Rodeo Daughter (Harlequin American Romance)

by Leigh Duncan

  Karen cleared her throat. Sounding much more sure of herself than she had that first day in court, she answered smoothly, “Yes, Your Honor. Hailey is a delightful child. I’m blessed to have her in my life.”

  “No changes in your request for custody?”

  From the corner of his eye, Mitch caught movement. He thought Amanda started to say something, but before she could get a word out, Karen’s hand sliced through the air. When Amanda eased back in her chair, whatever she’d been about to say silenced by her client, Mitch instinctively braced himself.

  “Well, there is one thing… .” Karen smiled prettily up at the judge.

  A frown deepened the lines on Dobson’s face. “And what would that be?”

  “Your Honor, the store where I work, Bella Designs, is opening a new branch in Miami. I’ve been asked to run it. I’ll need to be on-site when construction starts in a week. Would that change things?”

  As the meaning of Karen’s question sank in, Mitch felt the ground beneath his feet shift. His heart pounded as if it might hammer its way out of his chest. This was the secret Amanda had kept from him? The reason for the vague answers, the disquieted looks that had bothered him the past couple of weeks? This was no small secret. No courtroom strategy to be safeguarded from an opponent. It was betrayal, pure and simple, and he felt its sharp edge knife deep into his heart.

  Sour laughter rolled through him. He bit it back, considering the unbelievable irony of the situation. Here he was, turning down the crowning jewel of his career in order to concentrate on his family, while Karen had accepted a promotion that would effectively end her day-to-day involvement in their daughter’s life. Unless…

  He swallowed, his muscles ratcheting so tight he could scarcely breathe as Dobson punched keys on his laptop. Mitch waited while the judge ran a finger across the screen. Mitch thought the lack of oxygen might make him pass out by the time Dobson said the words any first-year law student knew by heart.

  “As long as Florida remains your primary residence, Ms. Goodwin, I see no reason why your move to Miami should have an impact on this case. That being said, I’d like to proceed.”

  This time, when Dobson turned toward him, Mitch fought disbelief at the sadness in the old man’s face.

  “Mr. Goodwin, I’m sure you’ve provided a wonderful home for your daughter. By all reports, you’ve been a model father.” The man on the bench exhaled a heavy sigh. “But, call me old-fashioned, I still think a young girl should be with her mother whenever possible. So, in the matter of the minor child Hailey Goodwin, this court awards permanent custody to the plaintiff.”

  Mitch stared at a world filled with laws and points of order and rules that no longer made sense. Not when a happy little girl could be torn from the only home she’d ever known, and sent to live in another part of the state with a mother she barely knew. A roaring sound filled his head. It all but drowned out the judge’s instructions concerning child support and visitation. Mitch dropped his head onto his hands, devastation washing over him in gut-wrenching waves.

  He was vaguely aware that across the aisle Amanda and Karen were engaged in a quiet but heated argument. Mitch fought his way to his feet as a while-hot anguish threatened to send him to his knees. Nausea rolled through him and the bands across his chest spread into his throat, tightening until the only word he could manage was a harshly whispered “No.”

  Behind him, people grabbed purses and briefcases, heading for the door the moment Dobson adjourned the court. It didn’t matter. None of it did. Only two things mattered—Hailey and Amanda. He’d lost both of them.

  The betrayal of one had cost him the other.

  Chapter Eleven

  “This court awards permanent custody to the plaintiff.”

  Amanda sucked in a breath. Half expecting Mitch to come flying across the courtroom—at the judge, at her, at Karen—she braced for an explosive outburst. When dead silence replaced the expected angry torrent, she sent a searching glance toward the man she loved.

  He sat in stony silence behind the defendant’s table.

  As Dobson banged his gavel, setting his decision in stone, Mitch swayed. His shoulders slumped and he leaned forward on arms braced against the table. Pain radiated from his every pore, making him look for all the world as if he’d been dealt a mortal blow.

  He was beaten, and everyone in the room knew it.

  Amanda longed to reach out, to stand beside him, to lend him enough of her own strength to get them past the shock he hadn’t seen coming.

  She couldn’t move.

  Trapped, held prisoner to the decorum of the legal system, she did what was expected of her and dredged up a tremulous version of her victory smile. The bailiff announced a recess, and the judge disappeared into his chambers. His absence set loose a wave of chatter that spread from wall to wall.

  Beside her, Amanda felt Karen tremble and wondered why. The woman had achieved exactly what she’d set out to do—she’d wrested custody of her little girl from the man who had raised her. On top of that, she had the judge’s blessing to relocate a couple hundred miles farther south. If anything, Amanda’s client should be overjoyed.

  Yet, shaking like a newborn filly, Karen grasped her arm, a look of puzzled confusion in her hazel eyes. “He does realize what this means, doesn’t he? Hailey will have to move away from her friends. Change schools. She’ll hardly be able to see Mitch. Dobson will allow that?”

  Behind them, footsteps pounded up the aisle.

  Amanda didn’t have time or energy to spend on a client who’d just been given everything she’d ever asked for, and more. Desperate to get to Mitch, she stuffed papers into her satchel and headed after him, glancing at Karen over her shoulder. “He just did.”

  Risking her neck, Amanda raced down the corridor on her high heels. She barely managed to glimpse inside the elevator before the doors slid shut. No Mitch. She spun toward the stairwell and the only other possible exit. Her glance over the rail revealed nothing, but someone was quickly climbing the steps above.

  “Wait,” she called. “Mitch, wait up.”

  His feet thundered on the stairs, each step taking him farther away from her. Amanda kicked off her heels and ran to the next landing, where she found him waiting, one foot angled toward flight. Unease whispered through her as she saw the hard lines of his face, the dull steel in his eyes.

  “Where are you going?” she asked with a breathlessness that had nothing to do with rushing after him and everything to do with fear.

  Mitch’s gaze slid up the stairs. “The district attorney’s office. He wants to discuss my future.” Biting sarcasm accompanied his grimace. “I guess I should be grateful that I have a future…with him.”

  But not with me? Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Oh, Mitch,” she said, reaching out for him. “I’m so, so sorry.” Now that they were alone, she could finally let him see that she was as crushed by the judge’s decision as he was.

  He flinched away from her touch, his focus locked on a spot over her left shoulder. Jaw rigid, he ground out words. “Congratulations, Counselor. I hope you’re proud of what you’ve done.”

  His anger stung. She stumbled back a step.

  “Please don’t make this personal,” she pleaded. Words of reassurance filled her heart. She would resign as Karen’s attorney. She’d help him appeal Dobson’s ruling. Together, they’d win custody of Hailey and have the future they’d planned.

  One look at Mitch’s face and the words died in Amanda’s mouth.

  “What choice do I have?” he sneered. “Or wasn’t that you standing beside my ex-wife, helping her rip away the one person who held any meaning in my life?”

  His words pierced Amanda’s heart like bullets. She threw her hands up in defense. Mitch had every right to be angry, to feel hurt, even betrayed. But to lash out at her? She wasn’t the one who’d decided to take his daughter and move to Miami.

  She tasted the heat of an angry response and bit it back, forcing
herself to give him some extra leeway. He’d just been dealt a terrible blow. They both had, and she felt his pain. She was nearly sick over it.

  “This wasn’t the outcome I expected, Mitch, but let me approach Karen for you. There was a time when she didn’t want you to have anything to do with Hailey, but she’s changed over the past three months. She’s a different person than she was then. I’m sure she’ll agree to the same visitation you planned on giving her.”

  Mitch’s laughter, dark and bitter, filled the stairwell. “How the hell am I supposed to have dinner with Hailey on Wednesday nights if she lives in Miami? Or make it to those 7:00 a.m. soccer practices on weekends? Did your client consider that? Did the judge?”

  Amanda exhaled. “I was as surprised by Dobson’s decision as you were.”

  “But you knew about Karen’s plans. You knew she wanted to uproot my daughter and move three hours away.” Mitch’s voice dropped an octave. “And you didn’t tell me.”

  He hadn’t asked a question, only stated a fact she couldn’t refute. Amanda blinked, no longer able to meet his harsh glare. He was right. She had known. She’d feared his reaction from the moment Karen had confided in her.

  “How could you keep that a secret?” Biting and caustic, the words hissed from his lips. “After all we’ve meant to each other, how could you betray me like that?”

  Amanda pressed a protective hand to her chest. “I couldn’t tell you. But I did my best to warn you.”

  “You never said one word…”

  Amanda winced at the sharp, accusatory tone. The urge to give as good as she got rose. “Oh, but I did,” she pointed out. “The day we had the cookout at your house. When I said we couldn’t discuss legal strategies with each other, you had to suspect something. You’re a smart guy.”

  Mitch recoiled as if she’d struck him. “That was…weeks ago.” His gaze dropped to the floor. Slowly, he shook his head. “How could I have been so stupid? I let myself believe you actually cared for me.”

  Amanda stepped forward. “I did. I—I do. You, of all people, should understand what was at stake. Attorney-client privilege is at the foundation of our legal system. If I broke it, the bar association could strip away my license.”

  “Better the court should strip away my daughter?” Like a wild horse attempting to throw its rider, Mitch tossed his head. “I’d never keep something like that from you.”

  Easy for him to say. He wasn’t representing Karen.

  “She’s my client. There were things I couldn’t tell you.”

  “You would have…”

  Praying he wouldn’t say what she knew was coming next, Amanda braced herself.

  “…if you cared for me.”

  Amanda gave him the only answer she had in her arsenal. “And if you really felt the same way, you wouldn’t expect me to.”

  The truth hurt more than she’d thought possible. Surprisingly dry-eyed for someone who had just realized the man of her dreams didn’t live up to reality, Amanda decided that this time she’d be the one to walk away. Turning her back on Mitch and their future, she retraced her way down the stairs. At the second floor landing, she slipped her shoes back on, giving him a final chance to come after her. When he didn’t, she stepped from the stairwell into a life that no longer included her first love, the man she’d thought would stand by her no matter what.

  Of all the people she didn’t want to deal with, Karen was number one on the list. But her client stood, weight shifting from one foot to the other, in the corridor outside Dobson’s courtroom. The instant Amanda emerged from the stairs, the frantic woman fairly flew across the carpeted hallway.

  “I need to find Mitch. Have you seen him?”

  It was a day for surprises, and the breathless question was more of the same. Blindly, Amanda pointed toward the staircase behind her.

  Karen lurched past, then spun around to face her. Concern creased her brow and bowed her lips. “Amanda, are you all right?” Her gaze traveled to the door to the stairs and her expression smoothed. “Oh. Is there something going on between you two?”

  “I thought there might be, but…” She shrugged. Now that it was over there was no sense pretending. “I was wrong.”

  A spark of irritation flashed in Karen’s eyes before it quickly faded. “Well, you won our case. That’s the important thing.” She cocked a hip and gave Amanda a quick pat on the shoulder. “You’re a better lawyer than I thought.” On that note, she ducked into the stairwell.

  Barely holding on to her shredded dignity, Amanda blinked to keep her tears at bay. The win was the biggest of her career, but at what cost? She’d lost the love of her life, and Mitch had lost his daughter. Sobs choked Amanda’s throat. She swallowed them. “Not here, not now,” she breathed, anxious to reach the privacy of her car, her house. Stepping into the empty elevator, she swiped at her wet cheeks.

  * * *

  HOW MUCH MISERY was a man supposed to take?

  Mitch couldn’t say for sure, but he had an idea that losing his daughter and being betrayed by the woman he loved qualified as more than he was supposed to shoulder. His eyes filled and he scrubbed at his face with the palms of his hands. His bones ached with such despair that he craved solitude.

  To growl or howl—he wasn’t sure which. Maybe both.

  An unavoidable meeting with the district attorney loomed, but the second it ended, he’d head for home. There, he’d lick his wounds in private before he figured out what to do about Hailey.

  But he would do something.

  Maybe, just maybe, he could have handled losing custody as long as Karen remained in Melbourne. He wouldn’t have liked it. Well, that was an understatement, wasn’t it? He’d have hated it. Hadn’t he vowed to spend more time with his child? Still, he might have accepted the situation…providing he saw his daughter regularly. Karen’s selfish plan would put two hundred miles between them. He’d be lucky if he saw Hailey once a month.

  As for Amanda…his anger burned too hot to even think about her.

  “Mitch? Mitch, are you up there?” Karen’s shrill voice echoed up the stairwell.

  “Now what?” Groaning, he pushed himself away from the wall. Down below, he caught a flash of red heading in his direction. He mopped his face and wished he’d made it to the safety of the prosecutor’s office before Karen found him.

  She continued to climb, her voice rising over the tapping of her heels against the stairs.

  “Boy, that sure as heck didn’t go the way I thought it would. Dobson is a stodgy old coot, isn’t he? A womb trumps all—what kind of b.s. is that? He sure pulled a fast one on all of us.” She yammered on, without making any sense, until she reached the landing.

  Mitch expended every ounce of control to shutter his face. Refusing to look at the woman whose secret plans had destroyed his life, he managed to mutter, “I think you’ve taken all you can get from me, Karen. There’s nothing left.”

  His ex-wife twisted a rope of pearls between her fingers. “I don’t want to take anything. In fact…” She left him hanging while she drew in a breath and exhaled slowly. “I want to give something back.”

  He risked a glance at the face he’d once been able to read as easily as a newspaper. Karen didn’t look jubilant. In fact, unless she’d changed more than he thought anyone could, dismay glistened in her eyes. He listened closer.

  “Every person in that courtroom was supposed to be looking out for Hailey. Doing what was best for her. But they were wrong. Dobson was wrong.” Several strands of hair a darker shade than he remembered escaped Karen’s stylish bun. She shoved them back in place. “It’s not fair to uproot her again, take her away from all her friends, her school.”

  “If you’re looking for an argument, Karen, you’re talking to the wrong person.”

  “I never in a million years expected Dobson to award me custody of our daughter. I was sure he’d change his mind if I told him I was moving.”

  Mitch blinked. Had he heard her correctly? He held his breath
, afraid one wrong word, one false move on his part might douse the faint ray of hope that broke through the gloom of an otherwise horrendous day.

  “Our daughter is a wonderful little girl, Mitch. You’ve done a marvelous job raising her.” Karen’s voice faltered. She cleared her throat. “She should…she should stay where she belongs. With you.”

  Mitch’s vision swam. Unable to believe what he was hearing, he reached for the wall behind him.

  “Of course, I want something in return.”

  “Anything,” he breathed, willing to mortgage the house, sell his car, empty his savings accounts if it meant having Hailey home again.

  “Ample visitation. Two weeks in the summer. We can alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving.”

  The offer was exactly what he’d been prepared to give her. “That sounds more than fair,” he said, amazed when his voice didn’t break.

  “Plus I’ll be making frequent trips between Miami and the home office. I’ll want to see Hailey whenever I’m in town.”

  Praying it wasn’t a deal breaker, Mitch hesitated. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with school and her other activities.”

  Karen shot him a tight, self-important smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t turn into a demanding ex-wife like the ones on those nighttime soaps.”

  She’d already covered that ground, but he bit back the urge to point it out to her.

  “Dinner or a girls’ day out on Saturday afternoon will be fine.” Karen broke eye contact. She studied the floor at his feet. “I think we can dispense with the whole issue of child support, don’t you?”

  “What?” Mitch feigned surprise. “You aren’t going to pay?” He ducked when Karen’s fist lightly tapped his upper arm.

  “You always were a kidder,” she retorted, her chuckle dispelling the tension that filled the stairwell.

  Mitch eyed his ex-wife. The question of child support had touched a nerve. Though he never asked a witness a question without knowing the answer ahead of time, Karen wasn’t on the stand. And after all she’d put him and Hailey through, he deserved to know what motivated her.