Billion Dollar Cowboy

by Carolyn Brown

  “It wasn’t easy to lie to her,” Laura whispered.

  “It’s because we’ve had it so easy this whole week. Hardly crossed each other’s paths until yesterday and then it was just an hour in church,” Colton said. “But so many people are aware of it now that Granny thinks you’d better start having supper with the family every night.”

  “Well, shit!” Laura mumbled.

  Colton bristled. “Hey, if it’s that big of an imposition, I could always bring supper out to your apartment and we could eat there.”

  “Hell, no! Do I have to get dressed up every night?”

  “Just whatever you wear to work that day is fine. We don’t stand on formality around here,” he said.

  He threw an arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. When he whispered in her ear his breath was warm and seductive even if the words were nothing more than information. “Sally helps Chester in the kitchen and she’ll know if you aren’t here for supper. They set the table before she leaves and sometimes Granny even invites her to eat with us before she goes home.”

  “Starting tonight?” Laura asked.

  “That would be nice. Now you don’t work too hard, darlin’, and I’ll see you at supper,” he said.

  “Colton Nelson,” Sally leaned over the railing and yelled. “I’ll be cleaning your room twice a week from now on too.”

  “Was she…” Laura asked.

  “Oh, yes. They all are paying close attention,” Colton whispered as he brushed a kiss across her lips.

  Laura raised her voice slightly. “Has Sally worked here a long time?”

  “She was the first person that Granny hired when we bought this ranch. She used to work at the school with Granny.”

  “How many more folks work in the house?” Laura asked.

  “Chester, the weekday cook, and Molly, a lady who comes in four hours a day to help Sally. If you didn’t stay so cooped with Andy Joe, you would have met them before now, but that’s one of the things I love about you—your dedication to work.”

  Laura narrowed her eyes and gave him a drop-dead look. Love was a strong word that did not have room in a fairy tale world.

  “Gardeners?” Laura asked.

  “One comes twice a week to take care of the pool flowers,” he said.

  “Could I start working in the yard in the evenings?”

  Their eyes met and Colton could feel the moony, so Roxie would have seen it for sure. Laura worked hard, complained very little, and she was asking for more work. She might be up to her pretty little nose in a scam, but if she was, she was damn good at it.

  “Sure, I’ll even pay you extra if you want to tinker around out there. Just keep up with your hours and tell Andy to add them to your paycheck each week.”

  “Thank you. You said that you had to get going. What’s on your agenda today?”

  “I’m going to round up the new calves and vaccinate them.”

  “Four-wheeler or horses?” she asked.

  “Four-wheelers.”

  She gave a brief nod. “Poor little critters. They probably don’t like shots any better than I do. Is that all they have to suffer through today? No working ’em or taggin’ ’em?”

  “You’ve done that?” he asked.

  “If it has to do with cows, pigs, chickens, gardens, tractors, milking, or mucking out, I’ve probably had a hand in doin’ it,” she answered. “But right now I’ve got a whole day’s work to do in three-quarters of a day because Maudie says that Roxie and I are going shopping for things to wear to some party that’s going on. Want to explain what that’s all about?”

  Colton settled a straw hat on his head and started for the front door. “Ask Andy. He’s the producer of this blockbuster film that we’re starring in.”

  “What are you talkin’ about?” Sally asked from the bottom step.

  “It’s a joke between me and Laura. Andy kind of introduced us when he hired Laura to help him so we have this inside joke about him creating a love story out of our lives,” Colton said quickly.

  ***

  Laura ducked into the office and covered her bright red face with her hands. She’d kicked the door shut with her foot and something darted across her foot, something with fur and soft feet like a mouse. She threw her hands in the air and landed in Andy’s office chair. A shadow of something as big as a possum darting under the desk sent her to the top of his desk and trying to climb through air to the ceiling.

  Andy heard her squeal and he rushed into the office with Colton right behind him. They took in the scene with one glance and Colton said, “Snake?”

  “Mouse or maybe a possum or could be King Kong,” she said in a shaky voice.

  He eased over to the desk and looked under it. “Dammit! I hate snakes.”

  Andy stayed by the door. “If you see one, I’m out of here. I’ll get Rusty to bring something to kill it.”

  “Two big strong men to protect me. My world is complete today,” she mumbled.

  “Hey!” Andy said. “At least we’re not standing on top of a desk.”

  “Only because I haven’t figured out how to get up there,” Colton said.

  A pitiful wail came from the corner and a big yellow cat strutted toward Andy. He chuckled as he stooped down to pet the animal. “It’s just Daisy. She brushed against your leg. I bet you scared the devil out of her when you sprouted wings and flew up on that desk.”

  “Are you sure? That cat is yellow. I swear what I saw was gray.” Laura scanned the floor and glanced up and down the draperies.

  “You saw a moving shadow probably,” Colton said.

  Laura hopped down off the desk and did another visual sweep of the floor. “Why haven’t I seen her before?”

  “It’s a big house and she’s got free rein, both inside and out. She might have been visiting the bunkhouse. The guys all love her. But she’s here now so come on over here and make her acquaintance. She’ll probably show up in your apartment. When I lived there she came to see me about once a week,” Andy said.

  Colton bent over and scratched the cat’s ears. Her purrs were loud enough that they echoed off the office walls. “You wouldn’t let a nasty old mouse in our house, would you, sweet baby girl? Where is Donald? I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.”

  “Who is Donald?” Laura asked.

  “That’d be her best friend and Donald is a duck.” Andy laughed.

  Laura rubbed her ears and accidentally brushed her hand against Colton’s arm. Sparks jumped around the room that had nothing to do with static electricity from the cat’s fur. She wasn’t even surprised. Colton was a fine-looking cowboy and she’d always been attracted to men with green eyes. Too damn bad they hadn’t met in different circumstances, but then if they had he would have taken one look at her and thought she was after his money.

  “You’ll get all the scholarship funds in place before the weekend, right?” Colton said to Andy as he raised up and started for the door.

  “That’s what I’m working on today. You want to increase the donation this year or keep it the same?”

  “Increase it to include one more senior but make it for two years instead of a four-year ride. We’ve had a couple of dropouts after the first year. Let’s make it for two years and then optional depending on grades for that last two,” Colton said.

  “That seems like a sound plan to me. You going to bring that idea up at the meeting?”

  “Thought I might. Right now I’m off to ranch. Daisy, you could stick around a few days and scare any mice off that might wander in from the fields.” He tipped his hat at Laura. “See you at supper. Chester is making prime rib tonight and it’s better than any you’ll ever get in a restaurant. And I understand Sally is putting together one of her fresh peach cobblers.”

  “Sounds scrumptious,” Laura said.

  Daisy left A
ndy and purred until Laura picked her up and carried her to her desk. “You can sit in my lap while I work, but if you get all squirmy, you’ll have to go. What’s this about a scholarship meeting? I thought there was a party this next weekend.”

  Andy sat down behind his desk, hit a few computer keys, and waited until his screen came up. “I’ve been meaning to tell you about that party. Had to convince Colton first but he’s on board with the idea.”

  “What idea?”

  “It’s time for you two to take this relationship out into the public if it’s going to work. Y’all did real well in church again last Sunday. After two Sundays, I don’t think there’s any doubt that you’re really dating. Even Ina Dean believes it now. That first Sunday you were caught by surprise but I got to hand it to you, last Sunday was a stellar performance. Now it’s time to take it a step further. The party is in Dallas on the fourth weekend in June every year. It’s a weekend affair that Colton always attends. You’ll be the first girlfriend he’s taken to it so it’ll be a big thing.”

  She gasped and the cat jumped off her lap. “You have got to be joking! When were you planning to ask me? And now that you have the answer is no. Not just no, but hell no and spelled all in capital letters. Pretending here in Ambrose is one thing. In Dallas at a formal affair? I don’t think so, Scooter!”

  “They put him up in a penthouse suite with two bedrooms so you’ll be fine. Maudie and Roxie are going shopping with you over in Sherman to buy a new dress or outfit of some kind for the formal dance and dinner. Maudie is happy as a drunk in a winery that she doesn’t have to go this year. The ranch will foot the bill for whatever you buy to wear so have a good time,” he said.

  “Didn’t you hear me? I said no!” she yelled.

  Andy put a finger to his lips. “Shhh! Sally has real good hearing and she’s everywhere.”

  Colton eased the door open and Daisy darted out. “Not going so well, is it, Andy? I told you she wouldn’t go for it. I’m not her type. She said so.”

  She grabbed an ink pen from her desk and lobbed it across the room at him. It bounced off the door frame and rolled across the floor. He laughed aloud. “Our first fight brings out the worst in her. Hope that Sally’s cobbler softens her up tonight. See you later and good luck convincing her that it’s time for us to go public.”

  She leaned over Andy’s desk and didn’t stop until her nose was barely an inch from his. “I’m not Colton’s type either. He didn’t have to tell me. His type is cheap barmaids who doctor his beer. That has nothing to do with why I’m not going.”

  “If you go, I’ll call Janet and give her your new cell phone number and you can talk to her all you want from now on,” Andy said.

  “You are a bastard,” Laura said.

  His smile was crooked, innocent, and wicked at the same time. A devil wearing a halo and wings. “My momma and daddy were married so I think that is a false statement.”

  She returned to her chair. “I wish I’d never called you for help.”

  “Sweetheart, you are having a wonderful time. Admit it. It’s the first time in your entire life that you’ve gone this long without worrying if and when the phone was going to bring news that Janet was in trouble again. It’s the first time in her life that she’s had to stand on her own two feet for that long. Now say you’ll go and I’ll leave a message on her machine. She’s at a meeting right now because this is Monday and the beauty shop is closed, but you could talk to her tonight after you go shopping. I’ll give her your new cell phone number and you two can talk, text, and fuss and argue all you want from now on.”

  Laura straightened papers on her desk and got ready to input numbers that boggled her brain. Colton was a billionaire but he was also a smart rancher and everything he touched turned to gold.

  So she wasn’t his type and he thought she was afraid of him, did he? There was only one way to show him that he had cow chips for brains just for entertaining such insane thoughts.

  “Okay, you win. But this is the last card you have to pull out for bribery. Are you sure this party is important enough to use it?” she asked.

  Andy smiled. “Oh, yeah, it’s that important.”

  Chapter 5

  Tressa had thinning gray hair that she wore pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. Bright red lipstick had bled into the wrinkles around her mouth, and there were crow’s-feet around her deep-set green eyes. But she commanded attention when she folded her arms over her ample chest and eyed Laura.

  “You are not model material, but you’ve got a lot to work with. I’ll play up the curves like you are the next Marilyn Monroe. I’ll make an appointment with Jimmy to come to the hotel room to do your hair. You got a problem with taking a few inches off so that it floats on your shoulders when he styles it?”

  “I do my own hair,” Laura said.

  “Not if you’re going to wear one of my creations. Roxie, darlin’, there’s a brand-new shipment of jeans over there on that rack.” Tressa talked as she made her way across the room.

  Laura picked up the price tag on a cute little blue halter dress. Surely there was a mistake. No dress in the world was worth that kind of money. She looked at Maudie and shook her head.

  “I am not paying this much for a dress. Let’s go,” she said.

  “Colton said for me to get you outfitted and that’s what we are going to do,” Maudie whispered. “Colton is paying the bill.”

  “Not here, we’re not. I’ll wait in the truck if you and Roxie want to shop here. I don’t care if he does have all the money in Texas; I’m not paying these prices for something I’ll only wear one time.”

  “He and Andy said to bring you here,” Maudie said.

  “Take me to that strip mall we passed by Walmart. I saw a Ross store there. I like that place.”

  “But Tressa’s things are one of a kind.”

  “They should be.”

  “We’ll be back later in the week,” Maudie called out. “Come on, Roxie. Laura is getting a headache and we’ve got to go home.”

  Tressa waved as they left the store. “Call me with your hotel and room number and I’ll make that appointment with Jimmy.”

  “I really did like that pair of jeans with all the bling-bling on the pockets,” Roxie said.

  “Evidently you didn’t check the price tag,” Laura said.

  “I don’t understand what’s the big deal. So Tressa’s stuff is expensive. You are going to a fancy place, girl,” Maudie said. “She’s been outfitting me ever since Colton’s been on that scholarship committee. But I’ve got to admit I’m tickled pink that I don’t have to go this year.”

  “I don’t care if I’m having dinner with the Queen of England. I’m not paying that much for a dress. And she is not sending some guy named Jimmy to my hotel room to cut my hair either,” Laura declared.

  Maudie’s laughter rattled off the dashboard, bounced into the backseat, and hit all four windows in the club cab truck. She pulled out onto the highway heading north toward Walmart and was still chuckling a mile down the road. “Guess you aren’t going to let Ling Chi come to your room, do your nails, toes, and give you a hot oil massage, either.”

  It wasn’t funny! Not a blessed bit. Laura looked straight ahead at the tailgate of an old dented-up truck with rusty spots.

  Roxie sighed. “I’d just love to get to go to Dallas. The farthest I’ve ever been in my whole life is over to Sherman and to Bonham.”

  “You have been over the line into Durant, Oklahoma. I took you up there for college day last spring!” Maudie looked into the rearview at the teenager.

  “We didn’t shop,” Roxie said.

  “Did you look at the price on those jeans?” Laura asked.

  Roxie shook her head.

  “They were over two hundred dollars.”

  “Holy shit!” Roxie gasped.

  “Roxie!”
Maudie said.

  Roxie slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I didn’t know anything cost that much. How much was the dress?”

  “Two thousand,” Laura answered.

  “Aunt Maudie, do you really have things that came from there?”

  “I do and it was money well spent. Colton is going to be mad, let me tell you. He might play like she’s his girlfriend in her jeans and cotton dresses on the ranch, but in Dallas, he’s going to want a trophy girlfriend.”

  Laura turned as far as her seat belt would allow. “Two thousand dollars for a dress with only a yard and a half of material in it is ridiculous. I’m not that kind of woman.”

  “What if you had as much money as Colton? Would you spend that much on a one-of-a-kind dress?” Roxie asked.

  “I would not. But I’m not rich. And I won’t ever be rich. And I’m not impressed by rich people or money. There’s the Ross store, Maudie. That’s where I want to go.”

  She pulled off onto an access road and parked in front of the store.

  Roxie smiled. “I love this store. Momma let me shop in there sometimes. And Aunt Maudie took me there when I went to live at the ranch, but I can’t believe Aunt Maudie is going to let you buy something for the big party here.”

  “Honey, I’d take her to the Goodwill store to get out of having to go to this affair,” Maudie said.

  Laura unfastened her seat belt. “You might have to if I can’t find something in here. Why is the party such a big deal anyway?”

  “He’s a big contributor to a scholarship fund for kids who want to be ranchers and this is the annual meeting and formal dinner. You going to take very long in there?” Maudie said.

  “No, ma’am. One hour tops and I’ll have what I need,” Laura answered.

  Roxie groaned. “We can’t even see one rack in an hour.”

  Laura slung an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I’ll teach you how to shop in a hurry and you can have ten pairs of jeans in this store and still not pay what that one pair cost at Tressa’s place.”

  Roxie’s shy smile grew bigger. “Do I really get ten pair today, Aunt Maudie?”