“My goodness, isn’t that wonderful. That poor child needs a happy ending. Those so-called parents of hers, they deserve the electric chair for what they did to her, not to mention poor Judy.”
“Ansley had a twin brother. Do you have any idea what Judy might have done with him?”
Luella shook her head. “I can understand why she did what she did. I mean, that’s how we became such good friends—her moving in next door to me. She couldn’t have done that without the money she got from that woman. Not that I approve of her means.”
“Is it possible she gave the baby boy to someone she knew in Lonesome? I would think that she would have taken him to someone she trusted, someone with knowledge as to how to care for an infant.”
The woman nodded sagely. “You’re thinking me.”
“The birth mother wasn’t in any shape to take care of the baby. Also she thought both babies had died. So Judy had to have taken the baby boy to a friend.”
Luella seemed to squirm a little in her seat. “Is talking to you like talking to a lawyer, anything I say is just between us?”
Buck hesitated, but only for a moment. “I just want to find him. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, especially you.”
“That didn’t quite answer my question.”
“She brought you the baby, didn’t she?”
Chapter Five
DJ had never been happier to see anyone. He stared at Sadie as she came down the stairs at the Yellowstone International Airport—his second time there in days. He blinked realizing he’d never seen her in normal clothes. Today, she wore designer jeans, a pale blue cashmere sweater and furry snow boots. She had her sheepskin coat thrown over one shoulder, her leather shoulder bag on the other and the expensive carry-on in her hand.
She looked like a million bucks. Everything fit like a glove, and she fit in here in the Gallatin Valley where the wealthy came to find paradise. She could have passed for any one of them because, he realized with a start, she was one of them. Sometimes he forgot that she’d been raised in Palm Beach, rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful.
He knew he wasn’t the only man staring at this breathtaking woman with her long blond hair resting around her shoulders. But when those honey-brown eyes found him, he felt like the only man in the world. She smiled, reminding him how amazing she was—and how unattainable.
His partner, Sadie Montclair, the smartest, funniest, sexiest woman he’d ever met, was off-limits in a big life-threatening way. Even if her godfather hadn’t threatened him if he even thought about seducing her, DJ knew that she wouldn’t look twice at someone like him. Not seriously, anyway.
“How was your flight?” he asked as he took her carry-on and led her outside into the cold, snowy December day to his rental SUV. “Thanks again for coming. You fly over so many mountains to get here. Sometimes the turbulence can get to you, but the view can be pretty spectacular.”
“Are you really trying to make small talk, DJ Diamond?” she asked with a laugh as he climbed behind the wheel. She could tell he was nervous. He saw a flicker of concern in her gaze before she said, “Tell me about the people your sister owes this money to.”
So like Sadie to get right to business. He tried to calm his nerves, having second thoughts about getting her involved in this. But while he kept thinking that he shouldn’t have called her and she shouldn’t have come, he was so glad that she was here. Maybe this was a mistake, but right now he couldn’t help feeling relieved. Sadie balanced him; it’s why they were such a good team.
He started the engine, stopped at the booth to turn in his parking ticket and drove out of the airport onto Interstate 90 headed west, mentally kicking himself for getting her involved in his family mess. “I shouldn’t have called you.”
“Of course you should have. If I hadn’t wanted to come, I wouldn’t have. I’m here for you. We’re partners. It’s just that you were acting like you’d picked up your girlfriend at the airport.”
He nodded, swallowed and tried to relax. She was right. He wasn’t himself around this version of Sadie. But he better pull it together. He cleared this throat and turned to business. “The men? Old money. Suits, ties, hired muscle. Grandville is a cocky bastard. Would they kill Keira? Probably not. Would they mess her up? Yeah.”
SADIESAWTHATher words had hurt DJ. But she’d seen the way he looked at her as she’d come down the stairs at the terminal. It was going to be hard enough to walk away from this partnership as it was. She couldn’t have him looking at her like that. Worse, she couldn’t feel like shewashis girlfriend he was picking up at the airport.
“Doesn’t sound like anything we haven’t dealt with before,” she said as she took in the scenery as he drove, reminding herself that this was just another job.
She’d never been to Montana, but she could see the appeal. There was a winter wonderland outside her window. Everything was frosted with snow from the mountains to the pine trees, from houses to the fence posts they passed. Even the air seemed to sparkle with snow crystals. She couldn’t help being enchanted as she saw a red barn with Christmas lights in the shape of a star on the side.
“I thought we’d make a big haul, pay off Grandville and get out,” DJ was saying. “He’s supplying at least one of the players, someone’s pockets he wants us to pick. I’ll find someone to front the game who can bring in a local hard hitter or two to the mix.”
“Whatever you think is best,” she said as she saw a snowman in one of the yards. “Montana really is like the photographs I’ve seen. It’s beautiful.”
He glanced over at her. “You should see it in the spring. That’s my favorite time of year, when everything greens up after a long, dull, colorless winter.”
“I’d like that,” she said. “I was thinking on the way up here. I have seventy-five thousand that I could—”
“Not a chance,” he said quickly.
“It’s my money, nothing to do with my godfather, and I wouldn’t—”