Coyote's Revenge

by Vannetta Chapman

  The bantering relaxed her, but Aiden was oddly disoriented by it, as if he had taken a Valium himself.

  He needed to see Madison safely to her destination, debrief, and catch some sleep. But as he led her to his regular table, one near the windows that looked out into the black night, he found himself hoping the service would be slow and the meal long. He wanted to spend more time with her. Coyote would be easy to spot in the empty restaurant.

  For the moment, they were safe.

  MADISON SETTLED INTO the chair Aiden pulled out for her. The table offered a breathtaking view of nothing, since all was dark outside. She couldn’t make out a thing, which reminded her of the fact that she couldn’t remember a thing. The view pretty much mirrored her mental state.

  Aiden had barely stowed his leather satchel under the table and sat down when a waitress appeared.

  “Good evening, Mr. Lewis. What would you like to order this morning?”

  “I’ll have some coffee, Jamie. How are you doing?”

  “Great. This is my last late shift this week. I’ll be home by the time Taylor wakes up.”

  “He’s four, right?”

  “Four going on fourteen. The sitter lets him stay up much too late, and then he’s a grouch in the mornings. I like being there when he wakes up though.”

  Madison listened to the exchange in disbelief. Did this guy know every receptionist and waitress in the airport? She studied him as the conversation continued. At first, she thought he was patronizing the young woman, but Madison quickly realized Aiden really was listening to what the waitress had to say. She was so preoccupied trying to figure him out, she didn’t pay any attention to what they were saying.

  “You were hungry, right?” he asked.

  “Me?” Madison looked back and forth at the two of them as they stared at her, waiting. “Oh. I’ll have some coffee.”

  Jamie pulled out her pad. “Sure thing. Anything to eat?”

  “No. Thank you.” Madison handed the menu back.

  Although she was hungry, she did have a connecting flight to endure. After Peru, then this, she didn’t trust herself to eat a thing. Of course coffee on an empty stomach probably wasn’t a good idea either.

  Aiden didn’t even bother to look at the menu. “Why don’t you bring us the combination appetizer, and if you could add some fresh veggies on the side that would be great.”

  “I’ll bring the coffee right out, and the sampler will be ready in about fifteen.” With a nod of her head Jamie slid the order pad into her apron pocket.

  A quick smile, a toss of her ponytail, and she’d moved on to deposit their order in the kitchen.

  Madison wondered if there was more to this cowboy than met the eye, not that there was anything wrong with what her eyes were seeing. No ring on his left hand, although Madison was old enough to know that didn’t mean a thing.

  He was obviously wealthy, and he was a charmer, whether he was talking to a fellow airline passenger or a waitress.

  “What? You’re looking at me like I’ve grown a second head.” Aiden carefully touched the top of his Stetson, as if he’d find something unexpected up there.

  “It’s nothing. Really.”

  Aiden sat back and stretched his legs into the aisle. “In my experience when a woman says it’s nothing, it’s most definitely something.”

  Madison took a sip of her water and tried not to return his smile, but her pulse jumped under his gaze.

  “You might as well say whatever it is you’re thinking,” he added.

  “It’s just that you seem to know every woman you come across.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Like?”

  “Like our waitress.”

  “And?”

  “And the receptionist in the lounge.”

  Aiden smiled even broader, picked up his own water and took a long, slow drink. “Women like a man who pays attention.”

  Madison tried not to spew water across the table. Instead she managed to swallow an ice chip. She coughed so long Aiden finally reached across the table and patted her back.

  “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to drown you with my obnoxious comments.”

  Fortunately, at that moment Jamie returned with their coffee. The interruption gave Madison a chance to regain her composure.

  “Women like men who pay attention?” she asked.

  “Sure. Usually gets you faster service too.”

  “So you flirt with women to get faster service?”

  “Now you’re being harsh. There’s a difference between making conversation and flirting.”

  “Right. Spoken like a real man.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “Who flirts like a pro.”

  Aiden didn’t bother to argue. With one eyebrow raised, he took a drink of his coffee, studying her the entire time. Setting the cup down, he crossed his arms on the table, leaned to within a few inches of her, and said softly, “I could flirt with you too. Then you wouldn’t feel left out.”

  Madison couldn’t help laughing. “Are you always this arrogant?”

  “No, but then I don’t always have the pleasure of eating with an attractive woman who blushes easily.”

  Madison realized he was playing her like a yoyo, and she was surprised to find she sort of liked it. She’d been dealing with death for so long she’d forgotten what it was like to live. The heaviness around her heart had lightened just a little, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled so much.

  Plus the conversation helped take her mind off the evening, which was disturbing to say the least. She still felt slightly off center, and one part of her mind warned she should be careful with this cowboy.

  In the other part, she heard her mother’s voice—that sweet, gentle voice she missed so much—coming in loud and clear, reminding her “It’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is to fall in love with a poor one.” Not that she had any intention of falling in love. She wouldn’t be jumping on the love train for a long time. She was fulfilling her promise to her mother, searching for a father she had little chance of finding, then moving back to Dallas and her old life.

  While she was in Montana, she might as well enjoy herself though. The thought made her smile.

  As she studied Aiden, the silence between them stretched and practically crackled with their attraction, which was odd. She should be worried about what happened on the flight, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now. And somehow she knew she was safe while Aiden was with her.

  Her head was starting to clear, and she actually felt good except for the giant hole in her memory. Maybe if she sat talking to him it would come back to her. After all, at this point he was her only link to the flight from Dallas.

  AIDEN KNEW HE WAS COMING on strong, purely for professional reasons of course. He needed to keep her with him, at least until she boarded the plane to Kalispell. That he was plainly flirting had nothing to do with Madison’s beauty or appeal. So her hair was gorgeous and those brown eyes were the loveliest he’d stared into in a long month of Sundays. His cover called for him to act like a millionaire playboy, and he was simply playing the character. Technically, he was a millionaire playboy, but that was beside the point.

  Madison reached for her coffee, took a small sip, then placed it carefully back on the coaster. She finally raised her eyes to his.

  “I still can’t remember the flight,” she said.

  “You should probably see a doctor when you arrive in Montana. I can give you the names of a few good ones.”

  Even as he casually scanned the terminal, Aiden kept one eye on Madison. She played with the rim of her cup, absent-mindedly caressing it with the tip of one well-manicured finger, nails painted a dusty rose.

  “Actually, my head is fine now. How could something hit me so hard and then disappear?”

  “You don’t think it was a migraine?”

  “This feels different. Usuall
y the migraines last much longer.”

  “You were lucky this time.”

  “I guess, but it doesn’t feel lucky. For some reason, it feels like a near-miss.”

  The joking was gone, and when she looked into his eyes she didn’t even attempt to hide her vulnerability. In that moment, staring into those brown eyes he could get lost in, he almost told her. He wanted to come clean, then whisk her out of there. Take her somewhere safe and hold up until they’d confirmed Coyote was out of the country. Where was the ice he was so famous for now?

  Before he could find a response, she stood up and shouldered her bag. “Any idea which way the ladies’ room is?”

  Aiden nodded toward the left of the bar. She turned and walked toward the back. Once she was out of sight, he pulled out his phone.

  He had missed eight calls, all from Commander Martin.

  MADISON STARED AT HERSELF in the mirror. She looked the same, so what had changed? Why did she feel so different? And what was she not remembering? Washing her hands slowly she allowed the warmth of the water to calm her, then turned the tap to cold and rubbed some of it on the back of her neck—anything to make her feel fully alert. Anything to help her remember. She reapplied her lipstick, finger-combed her hair, and took several deep breaths. Time to face the mysterious Aiden Lewis again.

  Well, send me into the briar patch.

  When she exited the ladies’ room, she saw Aiden had walked away from the table and was on his cell phone. He was watching for her and offered a little wave.

  Jamie arrived with their food—one large plate was covered with potato skins, fried mushrooms, cheese sticks, and chicken wings. Freshly cut celery, carrot sticks, cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, and radishes cut like flowers fanned out around the edges of the second plate. The waitress had placed a small bowl of ranch dressing and another of marinara sauce on the table when the shouting began.

  “What do you mean you lost him?”

  Madison and Jamie both turned to stare at him, which Aiden didn’t seem to realize at first. His face had turned a dark shade of red, and he’d taken the hat off his head and was waving it around as he spoke. When he noticed they were staring, he turned his back to them and talked less than a minute longer before shoving the phone into his pocket. He stood there another minute, then squared his shoulders and walked back toward their table.

  “Good luck, girlfriend,” Jamie said. “That did not sound like good news to me.”

  Jamie made a quick escape before he returned.

  Aiden sat down at the table, plastered a smile on his face, and said, “Food looks good.”

  Madison wasn’t buying it. “Who did you lose?”

  “Excuse me?” Now he was being the innocent cowboy. He reached for a potato skin, plastered it with ranch dressing, and popped it in his mouth.

  “It’s really none of my business, but apparently you lost someone.”

  Aiden finished chewing, then took a big drink of water. Either the man was very meticulous about his eating habits or he was stalling.

  “Oh, you mean the phone call?” Aiden picked up another potato skin, covered it with more ranch dressing and popped it in, taking his time to chew before answering.

  “If you don’t want to answer my question, just say so.”

  “It was a what not a who.”

  “You very plainly said what do you mean you lost him? That sounds like you lost someone, not something.”

  Aiden focused on the plate, chose a wing, then shook his head. “A horse—I lost a horse.”

  “Your horse?”

  “Well I wouldn’t be upset about losing someone else’s.”

  “Special horse?”

  “Very.”

  “How do you lose a horse?”

  “Apparently it’s not hard.”

  “Who lost her?”

  “My ranch foreman, and the horse is a him.”

  “You have a ranch?”

  “Of course, did you think the hat was just for looks?”

  “I thought the hat was to pick up chicks.”

  That earned her a smile at least. Madison reached for a carrot stick and wondered again what he wasn’t telling her. She had always had good instincts and her instincts told her she could trust Aiden.

  But her internal alarm system also was flashing red. Something about this entire situation was not what it seemed to be.

  IT WAS ALL AIDEN COULD do to hold an intelligent conversation with Madison and digest what he’d learned from Martin at the same time. Somehow the cameras had managed to lose Coyote. Even Martin’s precious computer program, Jeremiah, hadn’t managed to come up with a match of the man leaving the airport. Martin claimed it was no one’s fault and the main objective—Claudia’s safety—had been met. He reminded Aiden that Coyote’s terms insisted he not be followed. But the surveillance cameras should have told them something.

  Martin’s call meant the possibility of Coyote still hiding in the airport had increased exponentially. A man posing as Coyote had boarded a flight for Seattle. USCIS had sent their agents via other carriers on faster flights to SEA-TAC, but of course it had all been a ruse. By the time they’d figured it out, the only agent left in the Salt Lake Airport was Aiden. None of the security tapes showed Coyote was still in the airport, but neither did they show he’d left. Local agents had been sent to cover rental agencies, bus stations, and the two private airports.

  The President’s security detail had received word and proof that Claudia was safe. Claudia. They knew her code name. Whatever Coyote was up to, as usual, it was well planned.

  Martin didn’t believe Coyote had remained in the Salt Lake Airport. In the meantime, Aiden was to provide Madison an armed escort to Montana, but how did he do that without scaring the daylights out of her?

  “Sierras is a dappled Palomino quarter horse,” Aiden explained. “He’s an amazing animal.”

  “And your foreman lost him?”

  “Someone put him in the south pasture but didn’t close the gate. When they went to check on him yesterday morning he was gone.” Aiden casually scanned the terminal as he spoke.

  “So how will you find him?”

  “Sierras will come back. He has a wild streak, but he always comes home eventually.”

  “Do you prefer animals with wild streaks?”

  Aiden set his cup down so he wouldn’t drop it, pushed his hat back and stared at the woman across from him. “You could say I’m intrigued by the untamed.”

  “So you can domesticate it?”

  “No. Not necessarily,” Aiden refused to look away from those beautiful brown eyes.

  “Do you two need more coffee?”

  Jamie caught the cup Aiden nearly knocked over, and the moment was broken. Mugs were topped off, a few more travelers straggled into the cafe, and Aiden suddenly realized he was starved. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten.

  Madison continued to watch him as he dove into the food while keeping an eye on the terminal.

  “I don’t usually eat fried foods at four in the morning,” Aiden explained. “But I’m going to make an exception because of the company.”

  “Because of me?”

  “Yes, ma’am. You are going to eat, right?”

  Madison tentatively reached for a carrot stick, but simply stared at the fried food. “I’m not sure I should. I sometimes get airsick when I fly.”

  “You’re more likely to be sick if you only eat carrot sticks and celery. Last I checked rabbits don’t do well at 30,000 feet.”

  He reached for a mushroom, dipped it lightly in the ranch dressing, and held it out to her. She screwed her nose up, exactly like a rabbit would, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Even after all that had happened this night, and considering the danger she might still be in, he was glad he’d met her, grateful they’d spent this night together.

  She touched his hand and pushed the mushroom back toward his mouth. Her hand on his caused the old desire to stir again. Aiden wondered if it might be possi
ble for them to see each other after this was all over. As he was about to suggest it, his phone rang.

  Madison pulled her hand back. “Maybe they’ve found your horse.”

  “I need to take this. Don’t eat all the ranch dressing while I’m gone.”

  Madison crossed her heart as he pushed away from the table. “Your ranch is safe with me.”

  Walking away from the table, Aiden wondered if his ranch in Edgewood would be safe with her. It would definitely be more interesting.

  MADISON SALTED A RADISH and played with the tiny petals as Aiden walked away. Most people didn’t leave the table when they received a phone call. Maybe it was his girlfriend. Maybe it was his wife. Madison dropped the radish.

  Aiden was standing outside the restaurant, his back to her as he continued talking on his phone. She could tell by the set of his shoulders and the way he dropped his head that whatever he was hearing wasn’t good news.

  She should go. She reached under the table and pulled out her backpack. Rummaging through it, she pushed aside her phone and found her wallet.

  She looked for Jamie so she could pay part of the bill. As she waited for her, she reached back into her pack and turned her phone on. Looking at the display, Madison saw she had two messages.

  Aiden was still on his phone, and Jamie was taking an order from a table on the other side of the restaurant. Checking her watch, Madison saw she still had plenty of time to make the 6:00 a.m. flight. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she hit the button to play her messages.

  Her best friend Renee had called twice. The first time she left a message assuring her the cats were adjusting fine. The second time she pleaded with her to change her mind and come back home.

  They’d been through this before. Renee was convinced a promise made on a deathbed didn’t count, that Madison’s mother would not expect her to give up her job and friends to move to a new state, take a new job, and look for a father she had never met.

  But that’s exactly what her mother had asked her to do. Renee hadn’t been the one to look into her mother’s eyes that day in April, sitting in the backyard, and give her word. Madison had.