“I see stronger and wiser, and it looks good on you,” her friend said. “You’re standing up for yourself. You’ve proven that you’re willing to fight for what you want. Now you just have to decide what it is that will make you happy.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, don’t you think?”
Josie shook her head. “You’ve always known who you wanted. Now you must decide what it will take to forgive him and yourself.”
Goldie knew her friend was right. The problem was that she wasn’t sure what it would take to forgive herself, let alone Max. “In the meantime, Donovan is involved in whatever is going to happen here in Dry Gulch,” she said. “I need to find out what they have planned so Max can stop them.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Josie said. “The fact that you trust Max to handle whatever it is, that must tell you something.”
Goldie shook her head. “I know I asked for this by bringing Donovan to town, but I can’t sit back and let them use me to whatever end they have planned. Donovan doesn’t suspectanything.” At least she hoped not. “I need to find out what’s going down and when.”
“Goldie, no offense, but you’re a lousy poker player because you can’t bluff. Are you sure about this? How are you going to handle being that close to the man knowing he’s working for a known crime boss?”
“Very carefully,” Goldie said. Until this was over, she couldn’t even think about what Max was offering—or what he wasn’t.
LOLLY KNEW THATboth her father and Donovan—not to mention Luca—wanted her out of Dry Gulch. That only made her dig in her heels, determined to stay. It still concerned her that after all these years of staying out of her father’s business, he’d dragged her in just a little. Why had he insisted she deliver the note?
Luca being here made her suspicious. Her father’s second-in-command never did anything until it went through his boss. Apparently, her father knew they were both here. She feared it was a test.
From her hotel room window, she’d seen Luca talking to one of the construction crew members working on clearing out rocks and dirt for the large swimming pools they were putting in. Shortly after, she’d seen Luca pull up behind the hotel next to one of the storage sheds to load boxes of clearly marked explosives into the back of his SUV.
She’d quickly stepped away from the window as he’d turned in her direction. She hadn’t wanted to get involved in whatever he had going on. But her father had involved her and now she wanted to know what he had planned. Not just know what he was up to but maybe throw a wrench in it.
She was afraid he had seen her watching him from the window.
Minutes later, she got her answer when Luca texted her.
I know you’re up there
Nice to hear from you too
Meet me. Abandoned farm with silo two miles out of town. 15 minutes. I’ll be waiting
Lolly stared at the text for a long moment, her anger and resentment with her father bubbling up at her lover’s demands. She considered not going, making him ask nicer. But after what she’d seen him load into his SUV there was no doubt that something was up. Was her father in on it? Or was Luca going rogue like he’d been threatening to do before the two of them could be together?
She left the hotel, got in her SUV and drove out of town two miles before she saw the abandoned house and silo a little off the road back into the hillside. Spotting his vehicle parked in the shade, she pulled in next to the house as a tumbleweed blew past.
Lolly sat for a moment out of the wind as she tried to rein in her temper. She was so sick of being bossed around by men. They often underestimated her, even the ones who should have noticed how much she was like her father. But she didn’t want Luca seeing how angry she was. Not yet anyway.
When she finally did climb out of her SUV, she wondered where Luca was since it appeared his vehicle was empty.
“Took you long enough,” Luca said as he came up behind her.
She spun around, startled by his sudden appearance but more so by his tone. “I came as soon as I got your text,” she said, bristling.
“You need to go home to the ranch.”
“That’s all you have to say? Is this order from you or my father?”
“Does it matter?” he asked, stepping threateningly closer.
“So, you’re delivering the order from my father.”
She saw his jaw tighten. Sometimes she questioned what had attracted her to Luca other than that he was forbidden. There was also the danger of her father finding out. But her father wasn’t the man who was trying to scare her right now.
“Why are you still here?” He breathed the words into her face.
Lolly was almost tempted to tell him what he could do with his threats, but common sense stopped her. Whatever her father was up to, Luca was involved, maybe more involved than her father even knew. Which meant he was planning to benefit from it—just as her father was. Neither would want her messing up their plans. Until she knew more, she had to tread carefully. Unfortunately, she was already walking a very fine, dangerous line with her father—and Luca, it seemed.
