“Nice you got around to telling me that now.” She put down her fork, wiped her hands on the cloth napkin at her spot and said, “You didn’t—”
“—tell your secret? No.” He looked hurt that she would even think that he might have.
She studied him for a moment. Then, bracing herself, went to find her father. She knew from the men who came and went at the ranch that her father was connected to organized crime. She’d never really cared since it allowed her to live very well without having to ever get a job.
She found her father in his office on the third floor. He was standing at the window, looking out over the ranch—includingthe circular drive where she’d parked only minutes ago. “You wanted to see me?”
He turned slowly. Malcolm Mandeville was a big man with a thick head of dark hair streaked with gray and intense blue eyes. That he was powerful showed in not just his physical appearance but his entire demeanor. He ruled everything within his reach, including his family. The only exception would be his daughter’s choice of men, she thought with a wry smile. Not that he hadn’t tried to tell her who she could date. But she had always ignored him.
“I need you to do something for me,” he said, now motioning her into a chair as he sat down behind his huge desk.
He’d never involved her in his business, which was the way she wanted it. She could always pretend innocence if the FBI suddenly showed up at their front door with a search warrant. But something told her that was about to change.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked warily as she teetered on the edge of the chair in front of him.
“I need you to take a message to your boyfriend.”
Lolly stared at her father for a moment unsure. Her real boyfriend? Bobby had sworn he hadn’t said anything about the pregnancy. She assured herself that no one knew who the father of her unborn baby was. But Malcolm Mandeville had a way of finding out things that defied explanation. “My boyfriend?” she asked innocently.
“Donovan Cole,” he said tilting his head to the side as those blue eyes bore into hers. “You don’t have another one already, do you?”
“Very funny,” she said. “Donovan’s no longer my boyfriend.”
Her father nodded as if he knew she hadn’t been serious about the man or she wouldn’t have stood for him leaving the way he had. He held out a sealed envelope with only one word on it:Donovan.
Just the sight of his name made her growl under her breath. She feared her father knew she was pregnant and was going to try to bring Donovan back to make an honest woman out of her. What a laugh, she thought.
“He’s the last person I want to see, now or ever,” she said with a sigh. He’d run out on her when she’d needed him as cover should her father find out about the pregnancy. She had no desire for any communication with him. Clearly, he couldn’t be trusted. “Can’t you just mail whatever it is to him?” She made her eyes widen in surprise. “You know where he is?”
Her father only smiled. “I want you to wait while he reads it.”
She met her father’s gaze with defiance, knowing he would expect it. She was looking forward to seeing Donovan. “That sounds like a waste of my time.”
Malcolm narrowed his eyes before shoving the envelope at her. “You should leave right away for Dry Gulch, Montana. I’ll put the address into your vehicle’s navigation system before you leave so you don’t get lost.”
She bit back a retort as he rose slowly, feeling the heat of his gaze. She’d always known how far to push him. He was now giving her no choice. She knew better than to argue as she took the envelope.
That her father had never asked her to do anything like this had her worried. She wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on. She’d made a point of staying out of her father’s business and she figured he’d always respected that. Until now.
Pulse thudding in her ears, Lolly met her father’s gaze again. Her lips parted as she started to tell him she couldn’t do it, wouldn’t. Everything about this felt wrong. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she would be walking into a trap and that Luca was also in the noose and didn’t know it yet.
What could her father possibly have to say to Donovan that he would involve her? Had he found out about Luca, the baby?She’d suspected he hadn’t been fooled by her ruse. Donovan had caught on right away, as if knowing that his job was to pretend to keep her busy and away from her lover. But had her father seen through it as well?
“Is there a problem?” he asked, his voice low and rough. “Some reason you don’t want to do this? Maybe something you need to tell me?”
Swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat, she held his gaze even as she felt a shudder move through her. Had Bobby told him about the baby? Was that what this was about? Maybe it wasn’t about Luca. Maybe her father assumed Donovan was the father.
“Lolly, there isn’t anything you’re keeping from me, is there?”
She heard the threat in his tone, the warning. He suspected something, or worse, he already knew. Was that what this trip to Montana was about? There was only one way to find out. “I should get going. Dry Gulch, Montana, huh?” She couldn’t help but think about Luca’s plan. Was it at cross-purposes to her father’s?
He was still studying her as he said, “Donovan should be easy to find. He’s staying at the hotel there. Apparently, he was hired by a woman up there to make her boyfriend jealous.”
It seemed her father knew a whole lot more than she did. Luca had left out that part when he told her why he’d been sent to Montana to see what Donovan was up to. She knew it had been a woman who’d lured Donovan to Dry Gulch, which was bad enough. Now Luca apparently had some deal going up there. Was he planning on using Donovan? Or was her father?
Her temper flared as she balked at the thought of delivering the letter for fear they were all using her. But she’d already pushed her father as far as she dared, and she needed to see Donovan.
With a nod, she turned to leave, her feet feeling like lead weights at the end of her legs.
