“A little.”
“She’s a meddler. And…well…” He seemed to catch himself, and he quickly shook his head. “Nah. Not going there. You tell me what you’re doing in Blue Earth Valley.”
Sydney wrapped her hands around her coffee cup. Right. Stalling wasn’t going to change a thing. She’d plunge right in and hope to catch him off guard. “I’m a curator from the Laurent Museum.”
He didn’t react. Didn’t show any signs of panic. That was good.
“I’ve just finished three months’ research in Europe.”
He waited. Still no reaction.
“It supplemented three years of previous research. My thesis, actually.”
“You wrote a thesis?”
“Yes, I did. On the Thunderbolt of the North.”
Okay. That got a reaction from him. His eyes chilled to sea ice and his jaw clamped tight.
“I understand you’re the current owner.”
His palms came down hard on the table. “You understand wrong.”
“Let me rephrase-”
“Good idea.”
She leaned in again. “I know how it works.”
“You know how
“The inheritance. I know it goes to your wife. And I’m here to offer to marry you.”
Two
Everything inside Cole stilled.
He opened his mouth, then he snapped it shut again.
He stared at the perfectly gorgeous creature in front of him and tried to make sense out the situation. Was this a joke?
“Did Kyle put you up to this?” he asked.
“Who’s Kyle?”
“My brother.”
She shook her head and all that auburn hair fanned out around her perfectly made-up face. “It wasn’t your brother, and it wasn’t your grandmother.”
“Then who?”
“Me.”
He paused again. “You seriously expect me to believe you came all the way from New York-”
“Yes, I do.” She reached into her clutch purse and pulled out a business card.
He read it. Sure enough, Laurent Museum. Okay, now he was just getting annoyed. The Thunderbolt wasn’t a commodity to be bartered. It was a trust, a duty. “So was that breakdown nothing but a setup?”
“What breakdown?”
“Your car.”
“My car is fine.”
“Your car is fried.”
“You know, I just proposed to you.”
He stood up. “And you thought I’d say yes?”
“I’d hoped-”
“In what universe?” His voice rose, bouncing off the cabin walls. He was offended, offended on behalf of his grandmother, his ancestors and his heirs. “In what
She stood, too. “Oh, no. I didn’t mean-”
“I have horses to shoe.” He was done listening. She could fix her own car for all he cared, or call a taxi or hoof it up to the main road.
“Right now?” she asked.
“Right now.” He scooped a battered Stetson from a hook on the wall and stuffed it on his head.
Sydney watched Cole march out of the small log cabin. Okay, that hadn’t gone quite as well as she’d hoped. But then again, he hadn’t really given her a chance to explain. She wasn’t trying to
She was pulling together a Viking show exceptional enough for front gallery space at the Laurent. With the Thunderbolt as the centerpiece, she would thwart Bradley Slander and save her career. All she needed was the cooperation of one cowboy.
She moved to the cabin door and watched him head up a rise while she contemplated her next move.
The man had the broadest shoulders she’d ever seen. Solid as an oak tree, he had a confident stride and a butt that could stop traffic. She watched for a few more steps, then she forced her gaze away. His butt was irrelevant. The marriage would be in name only.
Her focus had to be on the brooch, not on the man. It wasn’t as if she could put Cole on display in the front gallery. Although…
She squelched a grin and glanced at the rental car.
A breakdown, huh? Car trouble could be her ticket to more time with him. Swallowing the dregs of her coffee, she made up her mind. If that baby wasn’t broken down now, it soon would be.
She waited until Cole disappeared over the hill. Then she popped the hood, yanked out some random wires and closed it up again, hoping she’d done some serious damage.
Dusting off her hands, she tucked her clutch purse under her arm and headed up the hill.
Three-inch heels were definitely not the best choice for the Erickson Ranch. Neither was a straight skirt and loose hair. By the time she closed in on Cole, she was disheveled and out of breath. She’d scratched her hand ducking through a barbed-wire fence, got a cactus stuck to the toe of her shoe and attracted a pair of horseflies that were now moving in for the kill.
Cole looked completely unfazed by the climb. He stood a hundred yards away, on the crest of the hill, with a coiled rope in one hand. He raised his thumb and index finger to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle that she was willing to bet would get the attention of every cab driver on Fifth Avenue.
The ground rumbled beneath her feet and she took an involuntary step backward. Then she forced herself to hold still and sucked in a bracing breath. If it was a stampede, it was a stampede.
The Thunderbolt had the power to launch her career to the stratosphere. And she’d studied too long and too hard to quit now. Better to be trampled to death trying to get her hands on it than give up and become a tour guide.
A herd of some twenty horses appeared on the ridge, their manes and tails flowing in a wave of black, brown and silver. In the face of their onslaught, Cole stood his ground. He lifted his battered cowboy hat and waved it in the air. The herd slowed, parted around him, then shuffled to a stop.
Okay. Now
And she wasn’t dead.
The day was looking up.
Cole captured a big gray horse and led it through a gate. Sydney quickly followed. She was intimidated by the big animal, but she was more frightened of the two dozen of his friends they were leaving behind.
Cole tied up the horse then ran his hands soothingly along its neck. “Was there something about my
She found a log to perch on and gingerly plucked at the little round cactus on her shoe. Her skirt would probably be ruined, but that couldn’t be helped. She played dumb. “You said no?”
He turned to stare at her for a moment. “Just in case you missed it the first time, no.”
“You haven’t heard me out.”
