by Molly Liholm
“Thank you, Reid.” She stepped away from him a little, so that his hand fell from her waist, but she continued to smile with delight at the tall cowboy. Adam resisted the urge to pull her to his side.
“Freddie.” Reid acknowledged the last guest, but then stepped closer to Meg, who practically fluttered her eyelashes at him, Adam noted with disgust. He moved to take her arm but Reid was already leading her toward the well-lit house.
Adam didn’t have much time to admire the ranch house or the buildings in the back that must have been the barns, for the front door was open and the sounds of conversation and laughter drifted out. Gloria met Adam in the pine-walled hallway, her blue eyes sparkling as she touched his arm with her long and slender fingers. Lovely and feminine as she was, he wished it was Meg touching him. “I’m so glad you were able to join us for dinner. I was afraid Meg might decide to keep you all to herself,” Gloria said softly, drawing him into the living room. “Have you had any luck with our Meg?”
“Luck?”
“At winning the fair maiden’s hand, of course. You had better hurry. I think my brother has decided to become more aggressive in his campaign now that he has competition. My brother can be very persuasive. Plus, he hates to lose.”
Reid was pouring Meg a glass of red wine, placing his hand over hers to steady the glass. Adam stopped Gloria in the doorway of the living room, continuing to hold her hand. “Are you hoping to have Meg as a sister-in-law?”
“She’s a sweet girl, but that’s not why I wish Reid luck.”
“Then why?”
Gloria crinkled her baby blues at him. “Because you’d be lonely, brokenhearted and on the rebound.”
“And you’d nurse my broken heart?”
Gloria laughed delightedly, arching her slender neck. “I live for the opportunity to show how... sympathetic I can be.”
Adam couldn’t help joining her in her amusement. “Do you always go after what you want so directly?”
“Usually. I don’t like to play games. Why waste time when the man and I could be doing much more interesting things together?” Her voice faded into a husky whisper and Adam felt it to his stomach. “But I’m being a bad hostess and monopolizing you. Come meet the others.”
The Logan ranch could put the Ponderosa to shame. Everything was large and solid. In this room, a massive brick fireplace was slightly off center. Windows covered one entire wall, offering a view of the patio and swimming pool. The house was built in a large U around the pool. Western-style furniture—large, made of solid wood and leather and fabrics in Santa Fe colors—suited the house.
“Let’s go interrupt my brother and your ex-fiancée before they get too cosy.” Gloria led Adam to the man commanding the center of the room. Dressed in jeans and a white Western-cut shirt, Reid Logan exuded masculinity and confidence. He was good-looking but not handsome. He had a settled looked about him, as if he was comfortable in his own skin.
Adam judged him to be a few years younger than his own forty-two. Reid and Meg were in conversation with a plump, brown-haired woman when Gloria interrupted. “This is Betty Henderson, a former schoolmate of mine. When Betty wrote that she would be traveling through Arizona I just had to invite her to visit. Now I’m hoping to convince her to stay with us another week. It can get so dull out here without any female company. No matter how much I try, I just can’t interest Reid in my decorating ideas. Betty, I want you to meet the famous Adam Smith, Meg’s former fiancé.”
Reid offered Betty a drink from the bar and then turned toward Adam and Gloria. “Dear Gloria, as tactful as ever.” He belied the edge to his words by putting his arm around her shoulder. “You’ll have to excuse my sister, Mr. Smith, but she’s very protective of her older brother.”
“That’s what families are all about. I feel exactly the same way about my sister.” He took the beer Reid proffered. “Call me Adam. Your ranch is very impressive.” Could Reid be the one who had hurt Kelly? Their gazes locked and challenged, but then Reid glanced toward Meg, who had joined Freddie at the bar. Jealousy. Adam had almost forgotten that Reid was jealous of him because of his supposed relationship with Meg. He smiled at Meg and Freddie. “A wonderful woman. I was a fool to let her get away.”
“Why did you?” Reid asked coldly.
Adam felt the familiar prickle of warning on his neck and stiffened. He was only reacting to Reid’s jealousy. Maybe.
Or was it Adam’s intuition—his damn sixth sense or whatever other foolishness you wanted to name it? Usually Adam called his unusual ability luck—or at least that’s what he claimed whenever a colleague questioned how he followed a story in a direction no one else had considered. He would never admit the truth.
Sometimes he just got this...feeling. His neck prickled, his palms would sweat and he would just know that he’d suddenly stumbled upon the key to unlocking a puzzle. That the quiet accountant who was remaining silent in the crowd of corporate suits facing him had the answers he needed. Or that the executive vice president was lying through his teeth.
While he never talked about his ability, Adam had learned to trust it. And right now all his senses were on alert. Something about Reid Logan was wrong, but that didn’t mean he was involved in the forgery ring. Reid might be sending out strong signals because of his feelings for Meg, and as a result, for Adam, Reid’s supposed competitor.
The damn woman had too many suitors by far. All this evening needed was for Greg Trenton to be one of the guests.
Adam turned his attention back to Reid’s question. “Letting Meg go was a bad mistake. One I plan to rectify. Meg tells me you have one of the biggest ranches in the state.”
“Yes. The Liberty L has been part of the family for over a hundred years.” Reid’s drawl held pride.
“A heritage he plans to leave to his children as soon as he finds the right woman,” Gloria added.
Reid frowned at Gloria. “My sister seems to enjoy nothing more than setting grown men against each other. I think it’s why she’s so good at business.”
“Reid, you’re being unfair. I’m teasing.” Gloria turned her limpid eyes on Adam and he felt their effect down to his toes. Dressed in a white halter dress with tiny pink flowers, she looked sweet and beautiful and very sexy. His palms began to sweat. “Let me freshen up that drink,” she said, pointing toward the bar. “Reid wants to say hello to the rest of the guests.”
Adam let her lead him to the bar and hand him another beer, one he planned to nurse for the rest of the night. He needed his full wits about him among the wily Logans. Gloria poured herself a glass of champagne. “My favorite,” she said with a sigh. “It’s not really a party unless there’s champagne.”
Adam wanted to know a lot more about Gloria and her brother. “Did you grow up on the ranch?”
“Yes. And I was always dreaming of being elsewhere. Especially a big city—New York, Paris, London. I covered the walls in my bedroom with pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, while other little girls plastered teen idols on the walls. My parents told me I could study abroad, so I begged for a language tutor and spent many of my afternoons conjugating French verbs and learning German pronunciation.”
“A determined child. Are you the same way today?”
“Yes, except I knew better what I wanted when I was young. After our parents died, Reid let me go to all the places I’d dreamed about. I studied in London and then in Paris. And the whole time I missed Arizona. I missed the colors and the heat and the spaces, and so I came back home.” Gloria shrugged her delicate shoulders and Adam noticed all the soft bare skin.
He waited for his body to react to Gloria. When it didn’t, he asked, “What did you study?”
“English history, French literature, Arabic. I flitted from subject to subject, until I finally decided it was time to go home and figure it out for myself. What I wanted.”
“And have you?”
“Part of me. I don’t think we ever know everything we’re capable of. But
I do know that this is home. It gives me security and roots and family. And Sedona in all its quirkiness lets me explore. That’s why I so adore Meg. She helps me find books to expand my knowledge. This place attracts all of us lost souls.”
“Is Meg a lost soul?”
“Definitely. Although now that you’re here, she seems much more—I don’t know—like I think she should be....” Gloria bit a pale pink lip and looked up at him from under her lashes. She moved closer. “It’s difficult to explain. It’s a feeling.”
There were too many damn feelings in this place—in—cluding Adam’s own now that Reid was standing too close to Meg and she was laughing at something he’d said. Adam asked, “How did you decide to include a dude ranch on the Liberty L?”
A small frown crossed Gloria’s face, but it was quickly gone. “Necessity and boredom. I needed something to do, and my eclectic education had little practical use. While Reid tried to make work for me, he didn’t need me for anything. He’s a good rancher and manager and he’d hired an excellent staff. Poor little old me was only in the way, so I began to invite my school friends for vacations. I would show them the land and explain the operations, teach them to ride. I know the history of the local area and of our country—one of my majors—and I’m fluent in five languages, with a smattering of more.
“So after one of these vacations, when one of my friends phoned to say that her father and two of his business colleagues wanted to pay me handsomely to take exactly the same vacation, I knew I’d found my business.”
“Niche marketing.”
“Exactly. I advertise through word of mouth and with an impressive, glossy brochure with lavish photographs. I mail only to people who have requested it.”
“And then wait for your customers to call you.” He raised his beer in a toast. “Brilliant.”
Gloria smiled and the air sparkled. “I’ve been fortunate that it turned out so well. Running the dude ranch has also left me with a lot of free time. I can continue to study what pleases me. Another interest might pay off just as lucratively one day. I’ve been lucky,” Gloria added modestly, but there was a self-satisfied gleam in her eye.
“You have every right to be proud of what you’ve accomplished. I’d love a tour of the Liberty L sometime.”
“Soon,” she promised him, and tucked her arm under his. “But now it’s time for dinner.”
Meg glared at him as Gloria led him into the dining room, which could comfortably seat twenty. He lingered over Gloria as he pulled out her chair. As there were only six of them—Reid, Gloria, Freddie, Meg, Betty and himself—they took one end of the polished oak table. Reid had seated Meg next to himself.
They were served by Peter, a college student who helped out whenever the Liberty L had guests, Meg informed him. Once their food was in front of them, Gloria leaned toward Meg. “You never told me your ex-fiancé was such a famous journalist.”
“Yes, Adam has been nominated for the Pulitzer twice and won countless awards for his business coverage. But I wasn’t marrying him for his brilliant writing, so when we didn’t...” Here Meg stopped, her eyes filled with tears and she blinked quickly. Adam had seen her perform this act several times and he still marveled over it. “I just didn’t want to talk about him. But he is a brilliant writer,” she added, and glared at Gloria.
“You would know,” Gloria agreed, as she helped herself to more grilled vegetables.
“My personal favorite was his profile of JB Design Inc., Manufacturing,” Meg continued. “The company was about to be closed, but the employees bought out its multinational owner and pulled together to keep the business running. Adam has been profiling them every year since his original story in 1989.”
Adam shot Meg a quick look; she returned it unperturbed. So she did know his work. The JB Design Inc., Manufacturing takeover hadn’t been a complete success, but the employees had saved the business and a lot of jobs. Last year they had even discussed expansion. It’s what he wished could have happened to his father’s company. Instead it had gone belly-up and his father had died shortly afterward. That’s when Adam had asked to be assigned business stories. He was interested in those who got the job done. Who made something new. Who innovated and took risks. Who won.
He uncovered foolishness, mismanagement, inflated egos, and loved exposing it in black and white. He believed in the truth. He tried to occasionally reveal where and how people had gone wrong, hopefully enabling others to learn from their mistakes.
“Adam is more known for his investigative stories, but I think he likes writing about the success stories best.” Adam stiffened at Meg’s accurate observation. “He doesn’t like to admit it, though. It would spoil his tough, cynical-journalist image,” she added. She reached for his hand across the table and squeezed it lovingly. No one else saw her pinch him hard.
He leaned closer and whispered, “So that’s what you were doing in the library this afternoon?”
“I told you I had some research I needed to do.”
Adam turned to Gloria. “Meg exaggerates, but I do find the success stories a good change of pace, and they provide inspiration to the readers. My editor certainly likes the letters those pieces pull in. I’d like to be able to write about you and your exclusive dude ranch. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of another operation like this one.”
Reid frowned. “We don’t need any more publicity. I don’t want a bunch of tourists coming round and gawking at us.”
Gloria shook her head at her brother. “Now, Reid, it might be kind of fun. We should think about it.”
“Oh, do consider it,” Meg urged.
“Could I perhaps have a tour of the house after dinner?” Adam asked Gloria. He wanted to get a sense of the place and an opportunity to talk to Gloria one on one. Meg had promised to keep Reid occupied. He ignored the fact that he no longer liked that idea.
“I’d love nothing more than to show you my home.” Gloria smiled beatifically and Adam let her glow wash over him for a few seconds. For the remainder of the meal he said little, watching the interaction between Reid and Meg. Once they’d finished their desserts, Gloria stood. ”If the rest of you will excuse us? Freddie, perhaps you could help Betty choose a Santa Fe motif for her next afghan—she’s a fabulous knitter. You could probably design something spectacular for her.”
Freddie, who had risen to join them on the tour, sat back down. He wiped the kicked look off his face and then turned to Betty. As much as he disliked the man, even Adam wouldn’t have wished picking knitting patterns on Freddie.
Gloria toured Adam through the sprawling house, showing him the four guest bedrooms they used for paying guests, the library, the TV room, the playroom with its pool table, and the kitchen where Peter was cleaning up from dinner. “As soon as you’ve loaded the dishwasher you can go home. I’ll empty the machine in the morning,” Gloria told him, and the young man shot her a grateful look.
“Thanks, Gloria. I have a paper I wanted to finish writing tonight.” He clattered the dishes together even faster, and Gloria winced slightly but didn’t say anything.
She took Adam down a hallway from the kitchen and pointed toward the west wing. “Reid has his bedroom and office there, but he likes his privacy, so I’m afraid it’s off-limits. Plus I don’t think Reid would take very kindly to you being in his space.” She stopped in front of another door. “Here are my rooms.”
Adam suddenly felt awkward in Gloria’s white bedroom. She had a lot of lace covering the four-poster bed, an ivory stripped couch and a glass table under the window. She pointed to a door. “I keep my books, research papers and computer in there.”
“May I?”
“Sure.” Gloria opened the door to a small room that was in sharp contrast to the feminine trappings of her bedroom. “These two rooms were meant as a minisuite for guests, but Reid suggested I use them for my personal area.”
The workroom had lots of windows, but it was the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves crammed with reading material tha
t caught Adam’s attention. He read some of the titles. Gloria had everything from Spanish dictionaries, to books on astronomy and physics, to piles of fiction paperbacks. He picked up one randomly and saw a bare-chested pirate holding an armful of lush female. He looked up at her in surprise.
“I read everything, and there’s nothing better than a good love story with a happy ending.”
Adam put the book back down, noticing the photographs on her desk. In one, a slightly younger Gloria grinned broadly back at the camera, her arms wrapped around the waists of a young man and woman who had to be brother and sister.
“That’s Susannah, a friend from my school days in Paris, and her brother. Her father was our first paying customer.” Gloria took the photo out of his hands and stepped closer to him. “What do you think?”
“Your home is beautiful.”
She closed in, her golden curls almost tickling his nose. Adam had to stop himself from stepping back. He was only inches away from a lot of bare female shoulders and back, her neck had a lovely arch, her breasts and hips curved nicely, yet he didn’t itch to touch her like he did Meg. If Meg were standing so close to him and looking at him so invitingly, he’d haul her into his arms and lose himself on the four-poster bed with her.
Gloria shook her head and her smile turned to one of regret. “You can’t blame a girl for trying. You’ve got it really bad for her.”
Adam didn’t answer, but he feared the answer was yes.
Gloria trailed a finger down his shirtfront, stopping at his belt buckle. Absolutely nothing reacted, and Gloria sighed and stepped away from him. “Let’s go back to the living room for coffee.”
Adam wished there was something he could say to Gloria, to be able to explain that Meg fell into a pattern of falling for the wrong kind of woman and letting the right kind lead him out of her bedroom. Why was it that his logical brain could never control his illogical heart? He was an idiot, he told himself.
In the living room, as planned, there was no Meg and Reid. Gloria ignored Adam, poured herself another glass of champagne and went to join Freddie and Betty in front of the fire. Freddie had drafting paper in front of him and sketched busily, never looking up at Adam. Adam scowled and prowled toward the window. Meg had promised to take Reid out of the house and keep him occupied.