Countess in Cowboy Boots

by Jodi O'Donnell

  He barely managed not to lift his upper lip in disdain at the name. “It sounded exactly like you, my dear, idealistic and noble—but as with so many noble aspirations, one needs marry idealism with action to bring them to fruition.”

  He made no pretense now of not playing to the crowd as he swung gracefully about, facing them. “That’s why I’ve had my business people in New York draw up plans for a foundation to fund and open such centers all around the United States. In fact, I’ve already set up offices there and have pledged a million dollars toward the cause.”

  Lacey swayed with shock. Any previous bombshell he’d dropped in the past eight years was nothing to this one.

  She fought with everything in her to keep her composure. How had he known? She’d told no one but Will of her hopes in that direction!

  But then, this sort of shrewdness was signature Nicolai. He had made a study of her for nearly a decade, had devoted his every effort to finding out what made her tick—with the precise aim of using that knowledge against her.

  As he was doing right now, taking her dream away from her and putting it under his control.

  She wanted to start centers in other cities! Granted, she hadn’t the resources right now to fund even one here in Abysmal, but she would get there!

  Will’s fingers dug into her arm, not so much steadying her physically as emotionally. Yes, he was the only one who understood what this revelation from Nicolai meant to her. Will said not a word, however, and for that she loved him to pieces. The effort to remain silent must be costing him, too.

  His support also gave her the perspective she needed, for Lacey realized suddenly this cause wasn’t about her, any more than it was about Nicolai. It was about the thousands of girls out there, girls like Jenna who needed, as Nicolai had said, a guiding hand, challenging opportunities, and the reinforcement that they could make their own dreams come true.

  And if Nicolai could provide that, then who was she to discourage him?

  “C-congratulations, Nicolai,” Lacey said numbly. “You’ll be helping a lot of young women with your foundation.”

  “Oh, but I’m merely providing the muscle, so to speak. You, Lacey, are the soul of the machine.”

  “Me?” she was surprised into asking.

  “Why, of course. Jenna thought you might call the foundation America’s Cinderella for Girls. With your approval, of course. Without you at the helm, there’s no foundation. After all, this is your concept—a concept—” he swept an arm around, taking in the whole of Main Street and its occupants “—far more reaching, it seems to me, than this worthy but limited venue. And you are America’s Cinderella, the woman whom every girl in the United States dreams of becoming.”

  As if on cue, murmurs of approval drifted to her from the townspeople. Playing the moment for all it was worth, Nicolai spread his hands before her as if in deferral. “But I understand if your feelings toward me prevent you from accepting such an opportunity at my hand.”

  He touched Jenna’s hair with seeming tenderness. “We’ve talked about the possibility, and Jenna, too, would understand if your vision for her is different from what I’ve offered her. But that is your choice.”

  If he had wanted to design a way to tear down her guard completely, he couldn’t have succeeded more. A foundation—run by her. For one moment, Lacey submerged herself in the prospect: she would have the ability to bring in experts and consultants to develop curriculums, would have the manpower to gather statistics on which age groups responded to which approaches in learning and character building. Would have the clout to get her girls into the best programs at the best universities...

  Such as with Jenna, who now stood looking at Lacey with a whole world of possibilities—a world of hope—in her eyes.

  Yes, Lacey held a lot of power in her hand right now, for Nicolai’s implication was that if she turned down this opportunity, she would be selfishly cutting off those possibilities for hundreds if not thousands of girls around the country, including Jenna.

  And that’s when Lacey saw what this whole act by Nicolai was about. It wasn’t actually about him turning public sympathy back toward him and discrediting her. No, his aim was to show everyone—but mostly her—that only with his wealth and power and influence could she be America’s Cinderella.

  Oh, she couldn’t care less about a title she’d never wanted in the first place, but how could she not seize this opportunity to use her notoriety to help hundreds of girls around the nation to develop and maintain their own sense of independence?

  Then the irony of the situation hit her, for the question was, how could she do it? How could she compromise the very principles and freedom of choice in herself that she wished to foster in young women?

  Some small movement from Will popped her out of her reverie, and she glanced up to see the concern in his eyes.

  “So, just what are your conditions for Lacey takin’ your offer?” Will abruptly asked Nicolai.

  Lacey blinked in dismay. What was he doing?

  “Why, I thought that was clear,” Nicolai protested innocently. “Nothing. Nothing at all. As I said, this would be her foundation. It would be my greatest pleasure to see my ex-wife continue the fine work she’s started here in Abysmal. She would have complete authority.”

  “Now, why’m I not convinced of that?” Will drawled.

  Nicolai rubbed his chin, momentarily evincing perplexity. “Of course. I see where your objection might come from, Mr. Proffitt. Lacey would be required to move to New York to run the foundation, since that is where I’ve set it up.”

  Will apparently comprehended the matter just as it struck Lacey, for he returned levelly, “And that’s what you want, isn’t it? To get Lacey away from the support and love of all her family and friends again—or is it away from me?”

  Nicolai met his gaze as evenly. “You’re quite astute, Mr. Proffitt. I’ll admit I’ve had such an objective in mind since learning of your precipitously announced engagement. My investigations since then have only confirmed my suspicions. Still, I was reluctant to make such information public and embarrass Lacey—or yourself, Mr. Proffitt.”

  “Oh, please, don’t be bashful. You got somethin’ to say, no point in beatin’ around the bush about it,” Will said mildly enough, but an angry flush painted the ridge along his cheekbones, which Lacey considered a bad sign, for she knew Nicolai would have noted it, too. “If, that is, you’ve actually got anything on me.”

  With a shrug that said It’s your funeral, Nicolai turned to Lacey. “What I learned is that you’ve needed money to get your center off the ground. And that Mr. Proffitt is quite frankly the wealthiest and most powerful man in this corner of the world.”

  Now Lacey fought to contain her anger. “I am not a gold digger, Nicolai!”

  “Oh, I wasn’t suggesting you were! On the contrary, I had assumed the situation was quite the opposite, what with Mr. Proffitt’s influence at your town’s estimable banking institution and with the powers-that-be at city hall. After all, aren’t such machinations business as usual around here?”

  A rumble of indignation reverberated through the townspeople.

  “Are you insinuating that I pressured Lacey into gettin’ engaged to me or she wouldn’t get the help she needed to start her center?” Will snarled. “Because you couldn’t be further from the truth!”

  Nicolai’s midnight hair, shot through with silver, gleamed in the sun. His suntanned skin radiated health and well-being. Not a wrinkle, not a blemish, not a single imperfection marred face nor clothes nor presence. But never had Lacey seen a blacker, more devious soul.

  For she almost knew his next words before they were out of his mouth: “My dear Lacey, tell me right now that it’s always been your true intent and wish to marry Mr. Proffitt, and I’ll be on my way without another word.”

  She stared
at him. How neatly he’d maneuvered both of them into this position! And they had played right into his hand.

  If she answered yes, she and Will were to marry, she handed Nicolai the most powerful weapon he could find to use against her: her own attempt at subterfuge, which he would expose and use to discredit both her and her aim. There’d be no stopping him then. He’d move on to Will, her parents, the whole of Abysmal!

  She had fought this man for eight years to hold on to her integrity. She couldn’t let him take it from her now!

  Yet if she said she didn’t intend to marry Will, then it as good as confirmed that she was emotionally unstable and hadn’t known her own mind in divorcing Nicolai, which gave him the satisfaction of showing himself to be blameless in their divorce, since she wasn’t about to reveal the thousands of humiliations she’d endured from him during their marriage which had driven her to leave him.

  But she would endure a thousand more right now, gladly, if only to keep from telling Nicolai she wouldn’t be marrying Will. Because in saying that, she’d humiliate him, too, cast aspersions and doubt on his reputation, in front of the whole town and, judging from the fervor of the newspeople, the whole world.

  That was the real test of character Nicolai had put before her.

  She would have given anything not to be in this position, but the damage was already done. She had no choice.

  Staring into Will’s eyes, she asked him to understand why she had to say what she must.

  “We aren’t getting married,” Lacey said. She wouldn’t compound the situation with more lies.

  From behind her she heard a unified gasp of shock as if from a Greek chorus. She heard mumblings of “seemed awful strange, now that you mention it,” and “never did see it myself...America’s Cinderella and Iron Will Proffitt.”

  Will’s face was ashen but composed. She couldn’t begin to guess the first thing about what he was thinking, but he had to have realized how Nicolai had trapped them both, and how they must be very careful not to compound the error by giving him more ammunition to use against them.

  Yet she couldn’t stand to see him disgraced in front of everyone, with her as the cause.

  “It’s not what you think,” Lacey said earnestly. “Really, it’s not.”

  “Then please, do enlighten us all,” Nicolai urged.

  Her mind whirled, as she tried to calculate ten moves ahead the consequences of any further statement she might make, as if playing a game of chess.

  “It...it’s no one’s business but mine and Will’s,” she finally said, knowing she would only fuel more speculation but unwilling to expose either herself or Will to another attack.

  “Of course. It’s entirely a private matter. Yet it remains you’re not marrying the rancher, so can I assume America’s girls will be able to count on you, Lacey?” Nicolai asked, not bothering this time to disguise the exultant note in his voice.

  He understood her so well, perhaps better than she herself did at times, but never had it been more clear to her how he would always use that knowledge against her, to try to control her and tame her and bring her to her knees before him. She found, surprisingly, that it hurt, for she had once given this man her heart to hold in trust.

  She could only be thankful she hadn’t given him her true heart. But it seemed he wouldn’t be satisfied until he got her soul. And that he’d never have.

  In that moment, the answer came to her of what she must say.

  She had opened her mouth when Will said, voice calm, gaze fast upon Nicolai, “I’ll write a check right now for whatever you need to fund your center here, Lacey, no strings attached, no marriage, nothing.”

  “What?” Lacey asked.

  “I know it’s not a national foundation, but it’s somethin’. Somethin’ that might get you to stay.”

  Stunned, she could only gaze at him in disappointment. Didn’t he see it wasn’t about taking one offer or another, how he had just done to her what Nicolai had, asking her to choose, forsaking her heartfelt aim in order to achieve it?

  She thought he understood that about her, was the one person on earth who could!

  And now he’d put her in the most difficult position of all!

  Tears filled her eyes, the hurt was so great. “Will...I can’t...I don’t want...” She couldn’t go on.

  “A generous offer, Mr. Proffitt. Quite obviously, however, the matter seems already to have been settled,” Nicolai said with a lift of his eyebrows. “Has it not, my dear Lacey?”

  “It has not.” Will placed himself between the two of them, and Lacey’s stomach twisted with foreboding. Jenna paled and backed up a good five steps. “And she’s not your Lacey, dear or otherwise.”

  Nicolai examined his manicure. “She’s apparently not yours, either, Mr. Proffitt.”

  “More mine than she ever was yours,” Will said, deadly low, his words reaching only

  Lacey’s and Nicolai’s ears. His meaning was clear.

  And it got to Nicolai as Lacey had never seen anything affect him before. Dropping all pretense at nonchalance, he replied, voice dripping with scorn, “And as I can see, it came at quite a price to you.”

  What his next intention was, Lacey didn’t know, but it took only the twitch of Nicolai’s hand before Will was all over him, large fists grasping handfuls of that immaculate charcoal suit, as he brought his face to within in an inch of Nicolai’s.

  “You may be some kind of big shot in that pint-size kingdom you come from, but this is my town. And here, you hold about as much sway as a fence post. For all your fine talk of doin’ good and savin’ Lacey from me, it’s pretty clear to everyone you didn’t come here with anything else in mind other than to see how much off her rocker you could make her seem for preferrin’ a rough-actin’ Texas rancher and this little town on the edge of nowhere to all your culture and fortune and fame.”

  Nicolai looked as if he would burst of anger in the next second, for Will had virtually summed up the situation in a nutshell. Yet with that canny sixth sense of his, which could shoot straight as an arrow to the heart of another’s vulnerability, Nicolai answered, “Perhaps you’re forgetting Lacey left here once because she hadn’t found what she needed. Who’s to say she won’t again?”

  Will’s fingers turned white, and for a moment Lacey wondered if he would lose it himself and actually hit the other man. She didn’t know what she’d do if he did. Given how hushed the crowd had become and how closely focused each camera was on the two men, she couldn’t help feeling it would spell disaster not only for Will, but for the whole of Abysmal.

  It was exactly what Nicolai wanted.

  “Let him go, Will,” Lacey ordered. “At once.”

  He moved not a muscle for a good five seconds, then his hands relaxed and he let the other man go. Nicolai stumbled backward before righting himself. He smoothed down his hair and straightened his suit coat, his face showing disgust at the creases remaining in his shirt. It was the first time Lacey had seen him looking any less than flawlessly composed.

  She could almost deem Will’s outburst worth it.

  Except there was no excuse for either man’s behavior. And she was fed up to here with them both.

  “Look at you two,” she said. “It’s just a spitting contest for you, isn’t it? Who’s got more power, money or influence! Well, believe it or not, I’m all for those things—used for the right purpose, they can do so much good. But at the moment, I want nothing to do with any of them—or you, Nicolai Laslo!”

  She whirled around. “And that goes for you, too, Will Proffitt! I’m tired of it, do you hear me? Tired of you all!”

  She didn’t care that she’d done it again—lost control of her emotions and made a scene right in the middle of town! She didn’t care—about Will and his obvious lack of understanding as to what this was about. What she was abo
ut.

  Tears started to her eyes, and Lacey was a scant moment from turning and leaving everyone—the media and townspeople included—to play their little power games when she glimpsed Will’s face. It was as impassive and closed as she had ever seen it.

  But she knew now who he hid behind that mask, and it was a man who wasn’t made of iron, who had been hurt by a woman leaving him without a backward look. Without giving him a chance. If she walked away now, she knew he’d never forgive her.

  And she’d never forgive herself. Because she needed something, too, and that was to feel she could be free to be herself with him, free to follow her dream—and stumble and fall if she must—and have him not rush to her rescue or try to run the show, but support her.

  If she walked away without trying to get that understanding from Will, she may as well go back to Nicolai, for all that life would be worth living.

  She realized of a sudden that every single person and camera was still trained on her, as if everything hinged on her next move. Well, there was no way she’d give in to public pressure, especially now!

  “Didn’t you hear me? The show’s over, everyone,” Lacey said, turning in a circle. “So go home. Please...just go back to your homes.”

  She noticed her parents and Lee echoing her request as they moved through the crowd.

  “But which offer will you choose, the count’s or the rancher’s?” a newsperson asked. “You can’t leave us hanging.”

  “Will you be America’s Cinderella—or Abysmal’s?” asked another.

  At that, a stir of protest started up.

  “Silence!” Lacey hollered. A hush descended like the drop of a curtain.

  Her gaze swept over the crowd with regal command. So they wanted answers, did they?

  “I’ll make a statement tomorrow.” She pointed at the pavement at her feet. “At noon, right here.”

  She had no idea what she would say, but she had until tomorrow; she’d think of something.