Page 95 of Wyoming Heart

She picked up an ugly vase on the dresser in her room and started out the door with it, fury making her face red. She went downstairs and looked for Cort. She found him standing behind a chair while he talked to his father and Sandra.

“You snake in the grass!” Mina raged. She threw the vase at him.

He caught it handily and put it down on the end table before he moved toward her, “What are you talking about?” he demanded with some indignation. Surely he was the injured party here!

“This!” She pulled up the news item on her cell phone and showed it to him. “Explain that!”

His mouth opened. His cheeks had a ruddy flush, high on his cheekbones.

She glanced at Sandra. “Now I know how you felt!” she told the other woman. “He’s only been married a few days, and he’s already tomcatting around business dinners!”

“I wasn’t!” Cort tried to defend himself.

“You had your arm around her!”

“I never!” he shot back. “Here. You look closely at that picture,” he added icily. “I had my arm behind her. I was reaching for my drink on the table!”

She stared at the picture. It made her furious to see that he was right. He really didn’t have his arm around her. It just looked that way. But the cutline was damning: Texas Millionaire Courts Oil Princess.

“Oh yeah?” Mina retorted. “Well, the headline sure is explicit!”

“She’s married,” he said belligerently.

“So are you!”

Vic got up. “Okay, now,” he said, getting between them. “Listen. She had a career and didn’t tell you,” he told Cort. “While he—” he spoke to Mina, indicating Cort “—was apparently hanging out at business dinners with other women. It’s done. It’s over. You know about Mina’s career now,” he told Cort. “And you—” he indicated Mina “—know that he wasn’t running around on you. It was just a headline and some journalist’s attempt to start trouble. Everything’s out in the open. You both have to make peace. She’s pregnant,” he reminded Cort gently. He smiled. “And this time, I’ll get to know my grandchild, because you’ll both be here. So will I. Sandra and I talked about it. She thinks I need to take some responsibility for Latigo and the businesses, so you won’t be on the road so much, Cort. Now that her family is getting over its grief, she’s willing to live here.”

“Yes, I am,” Sandra said. She grinned at Mina. “I can pump Willow Shane there for plots and such, and I can hang out with her commando friends. It’s very exciting!”

“Exciting.” Cort let out a breath. He glared at his father. He glared at Mina. “Maybe I’m the one who should pack and go back on the road.”

“Why?” Vic asked.

“She risked her life and our baby’s life, crawling through a jungle with a bunch of strange men carrying a .45 automatic!” Cort exclaimed, pointing at her. “The leader of the commando group said she actually shot at a guy! Not only that, she was wounded during one mission she went on with them!”

“I was not pregnant when I went to Nicaragua,” Mina raged. “Well, I was, but I didn’t know I was! And how do you think I can research a book on mercs or SWAT teams or feds without talking to them?”

“You can talk to them in the living room!” Cort shot back. “Or in their offices! You have no business in combat situations. You could be killed!”

Mina stared at him. He really did care. He was belligerent because he was afraid for her, and he didn’t quite know how to admit it without appearing weak. It took the fight right out of her.

She went to him and smoothed her hands against his chest. “I’m tired,” she said softly, and laid her cheek against him. “And sleepy.”

His hands reluctantly went to her long hair and threaded through it. The unexpected fragility of her cut through his defenses like a knife through hot butter, and he sighed. “You’ve had a hard night,” he said gently. “And I’ve been a fool. I’m sorry.”

She smiled. “I should have told you. I’m sorry, too.”

“That makes three of us,” Vic added, his arm around Sandra. “But we were damned lucky that Mina’s cohorts were around tonight. She might have been kidnapped, along with Sandra and me.” He chuckled. “Mina threw down on one of the men who was threatening her and Sandra. She got him right in the kneecap. Hell of a shot.”

Mina flushed and laughed softly. “I don’t like killing people. In fact, I’ve never killed anyone. I was scared to death when that man came upstairs and I saw how bombed out he was. Men in that condition are on a hair trigger. He would have shot me.”

“The sheriff agreed,” Cort confessed. “So did your friend Ry. He said the men were high as a kite and hungry for money.”

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Mina said, snuggling closer to Cort. “You can get blood out of carpet. Honest.”

He burst out laughing. “Okay,” he said. “But no more shoot-ups next to the upstairs bedrooms,” Cort said firmly as he pressed a kiss on her forehead.

“Okay,” she said softly. She hesitated and a mischievous grin claimed her face. “Is downstairs all right for them, then?”

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