Rocky Mountain Cowboy (17 page)

She was tired and thought she’d leave Hawk to talk to his neighbors alone. “I’m going to the car,” she informed him quietly when there was a moment’s opening in conversation.

“Wait for me. I’ll be out in a minute.” He stopped talking long enough to address her. She nodded with a tired smile.

“I’ll walk you out,” Scott offered.

She shook her head no. “I think you better stay here,” she said, looking toward Brad who was standing close enough listen to the support Hawk was getting. “You might need to keep those two apart.”

“You might be right,” Scott agreed with a knowing grin. “See you next week— at cow camp.”

Jenny nodded and walked to the rear exit doors. She was unlocking her car door, under the bright beam of an overhead pole light, when she was stopped by Brad Caldwell. He reached for her wrist just as she touched the handle on her car door. Surprised that he had caught up to her so quickly, she gave a little start.

“Did you get Peter off okay today? How are you after the long drive?”

“Peter got to his plane on time, but it has been a long day. I’m pretty beat.” Now leave me alone and let me go home, she wanted to add, but didn’t out of good manners.

“Cindy and I will miss him.” Brad seemed not to notice her impatience. “Will he be coming back again?”

“He said he might, but he’s got a lot of work to get caught up on after being gone for two weeks. He’ll be busy a while.”

“You’ve been lucky to get so much time off.”

“Comes with being your own boss.”

Brad’s dark blue eyes swept her figure from head to toe. “You look spectacular tonight. One of your own designs again?”

“Yes, and thank you.” Her manners might not last too much longer if he kept her here with all this small talk.

“Your talent is extraordinary. I have a feeling you would be well worth investing in, Jenny.” His voice was low and seductive as he took both her hands in his. “Any chance you’d let me set a date with you for dinner— just you and me and a nice restaurant?”

“Brad, I...”

She was saved from having to give him an answer when they were interrupted by two men. Brad shook hands with the older, shorter man. Interestingly, he didn’t introduce her to either man. Jenny stepped back and gave them a silent assessment, while Brad and the older man
turned away from her to talk in low, hard-to-hear voices.

The younger man was huge—tall, muscular, a body builder type. The older man was
obviously in charge, though. They were both dressed in dark suits. Businessmen, maybe. Rather intense, she thought. Not ranchers. Probably not from this area. She heard a bit of a New York dialect in the older man’s speech.

Moneymen
or investors of some kind. They looked like the type of men she saw frequently around the movie studios. The kind of men who put up the dollars for the productions, pressuring the moviemakers for returns on their investments. Maybe she was just being melodramatic because she was tired, but they made her a feel uneasy. And both of them, especially, the younger one, kept casting speculative looks in her direction. Unwisely, she let her eyes linger a moment on the body builder. The lecherous gleam in his eyes chilled her to the bone.

As they bid Brad farewell and walked away, she shivered, a deep, whole body shiver that had nothing to do with the cool night breeze. Brad immediately slid an arm around her shoulders. She was just about to move out from under his arm when Hawk walked out of the grange hall. He gave her a sharp look, first in anger, then in disgust.

Shit!
It was her first reaction. Then Cindy Caldwell emerged from around a dark corner of the building, and hurried up to Hawk. She was breathless, like she’d been rushing. Well, didn’t this scene go from bad to worse?

“Oh, I’m glad I didn’t miss you!” she told Hawk as she came up to him and took his arm. “My ride dropped me off late.” With a breathy little laugh, she stood up on her toes to give Hawk a kiss on the cheek. “But I’m here. Ready to go?”

Hawk gave Jenny a long assessing stare. “Yeah, let’s go. I’m finished here.”

Left alone to deal with Brad, Jenny decided she was finished here, too. She made her excuses to the man at her side. He told her he’d call her by the weekend. She just nodded and decided to deal with him later. She’d had about all the Caldwells she could take the last twenty
-four hours.

As she got behind the wheel of her
brand new torch red Corvette Stingray and started the low rumbling engine that always made heads turn, she watched Hawk open the door of his truck for Cindy Caldwell. She slid in, to the center of the bench seat. With the dome light on, Jenny saw Cindy snuggle up to Hawk as he got in behind the wheel. Before he closed his door and shut out the light, Cindy pulled his face around for a long torrid kiss.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out where that kiss was going— no doubt straight to the nearest motel room. The woman was practically straddling him! And he certainly wasn’t pushing her away. Jenny backed her Corvette out of the space next to him before the kiss ended, unable to watch anymore.

Tears blurred her vision as she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. It hurt, a lot, to see Hawk in Cindy Caldwell’s arms. Jenny thought there might have been something developing between her and him, but when she got involved with a man, she didn’t make it a practice to share him. Obviously, this man, though, was already involved with another woman. She’d been hoping Peter had been wrong when he had warned her of that. Well damn! Maybe it was for the best that it would be just business between them. She’d already learned with Peter that business didn’t mix well with an affair.

It wasn’t much consolation, though. She wondered how she should interpret yesterday’s intimacy at the line cabin. Hawk hadn’t given her the impression he was in a relationship with another woman. What game was he playing? Still confused and miserable by the time she went to bed, she found it impossible to banish the image o
f him in Cindy Caldwell’s arms.

CHAPTER 11

“You’re up bright and early
, considerin’ how late you got in last night.” Eli was sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling on his boots when Hawk walked into his room at the back of the bunkhouse the next morning. “You and that Caldwell woman have a good time?” With a hard-eyed glare, he looked over at the man in the doorway. “When Jenny came home and you didn’t, she told me you and Cindy left the meetin’ together.”

Hawk scrubbed a hand down his face. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, and he’d woke
n up with a hangover this morning. He needed a cup of coffee, not the lecture Eli was for certain going to deliver.

“Yeah, well did she also tell you what a fool Brad made of me when I brought up the topic of our missing cattle? The whole idea of cattle rustling was funny as hell to Brad. He had half the room thinking I was a damn idiot for losing my cows.”

Eli gave him a level-eyed look. “I heard ‘bout all that, too. But Brad’s always been a smart-ass. You didn’t expect nuthin’ else, did you?”

“I sure as hell didn’t expect Tom’s daughter to cozy up to the jerk, afterwards,” Hawk shot back, still furious about seeing her with Brad after the meeting. “Hell, everyone’s going to think she agrees with him that I am an idiot.”

Now Eli was really angry. “Aw hell, boy, that’s crap! She told me you got a lot of support after the meetin’. And I’ll lay you ten-to-one she wasn’t cozyin’ up to Caldwell. You know how he operates. Everything is for show. He probably knew you was comin’ out that door.”

Hawk stepped out of the way as Eli strode past him to the kitchen
to make coffee. “Maybe that little scene was for show, but you know Brad is trying damn hard to influence her. He’s going to use her against me if he can. According to Cindy, he filled her head with all kinds of crap the other night at their little dinner party. He’s got her thinking she ought to sue me for incompetency.”

“Bullpucky!” Eli cussed as he plugged his ancient electric coffee maker into the outlet. “Jenny’s Tom’s daughter, for christsakes. She’s not gonna sue you. She’s gonna be on your side, if you give her half a chance. And I’ll just bet she’d be happy to help you out. You gotta load of problems right now. You think Tom would’ve wanted you tacklin’ them by yourself?” Eli pointed a gnarled finger at him
as he turned around to face Hawk again. “And get your head outta your ass with that Caldwell woman. That ain’t goin’ nowhere ‘cept you gettin’ laid once in the while. She don’t give you any info that keeps her brother off your back. Hell, a good woman comes along, and you ain’t gonna be able to spot her if you’re playing games with Miss High and Mighty.”

Hawk stared at the old cowhand and started to laugh. “Lord almighty, Eli, you sure got an opinion about everything!”

“And what the hell would you all do if I didn’t?”

“Hell if I know!”

“Damn straight!” Eli poured a cup of coffee. “Want a cup?” he asked, holding out the percolator.

“Yeah, thanks.” Hawke grabbed a mug and held it out for Eli to fill, then sat down at the small kitchen table with him. “Tom wouldn’t have wanted me getting his daughter involved....”

“Horseshit!” Eli interrupted. “I’ve known Tom since he was your age. I’m damn sure he woulda wanted both of you workin’ these problems out together.”

Hawk sipped his coffee pensively. “Maybe. I’ll give it some thought up at cow camp. That’s what I came to tell you
. I’m going up there until Friday evening. Hank said he found some signs of a stock trailer up by that logging road that runs near the old Miller mine. I want to check it out, and see if I can find any evidence of cattle theft.”

“You’re not taking Jenny?”

“Not now— next week, Monday. You, too, by the way. I’m going to need everyone up there for a week. We’ll be back Friday because the wedding is on Saturday. Did you get that tux rented?”

“Yeah, yeah.
I took one of your suits in so they had your measurements” Eli waved that topic aside. “Jenny ain’t gonna be too happy that you’re leavin’ her behind. She’s gonna think you don’t want her along ‘cause she can’t do nuthin’ right.”

“Yeah, probably, but tell her that’s got nothing to do with it. She’s still hurt and sore. She needs to rest before we go up next week. Show her the books. She needs to look them over anyway. I just haven’t had time to review them with her.” Hawk got up to leave, but stopped in the doorway and turned back to Eli. “Oh, and tell her if she didn’t bring a bathing suit, to go into town and buy one.”

“A bathing suit? What the hell for? We ain’t got no pool.”

“On Saturday, I’m going to take her up to Chester Creek Hot Springs. It’s about time she see what Brad wants, and she might like a soak in their pools. You ought to try it yourself sometime, you old coot. It’d help your disposition, and your arthritis.”

Eli waved away the suggestion without comment. “You might want to think ‘bout telling her ‘bout Cindy Caldwell. She asked.”

“She did, huh?”

“I oughtta make you go over to the house and wake her up. You should tell her all this stuff yourself ‘fore you leave, ‘stead of leavin’ it to me. But get outta here, now. I got stuff to do.”

Hawk
gave him a grin and left. When he rode past the house, he looked up at the second story window where Jenny was undoubtedly asleep. He wasn’t real happy about leaving without talking to her. A half hour ago, he’d still been upset with her, but Eli was probably right. Last night probably hadn’t been her fault. Caldwell was a snake. It would be just like him to stage that scene outside the Cattlemen’s meeting.

It didn’t make what he’d done none too smart, either. Eli was right again. He didn’t know why he was still screwing around with Cindy Caldwell. They hadn’t seen much of each other lately anyway. And even though she talked about her brother a lot, she didn’t know what he was really up to most of the time. Cindy was convenient. When he’d been younger, he
’d thought he was in love with her, but it hadn’t taken him long to learn Cindy only loved herself. It ran in the family. Now, they pretty much used each other, in between other relationships.

He shouldn’t have gone with her after the meeting. They’d gone to a bar, had one too many beers, and ended up in bed together in the motel next door. He’d been furious with Jenny. Seeing her standing there, with Brad’s arm around her, after that humiliating meeting had driven all rational thought from his head. He knew what the bastard was up to; had even expected it. But he hadn’t expected Jenny to listen to it. And according to Cindy, that’s exactly what she’d done at dinner the other night.

But, damn it, Jenny didn’t really seem like the type to side with Caldwell. And he needed to end this thing with Cindy Caldwell once and for all. It wasn’t any more than sex between them now, anyway, and last night, he’d found out for sure it wasn’t Cindy he wanted in bed with him. Even half drunk, it had been Jenny’s face he’d seen in his mind the whole night. He sure enough had a lot to think about the next few days while he was at cow camp.

∞∞∞

Jenny felt pretty discouraged when she woke up to discover Hawk had taken off for the rest of the week. By the time he returned, she had run through a whole gamut of emotions; anger hurt, regret, then finally determination.