fulfill one of Terrie’s dying wishes. For herself she’d been waiting months to confront the amoral male who’d taken advantage of Terrie’s youth and naivete, then discarded her so cruelly, never worrying if there’d be consequences.
“I’ll see you there, then,” she responded quietly.
With a mixed sense of anxiety and anticipation over what she would learn, Catherine turned on the motor, willing to cooperate with this enigmatic man who held the keys to Buck’s whereabouts.
Once she’d made contact, and had satisfied herself he couldn’t care less how many children he might have spawned in his selfish need for gratification, she’d be able to carry out Terrie’s other wish.
A wish that had become Catherine’s
Evening had come to the Rubies, prompting Cole to turn on his headlights. The woman at the wheel in front of his power wagon drove at a fast clip, forcing him to concentrate while he made a couple of phone calls, the last one being to his brother.
“John? Hold down the fort, will you? I’m on my way to Elko to take care of some important business.”
“I saw you leave a little while ago. Anything I can do to help?”
Cole’s thirty-two-year-old married brother was a rock he could always lean on in an emergency. They’d shared pretty much everything in life, but not this time. Not until Cole knew if their little brother had truly fathered a child.
“I’ll tell you about it later.”
He could hear the question John didn’t ask. That was what made him the good man he was.
“When will you be back?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Fair enough. Brenda’s waiting for you. She’s going to be disappointed when I tell her business called you away.”
Business, hell-
Cole rubbed his jaw. Brenda was attractive, and he enjoyed her company, but that was all. Unfortunately she wanted more. This was as good a time as any to end it with her. She would have to under stand he needed his space to mourn Buck. If she didn’t, then he couldn’t do anything about it. Catherine Arnold’s bombshell had blown him from the path where he’d been letting his life drift. But no longer.
“I’ll call her later.” He rang off, his thoughts already concentrated on the female who’d managed to get beneath his skin long before he’d learned her visit had anything to do with Buck.
When she took the first turnoff, he sped ahead of her and drove on to the Midas Inn, located in the center of town. Pulling around the side to a private entrance, he jumped down from the cab to help her from the car she’d parked along side his truck.
Her long, elegant legs distracted him as she got out of the car. “Is this where we’re meeting Buck?”
“No.” With that one word he’d extinguished the hope in those fabulous blue eyes. “We need to talk. The Midas is one of the ranch owner’s investments,” he explained, aware of her questioning glance as he pulled her over night bag from the backseat. “I phoned ahead to arrange a room for you. If you made a reservation somewhere else, let me know and I’ll cancel it.”
“It’s at the Ruby Inn.”
“In your own name?”
“Yes,” she answered tentatively. “Why do you ask?”
“You come off sounding like you might be an attorney. If so, you could have made your reservation in the name of the firm you work for.”
“I’m a social worker at a facility for young single mothers, but I’m not here in an official capacity. My reason for coming is strictly personal, if it’s any comfort.”
It wasn’t.
Buck had shown poor judgment in a lot of cases-but getting involved with an underage girl while he’d been working on their uncle’s stud farm outside Reno last summer?
“Maybe that explains why you exhibit the instincts of a clever PI.”
“Not that clever, apparently, but I’m not going to complain if it means you can lead me to Bonnie’s biological father.”
He ushered her inside the building as far as the door of the manager’s office. “Follow this hallway to the front desk and give the night clerk your name. He’ll take care of you. After you’ve freshened up, meet me in here.”
“Thank you.” She managed to get the words out before taking the bag from him. “I won’t be long.”
“In that case I’ll ask the restaurant to bring us a sandwich.”
Cole doubted he’d able to eat, but he preferred she didn’t suspect he felt like he’d been trampled in a wild mustang stampede no one had seen coming seconds before it happened.
CHAPTER THREE
TEN minutes later Catherine knocked on the manager’s door.
“Come in.”
Recognizing Cole’s deep voice, she walked inside the office. The sight of him standing behind the desk, in a beautiful white dress shirt with the sleeves pushed up his tanned arms to the elbows, rocked her to the foundations.
Minus his tie and suit jacket-the outer trap pings of civilized society-his virility was even more in evidence.
By comparison she knew she looked washed out. Other than pulling her hair back in a ponytail, she still wore the suit she’d arrived in. Until she saw the club sandwiches and sliced melon placed on the desk in front of him, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was.
“Sit down, Catherine.”
The use of her first name indicated progress. Despite their precarious beginning, she liked the sound of it on his lips. She liked the play of muscle across his shoulders and arms. Too much.
Murmuring her assent, she pulled up a chair. Now that the fencing was over, they could get down to business.
He pushed one of the plates toward her, no doubt recognizing the signs of someone who was starving. She reached for a sandwich half and began devouring it. Cole, on the other hand, drank cola from the can while he watched her through shuttered eyes.
Anticipating her needs, he handed her a cola, which she grate fully accepted. She drank most of it before putting the can back on the desk.
“Thank you. I needed that,” she exclaimed, glancing at the food he hadn’t touched. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“Later. For now I want to hear the details about Terrie and her relationship with Buck.” His probing gray eyes were like an assault on her senses. “When they first met-where-how long it lasted-how and when you came into the picture-”
On the drive back to Elko she’d determined to tell him everything she knew in the hope her candor would be rewarded.
