Opening it, he saw an office bare of decoration, a simple functional set of rooms with no receptionist waiting to greet the clients with a smile. “Hello?”
He wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, then heard her say, “In here.”
She sounds just the same.
He had always liked her voice. Slightly husky, melodious, and she would have made a fortune as a singer had she chosen Los Angeles instead of Houston. Nor had she lost that Texas twang he had always liked. Holding his breath, Travis crossed the exterior portion of her office, and stood in the doorway.
She was as beautiful as ever.
Clearly she had matured physically. She was rounded in places while still maintaining that teenage girl’s tiny waist and slim legs. Her long hair, even longer now, he saw, hung over her shoulders with a small fringe over her forehead. Her green eyes flashed no recognition for him for perhaps three seconds.
Then they did.
“Hello, Travis.”
“Hi, Addie.”
Feeling weird and uncomfortable, his heart pounding in his chest, sweating like an overworked cow horse, he stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the door frame. Unable to take his eyes from her, he gobbled her up as though something in him felt satisfied in just looking at her. And then he noticed she didn’t look away from him, either.
“Uh, how are you?” he asked, wanting to kick himself for acting like a love-struck schoolkid.
“I’m good,” she answered, a tentative smile creasing her mouth. “And you?”
“Oh, I’m okay. Doing what I do, running the ranch.”
“And your brothers?”
Travis shrugged, fighting a silly grin that wanted to burst out. “You know, just guys. Wyatt moved to New York after Mom and Dad, well….”
“I heard about your parents’ accident. I am so sorry for your loss, Travis.”
“Thanks.” He straightened and cleared his throat. “Landon is on the circuit right now. Rides bucking bulls.”
Addie’s eyes widened. “Oh, of course, he picked the most dangerous profession in the world, didn’t he?”
“He always was the wild one of the bunch.” Travis couldn’t get enough of looking at her. “I see Callie around town. She has a cute kid.”
Addie chuckled. “Yeah, Gus is adorable. He gets colicky at times, and that gets hard on Callie. Like she doesn’t have enough on her plate.”
“That was pretty low of Brett to run out on her. With a new baby and all.”
Addie finally glanced down at her desk, resting her hands on it. “Is this a social call? I mean, it is good to see you again. More than good.”
Clearly, her fingers were bare. No wedding ring. Uncertain whether to rejoice or simply ignore it, Travis cleared his throat. “Well, sorta both. The ranch is in a fix, Addie. I am hoping you can help.”
Her gaze sharpened on him, and she straightened. “Have a seat, please.”
Obeying, Travis perched gingerly on the edge of the chair while Addie pulled a pad of paper from a drawer, and picked up a pen. “What sort of a fix?”
“It appears someone filed a lawsuit against us for having our fence on his property.”
“Was it surveyed first?”
“Darn right it was.”
Addie frowned, twiddling with her pen. “Who would do a thing like that?”
“Old Man Parnell.”
Rolling her eyes, she said, “I remember him. Never a kind word for anyone.”
“Brady wants to mail him a dead skunk.”
Addie laughed, a pleasing sound. “I would, too. However, the legal ramifications of doing that are not very nice. Look, if the survey is accurate, he hasn’t a snowball’s chance of winning.”
“As a lawyer, you know how quickly things can go bad on you once it makes it to court. What if the judge sympathizes with that old geezer?”
Addie scribbled some notes. “Yes, well, it can happen, but in the real world there’s something called an appeal. If you suspect the judge was not impartial, you can get the verdict thrown out and a new trial.”
“I like that.” Travis rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb. “But something like that can drag on for years. That’s the last thing I want.”
Gazing at him frankly, Addie asked, “Would you rather settle?”
“No way.” Travis snorted. “I refuse to give that coot a penny. Once our folks passed away, he seemed to think he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I even caught him cutting the fence. No one else, I mean other ranchers, has to deal with him.”
“But they don’t have Old Man Parnell as a neighbor.” Addie stared at her pad, fiddling with the pen. “Cutting the fence is vandalism. Did you happen to catch a photo or video of him doing it?”
“No.”
“I will be honest with you, Travis, at this point all we have is the suit. With his word against yours regarding his behavior, we can’t counter sue or have him arrested. Did you hope for that?”
Chapter 4
Addie braced herself, fearing Travis would simply want the lawsuit to go away by having Parnell arrested, or the threat of an arrest. Such an action might make the old man withdraw his suit. Should he do that, Travis had no reason to hire her. And she needed clients – desperately.
“No, I don’t want to do that,” Travis replied with a wave of his hand. “I don’t want Parnell in jail, he’d never survive. I think if we humiliate him by beating him in court, he’ll leave us alone.”
She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath. I need clients, and if the town knows the Hamiltons hired me, they will not hesitate if they think they need a lawyer. The Hamilton name is big around here. “Not likely, Travis, but it’s a good thought. And I won’t disappoint you. I will need a copy of the complaint so I can contact the courts to get more information.”
“Do you have a fax?” Travis asked, glancing around her all but empty office.
“Not yet.”
“Colton is our finance guy now,” Travis continued.
Addie gaped, blinking. “Little Colton?”
“He’s not so little any more,” Travis replied with a grin. “He got a degree in accounting, and handles the ranch’s finances. He also likes to break in young horses.”
“I remember you could never keep him off a horse.”
“You still can’t. Anyway, I’ll send him into town with it later today, have him bring you a copy.”
“That would be great.”
In her eyes, Travis had only gotten more attractive since she’d seen him last. His face appeared more weathered, but that only added to his appeal. He was no longer the gangly nineteen-year-old she remembered, all shoulders and wrists and scabs. He had matured, and carried with him a self possession he did not have before.
“I’ll also have him cut a check for you,” Travis went on. “Your retainer.”
“Travis, that should wait. I haven’t done anything for you yet, and this is a consultation.”
He isn’t wearing a wedding band. Is he not married? Or does he not wear it due to the nature of his work?
“I don’t work for free,” he said, “neither do you. I know what you’re doing for Callie, and the town being what it is, I know she has next to nothing.”
“I don’t feel right taking money from you at this point,” Addie protested. “I have funds in savings that will see Callie and me for a while.”
Travis shrugged lazily, sitting back in his chair. “You take the retainer or I hire a lawyer in Odessa.”
“I never thought blackmail was your forte,” she replied, her voice dry.
“Things change. Do we have a deal?”
“We have a deal. Whatever I do not use in billable hours will be returned to you once Parnell runs away with his tail between his legs.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Travis smiled slightly. “I may need your services when I file a counter lawsuit against that idiot.”
“On the basis of what?”
“Not mind
ing his own business.”
Addie laughed. “That I will be overjoyed to help you with. And I bet we can win it without even trying.”
“That old coot causes more problems for more folks than anyone in the county.”
“Fortunately, in this modern age, not minding your own business, in many ways, is against the law.” Addie grinned. “Minor things like trespassing, harassment, cutting fence, are crimes, and thus can be prosecuted or at least have a civil suit thrown up against you.”
Laughing, Travis said, “You sure learned a bunch down there in Houston.”
“I did.”
For a long moment, neither of them spoke, only looked at one another. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, or tense, as it might be between strangers. In that moment, Addie dared wonder if a second chance with him might be possible. Unless he’s happily married, that is. But somehow, I don’t think he is. There are subtle differences in the way a married man looks at a single woman and how a single man looks at a single woman.
“How have things been for you?” she asked, hoping for an opportunity to probe a little. “Outside of your folks passing, that is.”
“Okay, I guess,” he replied with a half shrug. “Busy working the ranch, expanding the business so to speak. The folks left it to all of us, but Wyatt wants nothing to do with it, Landon only wants to ride bulls now, and Jared is in Dallas working on his Ph.D. He comes back to visit, unlike Wyatt.”
He didn’t leave her an opening. “Well, ranch life isn’t for everyone,” Addie remarked. “I never thought Wyatt liked it here, anyway.”
“He doesn’t. But it galls me that we still cut him a check every quarter, his share of the profits, when he doesn’t lift a finger to help out.”
“That’s your Texas work ethic for you.” Addie smiled. “That hasn’t changed in you.”
“It’s what our folks wanted,” he said with an explosive sigh. “Wyatt and I never got along, anyway. I just think he owes it to us to at least come out here for the summer and help. That’s when we need it the most.”
“Does Jared?”
“Yeah, part time anyway,” Travis continued. “He’s working on his thesis, but he still makes a little time to muck stalls, or fix fence. Then he goes into the house and writes. It’s a contribution.”
“I get it.”
“What about your folks?”
“Oh.” Addie laughed. “Don’t get me started on them. Neither Callie nor I have spoken with them for years.”
Travis’s face showed concern. “I know they moved away, but I thought y’all would still visit and such.”
“Oh, no, no, no. Don’t you remember? Callie and I raised ourselves, we had next to zero parental guidance. They didn’t want kids in the first place, so they simply pretended we didn’t exist.”
Staring at her without speaking, Travis’s mouth opened and closed. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I reckon I did forget about that. I imagine that was one of the reasons you needed to get out of this town.”
Now that is hitting too close to home, and I’m not ready for that conversation. “Among other things,” she replied, evasive. “Not much has changed in the town itself, I noticed.”
“No,” he answered with a smile. “Folks got older, that’s all.”
“That happens.”
As though he, too, felt they were talking their way into dangerous territory, Travis abruptly stood. “I should be getting back. Can’t leave Colton and Brady to do the work alone.”
Addie also stood, then held out her hand. It seemed strange to shake hands when they used to kiss passionately. “Thank you for the business, Travis.”
He shook it. “Thank you for helping us out.”
With the supermarket so close, and the pantry at Callie’s house almost empty, Addie stopped by to pick up something for dinner. Since she had only one client, she had little to do and closed her office early. As she forwarded the office phone to her cell, she could still catch any calls if she received any.
Browsing in the market, buying items she could carry home easily, she almost ignored the voice who spoke her name. Then she turned to find a woman smiling at her in a friendly manner.
“I thought that was you.”
To Addie, the middle-aged woman standing in front of her seemed familiar. “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, but I forgot your name.”
“I’m Josie Atkins, dear. We used to be neighbors.”
Light brightened Addie’s memory. “Yes! You used to bring Callie and me cookies.”
“I did.” Mrs. Atkins beamed. “I felt so bad for you girls. Your parents never paid you any mind. I’m quite surprised you both turned out so well behaved.”
“Thanks to kind people like you.”
“Welcome back home, Addie,” she went on, smiling warmly. “I was so pleased to hear you were coming back.”
Addie glanced aside. “I suppose it was time.”
“Callie said you’re an attorney now? Are you planning to practice law here in Honey Creek?”
“Yes, that is the plan.”
“Very good, my dear. What happened to you down south? I hear all sort of rumors.”
Feeling her face flush, Addie tried to smile. This was not the sort of thing one spoke about in the middle of the produce aisle. “Uh, I just decided I needed to come home. That’s all.”
“Well, your timing is perfect. Callie needs you.”
“And she needs dinner. If you don’t mind, I need to run.”
She hastily left Mrs. Atkins, hoping her flush of guilt wasn’t evident on her face, and headed for the checkout lines. As she waited, she thought about the loss of her lucrative job.
She also thought of the moment when she had told her lawyer fiance, Eric, she was done, and would not marry him.
Uneasily, she recalled his flush of anger and shame, the way he simply turned his back and walked away without a word. She had hated herself for that ever since, but thought she still had her excellent job with the law firm. Two months later, that was gone, too.
I really know how to burn a bridge. Is this my karma?
After paying for the groceries, she headed home, and pondered the check for five thousand dollars Colton gave her. She had tried giving it back, but he merely grinned. “Nope,” he’d said. “Travis would skin me alive if I took it back.”
That, and what I have in savings, will help both Callie and I get back on our feet. What I don’t use will have to go back to the ranch.
Callie was breast feeding Gus when she returned, and walked straight to the kitchen to put the groceries away. “I got a client,” she called. “And a big retainer.”
Holding Gus against her shoulder, patting his back to burp him, Callie came into the kitchen. “That was quick. Who is the client?”
“Travis Hamilton.”
At her sister’s silence, Addie turned back from the refrigerator. A wide smile sat on Callie’s face. “I am so pleased,” she said, chuckling. “You and Travis working together. Maybe things will work out this time.”
Addie continued to put the groceries away. “It probably won’t, and I’m not expecting it to. He’s being sued by a neighbor.”
“But he came to you.”
“The only lawyer in town.”
“Stop it. He still could have gone to Odessa. He didn’t, and I think that’s significant.”
Closing the refrigerator door, Addie leaned against it. “I’d heard something about him being engaged. Maybe you told me. Is he married now?”
“Oh, no.” Callie finally got a burp from Gus. “He was engaged, but his fiancée cheated on him, then headed out of state. Since then, he has been interestingly single.”
Addie lifted her right brow. “Interestingly?”
“Her absence leaves room for you.”
On that comment and a grin, Callie left the kitchen with Gus. Addie felt her excitement rise, then squashed it. “He’s a client, and one doesn’t dabble with clients. Not if one is ethical.”
But deep
inside, she knew Travis had no reason to trust her. She had told him it was over between them twelve years ago, then headed to college with her scholarship. Hardly an excuse or a reason to offer him back then, just her face looking at him from the window of the bus as it drove away.
I don’t know that I’m staying in this little town anyway. If I can get another job in the city, I’m taking Callie and Gus with me. We’ll get back on our feet, the fabulous Baker sisters.
And Travis would never leave his beloved ranch. Not even for love.
Chapter 5
Hot, dusty, sweating buckets as he spurred the bay gelding in pursuit of a pair of steers who thought following the herd was a joke, Travis enjoyed the work despite his discomfort and thirst. His spirits high, he whooped as the stout bay carried him across the scrub and prickly pear, past young mesquite and their reaching thorns, and across the faces of the startled steers.
“Gotcha,” he yelled over the noisy mooing of the herd as they ambled toward the fresher pastures. “Now get on back yonder before I turn your hides into rugs.”
Chastened, the steers spun on their heels, and bolted back toward the huge dust cloud that roiled over the backs of the mixed herd of steers and nursing cows. It didn’t help matters that his bay was irritated with their behavior, and sought to bite their rumps with pinned ears as they fled. Travis laughed.
“Get ‘em, Spike,” he crowed. “Give ‘em what for.”
Cantering back into his position on the herd’s right flank, Travis stood in his stirrups to have a look around. Through the whirling dust, he caught a glimpse of Colton at the rear, waving his lariat while whistling sharply to encourage the herd to keep moving. He was smart enough to have a bandana over his lower face to prevent the inhalation of dust. Travis hadn’t bothered.
On the far side of the herd, Brady, in his own bandana, rode his favorite Quarab mare as he, too, slapped his thigh with his lariat. Travis didn’t think much of that mare when Brady insisted on buying her. Too much of a Quarter Horse cowboy to respect a half Quarter, half Arabian, Travis hardly believed it when that little mare outran, outworked, and outroped every Quarter Horse on the ranch.
Cowboy Billionaire's Second Chance Page 3
