Page 59 of The Honorable Texan
“Yes, I do.”She checked her watch.“You could get her on a plane by noon, if you hurry.”
He chuckled.“Violet, you’re a wonder!”
“Just a suggestion, boss.”
He sighed.“Now, if she’ll just go…!”
“Ask her.But you’d better hurry,” she pointed out.“You don’t have much time.”
“I’ll do it right now.Uh, those letters on the desk need answering, but I haven’t got a minute to dictate them right now.Just catch up herd records, okay?”
“Okay.”
He was gone before she had a chance to even answer him.She sat down, amused, and turned on her computer.It was going to be an interesting day.
* * *
Two hours later,she was deep in a spreadsheet program, listing daily weight gain quotas and measurements from the new bull yearling crop, when the door opened and a tall, blond woman walked in with a small boy in a suit in tow.
She stopped short when she saw Violet at the desk.She frowned, and peered at the woman.“Do I know you?”she asked slowly.
“Are you Mrs.Wright?”Violet replied politely, and then grimaced, because she was about to be the ex-Mrs.And that might not be a politically correct way of addressing her.Violet flushed.
“I’m Beka Wright,” the other woman replied tersely.She moved forward, with the little boy.“Are you new?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Violet agreed.“I’ve been working for Mr.Wright on and off for just a few weeks.”
“On and off?”Beka queried, while the child at her side fidgeted and leaned against her leg in its elegant black slacks above high heels.
“Mr.Kemp fires me periodically,” she replied.“Or I quit.But I’ll be going back pretty soon, I guess, because we’re sort of engaged,” she added quickly, before the other woman could get the wrong idea about her presence here.She smiled shyly.
“Blake Kemp is getting married?”Mrs.Wright asked.She felt her forehead.“I must feel worse than I thought.Or maybe I’m hearing things.”
“No, it’s true,” Violet assured her.“We’re sort of having a baby.”
“A baby.Now I know I need to sit down.”Mrs.Wright plopped into the chair in front of the desk and hoisted the little boy onto her lap.“Where’s my husb…my ex-husband?”she corrected curtly.
“I think he drove Miss Crane to the airport,” she replied, and then could have bitten her tongue out for mentioning it.
“Delena Crane?”Her face tightened.“What’s she doing here?”Beka demanded.
“Uh, she’s going to a conference in Colorado.She’s a biologist.”She didn’t dare add that she worked for Mr.Wright, too.
Beka relaxed, but just a little.“Does she spend much time here?”she asked suspiciously.
“Not much, no.”Violet hoped she wouldn’t get in trouble for lying.
“Good.I mean, I wouldn’t want my son around her,” Beka qualified.“She has an attitude problem.When will Duke be back?”she continued.
Violet looked past her and grimaced.“Any second,” she murmured uncomfortably.
Beka turned around.Duke Wright was standing in the doorway, his hat cocked low over one eye, his face as rigid as steel.And he wasn’t smiling.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Duke moved forwardinto the room, his expression changing when he saw the blond-headed little boy in his wife’s lap.
“Hey, Trent!”he called, grinning.
