Trusting The Cowboy

Dismissed once again, he thought, remembering their earlier encounter too well.

“Finn told me you’re working the rodeo coming up?” Jodie said, setting the mug of coffee on the table.

“Yeah. Walden was short a pickup man, so I thought I’d help out.” Vic settled in the chair across from Lauren, taking the cup with a smile of thanks.

“You always were a pickup artist,” Jodie joked as she sat as well and shuffled through the papers in front of her.

“Oldest joke in the book,” Vic groaned.

“I feel like I should know what a pickup man is,” Lauren said, slipping her glasses off her face and setting them on the table.

“See that, Vic?” Jodie said, her voice holding a note of admiration. “That’s why I should wear glasses. People think you’re all smart and important. And when you take them off, it looks like you’re getting ready to do business. People take glasses-wearing people seriously.”

Vic chuckled as Lauren shot her sister a wry look. “You should take that show on the road,” Lauren said.

“It’s my only joke,” Jodie said with a grin. “Wouldn’t take me far.”

“Oh, I’m sure you have more you could add to your repertoire,” Lauren said, smiling back at her sister.

“You’d have to come with me as my straight man, though. A role you play to perfection.”

Lauren laughed again and Vic couldn’t look away. She was a beautiful woman in her own right. But now, relaxed, smiling, a glint of humor in her eyes as she teased her sister, the light from the window behind her lighting her hair, she was luminous.

He groaned inwardly as he took a sip of his coffee, frustrated with his response to this woman. He was here to talk business and he was coming up with mental compliments?

“Getting back to my original question, what is a pickup man?” Lauren asked.

Vic waited for Jodie to answer, but she was frowning at a piece of paper, seemingly unaware of her sister’s question. So Vic replied.

“We ride along the outskirts of the arena during the rough stock events—bareback, saddle bronc, bull and steer riding. We help the guys off the horses if we can, make sure the bulls and horses get out of the arena safely. That kind of thing.”

“I see,” said Lauren, the vague tone of her voice conveying her lack of interest.

“I know Walden is glad you’ll be there,” Jodie said. “He told me you guys work well together.”

“Who’s Walden?” Lauren asked.

“The other pickup man,” Vic said. “We always work in pairs.”

“You’ll have to come to the rodeo, Lauren. See Vic in action,” Jodie said. “And that horse that Finn trained. Adelaide, one of his clients, will be riding it in the barrel riding competition.”

“We’ll see how that works out.” Lauren’s polite smile seemed to dismiss that line of conversation. She slipped her glasses on her face and it was back to business. “We’ve been looking through our father’s papers and so far haven’t found anything referring to your deal.”

Vic glanced down at the folders lying on the table between them, resisting the impulse to riffle through them himself. “Your father and I agreed on a lease-to-buy agreement,” Vic said, struggling to keep his tone even. Pragmatic. “Are you sure he didn’t say anything about that to you or make a note of it anywhere?”

Lauren shook her head, picking up another file and opening it. “We haven’t seen everything yet, mind you, but it doesn’t look good.”

“Are there any files left? Did he have anything on the computer?”

Lauren frowned as she held his gaze. “Dad didn’t do much on the computer,” she said, dismissing that possibility. “Besides, we couldn’t figure out the password on it. I don’t suppose you would know?”

“Not a clue. Did you try the horses’ names?”

“Yeah. And his birth date, our birth dates—though I doubt he remembered them anyway—and in a pinch his and Mom’s anniversary. The name of the ranch. Nothing.”

“I can’t help you there.” He didn’t know Keith that well.

“Even if we could log on, I doubt there’s anything there, and even there was documentation, if it wasn’t signed...” Her voice trailed off.

Annoyance snaked through him. It was so easy for her to dismiss his claim. She didn’t know what was at stake.

“Would you mind if I looked through the papers myself?”

Her lips tightened and he wondered if she was afraid he might find something that would help his case. He held her eyes, as if challenging her, then she looked at Jodie.

“What do you think?” she asked her sister.

“I don’t care,” Jodie said with a shrug. “If Vic has a claim, maybe we need to see if we can find evidence for it. He might know better what he’s looking for.”

Lauren nodded and turned back to Vic, taking her glasses off again, ignoring Jodie’s chuckle at her action. “I doubt you’d find what you want. But if we don’t discover anything, I’m willing to sell the ranch to you, provided you can match the buyer’s price.”

“What price is that?”

When she named it, Vic’s mouth fell open as blood surged to his throat and chest, threatening to choke off his breathing.

There was no way he could meet that amount, but there was also no way he was telling her that. He swallowed hard and tried to claim some remnants of composure.

“I’ll have to talk my banker,” he said, attempting to inject some confidence into his voice. “But before I do that, I’d like to make sure that there is absolutely no evidence of the agreement. And I’d like to look for myself.”

Lauren gave him a tight nod. “I guess that’s fair, though, like I said, we didn’t find anything. You’d have to come here, though. To look at the papers. And one of us will have to be here.”

“You don’t trust me?” The words burst out of him before he could stop them.

Way to create a good impression.

Jodie patted him on the shoulder. “We trust you, Vic.” She turned to Lauren. “I trust him. He’s Finn’s friend and a good guy.”

“Don’t take it personally,” Lauren said, her mouth twisting in a cool smile. “I don’t trust any man.” Then she turned to Jodie. “But as far as his agreement with our father is concerned, there are other factors at play. If he finds something that corroborates his claim, it’s best that it happens here with us watching. That way no one can challenge it.”

He. His. She spoke of him as if he suddenly wasn’t there.

Vic took another sip of his coffee, reminding himself that he just had to get through this.

And, more than ever, he had to find some evidence of the deal he and Keith had drawn up.

There was no other choice.

* * *