Fugitive Fiancée (13 page)

Mimi looked up from the journal. “Looks like things are definitely getting worse for our star-crossed lovers.”

Garrett could sympathize with the young couple. Things were definitely getting worse for him, too.

He was falling in love with his ranch hand.

Heat crawled over his skin at the revelation. How could he fall in love with a woman he'd just met two weeks ago? A woman he suspected was still in love with another man. It was preposterous. Insane.

And an undeniable fact. He loved her. Now he just had to figure out what to do about it.

She began reading again, and he closed his eyes, savoring the sound of her voice.

Garrett opened his eyes to see Mimi closing the journal.

“Well, don't leave me in suspense,” he teased. “What happened?”

She looked at him, a frown creasing her brow. “I don't know. That's the last entry.”

“Are you sure?”

She sat up straighter and quickly thumbed through the slim journal again. “Positive. All the rest of the pages are blank.”

“So Katherine took off after Boyd….”

“And she never came back.”

“I
FOUND HER
.”

Paul shot to his feet, as surprised to see Harper standing in the library of the Casville mansion as he was to hear the news. “Keep your voice down!”

He strode to the door, taking a look around the empty hallway before closing it and turning the lock. His heart beat triple time in his chest. Sleepless nights and tension-filled days placating Mimi's distraught father had taken their toll. Rupert had even started making noises about going to the police and declaring his daughter a missing person, which meant all of Paul's well-laid plans were about to unravel.

“Where is she?” he asked, wiping his damp palms on the front of his slacks.

Harper waited until he sat down behind the desk. “Five miles east of Austin as the crow flies. A place called the Lord ranch.”

Paul frowned. “What is that? Some kind of dude ranch for the rich and famous?”

“No. It's a working ranch. Owned by one Garrett Lord.”

“So how did you find out she was there?”

“After I talked with Snyder, I started canvassing the rural area where he claimed he found her abandoned car. I got lucky my first time out at a ranch
called the Triple C. The owner didn't know anything, but his daughter, Venna Schwab, recognized Mimi's picture right away.” Harper smiled. “That Venna is quite a number.”

“I don't give a damn about some cowgirl. Tell me about Mimi. What's she doing at a ranch?”

“Working.”

Paul snorted. “Good one, Harper. Let's save the jokes until after we've got this deal sewn up.”

“I'm not joking. She's apparently hired on as a ranch hand.”

Paul shook his head. “Mimi's never done a day of hard labor in her life. She spends her time cataloguing musty antiques and filling out the branches of the great and powerful Casville family tree. There has to be some other explanation.”

“Well, it's probably not going to be one you like.” Harper took a seat on the sofa. “Venna claims Mimi is living with Garrett Lord. They even attended a neighborhood barbecue together a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps there's more to their relationship than business.”

Paul clenched his jaw, surprised at his reaction. Jealousy wasn't his style. But it galled him that Mimi was shacking up with another man so soon after their botched nuptials. Any remnants of guilt he had left about relieving her father of a few million dollars mercifully disappeared.

“So what now?” Harper asked.

Paul pressed the tips of his fingers together. Knowing Mimi's precise location changed everything. He'd have to proceed very carefully. “Let me think about it. In the meantime, keep her under surveillance.”

“And if she heads for home?” Harper asked.

Paul leveled his gaze on him. “Then make sure she doesn't get there.”

 

T
HE NEXT DAY
, Garrett stood on the edge of the hayloft and pitched another forkful of straw into the stall below. Unfortunately, the work didn't distract him from thinking about Mimi. She'd left in his pickup this morning on some mysterious errand. He couldn't help but wonder if she'd gone to meet with her fiancé.

He stabbed the fork into the straw, telling himself it didn't matter. Calving season was almost over. Then Mimi would be gone for good.

Unless he could think of a damn good reason for her to stay.

“Garrett?”

“Up here,” he called, shaking the packed straw loose from the pitchfork.

A few moments later, Mimi appeared at the top of the ladder. She sneezed at the dust in the air, then smiled as she walked toward him. “I have a surprise for you.”

He stuck the pitchfork into a square bale of straw. “Now, that sounds intriguing.”

“Here it is.” She held up a bulky manila envelope.

He took a step closer to her.

“What is it?”

“Your past.”

Garrett looked up from the envelope into her sparkling blue eyes. “I don't understand.”

She took a deep breath. “When I saw your teddy bear, I knew it was special. So I called a friend of mine, a professor who specializes in antique toys. Af
ter I gave him a detailed description, he confirmed that the teddy bear is very unique. A limited number were made and sold over ninety years ago in the Sagebrush County area.”

He stared at the envelope. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because I didn't want you to be disappointed if it was another dead end.” She pushed the package into his hands. “But it's not, Garrett.”

He sank down on a bale of straw, then fumbled with the clasp of the envelope, surprised to find his fingers shaking. “Damn.”

“Let me do it.” She leaned over his shoulder, her blond hair caressing his cheek.

He closed his eyes, trying to regain his equilibrium. After searching for answers for so long, they were now quite literally in his grasp. He should be ecstatic. Instead, his curiosity had turned to wariness. What if there was something inside that envelope he didn't want to know? What if it was something that could change his life forever?

“Garrett? Are you all right?”

He opened his eyes and saw Mimi seated beside him. She held a thick blue book in her hands with the title
Calloway Centennial 1885-1985
emblazoned in silver lettering across the front.

He cleared his throat. “Of course.”

She scooted closer and began slowly paging through the book. “This is a compilation of the history of Calloway, Texas, a tiny town north of San Antonio. There are old photographs in here, as well as information about the first settlers in the area.”

He could hear the underlying excitement in her
voice. Her fascination with the past was obvious, and he could see she'd chosen her career well. Which made him wonder all over again why she would put her life on hold just to work on a cattle ranch.

Mimi turned to the middle of the book and pointed to a photocopy of a daguerreotype. In it was an older couple, the man looking fierce with his long white beard, the woman short and plump with big dark eyes. “This is Samuel Larrimore. Your great-great-grandfather.”

Garrett swallowed hard as he stared at the photo, looking for some resemblance. “And that's my great-great-grandmother beside him?”

She nodded. “Helga Bruner Larrimore. She was Samuel's third cousin, a widow who lived in Germany. When Samuel was forty-five years old, he wrote to her and asked her to marry him. She accepted, and came to Calloway in 1885 with her three-year-old daughter, Anna Bruner, in tow.”

Garrett looked up from the book. “How do you know all this?”

Mimi smiled. “I contacted the director of the Sagebrush Conservation Society several days ago. A very helpful lady. When I learned she was going to be in Austin today for a symposium, I asked her to meet me and bring any materials she'd discovered related to Larrimores. Including photocopies of old letters, birth certificates, marriage licenses and death notices. This centennial book was an unexpected bonus.”

Relief flowed through him. “So that was the reason for your mysterious errand.”

She nodded. “I had to take your teddy bear with me, too. The director made me promise to let her look
at an authentic Bruner Bear. But don't worry. It's back safe and sound in your bedroom.”

“A Bruner Bear?”

“Designed and crafted by Anna Bruner. Your great-aunt.”

He shook his head. “I still can't believe you learned all this from one worn-out old teddy bear.”

“Garrett, that worn-out old teddy bear is worth over a thousand dollars.”

He blinked. “What?”

“It's true,” she said, laughing at his stunned expression. “Teddy bears became popular around 1906, and Anna Bruner began making her bears in 1909. She died in 1912, when she was only thirty years old. So Bruner bears are not only of exceptional quality, but very rare. You own one of the few left in existence.”

He turned to the book. “Are there any other Larrimores in here?”

She flipped the page and pointed to a photograph of a family of eight. Five young girls in identical frilly dresses and one young boy wearing a dark, homespun suit all stood staring stiffly at the camera. Their mother sat proudly among her children, three on either side of her. She was a petite woman with a sprinkling of freckles and a mischievous gleam in her eyes that reminded Garrett a little bit of Lana.

Mimi pointed to the father in the picture, a man with short dark hair parted straight down the middle and a handlebar mustache. “That's Wilhelm Larrimore. He's the only son of Samuel and Helga.”

“These are my great-grandparents,” Garrett said, staring at the photo.

“That's right. And the boy in the picture is your grandfather, Hans Larrimore.”

Garrett brushed his finger over the photo, his throat tight. To be finally given a past, a heritage of his very own, after all these years was almost too much for him to comprehend.

“Hans married a woman named Stella, and they had one child in 1942. A son.”

“My father?” Garrett ventured, his voice so tight it came out in a whisper.

“Yes.” Mimi sorted through the papers in the envelope, then handed one to him. “This is his birth certificate.”

Garrett took a deep breath, then read the neatly typed certificate. “‘Gary Hans Larrimore. Born December 2, 1942. Mother, Stella Rimmer Larrimore. Father, Hans Larrimore.'”

He stared at the birth certificate, unable to believe it was real. “My father's name is Gary Larrimore.”

Mimi laid her hand over his. He grasped it, hanging on tight as his well-ordered world tilted on its axis. After twenty-five years, he finally knew his father's name.

“There's more.” Mimi handed him another piece of paper. “This is your grandfather's obituary. He was drafted into the Army during World War Two, shortly after your father's birth.” Her voice softened. “He never made it home.”

“‘Sergeant Hans Larrimore, 27, of rural Sagebrush County,'” Garrett read aloud, noting the date, 1943, at the top of the obituary, “‘was killed in action somewhere in the Pacific theater. Hans leaves behind his loving wife, Stella, and son, Gary. Also mourning
his death are his parents, Wil and Kate Larrimore, and his grandmother, Mrs. Helga Larrimore. Memorial services will be held Friday at the Calvary Lutheran Church in Calloway.'”

Blood pounded in his ears. It was too much. After almost three decades of seeing nothing but a big black hole in his past, it was rapidly filling with family and faces. Joys and sorrows. He let the obituary fall out of his fingers and flutter to his lap. “What else do we know?”

Mimi still held his hand and gave it a gentle, encouraging squeeze. Then she opened the centennial book. “There's a section in here on each of the families who settled in Calloway and the surrounding area. The Larrimores were one of those families.”

“And?” he prompted, almost afraid to get his hopes up.

“And it lists all their descendants up to the present day. I haven't had a chance to look through everything yet. But I did find this.”

She cleared her throat and began reading in the middle of the Larrimore family history. “‘After the death of Hans Larrimore, his wife, Stella, left the area with her young son, Gary. Many years later, word was received that Stella had passed away and that Gary had married LeeAnn Bonham of Pipecreek, Texas. We have no information if any children resulted from this union.'”

Garrett stood up and began pacing across the straw-covered loft. “They're wrong. There are children. Me. Michael. Shelby. Lana.”

“You're not upset, are you?”

“Upset?” He bent and scooped Mimi off the floor.
Then he swung her around with a whoop of delight. “I can't believe it. You found them! You found my family. We're Larrimores. Children of Gary and LeeAnn Larrimore. Grandchildren of Hans Larrimore. Great-grandchildren of Wilhelm Larrimore.”

She laughed when he finally set her down on the loft floor. “Don't forgot Samuel and Helga.”

“And Anna,” he added, his smile widening to a grin. “The woman who created the Bruner Bear.”

“The key to your past,” she said softly.

“You found more than the key to my past, Mimi.” He took a step closer to her, his voice low and husky. “You found the key to my heart.”

 

M
IMI CLOSED HER EYES
as Garrett kissed her. A deep, soul-wrenching kiss that lasted forever and bonded her to him completely. His lips skimmed over her brow and cheeks until they found her mouth once again.

She sank into him, savoring his warmth and his strength. She could feel the rock-steady beat of his heart beneath her fingertips.

“Mimi,” he said softly.

When she looked up, he kissed her again. A gentle, seeking kiss that made her heart ache.

“You really know how to thank a girl,” she said, trying to keep the mood light. Trying to stay strong.

He pulled back, cupping her face in his hands. His green-gold eyes were steady and somber. “This isn't gratitude, Mimi. Don't you know how many nights I've lain awake wanting you? How many days it has taken all my willpower to walk away when all I
wanted to do was kiss you until you couldn't think straight?”

“Me, too,” she admitted. “I just…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at him, desire and uncertainty warring within her. “I wasn't sure what you'd think of me. There are still so many things we don't know about each other, Garrett. So many things you don't know about me—”

“I know that I want you,” he interjected, his voice husky in her ear.

She licked her lips, unable to resist any longer. “And I want you.”

He stepped back and gave her that crooked half-smile that she loved so much. “Then we've both been idiots. Finding stupid excuses to walk away from what we both want. What we both need.”

“Sometimes it's better to walk away,” Mimi whispered, thinking of someone she'd walked away from. Someone precious she'd never forgotten.