A Cowboy in Disguise

A COWBOY IN DISGUISE

Copyright © 2012 by Victoria Ashe

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any way by any means without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Please note that if you have purchased this book without a cover or in any way marked as an advance reading copy, you have purchased a stolen item, and neither the author nor the publisher has been compensated for their work.

Our books may be ordered through your local bookstore or by visiting the publisher:

BlackLyonPublishing.com

Black Lyon Publishing, LLC

PO Box 567

Baker City, OR 97814

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, events, organizations and conversations in this novel are either the products of the author’s vivid imagination or are used in a fictitious way for the purposes of this story.

ISBN-10: 1-934912-51-4

ISBN-13: 978-1-934912-51-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012955527

Written, published and printed in
the United States of America.

Chapter One

“I don’t care if he is the new executive flavor of the month. Just because he has the word ‘senior’ in front of his VP title doesn’t make him qualified to lead this project.” Alexandra Hunter leaned back in her seat and took a breath.

David stared at the woman who had been his vice president of marketing for the past three years. He looked for a brief second as if he wanted to run for the door. She narrowed her green eyes in determination and waited.

“Now look, Alexandra. I know you’ve brought this almost all the way to completion.” David inhaled sharply and kept a conciliatory tone. Alexandra was too valuable to the firm and too good a friend for him to not understand where she was coming from—at least, that’s what she hoped he thought.

Alexandra leaned forward in her chair again and uncrossed her long legs. “Exactly why
I
should be the one to see it all the way through the final presentation.”

David sighed. “He knows the client personally, Alex. It’s a surer sell.”

Alexandra tucked a wayward strand of auburn hair behind her ear. “What you’re proposing,” she said coolly, “is to move the new guy in at the last minute and let him take credit for something I’ve worked on for over six months.”

“As president, I’m looking out for your interests just as much as his. But the company’s interests come first and that’s why the two of you will be working together, and—” David raised his hand as Alexandra started to speak. “And that’s why you’ll present your proposal together as a team to the client.” He had more gray hair at his temples than a month ago, she noticed.

“You mean the two of us working together?” Her voice remained calm. “David, if I didn’t admire you so much, I’d quit right now.”

“And if you weren’t such a good employee, I might let you.” He winked as she gave a dry smile and shut the door behind her.

She silently cursed him. He knew she wouldn’t quit.

Alexandra’s heels clicked loudly on the tiled floor all the way back to her office. If David thought some new glory-stealing, project-swiping pain-in-a-suit was going to take credit for her work, he had another thing coming.

“Sarah, come into my office for a sec,” she called out as she turned the corner. “I’m going to need an extra set of everything I’ve put together for the Rio Safari presentation so far. Slide notes, the final proposal that made the shortlist—everything in the file. You won’t believe what just happened.”

Sarah shut the door. “Does it have anything to do with Scott Falconer?”

Alexandra dropped into her chair at the mention of her new nemesis’ name and stared at her assistant. Was there ever any piece of information the woman didn’t find out before everyone else in the building?

“How could you possibly know that?” she finally asked with all the calmness she could muster.

“Because he just called to say he’ll be here tomorrow.”

•

The next morning, Alexandra dressed carefully in an expensive gray silk suit and pulled her long hair back from her face, showing her high cheekbones to perfection. If she had to face the battle, she might as well do it in style. Alexandra Hunter knew she was known for her ability to remain calm and in control. If Falconer thought he could force her out of her own project or so much as get the pleasure of a reaction from her, he had another thing coming.

Her plan of attack would be what it always was, she thought as she pulled her car out of the driveway. She’d stay sensible and do her job wonderfully. Professional to the umpteenth degree. Give Falconer enough rope, and he would either prove himself useless twirling it about—or hang himself with it.

“Either way, he won’t last long enough to give the presentation,” she said aloud. “I’m sure of it.”

She smiled to herself, a smile that quickly faded as the front of her car began to bounce roughly on the pavement. She looked into her side mirror, grimaced and muttered a few words she wouldn’t want anyone to overhear.

“Great. Just what I need—in the middle of morning rush hour.” Did she even have a spare tire with her? She couldn’t remember. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever had to change a tire on this car.

Alexandra pulled the car over to the side of the busy Seattle freeway and took out her cell phone as she stood surveying the damage. A nail stuck out menacingly from the side of the tire. With a sigh, she gave a strong tug and jerked it free from the dirty, black rubber. The rest of the air hissed out in a rush as the car sank closer to the ground.

Then another ominous thought struck. There was no way she could change the flat without a jack, and she’d seen hers collecting dust in the corner of the garage just last week. She kicked the flat tire and yelped as her toe hit something hard. She’d miss her staff meeting and even worse, Falconer might make it to the office before she could limp in. She almost wished for a swift case of the flu to give her an excuse to call in sick. Was there any way for a person to call in dead?

Just as she started to dial, a shiny black BMW pulled off the road behind her. The driver turned off the engine and stepped from his car.

“Would you like some help?” he asked.

Alexandra stood spellbound as a striking man in an expensive, impeccably tailored suit approached. He walked with an air of control and social confidence she recognized from her own corporate training. He removed his sunglasses, revealing clear blue eyes that danced with energy as the wind blew his dark hair into them.

“I was just calling roadside assistance,” she answered. She stood mesmerized as he took a few steps closer to her.

He shot her a wicked grin. “What am I?
Roadkill
?”

“Not from where I’m standing.” Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a laugh that took her by surprise. She turned off her cell phone, thankful the roar of the traffic had drowned out her voice.

The man took off his overcoat and jacket, and laid them gingerly over the hood. His white dress shirt clung to an athletic body. His tie was high quality silk, Alexandra noticed before shifting her gaze back to what was beneath the white dress shirt.

Wow
.

“Was that a yes?” he asked when she didn’t seem to intend to answer. “To the offer for help, I mean. Not to the equating me with
roadkill
part.”

Alexandra quickly snapped out of her daze and smiled. “I don’t have a jack with me.” She was afraid she might actually be blushing. Her skin felt hot all the way down to her toes.

“Not a problem.” He retrieved a jack from the trunk of his car and brandished it high. As he knelt beside the tire, Alexandra couldn’t help but see the firm outline of his shoulder muscles as his shirt pulled tight across his broad back. His long fingers twirled the lug wrench around expertly. What was wrong with her? She forced herself to look away.

Alexandra felt the tiniest pang of regret when he finished. He all too quickly jumped to his feet and walked over. “All set.”

He smiled brilliantly, seeming to hesitate for the slightest fraction of a moment. Alexandra was afraid he might simply wave and drive away without a word, so she tried to think of something to say that would stop him.

“Can I at least pay you?” she called out over the traffic noise. She was a corporate executive, adept at thinking on her feet, and this was the best she could come up with? Alexandra mentally kicked herself.

My brain has actually frozen.

Her rescuer took another step across the pavement and stood close enough for Alexandra to see tiny gray flecks in his robin-egg blue eyes. “No, you can’t pay me,” he answered. “It’s enough that at least one person in the world will be happy with me today.”

Alexandra held his gaze and was surprised at her own boldness when she said, “Well then, rest assured that I’m extremely happy at the moment.” His bright, lopsided grin made her breath catch.

The man looked at his watch and grimaced. “I’ve never hated being responsible so much as at this very moment.”

He reluctantly turned from her, grabbed up his expensive coat and drove away. In her stunned state, her fears had become real. The man had walked away and she didn’t even know his name. And she’d been so consumed with the light-colored flecks in his eyes that she’d forgotten to ask after all.

“So much for introductions,” Alexandra said aloud to herself and then sighed even louder in memory of those fantastic blue eyes …

He was just the sort of man she’d love to date—if she could ever find the time or the trust. Tall, athletic, graceful and well-spoken. Her pulse had skipped a little just from looking at him, and she didn’t even have a pulse she’d thought capable of skipping.

It had been months since her friends forced her to go out that last time, affectionately referred to as the “Date with the Living Dead.”

Ever since then, she curled up in bed at night with budget spreadsheets and spent her days living with the thrill of closing the next deal. Besides, she’d worked too long and too hard to distract herself now. Not dating was safer—much, much safer. She had plenty of time for a social life—later. Maybe she should think about getting a cat, she mused. Then she could become the crazy cat lady and scare neighborhood children when she retired.

She smiled to herself. Then the smile faded. Sometimes she just felt tired all the way to the core.

Her Knight in Shining Sports Car nearly slipped from her mind as she pulled into the parking lot at the office. She looked up at the tall building looming in front of her and sighed, strangely wishing she was still stranded on the side of the road instead of steps from an encounter she wasn’t going to enjoy. That building in front of her was the only world she knew, her means to an end.

She sighed again, remembering how the man’s dark hair had waved across his forehead, giving him an almost boyish impression. And that smile—she couldn’t shake the little feeling of butterflies it had created low in her stomach. It had been ages since she’d felt that feeling uncoil in her. She held on to the sensation until she stepped from the elevator and Sarah almost plowed her over.