“He asked me out to dinner tonight,” Goldie said. “Probably to break up with me.” She started to laugh, thinking how ridiculous this had all been, but feared if she started she wouldn’t be able to stop. She glanced toward the closed blinds. “Is it done?”
Josie peeked out and nodded as she quickly closed the blinds again.
The faint glow of neon came through the cracks in the blinds for a moment before it blinked out, then back on as if he was testing it. “Didn’t take Arnie long, did it?”
“He seemed excited to get started on making the café his own. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“He paid enough for it,” Goldie said with a sigh. “Max stopped by the café yesterday. I tried to rearrange his brain cells with an iron skillet.”
“And yet you aren’t behind bars.”
“He told me that Donovan had been dating a woman named Lolly Mandeville down in Laramie, Wyoming, before showing up here. She’s apparently the daughter of Malcolm Mandeville, some supposed crime boss.”
“I’ve heard of him,” Josie said.
“Well, according to Max, Arnie Adams went to work for Malcolm as his personal chef after getting out of prison—until a few days ago when he left Laramie, Wyoming, to come to Dry Gulch to buy my café.”
Josie put down her half-empty coffee cup and sat up a little straighter. “That is quite the coincidence.”
“Except I’m the one who got Donovan to come here. When he saw Arnie exit my café, he asked about him. He was surprised Arnie was buying the place, but he also seemed…worried.” Her friend picked up her cup again. “I can see you trying not to say something. What is it?”
“I’m just wondering how much you can trust Donovan Cole,” Josie said.
ARNIE HAD SEENthe old biddies gathered on the sidewalk in front of the café glaring at him earlier. He didn’t care as he stepped out into the street to admire his sign. He couldn’t help smiling. He’d seen the one woman crying as the Goldie’s sign had come down. He was determined to ignore their lack of enthusiasm. He understood that change was hard for some people.
But they might as well accept it. He was here and he was staying. The location was perfect, right in the middle of thesmall town—and directly across the street from the new resort being built. Right in the middle of everything. His gaze strayed to the bank right next door, but he quickly averted his eyes—just as he ignored the sourpuss elderly women, and the workers Malcolm Mandeville had sent to “shore up” the foundation in the basement and help remodel the interior of the café. They would be doing the hard work at night, when he was in the hotel.
He told himself it had nothing to do with him and tried not to think about what could go wrong. Instead, he dreamed of his grand opening. After that, the café truly would be his.
That was if he wasn’t dead. Or back in prison.
Chapter Thirteen
Lolly put the envelope in her purse along with the small pistol she always carried. She was indeed her father’s daughter, she told herself. Not that she was planning on shooting anyone unless she had to.
Now as she drove, she glanced at her purse, unable to stop thinking about the envelope inside. She had considered opening it the moment she was out of sight of the ranch. Wasn’t that the smart thing to do? She deserved to know what was going on. Wasn’t it her right since her father had involved her?
Donovan should be worried. No matter what his deal was with her father, he shouldn’t have taken off like he had. Leaving her in the middle of the night without a word hadn’t been the smart thing to do to her.
She drove a little faster, anxious to get to Dry Gulch and get this over with, whatever it was. She was dying to know what the message said. But if she tore open the envelope, her father would ask Donovan, and he would probably tell Malcolm Mandeville the truth. Men tended to do that with her powerful father.
It bothered her, her father’s interest in Donovan. She worried it had something to do with the baby she was carrying. If her father believed it was Donovan’s, what would he do with the man? Surely not kill him.
She couldn’t believe that she’d planned to use Donovan as cover once her pregnancy started to show more. She’d even considered lying to him and letting him believe the baby was his. But it would have been a hard sell and Donovan was too smartfor it. No, but she could have either offered him money or told him if he didn’t do what she asked, she’d have her daddy kill him.
Not that she would have, she told herself as she crossed the border into Montana. Right before she’d left, she found Luca putting the town of Dry Gulch in her navigation system and her father standing on the front steps of the ranch house watching him do it.
“I figure you can find your way home once you’re done,” her father said, not taking his eyes off Luca sitting in the driver’s seat of her SUV.
She had heard something in his voice that made her wonder if he hadn’t already figured out that Luca might be planning to double-cross him. Her father hadn’t gotten to where he was by being naïve. But it would appear they were both planning to use Donovan.
She groaned inwardly as she walked down to her SUV, Luca getting out and stepping aside to let her slide behind the wheel. Even if her father knew she was pregnant, there was more going on here. She could feel it.
But that didn’t mean her father wouldn’t force Donovan to come back to Wyoming to marry her if he thought the baby was his. She couldn’t let that happen—even if it meant telling the truth. The last thing she wanted was a husband.
Just a few more miles to Dry Gulch, she told herself, suddenly leery of what was inside the envelope and how Donovan was going to take the news.
MAX SNUGGED DOWNhis Stetson, his mind clear for the first time since that damned red sports car had roared into Dry Gulch. Donovan Cole had distracted him and now he wondered if that hadn’t been the point. He’d been so worried about Goldie andher feelings for the man that he hadn’t been thinking like the sheriff he was.
