“I’m sure he did, too,” Ry said from the doorway.“Old Whitlock’s trying to screw up the deal.”
She glared at him.“Stop assuming that, Ry!We’re talking about something that happened twenty-two years ago.He could have forgotten, and in all honesty thinks he’s telling the truth.”
Ry folded his arms.“Pretty convenient that he happened to run into the engineer yesterday, wouldn’t you say?”
“He was checking his fence for breaks.Is that a crime?”
“I wouldn’t think a fellow of Whitlock’s stature would be inspecting his own fence.Doesn’t he have hired hands to do that?”
Freddy pushed away from the desk and rounded it to open a file cabinet drawer.“You have to understand old cowboys.They can’t sit around, and sometimes the most satisfying work is the most mundane.I can easily imagine Eb worrying about his own fence.Now, if I can just find some record of those drums being hauled away, we’ll take it into town and clear up this business once and for all.”
“You think there might be a receipt in there?”
She shoved the stuffed files apart.“I think there might be.”
“Looks like you could use a second file cabinet.”
“You’re right.But I’d have to find another battered one like this, so they’d match.A brand-new one would spoil the ambience.”
He laughed and walked over to brace one arm against the top of the cabinet.“At least we have a great excuse to go into town today,” he said in a low voice.
Heat washed over her, but she kept her head down as she closed one drawer and opened another.“Do you think so?”
“When I first came down to the corrals and saw you, I completely forgot about Ballesteros.And you know how important this deal is to me.But one look at you, and all I could remember was last night.”
Freddy realized her hands had stilled and she’d been staring sightlessly at the mashed files for several seconds.
“I’ve never spent a night like that in my life, Freddy.”
She risked looking into his eyes.What she saw there made her grip the edges of the file cabinet to keep from throwing herself into his arms.She swallowed.“You’d better go find something to do for a few minutes or I’ll never finish this search.”
The corner of his mouth tilted up.
“I mean it, Ry.And don’t forget, this office is in the middle of all the activity around here.People come and go constantly.We may not be able to keep our relationship a secret, but I’d rather not flaunt it.”
He smiled softly.“You’re right.Another five seconds and I’m liable to throw you down on the floor and rip your clothes off.”
She believed every word of it.“Take a hike, cowboy.”
He tipped his hat.“I’ll be on the front porch,” he drawled.
A half hour later, Freddy gave up.If the receipt was in the bulging file cabinet, she wouldn’t be able to find it without going through every piece of paper in every aging folder.That could take hours, even if she enlisted some help.She went looking for Ry and found him sitting with Dexter and Chloe, Dexter’s dog.
“It’s like the old needle in a haystack,” she said, dropping into a chair next to Ry.“I tried all the logical places, but no luck.”
“Dexter remembers the drums were hauled away,” Ry said.
Freddy leaned around Ry.“You do?The day those big trucks came and took the drums, the ones Dad used for gas?”
Dexter nodded.“Yep.”
“I sure wish Eb Whitlock remembered it.”
Dexter made a face.
“Oh, Dex!”Despite her frustration, Freddy laughed.“You just don’t like him because he kissed Belinda.”She glanced at Ry.“Let’s go see Mr.Ballesteros.On the way, I’ll try to remember the name of the trucking company.They might have records.Do you remember the name, Dexter?”
“Nope.Used to.”
