“A different one.” He hesitated, as if he’d liked to have said more but didn’t dare. “Anyway, at the bar, tonight at seven. How about it?”
“Is it to do with our land project?” she asked, careful of hackers.
“Yeah,” he said, catching on quickly. “He’s interested in that new parcel of land you told him about.”
“I’ll see if I can get somebody to bring me to town.”
“I’ll come get you. But be outside, okay? I don’t want to get recognized by anybody. Just in case.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “I’ll see you about seven?”
“A little before.”
“Okay,” she said.
Then she wondered how she was going to get word to Marlowe. She tried calling him on her burner phone, but she didn’t get an answer.Just my luck, she thought irritably,and on a day when we’re probably going to get the go-ahead on the big drug shipment.
She thought about calling her office, but that would be riskyat the moment. She’d see what was proposed then she’d make decisions.
She didn’t announce her trip to town until after the evening meal, when most of the family had gathered in the den to watch TV.
“I have to go to town for a few minutes,” she told Heather. “A friend is coming to get me. It’s about the land I’m trying to sell to that businessman I told you about.”
“Who’s coming to get you?” John interrupted before Heather could.
She swallowed hard. “Raines.” She grimaced at his expression. “Well, it’s partially his deal,” she said weakly. “I can’t cut him out at this late date.”
“Are you meeting with the buyer?”
She nodded. “That’s what he said,” she replied and with an expression that raised no doubts.
“Okay, but if you run into any trouble, you call me,” he said firmly. “Marlowe’s out of town, so there may be some rough characters running around Percell.”
She was surprised not only at his protective attitude but also at the warmth with which she felt it. She smiled up at him. “Okay,” she said.
His eyes held hers for a second longer than they should have. He shrugged and went back into the den. Heather said nothing, but her eyes were twinkling.
Raines parked in front of the bar in Percell. There was no giveaway limousine here, as there had been at the bar on the border, where the poor man had been killed. So if this was some bigwig in the drug chain, he traveled undercover.
“Is he here already?” Josie asked Raines.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. He glanced at her. “Why?”
“No fancy cars,” she said, looking all around.
He pursed his lips and chuckled at some personal joke. “He travels light,” he told her. “Mind your manners,” he cautioned at the door.
“I always do,” she told him.
He opened the door and they walked in.
Josie’s eyes wandered around the bar. Several cowboys were drinking beers. Two were playing pool. But she knew the man the instant she saw him. Not that she’d ever seen him before. It was a flash of insight, of recognition, that hit her in the chest like a blow.
He was incredibly handsome. In her whole life, she’d never seen a man who could have compared with him. He looked like a man who made his living on the screens of movie theaters. He was the most gorgeous human being she’d ever seen.
Raines noticed her fascination. “Yes,” he said, “that’s him.”
She walked toward the table almost in a daze.
