The Coltons of Shadow Creek

She had trouble battling the hopelessness that kept insisting on encroaching on her state of mind. But if she hoped to ever win back her family, she had to keep that feeling at bay.

* * *

Well, this was unexpected, Josh thought, checking his email the moment he checked into the bed and breakfast when he arrived in Shadow Creek.

Leonor Colton had taken a leave of absence from the museum.

Josh frowned. He had gone undercover, taking on the identity of a billionaire with a keen interest in art and the museum, in order to become a person of interest to Leonor so that he could get closer to her, and now she’d taken a leave of absence. Josh shook his head. This was going to be trickier than he thought.

Well, it was too late to switch identities again because in this day and age everyone’s “backstory” could be checked out on the internet in a matter of minutes, and his was already a matter of record. That was thanks to Jeremy Bailey, the IT wizard in the San Antonio field office who had whipped up this identity for him. Jeremy had even created a Facebook page for him, cleverly backdated with photographs of an ex-wife and a number of parties and fund-raisers—all art-oriented—that he’d attended in the past.

Josh pulled up the page on his laptop now, wondering who the woman posing as his ex-wife was. Whoever Jeremy had used, the woman was a little too flashy for him, he mused. He preferred more classy women, women whose brains were stuffed to full capacity instead of just their closets.

So far, Josh hadn’t met anyone who could hold his interest for more than a few dates, but then, in defense of all the women he had ever gone out with, he’d never had the time to properly pursue a relationship.

For one thing, he had moved around a lot, transferring to different field offices whenever new opportunities arose. Single, with no family, he had nothing to keep him anchored to any one place.

With him, it was always the next case that piqued his interest.

But at the moment, it wasn’t the next one that did it. It was this one.

He had set his sights on bringing Livia Colton in, and to do that, he had already decided that he was going to have to get close to Leonor. Some of the circumstances might have changed, but the bottom line was still the same.

He just needed to do a little rewriting to make it ultimately work and he was nothing, he thought, smiling to himself, if not creatively flexible.

“You’re going down, Livia Colton,” he promised. “And so’s your daughter if she’s in on this.”

He got to work.

Chapter 2

“Just remember, you don’t have access to a bottomless expense account.” Andrew Arroyo’s voice crackled a little, thanks to a poor cell phone connection. “The budget’s been cut, so be sure you watch how you throw that money around, Howard,” the FBI assistant director in charge of the San Antonio field office warned him. “Just because you’re supposed to be this big shot billionaire doesn’t mean you have to spend money like one. As a matter of fact,” Arroyo hinted helpfully, “a lot of billionaires are known to be tight when it comes to their money.”

Josh was beginning to regret checking in with his superior so soon after arriving in Shadow Creek. He should have waited until he had something a little more solid by way of an alternate plan to offer the man.

Still, Josh felt he needed to say something defensively before he found his hands completely tied in this little undercover drama he’d found himself taking part in.

“I can’t exactly penny-pinch, Assistant Director Arroyo,” Josh told his boss matter-of-factly. “I am supposed to be a billionaire.”

“The operative word here being ‘supposed to be,’” Arroyo pointed out.

If he’d really liked Arroyo, he would have just kept quiet about this lecture. But he didn’t. Arroyo liked to micromanage everyone assigned to him and that wasn’t the way that Josh liked to operate.

“That’s three words, sir,” Josh replied matter-of-factly.

He could almost hear Arroyo scowling. The assistant director had the kind of scowl that took in every single part of his face. “Don’t nitpick, Howard.”

“I won’t if you won’t, sir,” Josh responded. And then he grew serious as he tried to explain his position. It was the only plan he could think of to make himself privy to Leonor’s movements without arousing her suspicions. “It’s a work in progress, but the plan is to have Leonor Colton try to get close to me so she can try to convince me to donate to the museum.”

“You can play hard to get,” Arroyo suggested. “Nothing makes a woman want a man more than if he acts as if he’s not interested.”

In his opinion, his superior would be the last person anyone would go to for advice on getting close to a member of the opposite sex.

“Which might explain why you’ve never been married,” Josh observed under his breath.

“I heard that,” Arroyo snapped. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you and the Bureau’s rather limited expense account.”

Calling Arroyo had definitely been a mistake on his part, Josh thought. He was just going to have to work things out to his own satisfaction. “As stimulating as this conversation is, sir, I’ve got a plan to get into motion. I’ll check in with you later,” Josh promised vaguely.

Just before pigs begin to fly, he added silently.

The next minute, Josh terminated the call and put away his cell phone before his superior could protest or say anything else.

He was on his own, Josh thought, going back to the laptop he’d left open on the desk. Sitting down, he pulled up the site that had caught his eye. The one currently featuring the Everything’s Blogger in Texas story about the individual members of Livia Colton’s family.

It contained, he couldn’t help thinking, an amazing amount of information, the kind that families generally liked being kept private. At least some of it had to be true, right?

He went on reading.

* * *

Leonor opened the studio apartment door in response to the knock she’d heard. Mac was standing on the landing just beyond the wooden stairs that went down to the back of the stable. He looked just a little larger than life—the way he always did. Stepping back to give him access to the apartment, she looked at him curiously.

“Something wrong?” she wanted to know.

Mac crossed the threshold, but made no attempt to come in any farther. If she were to make a guess, she would have said that he looked a little uncomfortable, which was unusual for the man.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, little girl,” he began, “because you know I care about you and I always have.”

She didn’t think she liked the sound of this, but Mac had never been anything but kind to her. “What are you trying to tell me, Mac?”

His kindly expression didn’t match the words that came out of his mouth. “Get out.”

Stunned, she could only stare at the tall, strapping man. “What?”

“I don’t mean ‘get out’ get out,” he told her, tempering his tone. He didn’t want her to misunderstand what had motivated his words. “Just get out.”

This was only getting more muddled. There wasn’t much in her life that she was sure of these days, but she was sure that Mac wouldn’t deliberately hurt her or abandon her.

Taking a breath, she asked, “And the difference being?”

He wasn’t much for talking, more a man of deeds rather than words. He tried to make himself understood again.

“The difference being that you need to get out there, little girl. Get out there and mingle. You can’t just hide up here in this tiny space above the stable indefinitely. That’s not going to solve anything and the longer you hide, the harder it’s going to be for you to finally get out there.” His eyes met hers, hoping he was getting through to her. “Thirty-one is way too young to become a hermit.”

She sighed. Turning from him, she crossed back to the bed and sat down on the edge. “You’re right.”

Mac had no choice but to follow her in. “Of course I’m right. I’ve always been right.

“Well, almost always,” Mac corrected. “The point is, little girl—go out. Breathe some fresh air. Get in touch with yourself again. There’s a really nice person inside there,” he told her. “You might like her. I know that I do.”

She offered Mac a ghost of a smile. “You have to say that.”

“No, I don’t,” he informed her. “That’s not even in the fine print,” he added affectionately. “Now get out of here before I hitch you up and use you to plow the north forty,” he pretended to threaten.

Leonor laughed. She knew that, as usual, Mac only had her best interests at heart. And he was right. She couldn’t just hide here in this little studio apartment forever. Eventually, she had to get back to her life. Getting up off the bed, she said, “I’m gone.”

His brows drew together in a skeptical furrow. “I can still see you.”

“Then close your eyes,” she told him with a laugh. “I need a head start.” With that, Leonor left the apartment and hurried down the stairs.

Once in her car, Leonor drove into town. She decided to go get some lunch at the new restaurant that had just recently opened just across from the bed-and-breakfast.

Although she lived in Austin now, Leonor knew in her heart that Shadow Creek would always be home to her, and despite everything else that was going on in her life, she did take an interest in the town’s development and growth, slow though it was.

Leonor tried to tell herself that checking out the new restaurant would be a fun thing to do. Most of the people in the area, while not completely forgetting about her mother and the scandal attached to both Livia’s arrest and her trial, had for the most part moved on. At the very least, most of the locals had come to realize that the sins of the mother did not always necessarily come down on the offspring.

The town seemed to finally be coming around to the fact that none of them were anything like their mother.

Heaven knew that she certainly wasn’t, even though she had gone to visit her mother several times in prison. That was more out of a sense of filial obligation, more because she felt sorry for her mother than anything else. Everyone else in the family had abandoned Livia and turned their backs on her.

Leonor supposed that she was the most sensitive one in the family.

However, being sensitive didn’t mean that she was a pushover, she told herself fiercely, although there were some who undoubtedly thought she was.

Even so, she had to give herself a pep talk before she entered the restaurant. Because she was the daughter of the “notorious” Livia Colton and because she hadn’t really been around these last ten years, she knew there would be those who would be looking at her with unspoken curiosity. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t that awkward, gawky girl whose body had taken its sweet time before all the parts were in equal proportion.

She was who she was, Leonor reminded herself, and she had to own that no matter what. If being Livia Colton’s daughter made other people uncomfortable, that was their problem, not hers. People didn’t get to choose their family.

Now all she had to do was believe that, Leonor thought ruefully.

Happily, the restaurant, while doing a nice, brisk business, wasn’t crowded in the big city sense of the word. The restaurants she had gotten accustomed to in Austin were the kind that had lines curling outside the door even with reservations. Waiting was more or less a way of life in Austin.

That wasn’t the case here.

“Table for two, Ms. Colton?” the hostess asked as Leonor came up to the reservations desk.

Leonor was surprised that the hostess knew who she was. But she knew she shouldn’t have been.

* * *

Standing not too far away, Josh heard someone being addressed as “Ms. Colton.” He looked up sharply.

It was her.

Leonor Colton. She looked just like her picture. Talk about luck, he thought. He’d just stopped to get something to eat and he’d struck the mother lode.

As unobtrusively as possible, Josh made his way over to the reservations desk, trying not to appear to be in any sort of hurry.

Leonor’s eyes met the hostess’s. The latter appeared to be friendly. There was no condemnation or curiosity in the young woman’s eyes. Leonor relaxed.

“No, just for one. I’m dining alone,” Leonor told the hostess.

“You know,” a deep voice directly behind her said, “I really hate dining alone, but I’m new in town so I suppose that I’ll have to. Unless, perhaps, you wouldn’t mind sharing a table with me.”

“I’m sorry,” Leonor replied without bothering to turn around. “I don’t eat with strangers.”

Rather than pretending to be put off, Josh circled around her until he was right in her line of vision. The hostess, who was looking on, seemed utterly charmed by him. But his target was not the hostess: it was Leonor Colton.

“My name’s Joshua Pendergrass. Now, if you tell me your name, we won’t be strangers anymore.” He put out his hand, but Leonor made no effort to take it. Her hand remained at her side.

“Look, Mr. Pendergrass,” she began patiently, “knowing your name doesn’t make you any less of a stranger to me.” She didn’t want to cause a scene, but she really wanted the man to go away or at least back off. Granted, he was exceedingly handsome, but so was David, and look where that had gotten her. “I don’t know the first thing about you.”

Unfazed, Josh began to give her a thumbnail version of the bio that had been drawn up for him in the field office. “Easily taken care of. My father’s Elliott Pendergrass and he and his firm have built some of the tallest buildings in Dallas and Austin. Much to my socialite mother’s delight, my father loves finding new ways to build up the family fortune.”

Leaning in just a shade closer to Leonor, he confided in a slightly lower tone, “He’s on record as being very disappointed in me because my interests lie in a totally different field. I’m an art aficionado, and for me heaven is either spending the day prowling about the halls of an art museum, or just sitting in my den, admiring my own rather small, but if I do say so myself, modestly impressive collection. There,” he concluded, flashing a rather world-class smile at her that caused the hostess behind her to sigh just a little, “will that do?”

Leonor didn’t know whether to be amazed—or suspicious. David had done that to her, she thought angrily; he’d made her suspicious of things she would have once happily accepted at face value. He’d robbed her of her ability to be outgoing and friendly.

Still, after what this man with the incredible smile had just thrown out there, she had to ask. “You’re an art lover?”

The man who had asked to share a table with her laughed softly at her question. “I’m afraid it’s much more serious than that. It’s more like I’m obsessed with art. At least that’s the way my father puts it. He had really high hopes of getting me to follow him into the business.” The wide shoulders beneath the expensive jacket rose and fell in a careless shrug. “I’m afraid I don’t have a head for business. I do, however, know what I like, and I really like art.”

“What kind of art?” Leonor challenged. She wanted to believe this was some sort of happy cosmic coincidence, but she’d learned the hard way that she needed to be cautious. “Abstract, modern, contemporary—?”

“A little bit of everything.” When suspicion creased her brow, he confessed frankly, “I’m rather eclectic. Tell you what, why don’t we continue this conversation over lunch?” he suggested. Looking over his shoulder, Josh nodded at the person behind him. “I’m afraid there’s a line beginning to form behind us and this lovely young woman—Kathy,” he said, reading the hostess’s name tag, “is just too polite to move us along. I wouldn’t want her getting into trouble on our account. Table for two, please, Kathy.”

“Wait, I haven’t agreed to share a table with you yet,” Leonor protested, holding up her hand to the hostess to keep her from leading them into the dining area.

Josh looked at her soulfully. “Would you deny a visitor to your town a little friendly conversation over lunch?”

“How do you know I’m not a visitor, too?” Leonor wanted to know, although she had to admit that some of her resistance was fading.

Josh’s expression was nothing if not innocent. It was a look he practiced in the mirror from time to time to make sure he could still pull off.

“Are you?” he asked her.

“Not in the strictest sense, no,” Leonor was forced to admit.

Rather than challenge her ambiguous statement, Josh raised one eyebrow in a silent question as he looked at her. And then he repeated, “Table for two?”

Leonor relented. What was the harm? After all, they’d be out in the open and she was free to leave at any given moment if she wanted to. So, nodding, she looked at the hostess and echoed his words.

“Table for two.”

“Right this way,” the hostess responded, leading them into the heart of the dining room. She took them to a secluded table that was off to one side. “I thought you might prefer this.”

Leonor flashed a grateful smile at the hostess for what she assumed was the woman’s kindness. “Thank you.”

The hostess nodded in response. “Someone will be back for your order,” she told them as she placed two menus on the table before them, and then discreetly withdrew, saying, “Take your time.”

“And enjoy your lunch,” she added just before she slipped away.

“Your father really builds skyscrapers?” Leonor asked the moment the hostess had retreated back to the reservations desk.

“Dad seems to think so. I can give you the addresses of some of the larger ones, although I have to say, you don’t strike me as someone who’s interested in tall buildings—unless, of course, it’s to have your superhero boyfriend leap over them in a single bound.”

“I don’t have a superhero boyfriend,” she informed him tersely.

She was rewarded with a killer smile. “Sounds promising,” Josh told her.

“Well, it’s not,” she said, making things very clear right up front. “You said I didn’t strike you as someone who would be interested in tall buildings. Just what do I strike you as? And I warn you, I can see a line coming a mile away.”

“Good to know,” Josh responded, then said, “One won’t be coming.”

Lacing his fingers together before him, Josh leaned his chin on them as he studied her for a long moment, his brown eyes sweeping over her slowly as if he was literally taking measure of every inch of her.

Finally, he told her the conclusion he’d come to. “I’d say that you were someone who was interested in art. Passionately interested, would be my guess,” he amended.

“And just how did you arrive at this ‘guess’?” Leonor questioned.

“That’s easy,” he assured her. “By the way your pupils dilated just now when I mentioned my art collection. I definitely got your attention. Let me guess—you’re a collector yourself.”

Eventually, she wanted to be. But that wasn’t in the cards just yet. For now, she was content to soak up knowledge and experience. “Not exactly.”

Leonor paused just then as the server approached their table with a basket of bread sticks.

“Would you like to order something to drink?” the woman asked.

The idea of having something stronger than the water that was already on the table was highly appealing to Josh, but he knew he couldn’t afford to be anything but sharp right now. He looked at Leonor, waiting for her to go first.

“Just a lemonade,” she told the server.

“Make that two,” Josh said.

“You can’t like lemonade,” Leonor protested, thinking the man was just trying to be polite.

“I can’t?” Josh asked. He looked at her, puzzled. “Why not?”

“Seriously?” she questioned.

“Why? Does liking lemonade make me less of...an art collector?” Josh finally asked, although that wasn’t the first thought that came to his mind.

His question made her laugh and he silently congratulated himself on managing to peel away the first protective layer that Leonor Colton had wrapped around herself.

“Being an art collector has nothing to do with it,” she told him. “No, it’s just that I don’t know of any men who would admit to actually liking lemonade, say, over an alcoholic beverage.”

His smile was easy, engaging and almost incredibly guileless, Leonor thought as he told her, “Then consider me your first.”

Your first.

The way he said the words had her catching her breath just for a second. She had no idea why she was putting a far more sensual interpretation on them, but just for a moment, she had.

And then she forced herself to shake it off.

Collecting herself, Leonor searched for something to say. “What are you doing in Shadow Creek, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind,” he assured her. He broke off a piece of his bread stick before saying, “I’m just taking in the sights.”

She gave him a dubious look. He was trying to pull her leg.

“Shadow Creek doesn’t have any ‘sights.’” She supposed that to some, that wasn’t entirely true. But there was nothing here that would make it to the pages of a “must see” section of any reputable guidebook. “At least not the kind that would be of any interest to you.”

Josh deliberately looked at her for a long moment. Long enough to make her shift in her seat ever so slightly.

And then he said, “You’d be surprised.”

Chapter 3

Josh shifted the focus of the conversation away from him and back to her. “You know, you still haven’t told me your name,” he reminded her.

She wasn’t convinced that this was just an accidental meeting and that he didn’t know who she was. Looking up from her menu, her eyes met his.

“No, I haven’t.”

He proceeded carefully. “Oh, a lady of mystery, is that it?”

Amusement highlighted his rather rugged features. Leonor couldn’t make up her mind if the sexy stranger was having fun at her expense, or if he was just talking. Obviously he hadn’t heard the hostess call her “Ms. Colton.”

“Why don’t I call you ‘Kate’?” he suggested gamely. “I’ve always been partial to ‘Kate.’ It’s my mother’s name,” Josh explained.

“It’s Colton,” Leonor said out of the blue. She watched his expression carefully.

It didn’t change. There was no enlightenment evident on his face.

“First or last?” Josh asked casually.

This being Texas and an era given to unique names, she supposed it might have been reasonable for him to assume that Colton could be a first name—but she still doubted it.

“Last,” she told him. Pausing, she took a breath, mentally bracing herself for the reaction she expected to come, then said, “Leonor Colton.”

There was no telltale smirk, no sign of recognition, no change in his expression whatsoever. Had the man been living in a cave? Her mother had made news in every sort of medium with her escape.

“Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” she wanted to know.

There was just the slightest regretful rise and fall of his shoulders as Josh apologized for his ignorance. “I’m sorry, should it?”

She didn’t believe him. This had to be an act. “You’ve never heard of Livia Colton?” Leonor almost demanded.

Looking just a touch embarrassed, Josh shrugged again. “There was something on the news the other day, but I have to confess that unless it concerns something of international importance—or the art world—I really don’t pay much attention to it.”

“The art world,” Leonor repeated, still highly skeptical that the man she was sharing a table with was on the level. Granted, there were people who lived and breathed nothing but art, but they were men with forgettable faces, not men who infiltrated women’s dreams, the way this one surely had to have been ever since he had first started attending school.

“I’m afraid so,” Josh told her. “I told you, I’m a collector and an art buff of sorts.” His smile widened in direct proportion to his warming up to his subject. “I find that there are amazing displays of discipline evident in the art world. Discipline that can’t be found in society these days.” And then he flushed, as if Leonor had caught him in an awkward moment. “I’m sorry. I probably sound like a nerd to you.”