Page 70 of Wyoming Heart

She looked up at him with an impish smile. “Like either of us would know,” she chuckled.

He had to laugh. It wasn’t true. He knew exactly what money could buy.

She slid her hand into his and he relaxed. Odd, she gave him peace. He didn’t know that he’d ever experienced it with a woman.

“Mina,” he said softly, and looked down at her. “What’s it short for?”

“Oh, this is rich. Wilhelmina,” she told him. “It was my father’s idea. I was named for one of his ancestors.”

“Somebody German?”

“I’m not really sure. I was so young when he left.” Her face tautened. “I shortened it to Mina when I was still in grammar school. I took a lot of teasing about it.”

His fingers contracted around hers. “My first name is Cortrell,” he told her. “God knows where my mother got it from. At that, it’s not as bad as Cash’s. His real name is Cassius.”

She laughed. “Really?”

He nodded. “He shortened it to Cash when he started in military school. Dad sent him away when he was nine, just after our mother died.”

“That’s awful,” she said softly.

He shrugged. “He didn’t get along with our stepmother. She told Dad something that made him furious. He packed Cash up and sent him off the same day. Cash never got over it. He and Dad didn’t even speak until our brother Garon went to see him, just before he settled in the same town.”

“Your father doesn’t sound like a very nice man. Sorry.”

“He isn’t a nice man, and there’s no need to apologize.” He linked his fingers in between hers. “He was a rotten father. He never remembered birthdays or gave us much affection. He was gone most of the time, so our housekeeper pretty much raised us after Dad booted our stepmother out for cheating on him.”

She sighed. “I guess we both had pretty rotten childhoods.”

“Yours was worse than mine, honey,” he said softly, smiling at her reaction to the endearment. “I had neglect. You had something a lot worse.”

She nodded. She moved closer to his side. He let go of her hand and slid his arm around her.

“I’ll be a better mother than mine was,” she said quietly.

“I’ll be a better father than mine was,” he returned.

She drew in a long breath. “I forgot to tell you. I have to go out of town this weekend. I wouldn’t go, but I promised.”

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“My best friend is getting married,” she lied. “I promised I’d be her maid of honor.”

“I could drive you,” he offered.

“I’d love that, but she lives in Miami.”

He burst out laughing. “Okay. That’s a little far to drive.” He could have offered her a ride in the family jet. But she didn’t know about him yet. He wasn’t anxious to tell her. He was enjoying being just a man, with his best girl beside him. “I’ll miss you,” he added gently.

She pressed close to his side, just as Old Faithful shot water and steam up into the air. “I’ll miss you, too. But it’s only for a couple of days.”

His arm contracted. “Okay.”

SHEWASCRAWLINGthrough the underbrush in Nicaragua with her small commando group. They’d adopted her two years earlier when she asked a local man—one who’d retired from duty as a mercenary soldier—a lot of questions about what mercenaries did. So he introduced her to his five old comrades. They were flattered by her curiosity, took her under their collective wings and began taking her out on missions with them through various insect-and snake-infested jungles. They’d taught her the ropes, and now she could handle military hardware right along with them. She learned about covert operations from the ground up, which gave her books a realism that many armchair adventurers couldn’t manage.

Dan handled communications. Reg was their demolition expert. Harlan was the heavy weapon specialist. Ry was the leader and strategic planner of the group, with Craddock as his second in command and small weapons expert. Mina was small weapons backup, and she was proficient with a .45 auto.

On this mission, they were rescuing a small boy who’d been kidnapped by a poor relative of a very wealthy family. He was holding the boy for ransom, and the parents were afraid of local law enforcement. The father knew Ry and phoned him for help. He called in the group.

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