn’t have spoken even if there was anything to say. Not that Arnie waited around for a goodbye after Beth gave him the keys to the café.
Josie touched her arm. “Wine?”