He's Got Her Goat (20 page)

Running to the kitchen, she pulled open a drawer, hoping to get a weapon of some kind, but the drawers were cleared of everything. Even the no-stick liners. Defeated and emptyhanded, she headed down the hall and stood at the entryway to her bedroom.

Her dresser drawers were open, and Austin was tagging her clothes. A slinky camisole she rarely wore hung from his hand. Her privacy felt officially invaded.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She snatched the lingerie back and shoved it in the drawer, slamming it shut with her hip.

Austin was speechless. “You said to be thorough.” He held a device that carried a distinct similarity to one of those handheld scanners clerks use at the grocery store.

“You don’t need to dot my underwear!”

“Sorry. They wouldn’t let me do much of anything else.” Austin looked as dejected as a wet puppy, and Paige immediately felt contrite. If she was going to find out anything, getting Austin centered enough to talk to her was the answer. She led him out of her room, down the hall and to the chintz sofa where they both sat.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

Burying his head in his hands, Austin almost whimpered. “I failed you.”

“No, I think I did that.” She never realized how sheltered her life had been up to now. The thought that Elaine would blatantly lie to her face hadn’t even occurred to her. “Can you recall any details?” Paige asked.

Austin stared at her, his brows askew. “Paige, it’s me. All I remember are the details. Right after you left, Elaine asked me to write down all the instructions you gave me, which was only logical. I complied, but don’t you see?”

“What?” she said.

“She didn’t need me anymore. I didn’t realize it, but at that point I was obsolete!”

He was panting, and Paige patted his arm. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

“At seven a.m. sharp we began in the barn. I had a whole set of workers, but you told me not to dot the goats, remember?” Austin waited for her to respond.

She nodded.

“What I didn’t know was that they had a crew of people here in the house packing up all your gear at the same time. None of it got recorded. Not one item. When I realized what was going on, I rushed in here and began correcting the people in the house. Meanwhile, the staff in the barn left with the trailer of livestock and my notes. They never informed me where they were headed. As I was chasing down the livestock, the house items were taken away. All except that last load by the door. No one would listen to me, and I wasn’t sure what to do.” He looked on the verge of tears. Paige was tempted to hug him but resisted. He really didn’t like being touched.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know.” He grew agitated. “It’s Elaine’s, but when I went to the office to talk to her, the security guard kicked me out. I’m supposed to be manager over the goat project, and she canned me before I even got my first paycheck. Is that even legal?”

Paige didn’t know that much about the law, but something occurred to her that hadn’t before. Even though she had been so particular in writing the details of her rights about the care and treatment of her goats and knowing the location they were held during the lawsuit, by giving Elaine the power of attorney, couldn’t all those documents became defunct? Elaine could change any stipulation she wanted like Austin’s involvement. “I think it is.”

The couch jiggled a little, and Paige noticed Austin’s hands trembling. She knew this was too much for him. “Why don’t you stay in Uncle Bill’s room tonight, and we can figure this out in the morning? We’re both exhausted.”

That was all it took. Austin stood, walked down the hall and slammed the bedroom door. Poor Austin. At least she’d brought this on herself. He was simply trying to help her and was probably the only person who was. Whatever she did, she’d have to make things up to him in the end.

With her mind so jumbled, she felt restless and wandered out to the barn. Glancing over the empty stalls wiped clean brought an ache to her heart. The property looked ready to sell. The strangest part was not hearing the constant bleat of goats in the background. It had become part of the texture of the farm and her life. Without it, she hardly felt home.

Walking back to the farmhouse, she looked up and saw the night sky. It was an identical color to that sapphire dress. The stars twinkled like the crystals, and she let her mind wander to what would never be. She’d hoped to dance in Sterling’s arms wearing it, feeling safe and loved and understood.

A lone goat cry sounded in the night, and she wondered if she had only imagined that, too. Like people with severed arms who felt pain after the limb was gone, was she only hearing a phantom song of the herd that had been part of her life since she was little? She meandered toward the house, hoping sleep would shut off her mind from all the troubles around her. She laid awake most of the night, haunted by what wasn’t there.

BY THE TIME THE SUN ROSE
over the Dallas skyline, Sterling was at five thousand feet. He’d believed Julie when she said Paige had decided to rest instead of joining them for the benefit. In fact, he’d been relieved to hear it. She’d seemed a bit too close to both Julie and Kiyo for his liking.

At dinner Julie turned to Kiyo and dropped a bomb. She told him that Sterling was merely trying to steal all he’d built and that she could offer him a low interest loan that would keep his equity in tact. Sterling knew Kiyo would need help with locations, marketing and streamlining processes through the expansion, but she wouldn’t let him get a word in without taking it personally. An hour later she’d called him a liar to his face twice and by Kiyo’s concerned expression, it was clear there was only one option. Sterling had to get Paige. She could explain his side of the story and no one would doubt her credibility. There was something about her that was so honest. To find that sort of integrity with intelligence to boot was rare. He excused himself, drove too fast to the hotel, and knocked on her door. In less than a minute, he knew he’d been had. Paige was gone. He wondered briefly if Julie had lied to Paige to convince her to go, or worse, if she told her the truth about him. Either way, it was the first time in Sterling’s memory someone had outplayed him, and he was determined to have it be the last. He had to stop Elaine.

Trying every means he could
think of, he attempted to contact his boss. He left her emails, texts and phone messages, but it was pretty clear she had no plans of returning them. He’d shut out other employees the same way to push a deal through and recognized what was going on. In a few days, when Elaine had all her ducks in a row, she’d give some excuse about how busy she’d been and pretend that it was an oversight. By then, what she was working on would be irreversible. So, in this game he had been a pawn. He couldn’t be angry. It was about time that this happened, actually.

His father used to say ‘it rained seas’ which meant that even if you couldn’t feel the consequences of your actions at the time, they were piling up and would get you in the end. Sterling supposed this was the day he would drown in them.

By eleven that morning, he rounded the corner and pulled into Paige’s driveway. He wasn’t certain of the greeting he’d get. Two vehicle were already there. One was her dented Honda, but the other, also a lowly beater car, didn’t ring any bells. He rapped at the door and waited with his hands shoved in his pockets, ready to eat crow. He didn’t have any new information to offer, but there had to be some way he could make up for not warning her earlier. He knew Elaine, and this was no surprise. What was surprising is who answered the door when he knocked.

The intern’s eyes were lined in red. “You jerk.”

Sterling didn’t see the right hook coming. Austin connected fist to jaw, and Sterling went down.

Chapter Twenty-Four

S
TERLING WOKE SURROUNDED
by large packing boxes. He thought maybe he’d been dumped in a warehouse until he noticed the yellow walls and white trim. “Paige?”

Austin squatted beside him, holding what looked like a gun. “She’s not here, Benedict Arnold. You promised you wouldn’t hurt her.”

Sitting up, Sterling tried to scoot away and put as much distance between them as possible. “I didn’t mean to. Elaine fooled me as much as she did you.”

The intern seemed to be weighing whether he believed him. “I want you out of here before she gets back.”

“Are you sure she’s okay?” Sterling asked, rubbing his jaw.

Suddenly looking worried, Austin stood and began to pace. “I think so. She said something about going to the meadow, but I don’t know where that is. She’s been gone a long time.”

Sterling could now see what he thought was a gun was more like a toy pistol. “Should I go look for her?”

An open box sat on the counter, half unpacked with spatulas, measuring cups and muffin tins. Austin looked at it and at Sterling. “I can’t go. They could be here any minute to pick up the last of these boxes. They must be dotted.” Austin’s computer was on the counter, too.

Sterling saw the familiar spreadsheet with blinking icons for each item and suddenly realized the weapon Austin held probably had to do with his microdots. Sterling would have liked to stay and watch the process, but he was worried about Paige. “May I go find her now?” he asked.

Austin narrowed his eyes. “I guess, but then you have to leave.”

Squeezing out the front door, Sterling remembered his jaunt into the back meadow to catch that escaping goat and headed up the little path. He didn’t even make it to the clearing.

Paige’s call sounded frantic. “Austin, is that you?”

“Not exactly,” Sterling answered.

Suddenly she was there. She came up to him, standing close. He could see the echo of shed tears on her cheeks, but her tone sounded downright chipper. “Wow, it didn’t take you long to get here.”

He was expecting vengeance, wrath or righteous indignation. “Are you okay?”

“Let’s talk about that at the house.” She took his hand in hers with a gentle smile.

This was weird. Normally, he’d follow Paige anywhere, but as she tugged on his hand to go the way he’d come, he knew something was back there in the meadow, and he just couldn’t let it go. “What don’t you want me to see?”

“Why would you think that?” Her voice was too high.

He’d told enough doozies in his day that he knew a bold face lie when he heard it. “Mind if I have a look at the daffodils?”

She was about to come up with another excuse, but the bleat of a goat was unmistakable.

“You got them back?” He strode to the meadow to find the escaper, Petunia, pregnant as ever and happily munching on flowers.

Paige rushed over to the nanny, knelt in the thick grass and placed her forehead against the goat’s. Her voice carried the sort of hopelessness that no person ever should feel. “Now that you found us, I’ll have to return her.”

“Why?” Sterling sat on the ground beside her. “She’s yours, isn’t she?”

“I don’t know anymore.” Paige sunk to the ground and pulled her knees to her chest, looking up to the Northwest sky threatening rain. “Did you know what they were doing?”

“Elaine blindsided me too. I swear it.” Sterling said. “I’m done with her.”

“I wish I could believe you, but I’m so tired of being disappointed.” She half turned his direction. “What Elaine did is more than stealing. It feels like kidnapping.”

Sterling caught her gaze. “I’m here to help. Whatever you say, I’ll do it.”

“But there’s nothing to do. I don’t even know where they are.”

He could see the muscles in her neck constrict a few times, and he realized she was fighting back tears. “We’ll figure this out together. It will be alright.”

“How can you know that?” One stray tear broke free from her lashes.

Brushing the tear away with his thumb, he knew he’d do anything to help her. It didn’t matter what it cost him. “You’re not alone.”

She hugged him with both arms. It shocked him at first. Her face buried in the crook of his neck, his hand resting in her silken curls. As she pulled away, he didn’t want to let her go.

“I’d do anything to make it up to you. Do you know that?”

She was silent for a long time. Then she looked towards Petunia who was happily chewing on fresh blossoms, stems hanging from the corners of her mouth. “You know, she’s my favorite. She shouldn’t be, but I admire her drive to get what she wants. Still, I can’t trust her. Every time I do, we both end up in trouble.” She looked at him. “You’re the same way. I can’t trust you, Sterling.”