“If you were part of Murray’s big plan, you would.”
“But I’m not.”They crossed the Queensboro.Bridge, linking Manhattan with Long Island, and Jo glanced at the skyline.She might never fly here again, which was why she’d stocked up on extra souvenirs for Emmy Lou.No use crying over it now, though.She turned to Quinn.“Since I’ve proven I’m not part of some intricate plot, would you kindly tell me who this Murray person is?”
“My best friend since the second grade and the owner of a fleet of cabs.He’s convinced I’ve turned into a stuffed shirt who couldn’t handle a day in one of his cabs, so finally I bet him I could.When the guy showed up with a shoebox full of snakes I wondered if Murray had somehow engineered that.A cooler full of horse sperm was so outrageous I decided you were also in on the campaign to rattle me and make me lose the bet.”
“I see.”Jo had caught a glimpse of the little snake twice.It was just a harmless garter snake, but she’d suspected from the beginning of this adventure that snakes sent Quinn into a panic.She’d decided to try to catch the snake with a minimum of fuss so he wouldn’t wreck the cab.Then she’d suggest they let it go in one of the open fields near the airport.
“Now it’s your turn,” Quinn said.“What’s with the horse sperm?”
“It belongs to my friend Cassie’s stallion, Sir Lust-a-Lot.Cassie was my college roommate, and I worked at her family’s stable in upstate New York after graduation.Then I inherited the ranch, and we established a spring tradition — I take the red-eye to New York, shop all morning, meet Cassie for lunch at Tavern on the Green and leave with the sperm.”
“Are you telling me you don’t have horse sperm in Montana?”
“Sure, we do, but this is a connection with Cassie, and besides, Sir Lust-a-Lot has extremely viable sperm.Good little swimmers.My mares get pregnant likethat.”She snapped her fingers for emphasis, then glimpsed the snake easing out from under her seat.She kept an eye on it and said nothing.
“Is that what you raise on your ranch?Horses?”
“No.We try to raise cattle.”Jo sighed as she was reminded of her heavy debt load, most of it accumulated since she’d inherited the Bar None.She might be good with horses, but she was financially challenged.She should have followed her great-aunt’s advice and taken more accounting courses, but they’d given her a migraine, and she’d really had no idea Josephine would will her the ranch.“We lost quite a chunk of the herd this past winter.I’m already behind on my payments to the bank, so I’m not sure what the future holds.”
“I guess it’s tough to be a small ranching operation these days.”
“It is tough.And when the ranch is such a little gem and has been entrusted into your care by your favorite great-aunt, you’d do almost anything to keep it going.”She glanced at him.“I’m sorry you’re not Brian Hastings.One of his advance men came by the ranch last fall and said they were looking for a location for his next film.If you were Brian Hastings, I’d fall to my knees and beg you to use the ranch in your movie.”
He smiled at her.“And if I were Brian Hastings, I would use your ranch in my next movie.”
“Thanks.”She really liked that smile of his.Actually she thought it was sexier than Brian’s, but she probably shouldn’t say so.They were only going to be sharing a cab ride, after all.No point in starting anything, especially with a guy whose roots were in New York City.Despite her money problems, she’d discovered a kinship with Montana.Even losing the ranch might not force her to leave.But she intended to find a way to keep the Bar None.Somehow.
“I take it you haven’t heard any more from the Hastings organization?”
“Nope.But I shamelessly told the bank that the movie deal was a sure thing.It’s kept them off my back temporarily, but if Brian Hastings never shows, the bank will start demanding money again.”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to stake everything on the whim of a movie star,” Quinn said.
“Probably not.”Jo watched the snake ease out a little more and poised herself to lean down and snatch it.To distract Quinn from what she was doing, she kept talking.“Considering the shaky condition of my finances I shouldn’t have made the sperm run this year, but Cassie’s decided to geld Sir Lust-a-Lot this spring, so this is my last chance to breed my mares to him, unless we get into freezing sperm, which is too complicated and expensive for me.”
“Gelding.Is that where they cut off?—”
“Let’s just say he’ll lose the ability to be a family man.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Because he’s a pain in the butt and useless as a saddle horse.Gelding should mellow him out.I don’t blame her.She’s the one who has to put up with his testosterone fits, not me.”
“So you’re carrying Sir Lust-a-Lot’s last stand?”
Jo laughed.“I guess you could say that.The sperm’s packed in dry ice, and it’s always stayed fresh for the plane flight home, but I don’t want to miss that plane and risk having it go bad.”
Quinn stepped on the gas.“Then let’s make sure you don’t.”He started weaving through traffic like a man on a mission.
Jo smiled.Some men took castration of male animals personally.Apparently Quinn was one of those who did.Maybe that was a good thing, because as long as he was thinking about Sir Lust-a-Lot’s fate he might forget about the snake, which was almost within her reach.“So you’re really an investment banker?”She leaned slowly down, straining slightly against the seat belt.
“Yeah, I really am.”
She made a grab for the snake and missed.“Damn!”
“Sorry I’m not something more exciting, like a movie star.”
“It’s not that.”She tossed her hat in the back seat and unbuckled her seat belt as the snake moved quickly to Quinn’s side of the car.“Slow the car, get in the right-hand lane and hold still.”
