Page 82 of Wyoming True

He burst out laughing. It was the last reaction he’d expected. They were newlyweds. She might have felt justified in resentment, because he hadn’t asked her to go with him. But he was uneasy about their suddenly changed relationship and he needed to step back and take a good look at things.

“I won’t be gone longer than a few days,” he said.

“That’s okay,” she replied. “I’ll get out my clay and my tools and make exotic statues or something.”

“Erotic?” His deep voice was amused.

She stared at him and almost saw the wicked thoughts in his mind. “Models of birds and lizards,” she exclaimed and actually flushed. “Exotic wildlife! Not...that!”

He was laughing. She loved the way his silver eyes glittered with humor as he looked down at her.

“You are a bad man,” she said curtly.

He leaned down and kissed her, but on the forehead. “Yes, I am, from time to time,” he confessed. He sighed. “Ah, well, so much for my hopes of having something from theKama Sutrato put in my office.”

The flush got much, much deeper. He studied it with true fascination. Two marriages behind her, and she was still, in some ways, quite innocent. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“Well, I’ll drag out my pilot and be off. Maude will be here in the morning.” He frowned. “Will you be all right, alone, tonight?”

“Of course,” she replied. “The house is wired like a bomb and there are full-time cowboys who live just down the road. I have my phone, and if I call 911, Cody Banks will have somebody out here like a shot. Don’t worry,” she added, confused and pleased that he was concerned about her.

He smoothed her hair again. He scowled. He was worried. He hadn’t realized how much. Her crazy ex-husband was gunning for her, and she could be in danger.

“I’ll be all right,” she emphasized. “Honest.”

He sighed as he got to his feet. “I’ll phone you every night.”

“I’ll keep my cell phone with me. But if I’m sculpting, you’ll have to be patient. I can’t answer the phone with clay all over my fingers,” she added impishly.

He pursed his lips and his silver eyes twinkled. “Why don’t you do a bust of me?” he asked. “Immortalize me in baked clay.”

She laughed. “I don’t do people well,” she replied. “Animals, yes, even flowers. But not people. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.”

“So we do.” He looked down at her and thought without wanting to that she was rapidly becoming one of his own weaknesses. Ridiculous, of course. He was fond of her. He wouldn’t mind having a child with her. She was beautiful. A little girl, he was thinking, with that same black hair and light blue or silver eyes...

“I’d better get dressed,” he said, bringing him back to cold reality.

She watched him go, confused. He’d looked at her as if he resented her. Perhaps he did. If he was still besotted with Mina Michaels Grier, then it was understandable. He wanted a child, but he’d wanted that with Mina. Was he only making do with second best? It was a worry that would haunt her.

SHEGOTUPand dressed, too, so that she could see him off. They paused in the doorway. Fred sat outside at the wheel of the limousine, waiting, looking all around and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

“He always looks like he’s waiting for the police,” Ida whispered to Jake and laughed softly.

He laughed with her. “I checked him out,” he replied. “He’s clean. Maybe he has dreams of being a wheelman for a robbery ring, though.”

“He drives like he’d be a good one.” She looked up at him, trying to hide her sadness. “You’ll phone when you get there? So I know you made it okay?”

His heart jumped. “I will. You take care of yourself. Don’t overdo.”

She smiled gently. “Of course not. You be careful, too.”

He sighed. “This isn’t working out the way I expected,” he said nebulously. He bent, and for a few seconds, she thought he was going to kiss her. He did, but on the cheek.

“I’ll see you in a few days,” he said in a stilted tone and walked out to the car. He didn’t look back. Not once.

IDADIDBREAKout her clay and start sculpting. Maude hesitated at the door to the guest room she’d taken over for her art. There was a tarp on the floor under the table Ida used, because sculpting with clay involved water and wet cloths, and there was a pristine carpet under the tarp. She knew that Jake could afford to replace the carpet, but it seemed wiser not to put it at risk in the first place.

“Oh, my goodness,” Maude exclaimed when she saw what Ida was doing. “What a sweet little fawn!”

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