Chapter Three #2
Cole gave her a considering look before bringing forth the response she waited on.
“I think you worded that with more diplomacy than it began with in your brain.” That got her attention.
“You are really wanting to know what a world-wise lady from Paris would find of interest in just an egotistical rancher from the wilds of Texas.”
She didn’t drop his gaze. But did rearrange a quick side trip in her brain to forget the brilliant silver gray of eyes that any female would covet…
except for her . He had a job. Nothing more.
A means to an end that hopefully would be worth the last three years of her life.
And become the final chapter in her search for the person responsible for the ending of her fiancé’s career… and his life.
“Any and all information regarding your ex-wife might be the nugget we need to break the case open and get both her… and me …out of your life. Consider it in that light.”
“I won’t pretend that I am buying into all of this cloak and dagger and secret agent stuff involving Madeleine.
But if my daughter is in danger, because of her and this new fiancé of hers, then I will do whatever it takes to protect her.
And as I said to your chief Handlin, I can make this place a fortress if need be.
My hands are armed as a rule because of the land they work in, but they are also loyal and not afraid of a good fight.
In the meantime, I will go along with this cover he has devised until I can’t. He agreed.”
“He shared your discussions with me. And your concerns. But after this discussion between us, then we are on. Keep your mind in the game or it can go bad fast. And you follow my lead. I haven’t invested years in this to have anyone…
including you…toss a wrench into the works with a misplaced word or look or whatever. Is this crystal clear?”
Had she said something amusing? The corner of his mouth twitched in that tell-tale laughing manner she recognized from their brief encounters. “Crystal. You keep my daughter safe, and you’ll have my cooperation.”
*
Cooperation. He might have said it, but odds of it lasting didn’t have much chance in his way of thinking.
Who was this woman? She showed up as a sexy saloon keeper with a sassy attitude and a heck of a right hook.
Then she knocks on his door, flashes a badge, looks totally different and ready to take no prisoners…
including him if he reads between the lines.
All he knew was that his life had just been turned upside down in the last forty-eight hours beginning with Madeleine’s call and now having strangers directing his life for the foreseeable future.
But if it meant that once and for all his ex would be removed from his life and that of Emmie’s, then he would go along for his child’s sake.
Whatever the trouble was that Madeleine was bringing along with her on this trip would be sent packing along with her as fast as possible.
He remembered his uncle’s words again to him the day he had first brought his intended fiancée home to the ranch for the first time.
“That one will lead you a hell of a dance boy, if you aren’t careful.
You best be sure she’s the one to stick it out for the next sixty or so years here.
Unless you plan to get used to speaking French and trading the Rio Grande for that river in Paris… and I don’t mean Paris, Texas, either.”
And he remembered the silent look the older man had given him the day he came out of the courthouse with a fresh divorce decree in his pocket and a five-years-old daughter in his arms. Madeleine wanted nothing to do with the dirt of west Texas, and even less of him.
She tried to take him for a lot more. She got a small fortune, but he got more… full custody of his daughter.
Emmeline Marie had become Emmie and the three of them…
Emmie, his uncle, and he had become a family, and life had fallen into place.
Sure, Madeleine had managed to make the first two visits with her daughter that Cole had been agreeable to, but then she had stood her daughter up for the next two.
Once in a great while a package might arrive from France or some other exotic locale usually with a fancy outfit that Emmie would hang in her closet and never wear.
She loved her jeans and T-shirts in favor of designer labels.
Cole was grateful for that. But as she got older, he knew that she might need some help with hairdos and makeup and other things that he would be at a loss over.
That time was coming much too fast in his mind.
One day at a time. Uncle Joe was retired and living in a cabin on a bit of land on the banks of Destiny’s River in the next county.
He still came over every other Sunday and holidays for dinner and to visit with ‘lil missy’ as he had named Emmie from the beginning.
They had become fast pals, and he delighted in teaching the child about fishing…
after gifting her with her own fishing pole that first Christmas.
Cole shook his head at the memory. Madeleine would have a coronary if she had known that her daughter would prefer to get muddy and smell of fish rather than dine in a fine restaurant on their fish eggs.
But he needed to keep his mind on the present.
There was the matter of getting his fiancée settled quickly into the ranch before the ‘guests’ arrived, and the real problems began.
His mind flashed on the woman unpacking upstairs at the moment.
Marcella, his housekeeper, had gotten past the shock last night when he had given her the news…
at least the version that was part of the script.
Cole thought she had bought it but who knew?
He wasn’t an actor. He was a rancher who dealt with reality 24/7.
Make believe was in the movies, not his living room.
He had to also hope that Jessica Laughlin McCord was as good in this role as she had appeared in the previous one.
He had certainly bought into her as the glitzy barkeep.
But who knew what she would appear as the next time he saw her?
He needed to put her out of his mind for the moment and get to town.
He had decided that it would be best to pick up Emmie at school and maybe begin to break the news over her favorite milkshake at the Sweet Corner in town.
Taking a deep breath in, he shoved his hat down on his head and blew out a deep breath as he headed with the sure steps of a man on a mission outside to his truck.