The Rodeo Man's Daughter

Caleb focused on her again. “I don’t know about that,” he drawled. “You and I’ve got some catching up to do.”

She curled her fingers into fists. “No, we do not, and—”

“Ahh…Tess?” Dana broke in. She looked at Caleb. “If you’ll excuse us for just a minute…?”

He patted the fender of the pickup truck. “I’ll be waiting right here.”

“Thanks.”

Within seconds, Dana had unlocked the door and led the way into the office. She turned to Tess with a wide smile—most likely for the benefit of Caleb, who stood outside the storefront window—and said, “Girl, have you completely lost your mind?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, we’re both going to lose our jobs if we don’t make a sale soon.”

Tess sighed. “I know.”

As a single mom and the sole breadwinner for her small family, Tess clung to the paycheck she earned here. The money took care of their bills, if she budgeted carefully. When she had pennies left, she helped tide her mother over with her fledgling business, turning their home into a bed-and-breakfast inn and taking on guests.

Nonexistent guests, lately.

Things were bad all around. No one had much money on hand for vacationing in small-town inns. Or for buying property, for that matter. Losing this job would mean she’d have no income.

Roselynn and Nate depended on her. But as bad as things were for her, she knew Dana had it much worse. Widowed and left a single mom, her friend struggled to get by with three kids of her own.

Now Dana stood tugging on a lock of her honey-brown hair, her blue eyes narrowed in speculation.

“I have no idea what all this ‘catching up’ is that you and Caleb have to do—” Tess remained silent “—though I’m sure I’ll hear about it sometime.” She smiled as if to soften the words.

Since grade school, she and Dana had shared everything. But not that. She’d never told Dana anything about her connection to Caleb. Much as Tess loved her, she knew Dana couldn’t have kept herself from broadcasting the news that Tess had found a boyfriend. Tess had had her own reasons for not wanting the news spread. And after what had happened, she’d given thanks that no one had known.

“I suppose,” Dana was saying, “I could offer to show him around town, but I don’t want to risk him taking offense. He obviously wants to work with you.”

“Yes, I know.” Why? That’s what worried her. Caleb Cantrell didn’t do anything without a reason. And he certainly didn’t do anything he didn’t want to. She had learned that years ago. After their last conversation way back then, she couldn’t imagine why he’d want to speak to her again—or how he could have the nerve to believe she would ever have anything to do with him.

“Look,” Dana said, “I can understand your reluctance to deal with Caleb. The man didn’t have such a great reputation when he lived here.”

“That has nothing to do with it,” she protested truthfully.

“Fine. But if there’s one thing we know about him, he’s made money since he left town. Who are we to keep him from spending it in Flagman’s Folly? And, let’s face it, we need the commission.”

“I know.” She couldn’t refuse to work with Caleb.

Besides, did she really want Dana working with him? Talking to him? Asking him questions about that so-called “catching up” he claimed they needed to do?

“All right,” she said at last, choking on the words.

But it wasn’t. No matter how much money she might bring in by making a sale for Wright Place Realty, dealing with Caleb Cantrell could cost her plenty. If he ever found out about the baby she’d kept from him, it might cost her the daughter she loved.

Chapter Two

“Now you know what I’m looking for,” Caleb finished up. Across their booth in the Double S, Tess stared down at her notebook. “The best money can buy.”

He had grabbed his coffee and her tea and headed to the empty booth at the far front corner of the room, close to the café’s door. Not that he would need a getaway…

Tess didn’t look too happy about sitting here with him. And she’d said next to nothing, leaving him to spend the last half hour doing enough talking to make his throat drier than New Mexico dust. Luckily, Dori kept the pot hot and full.

He glanced down at the woven place mat under his coffee mug, then around the room at the rough wooden tables and chairs, the bare planked floors, the colorful sombreros on the wall.

At anything that gave him the chance to think for a minute without staring at Tess.

Why he should find it hard to look her in the eye, he didn’t know. Finding out she worked selling real estate had given him the best reason in the world for getting in touch with her once he’d come back to town. And her job made her just the person he needed to get his point across to everyone. He’d run down a list a mile long, throwing in every option he could think of for the kind of property he wanted to buy. The best, the biggest. The most expensive property.

He looked around the café. At this hour, too late for workers to stop in for coffees to go and too early for a lunch rush, the restaurant had only a few customers. Luckily, no one he knew. He’d returned to Flagman’s Folly eager to get to work, but now that he had arrived, he’d realized he should’ve done more thinking beforehand about his great idea.

Much as he hated to admit it, seeing Tess again had shaken him more than he would have guessed.

But it was time to put his plan into action.

He looked back at her. “You got all that?”

“I believe so.” Her head down, she flipped back through the pages of the notebook that lay on the table beside her.

He took the opportunity to check her out yet again.

Could have knocked him over with a frayed lasso when he’d seen her come walking along Signal Street. Luckily he’d gotten hold of himself by the time she’d reached him.

During the past ten years, Tess hadn’t changed a bit.

Well…naturally, she’d grown up and filled out.

Still, she had the same shoulder-length tumble of dark curls, the pale skin that gave her away every time she blushed, the sparkling dark brown eyes. She looked up at him again now, those eyes wide, and said not a word.

He glanced down to see her hanging on to her teacup for dear life, it seemed. No wedding band. He wondered about that.

Not that it meant anything to him.

If only he could say the same about the way her fingers had trembled in his when he’d shaken her hand earlier…

Letting go of the death grip on her cup, she transferred her attention to the hem of her yellow shirt. The tug she gave on it pulled the fabric taut against her.

He forced himself to focus on taking a long swallow of his coffee.

“I think I’ve got everything we’ll need.” Her lips curved briefly. “Any last-minute items for your wish list?”

Yeah. A real smile. That one had looked so fake, he wouldn’t have given her a nickel for it. “Nope. That about covers it for now.”

“Then I’ll get back to the office and start working on this. I’m sure we’ll be able to find something to suit you.” She flipped the notebook closed and dropped it into her bag.