Chapter Two #2
“Hey, Dee…let me introduce you to this cowboy.” Candy was far too perceptive.
Cole watched as the blonde moved toward him.
She took her time, and the blue eyes were hard to read.
Her walk on the other hand spoke louder than words.
He had never seen a ‘sashay’ so he couldn’t say if that was what she was doing, but it was the sexiest version of a walk he had ever seen.
The tight jeans were still just as tight as he remembered from that morning.
A third button had been undone on her blouse and Cole realized he was staring like some teenage kid.
He needed to get a grip, do what he came to do, and get the heck out of there before the area below his waist made a bigger fool of him.
She stopped a foot or so from him. Those blue eyes looked up at him through thick dark lashes and she placed one hand on a hip and returned his gaze head-on.
“We met already,” she responded. “This is Emmie’s dad…Mr. Connors.”
The mention of his daughter tamped down some of the feelings that were threatening to get out of hand.
“Cole, will do, ma’am.” He even touched the brim of his hat in a gentlemanly salute.
Then his breathing tripped itself up when she bestowed a smile upon him that was part amused and part sexy… and a whole lot of trouble.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noted the fact that Candy left them to take the drink order of two people at the end of the bar. They were alone…so to speak.
“Well, Mr. Connors, it’s a surprise to see you again. Did you want something from the kitchen or is this a social call?”
“Neither one,” he said, withdrawing money from the chest pocket of his shirt. He held the dollar out to her. She just looked at it for a long moment and then back at him.
“If that’s a tip, I can tell you that I usually make more than that.”
“I bet you do…and I bet you’re worth it.” Where had that come from? This woman had him thinking things and saying things he wouldn’t normally do.
Blue eyes narrowed their regard of him, and he saw a quick flash of something…a fire that came and then was quickly banked down. The smile was gone. “Keep your money, cowboy.” She was about to turn away, but he stopped her.
“I don’t like owing anyone. You keep it. You might need some more false eyelashes.” He smoothly tucked the dollar bill into the ample cleavage on display. Then he briefly touched the brim of his hat, and he left her standing at the bar.
Cole had the door of his truck open and was about to step into it when the slam of a door behind him then the sound of staccato high heels on the pavement of the parking lot grew louder.
He turned in time to find a fist connecting with his chin and he had to grab for the door frame to break his fall backwards.
“People touch me when I say they can touch me. It’ll be a cold day in Hell before you ever do that again.
” The dollar bill was shoved none too gently into the waistband of his jeans behind the silver belt buckle.
Cole was left rubbing his jaw and trying to figure out how the last half hour had gone so wrong, so fast. More importantly, he wanted to know how a bar maid had gotten so far under his skin in so little time.
She was nothing like the women he dated…
when he did date. Maybe he had been without female company so long that she was able to get past his defenses.
Bottom line was she was trouble with a capital T and that was something he could… and would do without.
*
Damn man. The words repeated in her mind as she removed the makeup from her face, scrubbing harder than normally necessary.
The memory of the cowboy and the dollar bill was still not fading fast enough.
She was certain he probably thought he was God’s gift to women in his tight jeans and broad shoulders and dreamy eyes.
Scratch that! Dreamy eyes indeed. They had looked at her as if she might be some foreign insect when they looked down upon her that morning at the store when she tried to help out his little girl.
Poor child. To have him for a father. She felt even more sorry for the wife!
She would have to be a martyr to put up with his stuck-up, chauvinistic…
ouch ! Enough scrubbing. It was time to put an end to thinking about the arrogant rancher on many levels.
The most important one being the fact he was married.
The ringing of the cell phone lying on top of her desk banished everything in an instant. She had two cell phones…one that most people used and the one ringing which was used by her boss and others in the marshal’s offices. “Parker.”
“I got your report.” Howard Fox rarely wasted time or words. He ran his division with a firm hand reminiscent of his stint as a colonel in the Army. “Things looked like they were falling into place for you.”
Her ears picked up and he had her full attention. “You said ‘looked like they were’…past tense, sir. Is there a problem I don’t know about?”
“A courier will arrive tomorrow with background on what I am about to tell you now. We may need to readjust. A much bigger shark is circling our nets suddenly.”
“Who is bigger than El PaPa? It’s taken us seventeen months to get this close to him, sir. He is almost in our grasp.” She couldn’t lose the man now. She had eaten, slept, thought of nothing else but the criminal. There was a score to settle.
“Listen to me, Agent. I am aware of what effort has been expended on that man. However, things change, and we change with them. There’s intelligence that indicates the man who has bankrolled El PaPa’s illegal activities for the last five years may be planning to meet with him…
in your backyard. Two birds for the price of one.
You’ll get the details tomorrow. You need to be prepared to move quickly to place yourself in position. ”
“I understand.”
“Good hunting.” The line clicked off.
A dull throb was beginning at her temple.
Cassie rubbed the area as she moved to her bed, reaching out with her other hand to turn off the lights.
Dropping onto the covers, she allowed the events of the day and the news from the phone call to settle as best they could. It was going to be a long night.
*
“This view is beginning to grow on me,” Randall said, attempting to deflect the mood that exited the Jeep with Cassie. “Would be nice to meet a little later in the day maybe. This sunrise stuff is…”
“Do you have the information or not? I’ve had a sleepless night and now having wasted the last two years of my life thanks to a phone call last night does not make for a good morning.
” She grabbed the folder from the other agent’s hands and pushed the sunglasses up to the top of her head. “This better be worth it.”
Randall stuck to the business at hand. “The subject’s name is Philippe J. Desmonde, a Frenchman from Aruba and Brazil.”
She skimmed over the list of his crimes…most of which he had never been charged with. “So, this mastermind has chosen Red Cliffs, Texas, to meet up with his ‘associate’? That’s hard to believe. He had to know he would stand out by a country mile here.”
“Maybe because he is coming here with a perfect cover…with his fiancée who has a daughter who lives here. And he will be the guest of one of the most prominent ranch families in the area.”
“Really?” She was intrigued. “Who’s the family?”
“Connors. Cole Connors’s ex-wife is engaged to Philippe Desmonde. Cozy, isn’t it?”