“Probably a good idea.” He glanced at her curiously. “You’re from Wyoming. Where do you live now, when you’re not trespassing on ranches in Texas?” he added with a cold smile.
She averted her eyes. “I live back East mostly, like I said.” That was true. She’d taken courses at a famous Eastern university. And though her headquarters were in Fort Worth, she spent some time occasionally at Quantico and the office in DC.
“No wonder you were out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a pistol.”
“Is it dangerous, other than men you’re showing property to?” she wondered.
“Wild animals. Rattlesnakes. Vagrants. Drug runners. And my men,” he added with a glance. “They have orders to call the sheriff if they spot any unauthorized visitors.”
“Then I’m glad I ran into you instead,” she said. She almost meant it. He was a very handsome man. She liked him. And didn’t want to. She had no room in her life for a man, any man, in her present circumstances.
“Are you really going to keep that rattlesnake in your bedroom?” she asked abruptly.
“Of course,” he replied. “It’s the only place he’ll be safe, considering the nervous disposition of everybody around me.” He looked thunderous for a minute. “My own men were about to shoot him!”
“I can understand their misgivings,” she murmured.
“He’s old and blind and toothless. Fangless. He can’t even hunt. I put him out there where there were plenty of rabbits. I figured he wouldn’t have to be fast to catch one.”
“A man with a rattlesnake for a pet.” She shook her head. “If I was into fiction writing, this would be a heck of a story. Except nobody would believe it,” she added on a laugh.
“Were you always in real estate?” he persisted.
“No. I was a waitress, but I was made redundant,” she lied. “So then I took some courses and started selling property. I couldn’t get another job waitressing,” she prevaricated.
“From what I understand, the problem is finding people to work, not jobs.”
“Yes, well, I also got tired of being pinched and propositioned twice a day,” she said curtly.
They were at a stop sign and now he did look at her. “Amazing,” he murmured.
“What is?”
“I guess some men need glasses,” he said.
She glared at him from green, glittery eyes.
He averted his eyes and pulled out again. “Sorry. Couldn’t help it. I guess you’re not so bad. In the right light.”
“So much for you as a marriage proposition,” she told him. “You’re right off my list of potentials!”
He looked upward. “Thank God.”
She made a huffing sound. After a minute she shifted in her seat. “There was a huge grand piano in your living room. Who plays?”
“All of us,” he said simply.
“All of you.”
“Well, except Dad. He just plays the radio. Hopelessly tone deaf.”
“Isn’t that a little unusual?” she wondered.
“No. Lots of men are tone deaf.”
“That all of you play,” she said.
“Oh.” He shrugged. “My mother used to be a recording artist, before she married Dad. Now she just sings in church and composes. Desperado, the Wyoming rock group, uses her music. They’ve won two Grammys.”
