“I’m glad to hear about your patient, but that’s bull-hockey about your dog. Daisy knows I’ll take care of her if something ever happens to you. She’s even been warming up a bit toward Leeann.”
Dean turned, sure he hadn’t heard his buddy correctly. “Bull-hockey?”
Bobby shrugged. “I’m cutting down on the cussing. I promised the wife.”
Grabbing the nearest wrench, Dean went back to work. Yeah, his friend did have a point. It seemed the more Daisy spent time at the camp with a certain beautiful blonde, the more tolerant she was becoming of females overall.
“Besides, we’re thinking of getting a dog of our own,” Bobby continued. Something small and manageable, like Snake. He seems to have appointed himself Leeann’s guarddog and the admiration is mutual.”
“A dog and a baby? You’re a braver man than me.”
“That’s not hard to believe. You won’t go anywhere near Priscilla’s pup.”
That wasn’t true. Dean had tried numerous times to make friends with the tiny mutt, but the one person at the camp that Snack—Snake—refused to associate with was him. Treats, toys, table scraps. It didn’t matter. For whatever reason, the dog just didn’t like him. Then again, the dog wasn’t going to be around for much longer anyway.
“You know, I still don’t get why you aren’t down at the Blue Creek with the rest of the bachelors.”
Dean sighed. He’d hoped his buddy had dropped the subject. “I said I would help with the course after the kids left today.”
“And when I got Lee’s first text message reminding me about the rehearsal, I told you we could finish this up another time.”
“We were high off the ground and halfway through the course by then.”
“Yeah, wasn’t that convenient?”
Concentrating on tightening the last bolt, Dean remained silent.
“So, back to the auction. Have you come up with any exciting plans for your lucky winner yet?”
Dean didn’t want to say anything until he worked out the final details. Besides, the auction was the last thing he wanted to talk about because it reminded him of Priscilla. Hell, everything reminded him of Priscilla. Despite his work with Branson in Cheyenne, he’d thought about her every day even though they hadn’t had a moment alone together since that knock-his-boots-off, damned-if-he-didn’t-want-to-do-it-all-over-again kiss.
A kiss she clearly wished hadn’t happened at all.
“If you need any help getting creative, all you have to do is ask.”
He gave the bolt one last hard twist, then turned to look at his friend. “I don’t need any help.”
Bobby returned his stare for a long moment, then packed up the rest of the tools and headed for the ladder. “You need something, man, but hell if I know what it is.”
What Dean needed was his head examined for even thinking that night—that kiss—had meant something. It had to him. He remembered every single moment, from the second he’d seen her in the parking lot of the Blue Creek Saloon to when she’d fallen asleep right there in his arms.
Easily lifting her, he’d carried her back to his office at the health center. He’d tried several times to get her to wake up, but each time she’d moaned and groaned and gone right back to sleep. Then she’d finally awakened around sunrise and the last thing he’d expected was for her to react as if they’d done something wrong.
Dean shook off his thoughts and followed his buddy down the ladder until the two of them were on the ground and heading back to the maintenance shed, Daisy panting happily as she trotted alongside them. While they put the equipment away, Dean checked his watch. It was after four o’clock. The rehearsal had to be over by now. He probably should have gone, having already missed the first one, but then again, how difficult was it to walk around on a stage for a few minutes while a bunch of females decided how much they were willing to pay for a date with him?
“You ready to tell me what happened between you and Priscilla?”
His buddy’s question had Dean catching his thumb in the door as he locked up the shed. “Ouch! Dammit!” Daisy barked as he pulled his hand free. Dean sent his dog a sharp look that quieted her while he shook away the pain. “What are you talking about?”
“It was a shot in the dark, but I seem to have hit the bull’s-eye,” Bobby said, then grinned. “As worried as you’ve been about Branson, somehow I figured our pretty blonde fund-raiser has more to do with your crappy attitude the last few days. Not to mention why you aren’t down at the Blue Creek right now. What happened? Don’t tell me you finally acted on the sparks flying between you two and she turned you down?”
Dean headed for the dining hall. “She didn’t turn me down.”
“Hey, score one for Romeo. Without going into any gory details, what happened?” Bobby asked, walking next to him. “Did you two make out like a couple teenagers in your truck that night after you took her home?”
“It wasn’t in— Look, this is no big deal. It was just a kiss.”
“Must’ve been some kiss. And what? You wanted more, but she didn’t?”
Yeah, Dean could easily picture pulling Priscilla into his arms and kissing her again, that and a whole lot more, but she’d made it perfectly clear that just because someone wanted something didn’t mean they always got it.
“More isn’t the issue.” Dean shook off the memory and followed Bobby into the office. They each grabbed a cold drink from the refrigerator and Dean then flopped down in the closest chair. Daisy jumped into his lap and he gave her a quick scratch before opening the soda and taking a long swallow.
Bobby mirrored his movements, but with an expectant look on his face as he waited.
“She didn’t remember.” Dean finally said the words aloud, keeping his gaze firmly planted on the condensation drops forming on the bottle in his hand. “Kissing me, I mean. Me kissing her. At first, anyway.”
“Meaning what? You had to remind her?” Bobby asked.
Dean nodded, then dropped his head back against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. “Yeah, let’s just say her response wasn’t what I expected.”
“A blow to the male pride, huh?”
Bobby could say that again.
“What are you going to do about it?” his friend asked.
Dean didn’t have any idea. “Any suggestions?”
“You’re thinking too much. What’s that saying? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?”
“Are you saying I should ask for the second chance to make a better impression?”
Bobby shrugged. “Either that or just grab the woman and kiss her. What’s the worst that could happen?”
She’d haul off and smack him? Or worse, tell him she regretted making her birthday wish in the first place? Either way, Dean decided he had to have an answer to those questions. Now.
* * *
Priscilla sat on a stool at the end of the bar, looking over her notes. She turned around every now and then to watch the bachelors on parade, not sure who was having more fun, the men or Leeann as she praised their virtues and the creative date packages each offered.
A buzzing noise caught Priscilla’s ear and she dug for her cell phone. The display read Lennox Corporation. She sighed, assuming it was her father’s secretary doing her weekly check-in call. Sliding off the stool, she quickly walked to the small alcove outside the restrooms. She hit the button and put the phone to her ear. “Hello, Elizabeth. How can I help you?”
“Priscilla, it’s your father.”
Shock at hearing the deep, resonating tone of Harold Lennox for the first time in almost a month had Priscilla bracing herself against a nearby table.
“Priscilla? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m still here, just surprised to hear your voice.” She closed her eyes for a moment and
pulled in a deep breath. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Don’t be impertinent with me, young lady. Not when I’m calling you from Paris in the middle of the night.”
Priscilla quickly did the time change in her head. It was early evening here in Destiny, so it was almost one o’clock in the morning in France. “Why are you calling so late?”
“I understand you’ve been enjoying the fresh air and wide-open spaces of Wyoming for the last few weeks.”
How did he know—
Other than her friend Lisa and her assistant at the foundation, both of whom she trusted implicitly, no one knew her precise location. “It wasn’t part of my original itinerary, but yes, I am. How did you know where I was?”
“Technology is a wonderful thing, darling.”
Priscilla’s fingers tightened on her phone. She had no idea how he was tracking her, but if he was capable of making Jacqueline’s antics disappear over the years—be it speeding tickets, underage drinking or even destruction of private property—of course he’d known where she’d been from the moment she’d fled.
“Now that you’ve reminded me of your far-reaching powers, I must go.”
“Yes, your sister mentioned you were working on something. Are you putting your years of experience at the Lennox Foundation to good use?”
Yes, she was, and she was very proud of both her work with the auction and her work with the camp, but there was no way she was going to tell him— Wait, he’d actually spoken to Jacqueline? Suddenly, it all made sense. Paris was eight hours away from the French Riviera by car, ninety minutes by private jet. “What has she done now? No, please don’t answer that. I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with Jacqueline’s latest exploit.”
“Is that because of Jonathan?”
Tucking her phone between her shoulder and her ear, Priscilla looked down at her hands. Her nails were short, simply polished thanks to her most recent manicure at the local beauty shop, and her palms actually sported a few calluses from all her hard work at the camp. She hadn’t thought about the ring Jonathan had given her, or the man it had represented, in the past several days. Not after she’d arranged for a private courier in Cheyenne to return the ring to the safety of a jeweler in Beverly Hills.
“No, it has nothing to do with him.” Priscilla smiled, taking hold of the phone again. She marveled at how good it felt to say those words aloud, to feel that way deep inside. Her life was much better without her ex-boyfriend, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still hurt by her sister’s betrayal. “Jonathan is no longer part of my life. Nor is my sister, at least for the foreseeable future.”
“Jacqueline has gone missing. She was last seen in Paris a few days ago. Alone. She was staying in one of our hotels, but never officially checked out.”
The tight squeeze of her heart was so familiar Priscilla had to close her eyes. She had felt it many times over the years when it came to Jacqueline and her never-ending adventures. “That sounds just like her. You know how she comes and goes from the family’s private suites all the time. She’s probably found some mutual friends in the city and is staying with them.”
“So you haven’t heard from her?”
“We spoke on the phone three weeks ago. As you can imagine, it wasn’t a very pleasant conversation.”
“Very well. I’m sure you’re right, but I’m going to get my people looking for her. Our family has been out of the spotlight for the last few weeks, and I want it to stay that way,” her father said. “If you do hear from her, please let me know.”
Priscilla agreed, pushing the niggle of worry from her mind and ending the call. As she walked back out into the main part of the bar, she thought about what she’d said to her father moments ago about Jonathan.
She hadn’t loved him. She’d thought she did at one time, but she now realized Jonathan had fit the list of requirements she’d foolishly thought the right man for her needed to meet, if not exceed. When he’d hurt her by taking up with her sister, she’d blamed herself as much as she’d blamed them.
And what did it matter if only a few weeks, or even a few days, had gone by before she’d found herself in the arms of another man? Even if she’d been—what was that lovely phrase? Ah, yes. Smashed.
If she’d learned anything about herself over the past few weeks, it was to follow her instincts, not just in business, but in her personal life, as well. Instinct had told her to leave home when her world had turned upside down and that same inner voice had brought her here to this small town, to the camp and to Dean.
Why had she suddenly stopped trusting her own ability to make the right choices for herself? Was it because her stay here in Destiny was only temporary?
This time next week the auction would be over and there would be no reason for her to stick around. She’d still have a full month of her work sabbatical ahead of her and at this moment she had no idea where she was going next.
Maybe deep inside she’d been trying to protect her heart from getting too close to Dean. From being hurt again.
Still needing a bit more time to sort this out, Priscilla tucked her confusion over Dean away and joined her friends at the bar. The rehearsal was over and the bachelors were gone, as were most of the committee members.
“Do you think seven to ten minutes on average per bachelor is going to be enough time?” Racy asked, her hands filled with a giant wad of masking tape she’d just finished pulling off the dance floor. “What if we have a bidding war?”
Priscilla smiled at her concern as she retook her seat. “That’s always a possibility, I guess. Of course, some of the bachelors might go even faster than we anticipate. If there isn’t a lot of bidding going on for a particular man, we should declare the winner quickly, as we don’t want to embarrass anyone.”
“Which is why setting the minimum starting bid at fifty dollars was a good idea,” Leeann said, joining them. “Even so, rumor has it the ladies of Destiny are planning to bid often and bid high.”
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed that there are no emergencies. We don’t want our firemen or deputies abandoning us in the middle of the auction.” Racy walked around the other side of the bar and deposited her trash.
An emergency was something Priscilla hadn’t even thought about. What if for some reason Dean ended up not coming to the auction? Holly would be crushed. “I certainly hope no one gets called away that night, because we have someone who’s already planning on spending her life savings on a bachelor.”
At her friends’ inquisitive looks, Priscilla explained about Holly and her plans to bid on Dean. Both Racy and Leeann came out with a collective “aww” and agreed the girl should be allowed to participate as long as Dean’s date package was suitable for a younger bidder. In fact, they decided right then that Dean would be the last bachelor to go up for bid. Since the event flyers already stated only one bachelor per winner, Holly would have a better chance of achieving her goal.
“There wouldn’t be any harm in letting as many ladies as we can know about the plan,” Leeann said. “I figured Dean would go for a sizable amount, but wouldn’t that be the sweetest way to end the evening, if they let her win?”
“I agree.” An idea then came to her, and Priscilla added, “I’ll talk with her mother tomorrow to make sure she’s okay with her daughter’s idea.” And she’d confirm Holly had enough money to cover the minimum bid.
“We’re going to have a packed house Friday night,” Racy said. “Charging ten dollars per ticket just to attend the event is going to raise a lot of money, too. I know people are coming just to watch the festivities. My hubby included.”
“Almost makes me wish Bobby was eligible to participate so I could bid on him.” Leeann tilted her head and gazed at Priscilla. “Is that young camper getting in the way of any plans you had to bid?”
Despite what she had said t
hat night to Dean’s firefighting friends, Priscilla had to admit the idea of bidding on him had crossed her mind a few times in the past week. Not that it mattered now that Holly had shared her secret plan. There was no way Priscilla would try to take Dean away from her, but that didn’t mean the two of them didn’t have some unfinished business to take care of. Maybe they could find the time this week—
“Priscilla?”
The sound of a familiar male voice had Priscilla spinning around in her seat. “Oh, Dean! I didn’t hear you—when did you get here?”
“Just now.”
Priscilla looked around and found her friends had moved to the far end of the bar, giving the two of them as much privacy as they could expect in a place the size of the Blue Creek.
She turned back and found Dean had braced one arm on the bar and the other on the back of the barstool, trapping her with his body. That realization left her breathless. “You...you missed the rehearsal earlier this afternoon.”
He nodded. “Bobby and I were working out at the camp.”
She looked him over, taking in the dirty jeans, the sweat-dampened T-shirt and how his hair stood up in small tufts as if he’d recently run his fingers through it. “I can see that.”
“I should’ve been here. I was...” He paused, his gaze dropping for a moment, but then he looked back into her eyes and said, “No excuses. I’m sorry.”
A warm flutter started in her belly at the sincerity in his tone. “That’s okay. We can walk you through what you need to do now—”
“What I need right now is to talk to you. Can you get away?”
Hadn’t she just been thinking the same thing? Now that he was here, why was she suddenly reluctant to do so? “I don’t know. The girls and I still have a few things to discuss.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “Okay, we’ll do this here. But in private.”
He took a step back and held out a hand to help her down. She hesitated for a moment, but whatever he wanted to say must be important. Trust your instincts, girl. She placed her hand in his. His answering grin caused that flutter to become a tingling that raced through her entire body as he gave her hand a squeeze and led her through a swinging door and into a back hallway.
Destiny's Last Bachelor? Page 13
