Page 96 of The Texan's Secrets

“Yes.”

Her gaze narrowed. “I didn’t see that name at your office. I would have recognized it.”

“Like I said, low profile. At least it was in the past. I’m changing all that starting now.”

“Why do I feel like I have plenty more to learn about you?”

“I hope I have plenty more to learn about you too.” He couldn’t wait to get started.

Twelve

Applause rang through the Texas Cattleman’s Club’s dining room as the formal dedication ceremony of the Del Rio heirloom necklace, being streamed from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, came to a close. Notable TTC members from far and wide were attending the lavish Royal event.

Maggie was in Houston, along with many members of the Del Rio and Winters families. A photo of her wedding to Jericho was part of the display, as was a small reproduction of the painting of Fernando Del Rio the first’s mother wearing the jewels. There was a short story of the family lore, the feud and the reconciliation to let visitors understand the provenance of the piece.

As the applause died down and conversation came up, Nico’s hand closed over Emilia’s. Her heart warmed at the gesture.

It was the beginning of a new era for him, with his enthusiastic acceptance by the people of Royal as they started their lives together as a couple. It was also a new era for the Del Rio and Winters families, joined now by Maggie and Jericho’s marriage and also by Tiffany Winters’s pregnancy with Preston Del Rio. It was a new era for Royal itself and even the Texas Cattleman’s Club.

The k!smet app had helped put Royal on the map as a tech hub. Nico’s role in the Surprise Me! function’s creation was now broadly known. And attention had come to the ranching app he’d developed for the Cortez-Williams family. Orders were pouring in for it from Texas and beyond.

Nico had donated the profits to the Cattleman’s Club’s benevolent arm. In return, they’d appointed him to a brand-new board position: director of technology. At first, he’d refused the honor, since he hadn’t intended his donation as a quid pro quo. But the who’s who of Royal had convinced him they needed his talent and expertise to usher the organization into the future.

Spurred on by the momentum to modernize, the Cattleman’s Club had elected its youngest and first-ever female president, Luisa Cortez-Williams, one of the most revered ranchers in the valley whose extended family had ranched in the Royal area for multi generations.

Emilia leaned toward Nico, understanding that after so much time on his own, big gatherings weren’t his favorite activity. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” he said with a smile. “With you here, I’m good.”

It was all quite the change to his status in Royal—a revered and respected businessman instead of a recluse trying to hide his past. Only a few people knew the real story of how he’d protected his friend, but the rest seemed content to let bygones be bygones. It was understood by hardworking Texas cattlemen that disagreements sometimes led to fisticuffs. It didn’t mean a man had a character flaw.

“You?” Nico asked in return.

“I’m fantastic,” she said.

“Nervous about tomorrow?” he asked.

“A little. You?”

They had agreed to do a live Q and A on their Coders Plus workshop. Now that Nico had gone public as the founder of AlgoXcell, his cachet in the coding world was equal to Emilia’s stature as a hacker. The Coders Plus marketing team was over the moon with the opportunities their participation brought to the organization.

“Not nervous,” he said. “Curious, I think. I can’t wait to see what the students ask us.”

Emilia gave a nod to that. She liked the way he was thinking. She should forget about herself, forget about feeling self-conscious on camera and think about the students. Like she’d had so many years ago, they had a thirst to learn. She’d do her level best to help them with that.

“You’re smart,” she said to Nico.

He chuckled. “You’re smarter.”

“Ha!”

“You hacked my code, remember?”

“Only because you didn’t focus on making it unhackable.”

“Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson. Plus, with you on the team now, our security testing protocol is unbeatable.”

“Until some black hat hacker out there gets smarter than us.”

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