A Cowboy in Disguise (13 page)

•

When the members of the review team from Rio left the room, Scott grabbed a donut and a cup of coffee from a refreshment table, while an obviously smitten Roger and Mike from
Zellez
had found a way to lure Alexandra into conversation.

Duncan sauntered over to Scott with his hands plunged into his pockets. “Looks like it’s come down to you against me next week, doesn’t it, Falconer?”

“You mean it’s down to your team against our team,” Scott corrected. He was convinced he’d probably like to strangle the guy even if he hadn’t known about his past with Alexandra.

Duncan ran his hand across his goatee. “No, not really. I think we both know who the real leaders are. Mike and Roger are just a means to an end.
Gotta
have someone to do the grunt work, right? And Alexandra has always been a piece of fluff. It’s no wonder Mac didn’t care to listen to her drone on and on in a presentation.”

Scott clenched his crumbling donut too hard and had to set it back down on the table. “If there wasn’t a room full of people here right now, I’d beat the tar out of you.”

Duncan took a step back and put both his hands up with his palms facing Scott. “Man, with a temper like that, it’s no wonder Mac dumped you. Kicked the garbage to the curb, I guess. She’s found a better man now,” he whispered with venom in his voice.

Scott smiled. “Don’t think for a second, Phelps, that a single word you say has any effect on me. But, get this straight, you worthless waste of oxygen—I was raised to take care of my own, and if you so much as send a wrong look in Alexandra’s direction, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

Duncan sneered and considered Scott for a moment. Just as he had done during their dinner at the hotel in Colorado, he sized up the competition and his face turned scarlet with infuriation. He couldn’t win a direct confrontation with this man to save his life unless he wanted to make an all-out scene. With a glare, he turned on his heel and walked away.

Alexandra walked over to Scott as Duncan turned to leave. “Not so random question. What was
that
all about?” They watched the
Zellez
team walk out the door.

“I think our Duncan over there wants a showdown.”

“Well I looked at the final presentation this morning and he doesn’t have a prayer.”

Scott smiled at her. “I’m glad we’re back on the same side, Alex. It would have been lonely without you.”

Chapter Eight

David looked across his desk at his two favorite employees and smiled. They sat side by side in front of him, both looking very professional and without a trace of the hostility he had initially sensed so often between them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more brilliant piece of work in my entire career,” he praised. That morning after several trial runs, Scott had finally given the last dress rehearsal of the presentation with David and Alexandra as his audience.

“Alex,” David continued, “the concept and the materials are stunning. And Scott, your delivery was impeccable. I knew you two would be amazing together, but I never envisioned a presentation quite this good.”

Alexandra smiled. “Gee, you think we’ll win?” she asked with a wink. She had to admit—David had been right at every step along the way. He could be infuriating at times, but he was rarely wrong.

David shook his head. “Win? No. I think we’ll absolutely decimate the competition.”

Scott’s gaze caught Alexandra’s. “They don’t stand a chance,” he said. “Not with all the talent in this room.”

David smiled and rubbed his chin with his fingers in thought. “Now that we’re ready to present, you realize we’re done with an entire week to spare.”

“Great,” Alexandra said. “Gives us all some time to catch up on the day-to-day things.”

“You wish,” David said with a chuckle. “Actually I just got an interesting call this morning.”

Scott leaned forward. “And?” he urged, dreading from David’s tone what sounded like a travel assignment in the making. Even a week apart from Alexandra was too much as far as he was concerned. But the week before their big presentation? That would be even worse somehow.

“How would the two of you feel about handling a small project for me this week? I can’t think of a better team.”

Alexandra shrugged. “Sure. You know we’re happy to help.”

David studied the two of them for a moment. Maybe it was the tone with which Alexandra had said “we,” but if he didn’t know better, he could have sworn he saw a spark there.

“I’m so glad to hear that. You’ll both need to pack for a full five days. I’ll get your itinerary to Sarah before you head to the airport tonight.”

•

“Montana?” Mary would have jumped up and down were it not for the full cup of tea in her hand. “And with Scott Falconer? Oh, Alexandra, are you ever in big trouble. Big. Huge. So awesome.”

Alex rolled her eyes heavenward as she tossed a skirt into the open suitcase on her bed. “Business trip, Mary. Business trip.”

Her friend set her cup down on the nightstand. “Sure. Remember what happened on the last ‘business trip’.”

“That was different.” Alexandra fought to keep the color from rising in her face as she thought of the cabin. “I don’t think we’ll be running into any avalanches this time around.”

Mary shook her head knowingly. “It sure was different. I’ll give you that. You two went traipsing off to Colorado with just the start of an attraction there. Now you’re smack dab in the middle of it. Hormones raging out of control …”

Alexandra stopped folding her clothes and straightened her back. “I’ll be strong,” she said with as much sarcasm as she could muster. “But I sure wish we could have been sent somewhere sunny. I don’t imagine there’s much snow in the Bahamas.”

Alexandra snapped her suitcase shut and pictured blue waters lined by white sand. She wouldn’t admit it to her friend, but she was secretly glad that with such short notice, she and Scott had been forced to take separate flights. She remembered the tingle she felt sitting so close to him on the plane to Colorado. It was best to remove all temptation.

“Too bad you have such strange luck with each other. I’d say the Bahamas would be far too dangerous,” Mary said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’d probably wind up stranded together, but because of a hurricane instead of an avalanche. Or hey—how about that Bermuda Triangle? If you two were on the same flight, you’d wind up lost together there for sure. Abducted by aliens or something.”

“You’re nuts,” Alexandra said with a laugh. Mary’s logic did have a certain ring of truth to it. After all, she had been the one to rescue them from a locked supply closet not all that long ago.

With Mary safely
housesitting
, Alexandra left for the airport. She stopped at the office and picked up her schedule, and after looking at it, had to wonder what David had been thinking. She and Scott had possibly two days worth of work in Montana, and five full days in which to complete it.

Try as she might, the extra time they would have together was the only thing that ran through Alexandra’s mind during the flight.

•

Scott met Alexandra in the hotel lobby while the valet pulled his car around. He called out, “I’ve got the list of property Rio Safari owns in Montana. What did David tuck into your itinerary?” He smiled as she crossed the floor to him, gliding with that feminine sway of denim moving around her hips that made him do a double-take.

“A list of the property they’re interested in buying.” She smoothed back a piece of auburn hair that threatened to escape her ponytail and pretended not to notice how he watched her. “What do you think he’s up to?”

“David? Who knows? He’s on to something, though, or he wouldn’t have sent us to quietly do the legwork.”

Scott closed the car door after Alexandra. She watched him walk around to the driver’s side, noting how he seemed transformed by the Montana air. With his tan skin and flashing blue eyes, the sight of him after a day apart nearly made her forget why they’d come to Montana. She breathed deeply. Friendly colleagues for now. She had to cling to that mantra for the sake of her own control. Just a little bit longer, then who knew?

“I didn’t realize I had a built-in chauffeur,” she said, “but I guess you must know Helena pretty well.”

“Well enough not to get lost. My family’s ranch is just a couple hours away from here. My brothers and I used to come here sometimes shopping as kids.”

“Brothers? For that matter—ranch?”

Scott stopped at a red light and grinned wickedly. “Craig, Joe and Elliot. See how much you don’t know about me? I tried to tell you …”

Alexandra felt more alive than ever, filled with the sight of him. “Maybe it was one of them with the princess in Paris, then?” So he hadn’t been joking when he’d called himself a cowboy. Was there a chance he actually was?

Scott groaned with a smile. “Craig and Joe work on the ranch with Dad. Elliot does what I do—sends money home to keep the ranch up and running the way it ought to be.”

That tiny furrow marked Alexandra’s forehead. “Is it in trouble?”

“No. It’s just that it’s hard to make a living on a cattle ranch these days. The regulations are abundant, gas prices are high and cattle prices are low. Doesn’t make for a glamorous existence without a little outside financial help. It’s home, our family legacy, and we decided a long time ago what we’d each contribute to it.”

Alexandra sat silently staring at the man next to her. Who was he? One minute, he was in a designer suit facing off against Duncan, and the next he was wearing beat-up cowboy boots and talking about his family’s ranch.

For the next several hours, they visited City Hall, a courthouse, one library and title company after title company. By the end of the day, they had all the records they could find of the property Rio Safari had acquired in the past couple of years. Ironically, the same handful of companies from which they had purchased these properties had also recently bought up all the property in which Rio was now interested.

“Don’t you think this is strange?” Alexandra asked Scott as she flipped through the papers.

“Feels a little off—especially since all these companies are set up anonymously with an agent as the contact.”

“All of them. I noticed that. I wonder if it’s the same person behind all these companies?”

Scott shrugged. “Maybe David can shed some light when we go back. He didn’t seem to want us to dig any deeper right now.”

Alexandra settled into her seat as Scott drove them back to their hotel. “Did you see when our return flights were scheduled for?”

Scott nodded. “Yup. Friday. David wrote on the bottom of my itinerary that I’m to take the next three days off and that he doesn’t want to see me until after the presentation.”

“Wrote the same thing on mine,” Alexandra added.

Scott stopped at a red light. “Let’s check out of the hotel tonight, Alex. Let’s not stay there.”

“Got a better place in mind?” She certainly hoped he did. With all the time David had given them to spare, they might as well sleep somewhere interesting.

“A much better one, in fact. A place I’m dying to show you.” He placed his hand over his heart and sighed as he watched her run to gather her luggage.

An hour later, Alexandra found herself seated beside Scott, well into the long drive to his family’s ranch. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” she said in a tone of amazement.

“I can’t believe you let me, either,” he chided. Did he dare to hope she was rethinking her argument against having a relationship with him?

“Random question. Do you like barbecue?”

“Does anyone
not
?” She punched him lightly on the arm. “So there are guest rooms?”

“My father lives in the main house. You can stay in the extra room there. Craig works as foreman now, so he and his wife built their own house across the hill from Dad’s place.”

“What about Joe?”

“Joe? He’s younger than me by a few years and not even dating anyone seriously. No need for a place of his own, so he still stays at Dad’s.”

“Where are you going to sleep?” Alexandra asked, hoping not to sound too obvious in her concern.