by Jeannie Watt
When Gina arrived with their breakfasts five minutes later, they’d hammered out a tentative work schedule. Gabe intended to bid on two projects and wanted to do site visits and there were several client meetings that couldn’t be pushed back. Plus, he needed an answer on the Lightning Creek.
“Here’s the deal,” Serena said as they walked back to the car. “Neal is worried about Stewart’s health.”
“I know.”
“He thinks this will take his blood pressure down a few notches.”
“No guarantees there.”
“Agreed.” Gabe opened the door for her and she slid in the passenger side. “I think we’re getting close.” Dani had mentioned talking to her sisters again the last time he’d seen her. He’d smiled and told her no pressure. Yeah. No pressure.
Damn. He hated the feeling he was working her. It honestly was time to come clean. He just couldn’t tell Neal.
* * *
SO GABE HAD had breakfast with a blonde. Good-looking one, too, according to Gina, who’d called to warn her that Kyle might be getting hold of her to spread rumors, but there was nothing to worry about because the woman was Gabe’s assistant. Kyle hadn’t called and Dani wasn’t quite sure how she felt about Gina—and Kyle—assuming that Gabe having breakfast with another woman might concern her. Especially Kyle.
Was she really that transparent?
Dani coiled the lead rope she carried and hung it in the tack room. Did it even matter if she was transparent? Other than her own feelings of caution, which were rapidly evaporating, she had no reason not to be open about her relationship with Gabe.
Except that they hadn’t exactly defined their relationship. The one thing Dani did know was that when she was with him, she was totally content to live in the moment, focus on her time with him. She didn’t need anything else.
With that thought, she grabbed a smaller halter and headed back to the horse pens. Two horses down, two to go before lunch. The Thoroughbred’s owner was picking up today and since Gabe was riding Molly exclusively, she had room for two more clients. Better yet, she had four on a waiting list. Marti had finally backed off—probably because she and Paul had a waiting list six times as long as Dani’s.
A shadow fell over her as she opened the gate and she swung around to see Gabe standing there. A goofy smile spread across her face before she caught herself.
“So...out with a blonde, I hear?”
“Did you hear that from Kyle?”
“Gina.” For a moment she simply stared at him, feeling the sexual eddies start to swirl around them. “Not that I cared,” she said lightly as he took a step forward. “Much.” She inhaled as he brought his hands up to slowly caress the sides of her neck. “You have your friends and I have mine.”
“She’s my assistant.”
“I know.”
He leaned down to take her lips. “I figured you would by now.”
“I wouldn’t have cared.”
“Much.”
“Much,” she echoed as his tongue started a slow exploration of her mouth. She pulled back after a long moment and said, “I have to keep schedule.”
He let go of her and stepped back. “I know. I thought maybe I could see you tonight.”
A rush of anticipation shot through her as it always did at the prospect of getting naked with him. “Seven?”
“Six. I’ll bring steaks over and cook for you. We can eat at seven.”
“Or maybe eight?” she asked with an innocent bat of her eyes.
“Or nine,” he said, meeting her look with a wicked smile.
“Nine it is,” she said as a truck pulling a horse trailer turned into the driveway. “I guess my new client is a little early—by the way, how’d you get here?”
“I walked.”
“Burning energy?”
“Not the way I want to, but yes...”
Again the warmth spread through her as she met his hungry look. Oh, yes. Tonight was going to be...memorable. But until then, she had work to do.
“If you want to, you can borrow the old truck to go home. Bring it back tonight.”
“Why then I’d be stranded for the evening.”
“Oh, darn,” she said before moving forward to greet the woman getting out of her truck. “The keys are in it.”
“Thanks,” Gabe said in a low voice. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Dani smiled at him, then called out a hello to her new client as Gabe headed off to where the old truck was parked next to the barn.
Tonight couldn’t come fast enough.
* * *
AFTER RETURNING HOME, Gabe walked straight to his fridge and dug out a beer, popping the top before the fridge door was all the way shut. He drank deeply, then wandered over to his drafting table. He’d tell her the truth tonight. It wasn’t that bad. Stewart Widmeyer honestly was his friend and he honestly wanted the property.
So why did he feel so freaking guilty about not telling Dani the truth in the first place—especially when he really couldn’t have, for fear that Jeffries would get wind of it.
He’d been cautious, but not dishonest. He hadn’t told any lies—he just hadn’t been totally forthright and that would be rectified.
His only real concern was how Dani would take her family ranch being turned into a golf course. Once she sold, she had to realize that things could change. The place could be subdivided or resold at any time. She had a deep connection to the ranch, but not so deep that she hadn’t been unwilling to sell after the divorce.
He pressed the cold can to his forehead. This was going to be fine. He and Dani understood each other and she’d understand why he had to proceed as he did. He finished the beer, then sat down for a few hours’ work on the proposal package he was putting together.
Sometime in the early afternoon, the sound of tires on gravel brought his head up. Craning his neck from where he sat at the drafting table, he could just see the front of a white SUV—the sheriff’s office?
Pushing back the chair, he got to his feet and headed for the door, wondering just what good old Kyle wanted now. And he wanted something—that much was evident from the cat-with-the-canary smile he wore.
“Deputy,” Gabe said after opening the door to find Kyle already standing on his porch, ready to ring the bell. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s more like what I can do for you,” he said.
Gabe leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb. “I wasn’t aware that I needed anything that I don’t already have.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“I don’t follow you,” Gabe said, allowing himself a perplexed frown, all the while thinking, what the hell does this guy know?
Kyle pressed his lips together as if carefully choosing his words. Then he looked up, his gaze sharp as he said, “I think you want the Lightning Creek Ranch and I can help you get it.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
GABE MADE A conscious effort to relax the muscles in his hand before he said, “What are you talking about?”
Kyle rocked back on his heels. “You want the Lightning Creek,” he repeated. “I imagine you want it for some kind of development.”
Gabe’s insides went cold. “I’m on vacation.”
“You have a connection to the Widmeyers.”
What a great time to find out that old Kyle wasn’t as stupid as Gabe had thought he was. Gabe was no slouch at thinking on his feet, and the first thing he needed to do was to figure out how to play this to gain more information and a bit of time. Calmly he said, “Maybe you could tell me just how you came to this conclusion.”
Kyle smiled as if Gabe had just said, “You got me. I’m working for Widmeyer.”
“Well,” he said, “it’s pretty obvious, what with you being out with that Widmeyer lady this morning and telling Gina she’s your assistant.”
Now it was getting weird. How in the hell did Kyle know who Serena was? He’d seen her for all of ten or twenty seconds this morning. The smug smile grew wid
er. “Surprised?” he asked softly.
Gabe didn’t answer. Instead he waited for Kyle’s ego to take over, give him a bit more information, so that he had something to work with. He didn’t have to wait long.
“I know Ms. Widmeyer, you see, because I pulled her over for speeding about a year ago. She’s very memorable.”
That she was, but Gabe had no idea that Serena had even been in the area back when Timberline was still in Widmeyer hands. But he’d been working solely on independent projects back then.
“I didn’t think Montana was strict about speed.”
“She was going really fast,” Kyle said with a smirk. “But she was good—very matter-of-fact. She didn’t try to talk me out of the ticket. She just made small talk while I wrote her up. Told me how good the resort was going to be for the community.” Kyle nodded a little. “She was right. It was.”
“I heard it provided a nice shot in the economic arm,” Gabe allowed.
“So imagine what two resorts will do for the area.” Gabe gave him a polite look, because all he could do at this point was bluff. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw her—Widmeyer lost that place. Now she’s back and meeting with you. You’re leasing this house that costs a shitload of money, when there are a dozen cheaper almost-as-nice places to rent. You’ve been being really nice to Dani... Well, I figure something’s cooking and I think you’re looking at buying the Lightning Creek, expanding your holdings.”
“You’re real good at deduction, Kyle.”
“I have my moments. Also—” he smiled with a touch of false humility “—Allie said something about cutting all ties with the place last time we talked.”
“She’s still talking to you?”
“Which is good for you,” Kyle said flatly.
“I’m not saying you’re right,” Gabe said, “but given the relationship you have with the Brody sisters, I’m kind of wondering just how you think you can help a person who wanted to buy the place.”
“Allie and I have had our differences, but I know the Brodys and I know how to work them. Pretty much, I know how to work one sister against the other. Right now you have two that want to sell, one that’s probably ambivalent and one that’ll fight to keep the place. They made an all-or-nothing pact. I think I can change your situation to all. Right now, the way things stand, it’s nothing.”
Gabe took a step closer. “If I accepted help, then what do you get?”
“Finder’s fee.”
“How much?”
“I’m not greedy. Five percent of the sale.”
“Very reasonable...if I were in the market for help. Which I am not.”
“You’ll need it. These ladies are stubborn.”
“I’m still working on how you would sway them. Is Dani going to start experiencing a lot of strange occurrences? Horses released in the night and broken water pipes?”
Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But his face started to go red—the curse of bad liars and the fair-skinned. Kyle was both. “And no, I wouldn’t do shit like that.”
“What would you do?” Gabe asked softly.
Kyle shook his head. “Waste my time, it looks like.”
“My reasons for being here are none of your business,” Gabe said. “And if you harass Dani or her sisters in any way, I’ll have to do something about it.”
Kyle took a half step forward, his hand on his utility belt. “Yeah? Like what?”
“To begin with, I’d contact your boss.”
“You have nothing to report to him.”
“Nothing I can prove anyway, right?”
“Look. I came here to do you a favor. Plain and simple. No skin off my nose if you don’t want my help.”
“No skin except for not getting the finder’s fee.”
“Look, asshole—”
Gabe took a quick step forward before he could stop himself, but then he unclenched his fists, flexed his fingers, reminded himself that while he could still mop up the porch with the guy, he was no longer the kid that settled things with his fists. Or he wouldn’t be unless Kyle messed with Dani.
“For the record,” he told Kyle, “Serena is no longer a Widmeyer. She’s now my assistant. I work for myself.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t notice you saying you’re not interested in the Lightning Creek.”
Gabe folded his arms over his chest and gave the guy a stony stare. He wasn’t going to lie, but he wasn’t going to help him out, either. “I’m saying my business is none of yours and that you’d damn well better leave Dani and her sisters alone.”
“Or what?” Kyle asked quietly. He shoved his jaw sideways as he regarded Gabe, then with a curt nod, turned and headed for his SUV.
Gabe stood where he was until Kyle turned the vehicle around and roared down the driveway, turning to go toward town rather than Dani’s.
Well, at least there was that, though Gabe didn’t doubt for one second that Kyle was going to continue to stir the pot. Who would have thought that breakfast out with his assistant would create such a shit storm?
Gabe went back inside, tried to work, but couldn’t settle. Instead he paced. Dani was busy with horses and clients. Kelly would be there by now...and if he raced over to head off a possible move by Kyle, it would only make him look as if he had something to hide. Which he didn’t.
He had no doubt that if he could, though, Kyle would twist things around, but he was equally certain that Dani wasn’t going to believe anything her ex-brother-in-law told her without first looking into matters. The best way to deal with this was to simply go over this afternoon as usual, tell her everything and hope for the best.
* * *
DANI HAD JUST stripped down to get into the shower when her phone rang. She debated, then cranked off the water and crossed the hall to her bedroom to scoop the phone up off the dresser.
Allie.
“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, walking back into the bathroom.
“Kyle called.”
“Yeah?” Dani asked in a cautious voice. “What’s he want now? My new furniture?”
“What do you know about this Gabe guy?”
There was a note in her sister’s voice that put Dani on full alert. “Why?”
“Kyle thinks that he’s there to buy the ranch. That he’s been there the entire time to buy the ranch. That he’s been hanging out, biding his time, manipulating things so that you trusted him before he made the sales pitch.”
Dani went cold inside.
“Since when does Kyle know jack?” she asked.
“Yeah. I know, but this time he sounds like he’s actually concerned. I mean...I can’t think of any way that telling us helps him.”
“He’s Kyle. There’s a way.” Which was exactly what Dani had to believe. The guy who’d smashed her standpipes was mad at Gabe for some perceived slight and was getting his revenge.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.” Dani sat on the edge of the tub, staring at the floor tiles between her feet. “You sound like you honestly believe him.”
“I guess that Gabe had a visitor recently.”
“His assistant. Yes.”
“And apparently that assistant also works for the Widmeyers—or did when they were hammering out the Timberline deal.”
“Maybe she changed jobs,” Dani said. That wasn’t unheard of, although having her work for first the Widmeyers and then someone who also happened to be spending time in Eagle Valley—that was kind of pushing the coincidence boundaries.
“Her last name is Widmeyer. Kyle stopped her last year for speeding.”
Dani’s stomach felt like a rock, but she battled on. “He’s sure it’s the same woman.”
“I guess she’s pretty distinctive.”
Which was exactly what Dani had heard from Gina. “Damn,” she muttered. Gabe never mentioned a connection with the Widmeyers, even when they’d discussed Timberline. He’d had every opportunity and hadn’t.
He was going to give Molly to his best friend’s wife. What if that best friend was a Widmeyer?
“I talked to Mel, Dani. She thinks it’s totally possible that Widmeyer plans to make another resort in this valley. She says that the Staley property combined with ours would be a prime locale, and get this—the Staley property was purchased through an LLC registered in Nevada, so no one knows who the true owner is. It could well be Widmeyer Enterprises.”
“Speculation.”
“I agree, Dan. That’s all it is, but what if this guy has been working you? You need to think about this—especially, if, well...”
“Right.” Dani lifted her chin, thinking she was already beyond the if-well stage. “I’ll talk to him tonight. I’ll ask him if what Kyle says is true.”
“What if he lies to you? I mean, liars tend to do that.”
“I guess I’ll have to see what my gut says.”
And right now her gut was screaming, “No fair!” She finds a guy she really connects with and...this? It couldn’t be true.
But what if it was?
* * *
TROUBLE. THAT WAS what her gut said an hour later when Gabe parked the truck in its place near the barn and started for the house. There was an aura of tension around him that, if anything, became more pronounced when he walked into the house.
“Hey,” she said, not moving toward him as she would have done if Allie hadn’t called.
He studied her for a long moment and her stomach tightened to the point that she thought she might be sick.
Give him a chance.
Fine. She’d do that, but everything in her shouted that something was so very wrong.
“Hi.” He held up the bag he carried. “The steaks.”
Food was about the last thing she wanted to think about, but Dani went through the motions, for the moment anyway. “Let’s lay them out to season.”
She turned and walked toward the kitchen and he followed, as did the dark cloud that seemed to surround them.
“Kyle called Allie,” she said as she took the bag from him.
“I figured.”
