A Cowboy's Temptation

“He was a little flirty the night of the barn raising. And again at the fair, there might have been a little something. But I have a feeling that was more of an automatic response to the fact that I’m female. I bet he flirts with everyone.”

“I don’t think so,” Marta countered. “I’ve seen him with lots of women. He’s quite circumspect.”

“Hmmm.” Darby let her mind go back over the memory. She knew she shouldn’t care whether or not he found her attractive, but her ego kind of liked the idea.

“It’s another option. Maybe you could flirt your way to a referendum.”

“I think you’re being ridiculously optimistic. But I have to admit, I did think about it.”

“It couldn’t hurt to try,” Marta reasoned. “If the petition fails, maybe you could cloud his judgment with lust.”

“Would you ever try something like that?” It didn’t seem particularly noble, but Darby had no doubt it would work for some women.

“Sure,” said Marta. “Depending on the circumstances, if the stakes were high enough.”

“How high?”

“If somebody’s life was on the line. Or if a thousand lives were on the line. How could you live with yourself if you didn’t?” She grimaced.

“Alas, in this case, no lives are on the line.”

“Disappointed?” Marta grinned.

“No.” Darby emphatically shook her head. Well, maybe a little. If somebody’s life were on the line, she’d have a perfectly noble excuse to flirt with Seth.

“Plus, you’d probably have to sleep with him to really make it work.”

“Excuse me?” Darby’s fantasy didn’t extend that far. Well, not really.

“I don’t think you’ve got that in you.”

“Why not?” Darby demanded, before she realized how that would sound out loud.

Marta laughed at her.

“I mean, of course I don’t.” Darby shifted to her stomach, settling more comfortably on her towel. The prone position kept her below the freshening breeze.

“Though,” Marta mused, leaning back on her elbows. “I suppose you could sleep with him recreationally. Do it for fun, and if it helps, it helps.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Darby told both of them.

“I prefer to think of it as practical.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I am, but not really. If, and only if, you’d be willing to sleep with him, anyway, why not let the chips fall where they may?”

Darby tried to picture it. Unfortunately, she could.

Three

Darby’s petition was printed, bound and sitting on the breakfast table in the mayor’s residence. Seth gazed at it while he sipped his orange juice and wondered about his next move. Some of the names he’d expected, others had surprised him, leading him to make some mental estimates about his chances in a full-on referendum. Would Darby be able to hold this level of support through a secret ballot? Or had they simply signed the petition to make a pretty woman happy?

Lisa appeared in her usual black slacks and dark blazer. She crossed the kitchen to the breakfast nook. There, she took a seat in the streaming sunshine, pouring herself a cup of coffee from the stainless vacuum pot.

“I have good news and bad news,” she opened.

“I’m staring at the bad news already,” Seth said.

“This is ironic,” said Lisa.

“How so?”

She pointed to the petition. “That’s the good news.”

“I love it when you play mind games in the morning.” It took Seth an hour or so for his brain to be firing on all cylinders. But Lisa could hit the mental ground running.

“They don’t have enough signatures.”

Seth sat up straight, shaking some oxygen into his brain cells to make sure he’d heard right. “What?”

“They have five hundred ninety-seven signatures. We’ve double-checked.”

Seth reached for the printout. “They actually lied?”

Darby was gutsier than he’d given her credit for. He found himself chuckling. After her accusing him of cheating, he couldn’t wait to toss this in her face.

“They don’t have the numbers.” Lisa took a satisfied sip of her steaming coffee.

“So that’s it.” Seth’s mood brightened considerably. “We’re good to go. We can implement the permits tomorrow.”

Finally, finally, he was going to accomplish something significant in this job. The hard work, the late nights, the compromises of his family—it was all going to be worth it.

“Not so fast,” said Lisa.

He held his optimism in check. “Why?”

“Mountain Railway called. Well, one of their lawyers called.”

“Don’t tell me they’ve changed their minds.” He tried to keep the fatalistic tone from his voice.

Seth knew the deal wasn’t nailed down until every single piece was in place, formally signed and witnessed. And the recent negative press had been worrying him. He was afraid it would scare off the railway.

“They haven’t changed their minds. During their legal review, they found a problem in a land survey.”

He shifted gears. Problems, he could solve. Well, most of them. At least in the long run. “What did they find?”

“There’s a discrepancy between the survey filed on the property title, and the survey filed in the Lands Office. And, in the case of a discrepancy, the Lands Office copy trumps anything else.”