Rodeo Bride (11 page)

“Rob, I…thank you for the dance,” she said and stopped dancing.

“It ain’t over yet, Colleen.” Then he saw where she was looking. He uttered a curse and she knew that there would be no chance to keep this private. Already people were starting to gather round.

“It’s just a little too suspicious that all this stuff started now after you came to town,” Bill was saying, practically spitting out the words.

“Bill, pal, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe you need to sit down. You really don’t look so hot,” Dillon answered.

“I don’t want to sit down and I don’t
feel
so hot. Why should I when there are pictures of me on the Internet on my knees in front of Lisa begging her to notice me. I don’t know where you got those pictures, but I never said those things. I never was in that pose. Those photos were altered, those dialogue balloons were added by somebody and I don’t know
anybody around here who would have any incentive to do that. Except Colleen.”

Colleen did her best to look blasé. “Bill, you know I’m not that skilled with computers. How would I know how to do something like that?”

“And what incentive would she have, Bill? Colleen has no reason to cause you grief.”

“You do.”

Dillon shook his head. “We’ve barely exchanged two sentences until now. What would I have against you?”

Bill was looking around wildly now. He obviously couldn’t admit that he’d spread tales to Lisa and that he’d spied on Dillon and Colleen when no one was supposed to know that. “I don’t know, but nothing like this ever happened until you got here. I want it stopped and taken down.”

“You’ll have to talk to whoever put it up there,” Dillon said. “You’ll have to figure out who in town has something against you. That’s rough, buddy. When something goes viral, it’s next to impossible to stop it. Could take some time. Sorry, but I have to go now. My son gets up early in the morning and I have to be there for him.”

“Hey, Dillon, how about showing us that car before you go?”

“Later, Harve. It’s dark. You need light to do it justice.”

Harve grumbled, but he didn’t say more. Dillon smiled. He held out his arm and Colleen took it, falling into step with him. They didn’t talk on the way home, but when they were finally in the house, had checked on Toby and were standing at the door that led to the back porch, Colleen looked up at Dillon.

“That stuff with Bill, was that part of the entertainment?”

“That was an extra I hadn’t expected.”

“Then you didn’t put that stuff up on the Internet?”

He lifted a shoulder in dismissal. “I have friends and employees who live for all the quirky sites on the Internet. They
know how to use a computer and how to send a message out so that it multiplies and hits its target. I might have indicated that a rumor might be helpful as long as it wasn’t anything that would negatively impact Toby and me. Beyond that, no.”

“It
was
pretty funny. Bill deserved that.”

“I don’t want him to think that he can threaten you. Now, he knows there are ways to get at him if he misbehaves.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“It’s a little thing.”

“Tonight wasn’t a little thing. The restaurant and Yvonne and Rob and the music. I felt just like any other woman tonight.”

Dillon groaned. “Colleen, you are never going to be just like any other woman. You are so much better.”

“You make me better,” she said, and then he was pulling her into his arms, his mouth covering hers and it was…so good, so right, so not nearly enough.

Suddenly, Dillon pulled away. “I better go before I do something that can’t be called back.”

Colleen looked at the door that she locked every night. “I put you out here because I didn’t trust you at first, but…”

He stopped her with a fierce kiss. “Lock the door tonight, Colleen. Don’t trust me, tonight or ever. This door is all that keeps me honest and away from you. You have to continue to be who you are after I’m gone and if I touch you…too much, I’m afraid it will show. People will know. It will change you somehow and make things more difficult for you. Lock the door.”

She took a deep breath. She ignored the yearning in her heart and the pain of what could never be.

“I’ll lock the door,” she said. But as she put words to deeds, she knew that it was already too late. She’d let him into her heart and she already
had
been changed. The question was, who would she be when he and Toby were gone? What was she going to do?

T
HE
next morning, everything went south. Dillon was doing one last job, repairing a window that had been leaking during heavy rains when his telephone rang.

He answered it and listened. “Lisa’s back in Chicago, Jace?” he said. “All right, I need you to find out what that’s all about and what her plans are. Is she staying there? Just passing through? On her way here?”

But he didn’t have to wait long for Jace’s call. Within hours Lisa herself had checked in. “I’m home,” she told him, “and I’m settling in. I’m nesting.”

Dillon’s blood temperature dropped ten degrees. “What does that mean?”

“Probably what it sounds like. I’m feeling very domestic. Very maternal.”

“That’s nice, Lisa. That’s…fantastic. I’m wondering why you’re telling me this.”

“Why wouldn’t I tell you? You’re my ex-husband. We share a child. A child who’s grown to be very cute and adorable, I understand.” Then she hung up. Dillon swore.

Almost immediately, Colleen was there. She’d been inside with Toby, but now she came outside with him on her hip, which looked…right. He didn’t want to even begin to tell her about the phone call. And yet he had to.

Quickly, he relayed Lisa’s message. “She didn’t ask for money,” he said.

“She wouldn’t. If she said it, then there would be a record of that, and if money is what she really wants, then she needs ammunition against you. She won’t give you any to use against her.”

“And if I just flat out offered her money on the chance that that’s what she’s after, she could use that against
me
in court by telling the judge I tried to bribe her.”

They stood there looking at each other. Colleen’s lips were nearly white, she was so obviously stressed. Dillon felt panic beginning to rip through him, and yet…he remembered his own childhood, wanting the attention of his mother and father. “If I thought there was a chance that she
really
wanted to be a mother to him…” Dillon began.

Colleen bit her lip, then nodded. “A child should get a chance to know both his parents.”

“Yes. If I thought she cared about him even a little, I’d make sure that she had the right to see him. But I’m not letting her take him from me, and if it’s only money she’s after, if she’s trying to somehow use him…” Dillon’s voice was hard.

Colleen reached out and touched his arm. “You can’t let that happen.”

“I’m not going to let it happen.” There was no question that it was time to return to Chicago now, not next week. In addition to the problem with his business and his out-of-town project manager, he had territory on the home front and on the baby front to guard. He had to dig in and get ready in case Lisa made a move that would affect Toby.

“Let’s go figure out how this is going to play out. What steps you have to take to stay ahead of her when you go back and how you can make this turn out right for Toby. I assume you’ve already spoken to your attorney.”

“Of course. His advice is practical and sound. Don’t make any wrong moves. Be a good father and a good person. Make friends. Make connections, especially in Chicago, since I’ve been away a while. It doesn’t hurt to have good, strong character witnesses in the community.”

“All right, then, you…you and Toby will go home tomorrow instead of next week. You’ll furnish your house and you’ll do all the things you’ve been doing and more.” Her eyes were dark. Haunted, but she was standing straight and tall. Not flinching, even though Dillon knew her heart was breaking over the loss of Toby.

Julie was walking past just then. “Dillon and Toby are really leaving, then? For good?”

Those last two words seemed to say it all. They spelled out the finality of this move. He was leaving
for good
. The stark truth of that thought caught Dillon off guard, and Colleen must have felt it, too. She put her chin up the way she did when she was trying to act as if she was unaffected by things that hurt.

Dillon understood completely, because inside he was howling. With rage. With pain. He hadn’t been ready to break this off just yet. And not this way.

“But who’ll help you set up that big house?” Julie asked. “More importantly, who’ll watch Toby when you’re at work or just not home? Won’t your ex-wife…won’t Lisa jump right on that if the person you hire scares Toby or isn’t totally perfect? You need someone who’s special, someone who Toby is going to love and who is going to love him right back, so you can’t just go rushing in to hire any old person.”

Dillon had been thinking the same thing. When he looked at Colleen, he knew she had already started to worry about those things, too.

“You really need more time to set the scene and set things up and find someone to help you with Toby,” she said, “but…”

But he didn’t have more time. What he needed was Colleen by his side for just a little while longer. What he needed was the impossible. He rubbed his hand along his jaw. He couldn’t ask her. She had this ranch to run. She’d already given him too much, and besides, he knew that part of the reason he wanted her with him had nothing to do with his child. That wasn’t fair to Colleen, not when both of them knew this thing between them wasn’t going anywhere.

Colleen exchanged a look with Julie. Then she nodded, some feminine exchange that Dillon didn’t understand.

“The others can manage alone here for a short while. If you need me, if you’ll let me, I’ll help you interview people and find the right person to be a nanny for Toby. I’ll help you get your house set up and I’ll help you show everyone just how dedicated to your child you really are. I can do this…if you…that is, if you want my help.”

Dillon gave her an incredulous look. “I don’t know which of the ignorant men in this town killed your confidence, but I’d like to kick every one of them over a cliff. If I want your help…Colleen, do I look like a crazy man? If you’re offering, I’m accepting.” Even if it was insane. Even if having her near and knowing she would only be in his home for a week was going to be a rough bit of knowledge to live with. A week was one week more than he had had just a minute ago.

“You two are going to have a lot of work to do,” Julie continued. “Good thing that house is empty. You’re going to have to close on it and furnish it in only days. There aren’t even any beds in the place.”

“There will be by the time we get there,” Dillon said. “You all figure out everything you need to tend to before Colleen leaves. I’ll tend to the Chicago end of things and then…Colleen?”

She looked at him.

“Before we leave I have something I have to take care of. In town. If you’d like to go with me and hustle up all the people I’ve made promises to, I would appreciate it.”

Colleen looked confused at first, then she shook her head. “The car. Harve and the others. You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“Putting someone off until later is one thing, but a promise is a promise. I’m not going to say one thing and do another. Let Harve know that we’ll be stopping by this afternoon on our way out of town.”

“I will,” she said, shaking her head, but Julie was already tugging her by the hand.

“Come on,” Julie said. “We have to choose the right clothes for you to take to Chicago.”

A look of distress came over Colleen. “Clothes? You know I’m awful at picking out clothes.”

“I know. That’s why it’s lucky you have the rest of us. We’ll make sure you don’t dress like a scarecrow…or a cowboy. Dillon needs to impress people.”

For half a second, a look of terror came into Colleen’s eyes before she managed to shutter it. His fearless Colleen, who had faced him down and stood off half a dozen men she thought were going to bother him and Toby, was afraid of embarrassing him by wearing the wrong clothes.

Just let one person in Chicago insult her,
he thought,
and they’ll have me to deal with.

And wouldn’t that be just great? If he stepped out of line at all…if he ended up in the newspapers or on a police blotter or even in the society gossip pages where he’d appeared before…when he got married…

Dillon felt like swearing, but that wasn’t going to happen. He had to be on his best behavior. But he was going to protect Colleen, too. That was just nonnegotiable.

Tension filled Colleen’s soul. She was flying blind here, heading into completely unknown territory and risking her heart in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine. She’d never even been outside Montana before, certainly never to a major city like Chicago. And to go there with a man like Dillon who, from the looks of his car, really was used to the best…

A vision of Lisa came to mind. The best, everyone had always said. A woman who knew how to dress and wear makeup and get her way when she wanted to. And she always wanted to. She wanted something from Dillon, something that might hurt him and Toby.

Not going to happen if I can help it,
Colleen thought. So there was no turning coward now. She put the last item in her suitcase and took a deep breath.

“I’m ready,” she called to Dillon.

And the next thing she knew all her friends were hugging her.

“Don’t get too fond of Chicago,” Millie said, looking a little teary-eyed.

“But have fun,” Julie said.

“And call,” Gretchen added. “Take pictures so we can live vicariously.”

Suddenly Colleen felt grounded. Especially since Dillon was watching them with such affection in his eyes. He had been so good to her friends, these women who needed the goodness that had been denied them in the past.

“I’ll do my best,” she told everyone. “But you know I’m not going to sightsee. I’ll be there to help Dillon.”

“Yes, but surely you’ll see at least some of the city.”

Dillon was laughing at Julie’s impatient tone. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “If you think I’m going to keep her chained up in the nursery, well, I hope you know me better than that by now. I have a couple of social events where having an attractive woman on my arm will be a real asset,
and of course we’ll have to tour the city so Toby can see his new hometown.”

Colleen rolled her eyes. “At his age, I doubt Toby’s anxious to join the sightseeing set. And you can’t take me to a social event. I won’t fit in.”

“Sure you will, and just in case you’re worried about not having the right clothes, I already had my secretary buy you a couple of dresses and put them in the closet at the house.”

“Dillon! You can’t do that!”

“It’s done. And don’t deny me the pleasure. I can certainly afford it.”

She shook her head. “We’d better get going before you tell me that you’ve bought me a castle.”

“Colleen, why didn’t you tell me that you wanted a castle?” he teased.

“I’m telling you now,” she said in a teasing tone. “A gold one. With pink turrets and…and a unicorn.” Her smile grew. “Hah! Just try to get your secretary to come up with one of those.”

And with that, she took Toby from Millie and headed out to the car.

“You are going to be a handful,” he said to her back. But he sounded pleased. For some reason that made her heart ache.

When Dillon pulled the Ferrari into a spot in front of Yvonne’s, got out and took Toby out of his car seat, Colleen noted that the crowd of retired men in the chairs in front of Yvonne’s was bigger than usual. In fact, this was a standing room only crowd. She walked around to the sidewalk and held out her hands for Toby. “I think you’ll need both hands free. These men are going to want a show.”

“And a ride,” Harve said. “If that’s possible.”

Dillon smiled. “We can fit three at a time. Harve, why don’t
you drive us around the town, show everyone what this car can do, and I’ll explain about the finer points of this vehicle.”

“I hear it’s made of aluminum,” one man said. “That’s one sweet little car. I wish my son was in town. He’d love to ride in this.”

“Maybe if I’m ever out this way again,” Dillon promised. But, of course, Dillon wouldn’t be out this way again, Colleen thought. She’d known that all along, so why did her heart hurt?

Deal with it,
she told herself and went into Yvonne’s with Toby in tow.

For the next forty-five minutes, Dillon gave tours, let the men drive alone and at one point, drove out into the country so that one elderly man could give his grandson a chance to ride in the sleek car. “I couldn’t deny a guy a chance to be a hero in his grandson’s eyes,” Dillon explained with a shrug.

“You’re a softie,” she said.

He shrugged. “Kids deserve to have a little unexpected excitement now and then.”

And so do you,
Colleen thought. But for the longest time all he had had was worry. The man had left the business of his heart, gone off to war, been injured and now faced the possibility that the woman who had betrayed him might try to harm him yet again.

If I can help him stop that, I will,
Colleen thought.
But how do I stop myself from getting in deeper than I already am?