Millionaire in a Stetson

by Barbara Dunlop

  Over the course of the afternoon and evening, he’d developed a grim admiration for Gabriella. He felt strangely protective of the young woman he’d come to know through the pages of her diary. One thing was for sure. Nobody but Niki had the right to read what she’d written.

  He felt his arms tighten around Niki. He knew he’d protect her to his dying breath. Maybe if someone had loved Gabriella the way he loved Niki, her life would have turned out differently.

  Sawyer held on to that thought for a long moment. He loved Niki. When he suggested they disappear together, he’d been completely serious. He’d run off with her in a heartbeat, leave his entire life behind and never look back.

  While he knew he could do it, he doubted Niki would be willing to leave her newly found family in Colorado. So, for now, he was calling that Plan B.

  She moved against him in her sleep and, for about the hundredth time, he wished he could shift her onto her back and make slow, sweet love to her. But that wasn’t what she needed. She didn’t need a man who would take from her and not give back. She needed someone who would put her first. And Sawyer would do that for her. The next few days were going to be all about Niki.

  He glanced at the glowing clock beside his bed. It was coming up on seven. Another day was about to start, and he needed to use it wisely.

  She stirred again, shifting onto her back, and her eyes fluttered open to focus on him. All he could think was how much he loved her and how ridiculously happy it made him to have her here.

  “We slept,” she whispered.

  “We did,” he agreed.

  “I thought…”

  He smiled at her hesitation. “You thought I’d ravish you?”

  “You do seem to like ravishing.”

  He knew now wasn’t the time for lovemaking. He needed to think, and she needed to get her emotions back in order. And they both needed to finish reading before they could move on to anything.

  “Shower’s through there.” He pointed to the door to the en suite.

  She glanced to the hallway. “I can use—”

  “No,” he interrupted. “Stay here. Use my shower.”

  There was still a trace of confusion in her eyes. He couldn’t blame her. She probably wasn’t sure if they were adversaries, allies or lovers. He’d been confused, too. But now he knew they were all of those things, and so much more.

  She slipped out of his bed, and he enjoyed the view as she walked naked to the en suite. Then he ruthlessly turned his mind to Gabriella’s former lovers.

  He knew they would all want to save themselves. While some of them, his uncle, for example, would want to hurt each other. They could destroy one another for all Sawyer cared, so long as Niki didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

  Then Sawyer stilled. His brow popped up. Yes, some would want to hurt each other.

  He’d been coming at this all wrong. He didn’t need to convince these men that Niki was harmless. He needed to replace her with their real enemy.

  Twelve

  Niki was more than relieved when the diary’s story got better. Though there were several more men, Sawyer’s uncle included, eventually Gabriella recognized that she didn’t need the men in order to multiply her fortune. She continued to be a shrewd investor, and the money in Switzerland turned into more than she and Niki would ever need or want.

  This was the part Niki remembered most clearly, her and Gabriella on their own, partying their way around the world. Niki cramming for exams while they rushed back to Melbourne Academy so that she could write them and pass onto the next year.

  “She was hardly a textbook mother, was she?” Sawyer asked while they sat once again on the couch, sharing the pages.

  “It was out of control at times, but a whole lot of fun. Sometimes, I used to wish she was someone else. But, she wasn’t. She was her own crazy, mixed-up person who wanted to drag every second of joy out of her life.”

  “I’d say she did it,” said Sawyer. “You were the best thing that ever happened to her.”

  “We were best friends for a lot of years.”

  “You must miss her.” Sawyer’s tone was sympathetic as he turned the final page.

  “I do,” Niki agreed. Some days, she ached with missing her.

  “She would want you to be happy now.”

  Niki tipped her head up to look at him. “She would want me to be strong.”

  “You are strong.” He paused for a moment. “And I’m going to need your help.”

  Niki listened in growing astonishment as Sawyer outlined his plan.

  * * *

  When Sawyer and Niki entered the private meeting room, the fourteen men around the boardroom table gaped at her in obvious astonishment. Sawyer knew they had to have their suspicions about why he’d called them here. But they sure hadn’t expected he’d produce Niki herself.

  “Gentlemen,” Sawyer opened, motioning for Niki to take one of the two chairs at the head of the table. “I’m sure you all recognize Niki Gerard.”

  “Well done, nephew,” Charles boomed from the chair at the opposite end of the table.

  Sawyer glared at his uncle, taking his own seat next to Niki and pointedly placing the diary down in front of her.

  All eyes moved to stare at it.

  “Yes,” he answered their unspoken question. “It is.”

  “And it’s ours,” announced Charles, emphasizing each word. “My nephew delivered, just like I knew he would.” His uncle’s gaze came to rest disdainfully on Niki.

  “Stop talking. Now,” Sawyer ordered. “Niki has something to say.”

  He shifted to take in her expression, hoping she wasn’t intimidated by the group of obviously anxious men.

  She wasn’t. Her face was calm as she looked from Judge Goddard and Judge Needly, to Neil Ryland, Ellis Lorance, Congressman Harbottle, Carter, Furlo, Koeper, Newlin and all the others.

  “I read the diary,” she told them all. “I know who you are and what you did.”

  “Wait just a—”

  “Be quiet,” Sawyer interrupted Judge Goddard.

  “You used a young woman,” Niki continued. Her tone was low, and they had to strain to hear. “And in some cases, a young girl. You cheated on your families. You lied to your companies, to your voters, to the public.” Niki tapped her finger on the diary and gave a light laugh. “My first instinct was to make you feel guilty. But then it occurred to me that you are incapable of guilt. The only emotion you understand is fear.”

  A few people shifted in their chairs.

  In his peripheral vision, Sawyer saw the smug smile that grew on Uncle Charles’s face. “Don’t mess with the Laytons,” he intoned.

  “That’s enough,” Sawyer ground out.

  “People need to know we’re capable,” Charles persisted. “That you and I worked together, tracked her down, executed a textbook plan.”

  “We found Niki,” Sawyer allowed, hoping that would be enough for Charles.

  But Charles let his gaze circle the room. “The Laytons have the information now—”

  “Is this a shakedown?” Ellis Lorance demanded.

  “I don’t want your money,” said Niki.

  “I want your endorsement,” said Charles. “In the campaign.”

  “Nobody’s shaking anybody down for anything,” Sawyer told them with conviction.

  Charles smirked. “Say whatever it is you need to say, Sawyer.”

  But it was Niki who spoke next. “None of you will ever gain advantage from this book. Sawyer and I agreed. We agreed.”

  “We?” Charles piped in. “There is no we, honey. My nephew found you. He romanced you. He exploited you. And he got exactly what the family needed.”

  With surprising speed, Charles stood and rounded the table, snagged the diary. “You should all be very afraid,” he told the assembled group. “The Laytons are in charge now.”

  “Sawyer?” Niki’s voice beside him was small.

  He glanced down and saw the uncertainty in her eyes. “Ch
arles is wrong,” he assured her. “He’s lying right now to—”

  “He said he’d date you if he had to,” Charles interrupted. “But only if he had to. How do you think it happened, sweetheart? He turned on a dime there, didn’t he, turning you into a couple? Why do you think his first stop in D.C. was my house?”

  Sawyer was hard-pressed not to throttle his uncle. But Niki was on her feet, heading for the door.

  Sawyer wrestled the diary from his uncle’s grip. His first instinct was to go after her. But he wasn’t finished there just yet.

  * * *

  The evening sun was warm. The air was clear. The flowers were in full bloom, and the honeybees were buzzing from blossom to blossom. It was a beautiful, bucolic scene, but none of it could chase away Niki’s sadness.

  “We could go riding again,” said Travis, coming up beside her on the little bridge over the creek next to Reed’s half-built house.

  “You don’t need to babysit me,” she told him. “I know I’m a downer.”

  The last of the work crew was packing up for the day. Truck doors were slamming, and engines were starting.

  “We lonely singles have to stick together. I love my sisters. But they’re pretty happy and insufferable at the moment.”

  Niki tried to muster a smile at his joke, but it turned watery. She had to admit, watching Reed and Katrina together right now, or Mandy and Caleb for that matter, wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. Their intimate smiles, little touches, quick kisses and shared whispers reminded Niki of Sawyer and what she’d never have again.

  It had been nearly a week since she’d walked out of the meeting, but her pain felt as raw as that first day. She’d called her brothers, and Caleb had flown her home.

  And it was home. A home like she’d never known before. She couldn’t help but think that her mother would be happy that she was out from under the men of D.C., and had found such a wonderful family.

  But at night, close to sleep, she couldn’t help traveling back to D.C., imagining Sawyer’s arms around her, his gravelly voice in her ear, his fingertips touching, lips kissing, and then she’d startle awake and discover she was all alone.

  “Hey.” Travis put a companionable arm around her shoulders. “You’re going to survive this. I promise you will. Nobody ever really died of a broken heart.”

  “It’s not broken,” Niki insisted, more to herself than to him. She was tough, tougher than she had ever imagined. She was not going to be one of those women who mooned over the loss of a man.

  “Bruised, then.”

  “Callused.”

  There was a smile in his voice. “Tough as a cowboy’s rear-end?”

  “Shoe leather,” she insisted.

  “Sure it is,” he agreed.

  “Don’t humor me.”

  “What do you want me to do?” He pulled back to look at her, hands on her shoulders. “Come on, Niki. Tell me how to help.”

  Before she could answer, she caught a glimpse of movement behind his shoulder. She squinted. The distant man’s stride was familiar, and her stomach all but sank to her toes.

  She blinked desperately against the setting sun, certain her eyes were playing tricks. But, no. He was still there, still walking toward them, long strides eating up the meadow between.

  “Kiss me,” she told Travis.

  “What?”

  “Right now. Kiss me like you mean it.”

  “That’s not a very good—”

  “Do it.”

  Sawyer was closing in.

  “Niki, something on the rebound is not—”

  “He’s here,” she hissed.

  “Who’s where?”

  “Sawyer.”

  Travis’s head twitched.

  “Don’t look.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Please, Travis. Don’t let me look pathetic.” She couldn’t let Sawyer guess how badly she’d fallen for his romantic deception.

  A smile grew on Travis’s face. “You could never look pathetic. But if it’s what you want.”

  Without another word, he wrapped his arms around her and tipped his head toward her, touching his lips to hers. The kiss itself was quite chaste, but his hug was enveloping, and he bent her slightly backward over his forearm.

  Niki closed her eyes, Travis’s kiss slipping into the background, every other sense attuned to Sawyer’s approach.

  His foot clunked on the footbridge, and she swore she could catch his scent on the wind.

  Travis slowly broke the kiss. Then he winked at Niki before turning to meet Sawyer, one arm looped loosely around her waist.

  Niki blinked the world back into focus, her gaze catching and holding on Sawyer’s grim glare.

  “Hey, Sawyer,” Travis drawled.

  She couldn’t force herself to speak.

  Travis casually tucked her hair behind one ear, leaning in to whisper, “I think he wants to take me apart.”

  Her heart clenched.

  “Hello, Niki.” Sawyer’s tone seemed almost dire.

  “Hello,” she managed, despite paper-dry vocal cords.

  “I had hoped you’d wait,” he said.

  “Wait for what?”

  “For me to explain what my uncle said.”

  “She got tired of waiting,” Travis put in.

  Niki couldn’t imagine what Sawyer could possibly explain. He’d plotted against her all along, kept his uncle in the loop, told him the romance was a farce.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here,” said Travis.

  Sawyer’s attention swung to Travis, his hands going to his hips. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, period.”

  “She’s made her choice,” said Travis, his arm tightening possessively on Niki.

  “Is that the truth?” Sawyer asked her.

  Though everything inside Niki urged her to push away from Travis and throw herself into Sawyer’s arms, she stood her ground. There was nothing left to salvage in this but her pride.

  “Travis doesn’t lie to me,” she said.

  Sawyer’s hard gaze narrowed. “So, that’s it? We’re done?”

  “Done?” Her tone was incredulous. “Sawyer, we never even started.” She couldn’t figure out what he was doing here. He’d gotten what he wanted. What was the point of dragging it out?

  “There’s more than one version of what happened between us.” He paused on purpose, but she didn’t know what he was expecting her to say.

  “So, that’s a yes,” he finished.

  Niki looked away. “That’s a yes,” she told Sawyer, feeling as though something inside her had died.

  He stared at her for a long moment. A horse whinnied softly in the distance, and the breeze swirled the scent of sweet clover.

  His hands dropped to his sides. “Well, then there’s one final thing you should know,” he said. “They won’t bother you again.”

  “You mean you won’t bother me again.”

  Sawyer looked momentarily confused. “Yeah, well, that, too. But I mean the men in the diary. They’re all backing off.” His gaze took in Travis, then moved back to her. “They’ll never, ever bother you from now on.”

  “Even your uncle?”

  “Especially my uncle.”

  Curiosity got the better of her. “What did you do?”

  “What we said we’d do.”

  Travis was obviously curious as well because he asked, “Which was what?”

  “Destroy the diary,” she and Sawyer answered together.

  “It’s gone for good,” said Sawyer. “Nobody but Niki and I will ever read it.”

  Niki knew it was for the best, but she couldn’t quash the crushing sense of disappointment. She’d never read her mother’s words again.

  “She’s free.” Sawyer’s jaw clamped down. His nostrils flared and a muscle twitched next to his eye. “And I guess she’s yours.”

  He gazed at Niki for the last time, seeming to drink in every inch of her. Then he turned to walk off the bridge.

 
; Silence was left in his wake.

  Travis broke it. “Are you just going to stand there?”

  “I should thank him,” she breathed.

  “I don’t think he wants a thank-you.”

  Travis gazed meaningfully down at her. “He could have sent you an email to tell you about the diary. He came all the way out here. He wanted to see you.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Niki, her mind searching for sense in Sawyer’s words. “Did I hear that right?”

  “He didn’t betray you.”

  She shook her head in denial. “That doesn’t follow.” All along, Sawyer had been operating in his own interest, not in hers.

  “Yes, it does,” said Travis. “At least, it does if he’s in love with you.”

  “No.” It couldn’t be. It couldn’t possibly be.

  “He just chose you over his own uncle.”

  “It has to be a trick.”

  “He’s getting away,” Travis pointed out.

  She swore under her breath. She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to do.

  “What if you’re wrong?” she whispered to Travis.

  “What if I’m right?”

  Suddenly, Niki took a step forward, then another and another. Then she was running, trying to catch Sawyer who was halfway up the rise, halfway to his pickup truck where he’d drive out of her life forever.

  The ground was uneven, and her legs felt like lead. She twisted an ankle, but quickly righted herself, cursing the fact that it was uphill and that her legs were so much shorter than his.

  She finally caught him at the edge of the driveway, snagging his arm.

  He swung around, and they both stared at each other.

  Her heart was thudding, her palms sweating. She was battling hope, while desperately trying to brace herself. She was brave, but not when it came to Sawyer. She loved him so much, and she was so frightened of being hurt.

  “Why did you come?” she managed to ask.

  “I hoped you’d forgive me.” His gaze moved over her shoulder to Travis. “But it looks like I’m too late.”

  “Forgive you for what? For lying to me? For manipulating me? For sleeping with me?”

  He reached for her arm, and sensation flowed over her skin, through to her heart. The wind whispered between them.