Then she sighed. “But what a night.”
Another blast of the obnoxious car horn made her smile at her reflection. Her cowboy was obviously taking his sweet time. Too bad the customer didn’t realize that Garrett Lord was his own man, answering to no one.
She moved toward the window and parted the curtain for a peek. The angle didn’t allow her to see anything but the tail end of a silver sports car. Hubert stood by a rear tire with his leg lifted.
Then a man came into her view.
A man who could ruin everything.
GARRETT ground his teeth together as he stood on the front porch, a cup of hot coffee in his hands. The man in the flashy black cowboy suit stood with the door to his silver Jaguar open, leaning heavily on the horn.
The noise sent Hubert into a frenzy of barking. Garrett walked over to lean against the porch rail and sipped at the coffee.
At last the man caught sight of him and let up on the horn. “I’m looking for Garrett Lord.”
“You found him,” Garrett said, setting down his coffee cup.
The man’s gaze flicked over him, and it was obvious he wasn’t impressed by the faded work clothes and scuffed cowboy boots. “I’m Paul Renquist.”
Living so close to Austin, Garrett was used to urban cowboys coming here and throwing their money around. This one wore cowboy clothes fresh from a designer store. Right down to his shiny new alligator-skin boots.
“I’m planning to buy a big spread,” Renquist said, walking up to the porch. “And naturally, I’m only interested in premium stock.”
“That’s the only kind I sell.”
He tipped his Stetson. “Good. Then maybe we can do business.”
“What are you looking for in a bull?” Garrett kept meticulous records and could answer any questions ranging from birth weight to rate-of-gain to feed efficiency on all his breeding stock. He could also trace the genetic lines of his longhorn cattle back at least five generations. He smiled, realizing he and Mimi shared a common interest in family trees.
“Do you have any black ones?”
“Black ones?” A muscle flickered along Garrett’s jaw. “Do you mean Angus?”
Renquist shrugged. “If that’s what they’re called.”
Garrett clenched his jaw, wondering why he even bothered to get out of bed this morning. Especially when he had a beautiful woman in it. “I raise registered Texas longhorns.”
The man looked clueless.
“Brown and white ones.” Garrett said, bringing the conversation down to Renquist’s level. Way down. “I don’t have any black ones. Maybe you should try the Triple C.”
To his disappointment, Renquist shook his head. “No, brown and white ones will be fine.”
Garrett stepped off the porch. “Why don’t I just bring my best bull into the corral. I think it will save us both time.”
“Sounds good.” Renquist turned to the barn, then glanced at his Jaguar. “Can you get your dog away from my car?”
Garrett bit back a smile. Hubert didn’t always have the best aim. The bottom edge of the driver’s door was dripping wet. “Come here, boy.”
Hubert bounded over to him. Garrett reached down to rub his furry head. “Good dog,” he said under his breath.
“Wait here,” he told Renquist when they’d reached the corral. “I’ll bring the bull out.” He climbed over the fence, idly wondering why he bothered to sell some of his cattle for breeding stock. Working with the public didn’t appeal to him. Hell, nothing appealed to him lately except spending time with a certain leggy blonde.
He looked up and saw her, standing on the front porch of the house. His body tightened at the sight of her. She wore blue jeans, boots and one of his old chambray shirts, the tails hanging almost to her knees. Her hair hung loose and spilled over her shoulders, gleaming gold in the morning sunlight.
It took all his willpower not to run up on the porch and kiss her senseless.
“Mr. Renquist wants to see Rowdy,” Garrett called as Mimi slowly approached them.
“Rowdy?” Renquist asked, though he’d turned to stare at Mimi.
“That’s the bull’s name,” Garrett informed him, then looked at Mimi. “Can you run the fence when I herd him into the corral?”
“Of course,” she replied, her voice sounding oddly strained. She looked a little pale, too.
“Is that dangerous?” Renquist asked, turning to Garrett.
Garrett looked away from Mimi, telling himself she was probably just tired. “Don’t worry, Renquist. You’ll be safe if you stay outside the corral.”
“I mean is it dangerous for a woman.”
“This is my ranch hand,” Garrett explained, motioning to her. “Mimi Banyon. Mimi, this is Paul Renquist.”
Renquist doffed his cowboy hat. “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Banyon.”
Garrett hesitated, tempted to tell Renquist the bull wasn’t for sale. He could sense the man was more a looker than a buyer, anyway. And he didn’t like the way Renquist was looking at Mimi.
“Perhaps I should run the fence,” Renquist gallantly offered.
That was the last thing Garrett wanted. Either Renquist would screw up and let Rowdy out of the corral, or the feisty young bull would gore him and Garrett would have a pesky lawsuit on his hands.
“No,” Mimi said abruptly, then met Garrett’s gaze. “I’ll do it.”
He nodded, then headed for the barn, half sorry he hadn’t taken Renquist up on the offer. A confrontation with Rowdy might have sent the wannabe cowboy running back to the city. Then he and Mimi could have picked up where they’d left off this morning.
With any luck, Renquist wouldn’t find anything on the ranch that appealed to him and would leave empty-handed. The sooner, the better.
MIMI WAITED until Garrett was out of earshot, then she turned toward her fiancé. “What are you doing here?”
Paul leaned casually against a wooden fence post. “What do you think?”
She watched him, trying to gauge his mood. But Paul was one of the most controlled men she’d ever met. At one time, his iron control had made her feel safe. Now it scared her. “I don’t know. I assume this isn’t a coincidence.”
He smiled. “No. I knew I’d find you here.” His gaze raked over her, and his smiled widened. “I just didn’t realize I’d find you looking quite so lovely.”
Mimi frowned, confused by his odd behavior. She’d expected anger. Recriminations. Certainly not this easygoing, almost flirtatious demeanor. Especially since the Paul Renquist she knew could never be described as easygoing.
Something was very wrong.
“Are you ready to come home?” Paul asked at last. “Your father is lost without you. So am I.”
“Stop it, Paul,” she hissed. “I know my father was paying you to marry me. I heard all about his little incentive program.” Just the thought of it sickened her.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what you think you heard, or from whom, but it’s not at all what you think. I love you, Mimi. I forgive you. And I still want to marry you.”
Her stomach lurched. “I think you’d better leave.”
“Not without my bride.”
She took a step away from him. “You’re going to have to sell yourself to some other gullible woman, Paul. I’m not buying it anymore.”
“But you haven’t even heard my price yet.”
“I won’t play games with you. And I won’t let you play games with Garrett.”
He sneered. “Oh, it’s Garrett, is it? Sounds like you’re on pretty friendly terms with your boss. Tell me, Mimi, exactly what do your duties include?”
His cool demeanor had finally melted under the heat of his anger. It blazed in his eyes and pinched the corners of his thin mouth.
Mimi’s head began to throb. She’d been fooling herself these past few weeks. Pretending she could leave her old life behind her without any repercussions.
She looked him squarely in the eye. “That’s none of your business. I know now that I wa
s wrong to run out of the church. I should have confronted you then and there.”
“Confronted me?” Paul moved closer to her. “How about married me? We should be celebrating our honeymoon on a sunny Caribbean island instead of arguing in a yard full of dirt and manure.”
She suppressed a shudder at how close she’d come to throwing her life away with this man. “Maybe I should have told you the marriage was off. But then, you should have told me a few things, too. Like the fact that my father was paying for stud services.”
He shook his head and gave her a patronizing smile. “You’ve got it all wrong, Mimi. Your father and I had simply worked out a business arrangement. He wants grandchildren, and I can happily provide them. I want money. Lots of it. And he can provide it.”
Mimi stared at him, wondering how she could have been so blind to his true motives. Had she really been that lonely? That desperate for love?
At least now it was all out in the open. “Why are you really here, Paul?”
“I’ve been worried about you, Mimi. No one has seen or heard from you since the wedding. Except for that postcard. Your father is…a little upset.”
“I’m sure that’s an understatement,” she said wryly.
“True. Especially after having to face down four hundred wedding guests and tell them there wasn’t going to be a wedding. Then he insisted on inviting everyone to the reception, so all that food wouldn’t go to waste. He left me to deal with the press, including that flaky columnist from the American Statesman. But I survived.”
“I assumed you would.”
Paul flicked a piece of lint off the sleeve of his shirt. “We told everyone you were ill. That the wedding was simply postponed.”
Mimi looked at him. “But that’s not true.”
Paul took a step closer to her. “Surely you’re not a stranger to deception, Mimi. For instance, your boss introduced you as Mimi Banyon. Is there a reason you didn’t tell him your real name?”
“Fear of fortune hunters,” she snapped.
He smiled. “That’s not the only lie you’ve told, is it? After all, you’ve had a lot of practice. Ten years, at least.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “I think you should leave.”
“I will. If you come with me.”
She couldn’t believe his nerve. “Forget it. We’re through, Paul. So you’ll have to find some other way to make your fortune. Have you ever considered actually working for it?”
“Touché.” Paul hitched one foot up on the fence rail. “Actually, I am looking into a career in sales.”
“Planning to sell snake oil?”
He smiled. “No. Information. Very valuable information that I’m sure would appeal to your father. I just haven’t decided on the right price yet.”
She tipped up her chin. “I’m not afraid of my father finding out where I am.”
“Maybe not. But are you afraid of your father finding out where your son is?”
She stopped breathing for a moment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about little baby Joshua. Born in Paris ten years ago. Rupert’s secret grandson.”
Mimi sucked in a deep breath, trying to quell the panic rising within her. “You’re wrong.”
“Cut the crap, Mimi.” Paul came one step closer to her. “It took quite a bit of digging, but I finally found the birth certificate. You were listed as the mother of Joshua Andrew.”
Raw fear welled up inside of her. “No.”
“Yes.” Paul moved another step closer. “We both know Rupert is obsessed with passing on his legacy. He’d stop at nothing to get his hands on Joshua. A male heir to the great Casville dynasty.”
Mimi knew it was true. Even if her father didn’t have any legal right to the child, he was rich and powerful enough to make the lives of Joshua’s adopted family miserable for years to come. To traumatize her son with the fear of being ripped away from the only parents he’d ever known.
She’d read about enough custody battles in the news, pitting a biological relative against an adoptive relative, to know how ugly they could get. All the lawsuits for grandparents’ rights. Ultimately, it was always the children who suffered.
And what would happen when she was brought into the dispute? If she took the side of Joshua’s adoptive parents, would her son believe she was rejecting him? She closed her eyes, visualizing the nightmare of a court trial. Not to mention the media circus that was sure to occur. Worst of all, she’d have to relive the hardest, most painful decision she’d ever made in her life. A decision she still knew in her heart was the right one for her son.
But he was too young to understand all that. Only ten years old. His biggest worry should be getting a hit in a Little League game. Not wondering if his birth mother ever really loved him.
Garrett was living proof that those kinds of scars could last a lifetime.
Paul glanced toward the barn. “It’s your choice. Play along and leave with me. Otherwise, I’ll go straight to Rupert and make him one happy grandpa.”
That wasn’t a choice, it was a nightmare.
She reached out and grabbed his forearm. “Please. If I ever meant anything to you, don’t do this to me.”
The bawl of an angry bull pulled her attention away from Paul. She ran to the fence, unhitching the gate just in time for the twelve-hundred-pound Texas longhorn to shoot through it. Rowdy puffed and snorted, shaking his head in the air before making a lap around the corral.
She closed the gate and latched it, aware of the way Garrett was watching her. Then she sensed Paul’s presence behind her and tried not to flinch when he laid one hand on her shoulder.
Garrett’s eyes narrowed. “I take it you two know each other?”
“As a matter of fact, we do,” Paul said, his voice absurdly cheerful. “Mimi is my fiancée.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
MIMI SAW a muscle twitch in Garrett’s tightly clenched jaw. The shock in his green eyes quickly dissolved into disbelief.
“Your fiancée,” he said at last, slowly peeling the leather work gloves off his hands. “Is that right?”
Paul squeezed her shoulder. A painful reminder to play along with his game or he’d destroy her son’s life.
Paul smiled. “I want to thank you for giving Mimi an opportunity to play cowgirl for a few weeks. Now she knows what she really wants.”
Garrett folded his arms across his chest. “And what is that?”
“Me,” Paul replied.
Garrett snorted. “Maybe we should ask the lady her opinion.” He turned to Mimi, his voice gentler. “Did you know he was coming?”
“No.” Her voice sounded raspy to her ears, and she swallowed hard, trying to think of some way out of this untenable situation. Why hadn’t she told Garrett everything when she’d had the chance? Before Paul was here to twist it all out of proportion.
But Mimi knew it didn’t matter. She never could have found the right words to make Garrett understand. Not really. She’d been fooling herself, hoping she could erase the past and live for the moment. Lose herself in the fantasy that she and Garrett were the only two people that mattered.
But now it was time to face reality.
“Mimi called me about a week ago, telling me where she was and begging for my forgiveness,” Paul said, lying so smoothly it made her sick. “Then she asked me to give her another chance.”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed on him. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell the truth, Renquist, or I’ll stop your lies with my fists.”
Paul bristled at Garrett’s threat. “Touch me and you’ll find yourself on the expensive end of a lawsuit.”
Mimi was touched by Garrett’s faith in her. But then, he was a man who believed in loyalty. A man who had taken her at her word almost from the very beginning.
And how had she repaid him?
She’d lied about her name. Practically forced him into giving her a job. Kept so many secrets. And now she was going to do the worst thi
ng of all—walk out on him. Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back.
No matter how much she loved Garrett, she couldn’t stay. She couldn’t put her child at risk. And would Garrett understand her dilemma, given his feelings about his birth mother? Would he want her anymore? The answer seemed painfully obvious.
Garrett took an ominous step toward Paul, obviously fed up with his games.
“Stop it,” she said, stepping between them. She could see Garrett’s hands had formed tight fists, and she knew he was on the verge of losing control.
“Anything for you, darling,” Paul said, backing away.
A muscle flicked in Garrett’s jaw. “Get the hell off my ranch, Renquist.”
“Gladly.” Paul held his hand out to Mimi. “Are you ready to go?”
“She’s staying,” Garrett ordered.
Mimi looked at Garrett, savoring the love smoldering in his eyes. Love for her. She knew she’d never see it there again. Never see him again once she made her choice. As if she had a choice. Garrett’s feelings for her would change once he knew the truth. He was a man who saw everything in black and white, not grays. A man who wouldn’t understand—and could never love—a woman who gave up her own child.
A child Mimi loved. A child who mattered the most at this moment. Despite her feelings for Garrett, she had to make the right decision for her son.
Paul’s mouth curved into a sneer. “Perhaps we should ask Miss Casville which man she wants.”
Garrett’s brows drew together. “Miss Casville?”
She squared her shoulders. “That’s my name, my real name. Mimi Casville.”
He frowned, taking a step closer to her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted to be anonymous,” she said, her voice quiet but strong.
“Mimi is from a very prominent Austin family,” Paul interjected. “She’s wary of men who just want to use her to get close to all that money and power.”
She took a deep breath, her chest so tight she could hardly breathe. “I’m sorry, Garrett. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
A muscle along his jaw flexed. “You’re not really going with him?”
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