Page 5 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

Had I known that a few hours later it would all come crashing down… Well, I still wasn’t sure what else I could have done. And she hated me now. There was that.

“I get a final say on who the love expert is,” I said firmly.

Jace was the only one who knew my father was behind what had happened that day. Bringing Sabrina in would be like pouring fuel on this fire my father had started.

I returned my attention to Paul. “Are we in agreement?” If I could control who the love expert was, maybe this stupid plan was doable.

Paul pushed off the wall. “It’s closing in on tomorrow. To stay ahead of this, we need to have some press releases out by six a.m.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll give you five hours to sleep and get me the name of your pick, and then we have to put this all in motion. It’s one thing to make a statement that you’re gonna be testing the app, including dating, and tools of the project for flaws. But we need to start showing that before Dalton or anyone else can respond. We need to capture everyone’s attention.”

I nodded. I could see the merit of Paul’s plan. For a second, I considered the advantages of having Sabrina do the job.

Shit, did I really just think that? I must be loopy from lack of sleep. No. Sabrina was a definite no.

I swiped my keys off my desk as I stood, then walked toward the door. I stopped when I got close to Jace and poked a finger in his chest. “I’m counting on you to watch my back here.” He would know that meant I wanted him to make sure they didn’t catch wind of Sabrina.

Jace gave one sharp nod. “You need me to drive you home?”

I shook my head and started to move away, but Jace jumped up, reached out, and grabbed me by the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re okay. And I’m glad Peru is over. All things aside, you can’t keep living like you have nine lives. As I see it, you’ll be getting some much-needed downtime.”

He gave me a wry smile.

Jace and I had never guided each other wrong, and at the moment, he looked like he’d had more sleep than me, having flown in when he heard I’d been shot. I knew I could count on him.

I headed toward the door. When I got to Paul, I paused and patted the center of his chest with an open hand. “Okay, Paul. Five hours, and we’ll pick a love expert.”

“You won’t regret it,” Paul said.

“He doesn’t do regret,” Jace said. “That’s not his hang-up.”

I only had one regret, and it ate at me every day. I’d sworn to never have another one. And I wouldn’t have any regrets about destroying my father. The man deserved it.

ChapterTwo

SABRINA

Iwas a hard woman to get a meeting with, and I liked it that way. So when the sleek black Bentley with tinted windows pulled up as I was exiting my potential client’s penthouse apartment, I didn’t think anything of it. That car wasn’t there for me. I stepped around the car and looked for my Uber.

“Ms. Holloway?”

I turned to find a tall woman standing beside the back passenger door, one hand on the hood. Evening was giving away to night, with only the streetlamps and the passing headlights of cars offering occasional light. The building’s light was pointed toward the doorway.

This was totally an opening for a true-crime story. The night, the poor lighting, a stranger calling my name… Yeah, women serial killers were rare, but not unheard-of.

I put my hand on my phone resting in my raincoat pocket. “I’m sorry?” I hadn’t expected someone to call my name.

“You’re Sabrina Holloway?” The woman was walking toward me. “Of course you are. You…” She shook her head. “Sorry, I’m Morgan Barker.”

She stuck out her hand. The woman was in her mid-fifties, with blondish silver hair and immaculately applied makeup that drew attention to her blue eyes. When she smiled, a dimple appeared on her right cheek. Something about her seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

I looked around, then back at the woman and shook her hand. “How did you find me?” I found it hard to believe my assistant would give out my whereabouts.

“Gossip among my bridge group led me here. Mindy is in that group. You were the matchmaker Jace Shepard used, correct?” She gestured toward the car. “Can we ride and talk? We’ll take you back to your hotel.”

My Uber pulled up, and I hesitated, taking a step away from her and toward my ride. This situation was highly unusual, and just because the woman had thrown out Jace’s name didn’t mean she was legit.

“I want to offer you a job.” She indicated to the apartment building I had just exited. “Mindy is fickle. She could change her mind in a flash. My offer would be a good backup plan. While Mindy is processing all this, you could be helping me out.”

Mindy Fisher was one hundred percent a waffler. I’d picked up on that right away. She’d even canceled our first meeting. But scared people did that, and I believed Mindy wanted love more than she was scared. Mindy was matchable. And I had convinced her of that. She had the contract and was going to sign it once her lawyer reviewed it. But that didn’t mean the offer of extra money was something I was willing to look away from. Normally, I was not one to rank money so highly, but that had all changed with my new goal.

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