She gave him a hard stare. “Even if I were, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”
Dylan glanced away. He was wrong to interfere, and he knew it. “Fine.”
Jenny smiled. “Now, how about that dinner? Summer, why don’t you and Dylan sit down at one of the empty tables, and I’ll get you some menus.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
CAIN WAS WORKING IN THE STUDY IN HIS SUITE THE FOLLOWINGmorning when his cell phone rang. He recognized Nick Faraday’s number.
“Faraday. You got something?”
“Not a lot. Just a little info on Jeanette Eileen Spencer Thorndyke. Thorndyke’s her ex. It’s Jenny Spencer now that she’s gone back to her maiden name.”
“Thorndyke. Tell me about him.”
“Richard Thorndyke. Jenny met him at Yavapai College. Her uncle, Charles Spencer, helped her pay for school, but Jenny also worked nearly full-time. Richard was a year older, married her as soon as she graduated. According to what I could find out, Jenny worked to put him through Arizona State, which took him an extra year because he was so busy screwing around.”
Cain’s jaw hardened. “Jenny know about it?”
“It took her a while to figure it out, I guess. Divorced him after she did. When it comes to women, Thorndyke’s as smooth as they come.”
“What’s he do for a living?”
“Worked as a stock broker after he got out of school. After the divorce, he sold real estate for a while. When that didn’t pan out, he married a woman named Margaret Eastman. She’s ten years his senior, inherited the family fortune, so these days Richard doesn’t do a helluva lot of anything, except play golf, squire his wife around, spend her money, and screw other women.”
Cain had watched Jenny in the bar. She was always friendly to her customers, but she made it clear to the men she wasn’t interested. Now Cain knew why.
He thought of the kiss. He figured he had caught her off guard. She’d probably be more wary the next time.
Cain silently cursed.
“That it?” he asked.
“I can dig a little deeper, but so far, I haven’t turned up anything that would make you hesitate to employ her.”
“I didn’t think you would, but I appreciate your taking a look.” He shifted the phone to his other ear. “Anything new on my stallion?”
“Still looking. Some good news for the Branch Creek Ranch. One of their quarter horses showed up at an auction in Tucson. The mare was running loose along the road, and the guy who found her needed money. Lucky thing was, the son of the owner was at the auction, looking to buy some stock. He recognized the animal, and the whole thing went sideways. Horse is back at the ranch.”
“Interesting. You’d think if they went to the trouble of stealing it, they’d take better care of it.”
“You’d think.”
“I’ve got my computer whizzes digging around on the internet,” Cain said. “So far, they haven’t found squat.”
“I’ll keep you posted from this end.”
Cain ended the call and tossed his cell phone up on the desk. He should probably go back to Scottsdale, check in at the office in person. But he had competent people he trusted, and if they needed him, they knew where to find him. Anything really important, he was only a couple of hours away.
He checked his heavy stainless wristwatch. Jenny wasn’t coming in today. She was working at the Copper Star. It was nearly lunchtime, and he was hungry. Grabbing the brown sheepskin jacket on the back of his chair, he slung it over his shoulder and headed for the elevator in his suite.
* * *
It was eleven-thirty. With the October weather still pleasant and business brisk, the rooms were mostly full. Jenny had two part-time girls upstairs cleaning.
Deciding to check on their progress, she walked through the door from the bar into the small hotel lobby. At the same time, Heather rounded the desk and came toward her. She was a nice girl, a little overweight but working on it, a few pink streaks in her shoulder-length dark hair. She was quiet and efficient, an asset to the crew at the Star.
“The couple in room ten haven’t checked out,” Heather said. “We have another reservation for the room today, so I’m not quite sure what to do. Should I go up and knock on their door, let them know it’s time to go? Or just wait and charge them extra when they leave?”
