My Kind of Trouble

by Becky McGraw

  She held out her hand and stared at the gorgeous ring he'd given her. Then a thought occurred to her, and not a comforting one. "Luke, how much did you pay for Titan?"

  He glanced over at her then back to the road. "That's none of your concern, darlin'."

  "But as good as he is, Tommy probably wanted a fortune for him. And you're buying the herd..."

  "Cassie, I'm not a rich man, but I'm not destitute either. I've been frugal and saved my money, invested some of it and it paid off. I have enough for both. Don't worry," he told her flatly his fingers gripping the wheel a little tighter.

  "I was being rude. Thank you for my present, darlin', but you didn't have to do all that to get me to marry you. I'd have said yes, if you'd just asked me. I love you, not things."

  "Can't a man just go out his way to impress the woman he loves, without her worrying about how much it cost?" he asked her with irritation tingeing his tone. "I wouldn't have done it if I couldn't afford it, darlin'." He pushed out a breath. "I wanted to give you a grand proposal...something you can tell our grandkids about," he said looking deeply into her eyes, his love blatantly displayed there.

  "I think you accomplished that goal, and then some," she said with a small smile that grew quickly into a full blown grin, then she laughed. "I don't think anyone in Bowie, or hell--Texas--can top it. This story is going to become an urban legend."

  He snorted. "It was pretty spectacular wasn't it?"

  "My fainting didn't push that point home?"

  A chuckle rumbled in his chest then he broke into full blown laughter and she joined in.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  They chatted amiably as they drove the rest of the way into Amarillo, then Luke told her they were going to stop for the night. He pulled up in front of a hotel then grabbed her suitcase and his duffle bag from the back of the truck. "You okay walking, darlin'?" he asked when she made her way around the front of the truck.

  "Yep, steady as a stump," she told him then laughed.

  It seemed to her like all she did these days when she was with him was laugh. She sidled up beside him and took his arm then said, "You are gonna get so lucky tonight, cowboy."

  "I'm already, lucky darlin'." He leaned down and kissed her upraised lips gently. "You're gonna marry me."

  She put her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. "I'm the lucky one, sugar. So damned lucky."

  Cassie just wondered how long her luck would hold out though. With all the crap that had landed on her and Luke's doorstep lately, how could she not? But until this thin bubble of euphoria burst, she was going to enjoy the hell out of it.

  The next day when they were on the outskirts of Phoenix, she got her answer. The other shoe dropped squarely on her head with a call from her assistant. "What do you mean the account is overdrawn? We had over ten thousand in there!" she shouted into the phone incredulously.

  "The escrow account too?" she groaned when her assistant told her it too was empty according to the representative from the bank who called this morning. "I'll be there shortly," she told her then disconnected the call.

  "Problems?" Luke glanced over at her with a worried expression.

  "I think James emptied our business accounts. Messing with escrow funds is a fiduciary breach, and criminal."

  "So, call the police and file charges."

  "The real estate board will file the charges, and they could charge me too, since I'm listed as the principal broker for the firm. At the very least, I'll lose my license," her voice wobbled over the words as tension from the severity of this situation settled over her.

  "Calm down, honey. We'll figure things out, and make sure that sack of shit gets what he deserves," Cassie looked over at him and his jaw was clenched, his eyes sparkled dangerously.

  "Hell no, Luke. This isn't your battle, you calm down and let me take care of it." She was very afraid her words were falling on deaf ears. Luke was blind when he thought she needed protecting, and she had to stop him before he got wound up and did something stupid. "Promise me, Luke."

  He looked over at her and then back to the road without saying anything.

  "I mean it, Luke--you're staying out of this one. I can handle it, I don't need or want you getting involved. Promise me, dammit!" she demanded.

  It was minutes, not seconds, before he finally hissed out between his teeth. "I promise."

  "If you can't trust me to take care of things, to be your equal partner in this relationship, it's not going to work, Luke," she warned him and saw him swallow hard. "Trust me on this one, darlin'."

  He nodded, but she saw how much it cost him to agree. His muscles were so clenched under his t-shirt, she thought the soft well-worn cotton might burst at the seams.

  "Thank you," she said then lifted her cell phone to make the calls she needed to make.

  First she called the police, then her banker, and finally the real estate commission. She tried to get James on his cell phone and he didn't answer, of course. Luke sat silently beside her as she did this, just following her directions to take them to the office mutely.

  His quietness worried her, Luke always had something to say. She wondered what he was thinking. Leaning back against the door of the truck she said, "Luke, I don't want to cut you out of this completely. I want your advice, I'll take it into consideration. I just don't want you directly involved. Talk to me..."

  His eyes dropped to her feet then moved up her legs quickly over her chest then to her eyes. "Don't you think you need to change before you go to the office?"

  Cassie hadn't even thought about the shorts and cherry print sleeveless shirt she'd put on at the hotel this morning, and how it would make her look to the people she had to meet with. She groaned and knew she couldn't go there looking like she did. What she needed was the armor of her power suits and heels to fight this battle, but her cast meant she'd be wearing flats instead...and she didn't have any suits with her.

  "I wasn't planning on going to the office today. I only packed jeans and shorts when I came to Texas."

  "You packed that hot little black dress you wore to the restaurant..." he suggested and wiggled his eyebrows making her laugh.

  "Yeah, I forgot...that'll work. I packed some flat black shoes that will work with it too. Can you stop at a gas station so I can change?"

  "Yeah," he said and wheeled off the interstate exit and found a station right off the exit. He hopped out and opened the tailgate then dragged her suitcase to the end and unzipped it then stepped aside so she could dig through it.

  She kissed his cheek and hugged his waist. "Thanks for understanding, Luke."

  "I get it, we're partners darlin'," he told her then finished gruffly, "I'm not used to operating that way, so you'll have to remind me."

  "Oh, you can bet I will..." she laughed shortly and then rifled through her suitcase to pull out the slightly wrinkled black dress and shoes. "I'll be right back," she told him then walked in her uneven gait to the bathroom in the convenience store.

  Luke watched her hips sashay and his mouth went dry. Frustration ran through his body like a runaway wagon headed for a cliff. He gritted his teeth and tried to get a grip on his out of control emotions. Being in this state had gotten him nowhere but in trouble lately. Cassie expected him to take a backseat and let her deal with her asshole ex, and he was going to try, for her, because he promised, but he didn't hold out much hope for success. He had a score to settle with that prick.

  He climbed up on the tailgate and folded his arms over his chest to wait for her to come back. You never knew what kind of riffraff hung out at places like this right off the interstate, he thought. There was no way he was going to let anything else happen to the woman he loved. That asshole ex of hers better believe Luke would kick his ass if he tried to hurt her, whether she liked it or not...and he was well on his way to deserving it.

  The tall blonde woman who exited the store wearing the black dress with her wavy curls pinned up loosely on top of her head, didn't look anything like
the country cowgirl who'd gone in a few minutes ago. Gone was the one cowboy boot she'd had on her uninjured foot, replaced by a shiny black flat. Even with the cherry print shirt and shorts swinging in her hand, she looked competent and professional.

  He didn't know this Cassie, he realized as she lengthened her stride with determination, her one shoe tapping an interesting tune on the concrete in concert with her bright green cast that reached halfway up her left calf. But he was sure going to enjoy getting to know her.

  Smug satisfaction gripped him when the sun glinted off of his ring on her left hand. That was a sight that would always bring him pleasure, knowing it meant this bright, beautiful woman was his to love.

  When she reached him she pirouetted and asked, "Better?"

  "I liked you just fine before...but I wasn't sure your co-workers would appreciate the sexy cowgirl look as much as I do."

  She laughed and slapped his chest playfully. "No they wouldn't have...thanks for noticing, or they'd have gotten an eyeful."

  "My pleasure, darlin'," he said then took her clothes tossed them in the suitcase and zipped it. He slammed the tailgate and said, "Let's go kick ass, sweet cheeks."

  He followed her directions and pulled up in front of a fancy brick building that had a sign out front pronouncing it Bellamy and Barton Realtors. The Preppy Boy's name attached to hers in anyway made hot fury pulse through his veins. "You're gonna need to change that sign, darlin'," he told her gruffly.

  "I'll probably just take the damned thing down. There won't be much left after this fiasco," she told him and her lip trembled. "But I have bigger fish to fry right now."

  "Yes you do. And as your assistant on this job, I'll be heating up the grease for you, honey."

  She smiled at him, "Thanks, darlin'," she said then pulled the door handle and slid out of the truck.

  He saw a police car parked a few spaces down and knew when she walked through that door, she wasn't going to be smiling. His own smile slipped as he exited the truck and followed behind her up the steps to the glass door that also had her and Preppy Boy's name in gold lettering. He bit down the growl that bubbled up from his toes, and walked into the snazzily decorated office. Cassie walked over to the desk where a woman he assumed was her assistant sat looking wary and scared. She patted the redhead's shoulder and then leaned down to talk softly with her.

  He saw a Phoenix cop sitting in a chair across the room fiddling with his cell phone. There was another woman sitting two chairs down from him, who looked like she'd stepped out of one of those women's magazines. Her black hair was wound up tight against the back of her head, and her red suit fit her body like a glove. She glanced up from the organizer book spread in her lap and gave him a wide smile with even white teeth accentuated by full red lips.

  Her black eyes moved over him with interest, then met his gaze and she licked those red lips. After a few seconds, she evidently she noticed his lack of sexual interest in her, because her lips drooped then she shifted her gaze back to her book.

  Sitting next to her was a skinny bird-like man in a pin-striped suit and shiny shoes. There was a briefcase leaning against the chair by his leg. It looked to Luke like the party was about to begin. He pegged the woman as the representative from the real estate commission and the man as Cassie's banker.

  Cassie was still busy talking to her assistant he noticed, so he went and sat down in a chair right by the door. He felt like a pigeon in a flock of peacocks here in his faded black t-shirt, worn jeans and dusty cowboy boots. He reached up and removed his Stetson and put it in his lap, his fingers fiddling with the crease.

  Cassie walked over to the three people there to see her and introduced herself with a tight smile, then led them down a hallway that evidently led to her office, or a conference room. She didn't glance at him at all, before she led them away.

  A few moments later, he was surprised to see her reappear in the doorway and crook her finger at him. He got up and walked over to her, feeling her assistant's gaze wandering over him, sizing him up, but he ignored it.

  "Come on back, sugar," she told him.

  Her invitation shocked him down to the toes of his boots. "You sure?" he looked down at himself then back to her. "I'm not exactly dressed for a meeting, darlin'."

  "You look good enough to eat...as the woman from the commission noticed," she smiled wryly then grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hall. "You're just going to watch. I need some moral support."

  "That I can do."

  Cassie led him down the hall and into a big conference room with cushy looking maroon chairs and sat him in one against the wall. Luke shifted a little bit in the chair then finally found a comfortable position, and watched as she walked to the head of the table and sat down in between the banker and the cop.

  Clearing her throat, Cassie began, "As I told you my banker informed my assistant this morning that a large amount of money was missing from my business accounts. I recently broke up with my fiancé and business partner, James Barton, and I believe he is the one who took the funds." She looked over at the banker, who had a stack of papers in front of him. "Do you have copies of the transactions?" she asked him.

  "Yes, I brought copies of the cancelled counter checks. Some have your name on them, although I doubt the authenticity of your signature. There's also a large one cashed yesterday by James Barton. I only looked at the records for the last few weeks, but you may want to consider having your entire account audited from the date it was opened," the man suggested then slid the copies over to her.

  Cassie looked through the stack as he continued, "I've requested copies of the checks written on the escrow account, but haven't received them yet. They were written from your printed checks and not cashed at the bank, so it will take a little longer...I've also frozen the accounts and bank cards."

  Luke saw the cop writing in a small notebook he had open on the table, then he looked up and asked when the banker had finished, "Can I get copies of those, Miss Bellamy?"

  "Sure, Officer Melton...let me get my assistant to make copies. I'll be right back."

  Luke stood up and met her by the door. "I'll do that, sugar, you go ahead." She smiled her thanks and he walked down the hall to the front office.

  Her assistant, a thirty-something woman with pretty auburn hair and green eyes stood up and smiled at him when he walked out of the hall. "Cassie needs copies of these," he held out the stack to her. He could tell she was extremely nervous and he wondered why. Nobody was here to question her, that he knew of. "What's your name, sugar?" he drawled.

  Her fair-skinned cheeks flushed and he saw her hand shake when she grabbed the paperwork out of his hand. "Diana...who are you?" she asked him her voice not quite steady.

  "Luke Matthews, Cassie's fiancé'."

  One finely arched brow rose over her green eyes and her lip quirked. "Fiancé?" she snorted and then said, "My, my she certainly works fast..." Her eyes brazenly roved over him, then finished, "And has good taste too." Luke didn't miss the strange undercurrent in her voice.

  Luke felt like doing a little digging of his own. "How long have you worked here, Diana?"

  "Three years," she said. "Too long, considering the mess she's made of things here."

  "What do you mean?"

  She pinched her lips together, evidently realizing she'd revealed too much with her off-the-cuff statement. "I'm going to make these copies. I'll bring them in when I'm done."

  Luke recognized that he'd been dismissed by the mouthy assistant, and turned to go back to the conference room. Cassie's face looked strained and pale as she talked with the lady from the real estate board. "My license can't be suspended now. I've got a mess to clean up!"