Lone Star Valentine

Gannon gave her an “atta girl” look.

Then, without further ado, Lily walked to the door and opened it wide. “Now, if you all will excuse me,” she stated unequivocally, “I really have to get on with my day.”

* * *

GANNON HUNG AROUND long enough to make sure everyone vacated the conference room.

“Talk sense into her,” one of the lawyers said, handing Gannon his card.

“It’d be best for everyone,” the female attorney agreed.

With a muted look of frustration, Bode strode off. His entourage hurried to catch up with him as he exited Laramie Town Hall. Gannon took the platter of pastries back to the break room, commandeered two from the plate and returned to Lily’s office.

The door was shut.

He knocked and, without waiting for an answer, headed in.

Lily was sitting at her desk, suit jacket off, her head in her hands. She looked up, the weight of the world in her eyes. “Really?”

Given the fact there were any number of things she could call him to task on, he countered with an innocuous smile and a lift of one confection-filled hand. “Pastry?”

Her spine stiffened. “No.”

He tore his gaze from the way her breasts were pressing against the soft fabric of her blouse and concentrated instead on the flush of angry color sweeping her delicate cheeks.

Knowing he had never wanted to take her into his arms more than he did at that very moment, he tilted his head. “Something to drink, then? Lukewarm coffee? Bottle of scotch...?”

She stifled an unwilling smile. “You are a laugh a minute, counselor.”

Purposefully, he shut the door behind him, enclosing them in her private space. “I try.”

Her chin lifted another notch. “And you shouldn’t have barged in to the conference room.”

He ambled toward her. Set an apple Danish on her desk, just in case, then waited until she rocked back in her chair and met his eyes. “I’m aware you don’t need protecting,” he said.

She released another long, quavering breath. “Then why did you come to my rescue?”

She had a point. He wasn’t normally inclined to insert himself into situations where he clearly did not belong.

“Don’t know.” He inhaled the familiar scent of her signature freesia perfume, let his glance drift over the sexy waves of her honey-blond hair. “Habit?”

Lily groaned and put her face back in her hands.

Dropping down into a chair, he took a bite of the pastry. It had been sitting out for a while and was, as a result, rather stale. But still delicious in its own way.

Remembering how Lily always tended to reach for the sweets when stressed, he asked, “Want to talk about it?”

She pinched off a bite of pastry, held it between her fingers, then let it fall. Her gaze still on the bite she couldn’t bring herself to eat, she shook her head, admitting in a low, strangled tone, “There are no words.”

Gannon couldn’t fault her for being despondent. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to goad her back into fighting mode, however.

“For what kind of jerk your ex is? ’Cause if you need help—” he waggled his brow “—I can think of a few very fitting adjectives.”

She smiled, despite herself. Tore off another bite of pastry. Thought about eating it, then set it down again, without tasting. “He wasn’t always like that,” she said sadly.

He had made his own mistakes in the romance department, too. Gannon gave a sympathetic nod. “I know that.”

When Lily had first met Bode Daniels, the athlete had been ambitious to a fault but not a complete jackass. Just not the right guy for a softhearted woman like Lily. “I liked your ex better when he was the backup quarterback for the Gladiators, instead of a star player, too.” Something about sitting on a bench during most of the games humbled a guy. Million-dollar contracts, limitless endorsement deals and star QB status did the opposite.

Anxiety crept into her pretty turquoise eyes.

Gently, Gannon asked, “Do you think he’s serious about gaining custody of Lucas?”

Lily stiffened her spine. “No,” she said, oblivious to the way her action had also lifted the luscious swell of her breasts.

Ignoring the pressure building at the front of his jeans, he encouraged her to continue.

“The only thing Bode really cares about is playing football.” She paused, thinking, and raked her teeth across her lower lip. “In fact, I’m sure this wasn’t even his idea. He just got dragged into it by the members of his dream team, because it’s time for a new contract.” She sighed, shook off the veil of tension and predicted sagely, “This will all be over in a month, or less, as soon as he inks a new deal with the Gladiators.”

Given what was at stake, Gannon was not as sure it would be over. Or even if a new contract would be offered, given Bode’s lackluster performance the previous season. There was one thing he did know, though. Star athletes who were faced with dwindling careers could be as tough as nails to deal with.

Gannon downed the rest of his pastry. Finished, he wiped his hands on the napkin and forced himself to think like a lawyer, rather than Lily’s former friend and current—if only by default—protector. “What is your existing arrangement?” he asked casually.

Lily pushed away from her desk. “I have full physical custody, so Lucas resides with me.” She stood and paced to the window overlooking the town square. “Bode has the option to see Lucas every other weekend and one night during the week.”

Or, in other words, the status quo for a noncustodial parent, Gannon thought. Unable to bear the discouragement in her low tone, he rose and went to join her. “Has Bode taken advantage of that?”

Lily swung toward him, shivering slightly, her soft lips slanting downward. “Once a year—usually in the preseason—Bode asks me to take Lucas to a park in Dallas so Bode can be photographed with Lucas on the playground. Those ‘spontaneous’ photos of father and son are then released to the tabloid and legitimate press.” Cupping her hands beneath her elbows, she concluded bitterly, “Because Bode is so rarely seen with Lucas, his personal PR team makes sure that they get a lot of play in the media.”

Gannon could recall seeing a few of them himself. They’d done the trick, all right; even he had imagined Bode and Lucas had a great father-son relationship. “What about Christmas?”

A shadow crossed Lily’s lovely face. “Bode spends what time off he has in Aspen, with Viviana and their two babies, and an assortment of nannies and other help.”

Gannon couldn’t say he was surprised. “Has Bode ever asked to take Lucas with him on vacation or any other holiday?”

Lily sent him a droll look that upped his pulse another notch and made him want to console her even more. “What do you think?”

“He has not.”

“Correct.” She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, calves tautening sexily, her hips swaying beneath the snug fabric of her skirt. “Although according to the terms of our custody agreement, Bode is entitled to have his son with him on alternate holidays.”

Gannon’s eyes shifted upward, and his blood flowed hotter in his veins. He lifted his gaze from the tempting roundness of her derriere, guessing, “Bode just doesn’t take advantage of it.”

“It’s not what Viviana would want. Me, either, actually,” she continued with grim determination. “Considering how Viviana feels about the fact that Bode had a child with someone else before her.”

A silence fell.

Lily drew a breath. Then she raked her fingers through her hair, pushing the fringe of bangs off her face. “I’m sure this will all blow over. There are other ways for Bode to look good in the press in the next few weeks. I’m sure he and his team will find them.”

Gannon studied her outward control, which seemed fragile at best. “So you don’t want to counter with the offer of a couple of well-timed photo ops in the meantime, just to ward off any more trouble?”

Lily paused, then shook her head. “I let Bode be photographed with Lucas every summer because I want him to have some contact with his dad,” she explained. “And realistically, to date, I knew that was the only way it was ever going to happen.”

If—and only if—there was something Bode could get out of it for himself, Gannon thought.

Chin set, she continued, “I’m not going to let my son be used as a pawn in his father’s contract negotiations. Because I’ll tell you what would happen, Gannon. My ex would be all in, until the moment the new contract was signed. Then he’d want Lucas out of the way, again.”

She returned to her desk and picked up a framed photo of her little boy, looking down at it fondly. Smoothing her fingertips across the glass, she said, “Up until now, Lucas has been too little to really understand what was going on.”

Gannon hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Lucas yet. Maybe soon?

Walking over to take a look at the photograph, too, Gannon did some quick calculations. “He’s what? Four now?” With the same wavy blond hair, turquoise blue eyes and piquant features of his mother. The same lithe, fit frame, the same intelligent welcoming regard...

“Yes.” Lily swallowed hard. “And I’m not going to tell my son that we’re suddenly changing all the arrangements and he’s going to live with his dad part of the time only to have to turn around a month later and tell him that he’s not. And then have him confused and upset, for no reason.”

Put that way... “I wouldn’t allow it, either,” Gannon said.

Lily paced away from her desk, took a deep breath and set her hands on her hips. She gave Gannon a look that said while she was glad they were in agreement, she was no more willing to let him close to her again now than she had been the last time they’d seen each other years ago.

They’d argued heatedly back then...and clearly she was in no mood to forgive and forget.

She drew a bolstering breath. “I really do have to get back to work.”

Getting the message that was his cue to leave, Gannon retrieved his hat. But he kept his gaze locked with hers. “If you need me—”

“I won’t.”

He withdrew a business card from his wallet, borrowed a pen from her desk and wrote on the back. Fingers touching hers, he pressed it into her hand. “That’s my personal number. I’m available 24/7 until Liz gets back in town.” And maybe thereafter, too, if the two of them ever got their friendship back on track.

“I won’t need you,” Lily repeated, stubborn as ever.

Gannon sincerely hoped that was indeed the case.

* * *

“COMPANY, MOMMA!” LUCAS shouted when the doorbell rang, several hours later. “My cousins and the ants are here!”

“Aunts,” Lily corrected. Grinning, she followed her son into the foyer.

“That’s what I said,” Lucas insisted importantly, standing legs braced apart, hands on his hips. “Ant Rose and Ant Violet.”

With a grin and a shake of her head, Lily opened the door and ushered their company inside. Unlike the twins in the family—Maggie and Callie—who were identical, Lily and her two closest sisters were fraternal triplets, and hence nothing alike.

Whereas she was tall and blond, Rose was of medium height, with light ash-brown hair. Violet was tall, too, but had very dark brown hair, like their dad’s side of the family.

“And Ant Rose brought her baby triplets, too!” Lucas continued as his cousins—two girls and a boy—toddled in with both aunts.

Chaos erupted as greetings were exchanged all around.

When Lucas had finally hugged everyone, he gestured to the play area in the family room adjacent to the kitchen and breakfast nook. “I’m building a barn!” he declared. “And a ranch. And a fence where I can put my cows and horses.”

“Let’s go see.” Violet herded all her nieces and nephews into the family room. Together, they admired what Lucas had done with his vast trove of wooden architecture-style building blocks and toy farm animals.

Meanwhile Rose—a produce wholesaler and proponent of the Buy Local movement—carried the box of veggies she’d brought for their weekly get-together into the kitchen. “So what’s up?” she asked with concern.

“With what?” Lily asked.

“Come on, sis. Don’t play dumb.” Rose set a dark green head of crisp romaine lettuce, juicy heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and radishes on the table. “I heard Bode was in town, along with an entourage. In a stretch limo, no less.”

“Oh...that.” While she rinsed the lettuce and put it in the salad spinner, Lily explained what had happened.

Rose’s expression turned to one of disgust. Having suffered her own quick and ugly divorce, she was not sympathetic to irresponsible, uncaring men. “That man’s ego knows no bounds,” she said, upset. “Hasn’t Bode thought at all about what this would do to his son?”

“Obviously not,” Lily murmured. Not that this was a surprise. Her ex never had cared about Lucas—and probably never really would, either, as sad as that was. All that mattered was raising Bode’s popularity with the fans in time for a new contract.

“No peeking, Aunt Violet!” Lucas shouted from the other room, while his younger cousins settled down to watch. “I’ll call you when I’m done!”

“I’ll be waiting,” Violet promised. She joined her sisters at the kitchen island. “What’s going on?”

Briefly, Rose brought her up to date.

Violet hugged Lily in commiseration. “Too bad you didn’t know your ex was coming with his entourage,” she said quietly. “You could have had your lawyer there, too.”

“Oh, I had one,” Lily admitted with mixed feelings. “Although he was uninvited.”

Rose’s and Violet’s brows rose in wordless inquiry.

“Gannon Montgomery was in my office when Bode and the others arrived,” Lily explained, doing her best to curtail her emotions. “I sent him on his way, but he crashed the meeting in the conference room anyway.”

Another wide-eyed reaction. “And?” her sisters prodded, in unison.

Lily went back to quartering tomatoes. She arranged them around the rim of the salad bowl. “Gannon didn’t say much. But clearly his presence put the other attorneys off their game. I think they expected to roll right over me.”

“No surprise there,” Rose said heatedly. She stepped in to peel and slice the carrots. “Given the way Bode dissed you in the press at the end... If I had been you, I would have thrown him to the wolves from the get-go.”

“Instead,” Violet recollected, grabbing a cutting board and knife, too, “you made everything a lot easier on Bode than he deserved.”

Lily got the makings for a balsamic vinaigrette out of the cupboard, along with a bowl and whisk. “I got what I wanted out of the deal.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “The truth about Lucas’s parentage corroborated, full custody and the right to make all the decisions about his care and upbringing on my own.”

Rose checked to make sure all four children were still safely out of earshot, then returned to the kitchen island. “What did Lucas think when he saw his dad was in town?” she asked.

Lily whisked the salad dressing together with more than necessary force. “He doesn’t know.”

Again, her sisters exchanged looks. “You didn’t let Bode see him?” Violet inquired in surprise.

Lily looked at her resident-physician sister. “He never asked. He came in with his team of experts for backup, then left when he didn’t get what he wanted.”

“So what next?” Rose asked as she began setting the table.

Lily shrugged, refusing to borrow trouble. “Nothing that concerns me. Or Lucas.”

Violet paused. “You don’t think Bode will pursue this?”

When there were other, much easier ways to improve his public image? Lily shook her head. “Nope.” Instead, she expected to see Bode visiting sick kids in the children’s hospitals, working with the underprivileged or creating a foundation in his name. All with a photographer present.

“What about Gannon Montgomery?” Rose teased, taking a lighter tact. “Are you going to pursue him?”

Flushing guiltily despite herself, Lily took the lasagna from the oven and set it on the stove to cool. “Definitely not!”

Evidently more curious about the lack of love in Lily’s life than her own, Violet asked, “Is he going to pursue you?”

Trying not to think about how much the deeply romantic part of her still wanted that to happen, Lily inched off her oven mitts. “Gannon and I put that notion to bed a long time ago.” She pushed the image of his handsome face out of her mind. As well as the one of him naked between the sheets that followed. “We found out the hard way that we’re too different to even be friends.” Never mind lovers!

Rose frowned. “He’s still not inclined to compromise?”

“In his case,” Lily replied stubbornly, “I’m not, either.” Not when she knew how deep the attraction between them still was.

Gannon had devastated her once.

She wasn’t going to let him do it again.

* * *

TO LILY’S RELIEF, there was no further communication from Bode or any member of his team either that evening or the following day.

So it was with a much lighter heart that she went to the unveiling ceremony for the statue by Harriett Montgomery on Friday morning.

The artwork was already on the cement platform that had been built just for it on the town square. Nearly six feet tall, the statue was draped with heavy canvas cloth, secured by ropes.

Around that, a velvet rope line had been set up, giving the statue approximately twenty feet in all directions. A crowd of townspeople, including local resident and Texas patron of the arts Emmett Briscoe, had gathered around the podium erected for the dedication. A videographer had set up as well, to record the ceremony for posterity.

As suspected, Gannon Montgomery was there, too, escorting his mother. Fortunately, he was busy talking to some people he hadn’t seen in a while as Lily went over to greet the artist.

Clad in her usually brightly colored attire—today’s pantsuit was a vibrant orange—her salt-and-pepper hair drawn back in a tight chignon that emphasized the stark natural beauty of her features, Harriet Montgomery looked both excited and much younger than her sixty-five years.

Lily gave her former high school art teacher a hug hello. “Ready for your big moment?” she asked.

Harriett nodded. “As I explained to you before, I’m going to do the undraping myself. I’d like photos for the paper taken then, and again after I add the final touch.”

Lily nodded, not sure what the final touch would be. “The photographer from the Laramie newspaper is all set.”

Given that everyone else was there, too, Lily stepped to the podium. She gave a brief introduction to Harriett Montgomery, and then it was time.

Harriett moved past the rope lines. Then pulled off the draping, revealing a six foot high chili pepper on the vine.

It was, as Lily had expected, quite beautiful in a stark, elemental way. And the perfect complement to the Laramie Chili Cook-Off & Festival they were inaugurating, that they hoped would put the town of Laramie, Texas, on the way to fame forevermore.

Still smiling while everyone clapped politely, Harriett posed for the photos she had requested. Then, with the videographer still filming, Harriett stepped behind the statue and reached down to do something near the bottom—Lily wasn’t sure what—before straightening again and coming proudly back to the podium.

Lily looked at the artist in confusion.

Harriett took the microphone and advised the crowd happily, “Wait for it... Wait for it...”

A second later, a faint charcoal-like smell filled the air.

Lily furrowed her brow in confusion.

Then a wispy gray curl of what certainly looked like smoke appeared at the top of the chili pepper stem. Lily blinked and blinked again.

“Is that...?” Lily turned to Gannon’s mother. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted that Gannon seemed as concerned as she suddenly was.

“Keep waiting,” Harriett advised, even more calmly, to the crowd.

So everyone did.

And then, a second later, flames burst out of the six-foot-tall chili pepper. And this time there was absolutely no mistake, Lily noted.

The entire statue was on fire.

Chapter Three

The fire department had barely put the flames out when former Laramie mayor Rex Carter stepped up to the dais and took the microphone. “This,” Rex said, with a derisive good old boy snort, “is what you get when you put a woman in a man’s job.”

Several people booed him.

Others listened with seeming agreement while the firefighters stood by, watching the red-hot tower continue to spit embers skyward.

Harriett elbowed Rex aside. “Don’t blame Mayor McCabe,” the artist stated as she stepped up to the microphone. “Lily had no idea what I planned to do. Nor did anyone else.”

While the videographer filmed, the Laramie newspaper reporter called out, “Mrs. Montgomery! Why did you light the statue on fire?”

Harriett smiled and explained, “I wanted to complete the work. It’s a fire statue—half sculpture and half performance art.”

Lily sighed. She wished like heck she had seen this coming. “Well, I wish you would have told someone what you planned ahead of time,” she said, not bothering to hide her exasperation.

A number of spectators nodded in agreement.

Harriett Montgomery shrugged, unaffected by all the negative attention. “I didn’t think you’d let me do it if I did. Local statutes and all.”

Harriett was right about that, Lily thought in consternation. Both the fire and sheriff’s departments had been called to the scene as soon as the flames shot skyward, and the senior officials from both looked mighty unhappy.

Gannon stepped in. He laid a cautioning palm on his mother’s shoulder. “I don’t think you should say anything more, Mom.”

The lawyer in her surfacing, Lily agreed. There was enough reckless behavior here as it was without adding to the liability. “In any case, it’s been quite an event,” she declared with a tight officious smile.

Rex Carter took another long look at the charred ceramic statue. “You haven’t heard the last of this,” he muttered to Lily before he strode away.

Realizing she had just given her prior political opponent ammunition against her, Lily watched as the crowd dispersed. Then, hoping to smooth the waters somehow, she went to see how the official investigation was going. Fire Chief Tom Evans scowled at her as she approached. “She’s lucky she didn’t start a grass fire.”

She should have asked a few more questions instead of giving the artist carte blanche when the town had commissioned the work for the chili festival. Lily rubbed her temples to relieve her growing tension headache. “I know.”

“I’m tempted to press charges, too,” Sheriff Ben Shepherd continued.

Lily lifted a hand. “Please, don’t. I’ll see it never happens again.”

The sheriff scowled. “She will get a warning citation.”

“And a bill from our department for the emergency services,” the fire chief added.

Lily nodded. “That’s fine.” Probably a good idea, too. Since, thus far, Harriett Montgomery still didn’t seem to recognize she had done anything wrong.

No sooner had the sheriff and the fire chief walked away than Sheriff’s Deputy Rio Vasquez came toward her, clipboard in hand. Now what?

“Lily McCabe?” Rio said, although he knew darn well who she was. He handed her an envelope. “You’ve been served.”

* * *

AN HOUR LATER, Lily finally had her family-law attorney, Liz Cartwright-Anderson, on the phone. From her office window in the town hall, Lily could see the commotion surrounding the burned-out statue, where resident after resident was walking up to the cordoned-off area to see the remains of the sculpture. “I’m sorry to disrupt your vacation.” She went on to explain the nature of the emergency.

“It’s okay,” Liz said, as cordial and professional as ever. “Given the fact that you only have twenty days to respond to Bode’s request for a change in the custody agreement, you’re right—we do need to act fast. And what I advise, since I won’t be back in the office until Monday or able to do anything until then, is that I hire Gannon Montgomery to temporarily assist me in representing you.”