Lone Star Valentine

Great—just what I wanted to hear, Lily thought in dismay. But she bit her tongue and let her lawyer continue.

“He’s not only helped me out on difficult cases before, but he’s also part of the Dallas and Tarrant County bars. He knows the judges and handles a lot of the high-profile custody and divorce cases there. And he’s in town, to assist his mother, for the next week or so.”

Lily pushed the image of the sexy attorney from her mind. This would be a business request. That was all. “You think he’ll do it?”

“Given how much he likes rescuing damsels in distress?” her attorney scoffed. “Of course he will.”

Lily knew Liz was right.

Not only did she need Gannon—temporarily anyway—he would probably jump at the chance to help her...or any other woman...in dire straits. It didn’t make it any easier to turn to Gannon for help in Liz’s absence, of course. But what choice did she have when her son’s welfare was at stake?

“What I suggest is that the two of you meet at my office,” Liz continued crisply. “Can you do it over lunch?”

Lily had already canceled her lunch date, as well as everything else on her calendar that didn’t absolutely have to be addressed that day. “Yes.”

“In the meantime, I’ll call Gannon and have my paralegal pull all the records so he can start getting up to speed,” Liz promised, professional as ever.

* * *

BY THE TIME Lily got there at noon, Gannon was already set up in the conference room. As she drank him in from head to toe, Lily imagined he wore an elegant business suit and tie, appropriate for a powerful attorney in Fort Worth.

But back here in the west Texas county where he’d grown up, adorned in jeans, boots and a casual wool sport coat, he was all hard-muscled, take-charge cowboy.

And though she’d never say it to his face, she very much preferred this persona.

Of course, right now, when he looked distractedly over her, surrounded by all those legal documents, she knew better than to be fooled by his rugged appearance. He was still very much in full-throttle attorney mode.

Figuring he wouldn’t have had time to eat, either, she set a Ye Olde Sandwich Shop bag on the table. “Thanks for jumping in to help.”

He inclined his head to one side. “Thanks for doing your best to keep my mother out of trouble today.”

Still feeling frazzled and on edge, Lily admitted, “It was some morning.”

He nodded in mute agreement, his own eyes somber.

Lily gave him his choice of turkey and provolone or ham and cheese. He took the latter. Then she pulled out two bottles of sparkling water, two bags of chips and several napkins. She had zero appetite but also knew she had to eat. “So what do you think?” she asked, inclining her head at the thick file.

“Looks like Bode’s attorneys buried you in motions when this all started.”

Lily nodded. The fact she was a lawyer, too, had helped her understand a lot of what was going on—then and now. But she had never practiced family law or become an expert in child custody, and that hurt her ability to deal with any of this strictly on her own.

The empathy in his expression encouraged her to go on.

“His legal team wanted me to just go away. But with Bode assassinating my character in the press and publicly questioning my integrity, I had to do something to protect my reputation.”

Especially since Bode and his legal team had been making veiled threats behind the scenes to not only countersue her in civil court for any and all damages done to Bode’s reputation, but to bring her up on ethics charges before the State Bar of Texas for knowingly bringing a false paternity suit.

They couldn’t have won; they’d all known that. But they could have done untold damage to her career anyway. Luckily, Bode had come to his senses, called his attorneys off at the last minute and consented to the court-ordered paternity test he’d claimed would free him.

Only it hadn’t. At that point, once the indisputable facts were brought to light, it had become all about damage control. And money, of course.

Not that Lily had asked for one red cent from him...

Gannon’s gaze roved over her features. He regarded her for a long careful moment. “And if you hadn’t had so much at stake professionally back then?”

Lily shrugged, not bothering to hide the humiliation and pain she had suffered. “I probably still would have fought him—reluctantly. Not for child support, but for the truth, for Lucas’s sake. Better Lucas know from the get-go who his parents are.” Than always wonder and have his mother called a liar.

“Even if one of them doesn’t seem to want him very much,” Gannon remarked, sitting back in his chair.

Lily tore her eyes from the hard sinew of his chest beneath the starched cotton of his shirt. It had been years since the two of them had been friends, never mind meant anything at all to each other, and yet he still amped her pulse. It was so unfair. For so many reasons, he’d been off-limits then. Still was now.

She sighed, doing her best to focus on the situation at hand instead of the ruggedly handsome man opposite her. “So you think taking me to court is a pressure tactic on their part?”

Gannon gave her a barely perceptible nod, ripped open his chips and unwrapped his sandwich. “They want you to know they’re going to play hardball unless you immediately give them everything they want.”

She studied the disheveled strands of Gannon’s dark brown hair. The cool appraisal in his midnight-blue eyes. “You don’t think I should,” she observed.

“I don’t compromise in situations like this,” he told her. “I go full throttle, and I advise my clients to do the same.” He took a bite of sandwich. She forced herself to eat a little, too.

Her glance fell to the court summons she’d faxed over earlier. “Did you have a chance to read the petition?”

Another nod and grim narrowing of his eyes.

Lily pushed her mostly untouched lunch to the side. Stated unhappily, “He’s alleging that I have prevented him from seeing Lucas more than once a year for the past fifty-two months.” She knotted her hands into fists and leaned toward him, her fury mounting. “It’s not true. All Bode had to do was ask and I would have allowed it.” Lily swallowed around the lump in her throat. “He didn’t ask.”

Gannon paused to make a note.

“The petition also alleges that I refused to let Bode take Lucas on his annual vacation two days ago. But he never asked for that, either!”

Gannon tilted his head to one side, looking matter-of-fact enough for the both of them. “I expect his team to point out that’s only because you threw them all out before they had a chance to get down to the specifics of the request that day.”

Lily gasped in indignation and leaped to her feet. “Bode only came here because he wanted half custody of our son to help improve his public persona!”

Gannon grimaced. “That may be how you viewed it, Lily.” He paused to let his words sink in. When she would have moved away, he reached across the table and caught her hand in his. His warm touch engulfing her, he continued pragmatically, “Their take is that they were just trying to get you to understand how difficult the future was going to be for Lucas if you and Bode didn’t start co-parenting your son immediately. And directly counter some of the ugly public assertions that have been made that insinuate Bode does not care about Lucas. When clearly—” Gannon gave an affable shrug “—of course he does.”

Lily wrenched her wrist from Gannon’s grip. She shoved her chair back and stalked away from the conference table. Though not one to ever condone violence, she wanted to slug him. “Whose side are you on?” she demanded emotionally.

The uncomfortable silence between them lengthened.

His regard softened slightly. “Yours.”

Lily scoffed and planted her hands on her hips. She felt as if she was suffocating in her trim red suit and heels. “It doesn’t sound like it!” she said.

He stood and walked around the table to her side. “Just giving you a taste of what the other side is likely to hurl at you.”

Was that a hint of protectiveness she saw on his face? Her attorney radar on full alert, she drew in a quavering breath, quipped, “Making sure I’m tough enough?”

Gannon slid his hand beneath her chin, and her heart pounded at the warm assessment in his eyes.

“You’re the toughest woman I know,” he said gruffly.

Their gazes locked, the moment drew out and Lily’s imagination ran wild. Her nipples tightening, she wondered. Was this what it would be like if they ever did kiss—with the air around them charged with tension and excitement?

Was it her imagination, or was he feeling the pull of attraction, too?

The darkening of his irises, the faint but unmistakable pause in his breath said yes. The way he abruptly dropped his hand and stepped back said no. Not yet. Not here and now, with so very much at stake.

All business once again, Gannon slid her a steely look. Warned softly, “It’s going to be a bumpy ride unless you can get your emotions under control.”

His seemed locked up tighter than a drum.

Lily worked to slow her racing pulse. Her knees suddenly felt a little wobbly, so she leaned against the wall and folded her arms in front of her.

This wasn’t like her.

It had to be the threatening crisis that had her wanting him—and the stark masculine protection he offered—so badly.

“Meaning I can’t spout off like that in court.”

He followed her to the windows that overlooked Main Street. “Or any time you’re dealing with your ex, or anyone associated with Bode, for that matter.”

Another tense silence fell.

Gannon studied her for another long beat, then gave her a slow, steadfast smile, the kind that said that as long as she let him call the shots, everything would be all right.

Vowing that she was not going to be one of those women who turned to her lawyer for personal comfort, Lily closed her eyes. Swallowed. Instructed herself to use every ounce of common sense and treat him like the extraordinary lawyer he was, nothing more.

Recognizing that it would be a mistake to lean on him in a more intimate way, she opened her eyes, returned to the conference table and pointed to the sheaf of papers she had been served that very morning. “Back to the request for a modification to our custody order.” She forced herself to sit down calmly once again. “What’s our battle plan?”

“I’ve already filed a request, asking for an extension. If we’re granted it—and we should be—that will give Liz roughly forty days to file an answer. I am also going to file a motion for dismissal this afternoon.”

“You think we’ll get it?”

“Probably not. But it will send a clear signal to Bode’s attorneys that you intend to fight this with everything you’ve got. Given everything else he has going on career-wise, that alone may give him pause.”

Deciding everything was well in hand, Lily reached for her bag. She had to get out of here before things turned even more personal. “You’ll let me know?”

He nodded. “One way or another, as soon as I hear. But that likely won’t be until early next week.”

Which meant she’d be spending the weekend wondering and worrying, Lily realized unhappily.

Knowing she’d spent way too much time alone with Gannon in any case, she said sincerely, “Thanks for all your help.” Then made her way for the door.

Lily spent the rest of the day dealing with the fallout over the “fire statue” and working on putting together a weekend work schedule for the upcoming chili festival.

By the time four o’clock rolled around, she was exhausted and ready to call it a day. And that was, of course, when Gannon walked in. She hadn’t expected to come face-to-face with him again today, but truth be told, he was a welcome distraction.

He was still wearing the nicely pressed shirt, tweed wool sport coat and dark jeans he’d had on earlier. She was just as drawn to him now as she’d been before, and in the fading wintry light in her office, she could once again see the inherent protectiveness in his midnight-blue eyes. Except now his dark brown hair was rumpled—as if he’d been running his fingers through the thick, touchable strands. And the hint of evening beard lined his strong, stubborn jaw, further adding to his masculine allure.

Just looking at him made her quiver deep inside.

Oblivious to the sensual nature of her thoughts, he ambled closer and handed her the papers, their fingers touching briefly in the process. “I thought you might like to see a copy of the motion for dismissal for your own files.”

She did, but...seeing him again so soon, being alone with him, was something else entirely. Wishing she weren’t so attracted to him, she swallowed to ease the parched feeling in her throat. “You could have emailed it to me...via attachment.”

The corners of his lips twitched at the exaggerated lack of enthusiasm in her voice. He stepped closer, his eyes heavy lidded and sexy. Smiled. “I wanted to see how you were doing.”

Better. Since you walked in the door...

Lily pushed the unwanted emotion away. She stiffened her spine. “I’m fine, as you can see.”

And she did not need his protection.

She did, however, temporarily need his legal help. Heart racing, she flipped through the brief. His legal rebuttal was just as she expected—concise and hard-hitting. She sighed in relief. “Looks good.”

He flashed a wry smile. “Thanks.”

Unsure whether it was the long-simmering, never-acted-on attraction or nerves from all the turmoil of the day causing the butterflies in her midriff, Lily took the document back to her desk and dropped it into her briefcase. She turned back to him, all business now. “So you’re all done with your part in my case?” Which meant they’d no longer need to see each other. At least in that regard.

He gave her a long, thorough once-over, then returned his gaze to her face. “Unless Liz needs me again, but yeah, you can consider me officially off the clock.”

“Speaking of fees...” She dreaded calculating his hourly rate—which was bound to be exorbitant—times the six or so hours spent. “What do I owe you?”

His hand stopped hers before she could open her checkbook. “Nothing. I work for Liz.”

Trying not to notice how the width of his shoulders blocked out the fading winter sunlight, she eased away from his touch. Although the morning had been sunny and clear—almost warm—the weather had shifted again, bringing in cooler temperatures and dismal gray skies. Trying not to feel as depressed as the vista encouraged her to be, she tilted her chin and continued, “Then what do I owe Liz on your behalf?”

He spread his palms and remained maddeningly aloof. “Nothing.”

Trying not to wonder if the rest of him was as big and capable as his hands, she gave him a look. Waited.

He shrugged again. “I’m doing this pro bono.”

Charity? He was doing this as a charity case? Anger warred with pride. It was true, her salary as mayor wasn’t much, but she didn’t need much since she had accrued some savings before running for public office. “I don’t need your professional largesse, Gannon.”

A contemplative silence fell. He gave her a slow, reckless smile that quickly set her heart to pounding. “You really want to pay me back for my help?”

Talk about a loaded question! She regarded him matter-of-factly, letting him know with a glance she did not want to owe him any other favors, either. “Absolutely,” she snapped. “The sooner the better.”

He edged closer, inundating her with the sandalwood and spice scent of his cologne and the brisk, masculine fragrance unique to him. “Then how about dinner—tonight?”

Lily blinked. “Are you for real?”

Another slow, seductive smile. “Very.”

She drew a quavering breath, held up a staying hand and reminded herself all the reasons why not. “We went through this eight years ago. I’m not going to date you, Gannon.”

He comically palmed his chest, as if he’d received a major blow to his heart. Or was it his ego? she wondered. Then he frowned at her in reproof, adding wryly, “I wasn’t asking for a date, Lily. I was asking if you wanted to go out to dinner with me.” He waggled his brows mischievously. “But...if you want to call it a date...”

Lily flushed in embarrassment, as he had obviously meant her to. “I don’t,” she responded. Pausing, she narrowed her eyes at him. “And I can’t have dinner with you because when I’m not working, I’m with my son.”

“No problem,” Gannon said, not the least bit discouraged. “We can take Lucas with us.”

Without warning, she felt an intimacy she didn’t expect welling up between them. Most of the men she met viewed the fact she had a child as a major deterrent. Not Gannon. “You really are serious about this.”

His lips took on a sober slant. He stepped closer. “I’d like to get to know your son—and I need to talk to you.”

Lily’s pulse raced at the gentle undertone in his low voice. “About?”

Their eyes met, and Gannon regarded her seriously. “Becoming friends again.”

* * *

JUST THE THOUGHT of that, Gannon noted in disappointment, was enough to cause Lily to take a step back, away from him.

She held up a delicate left hand, conspicuous only for its lack of wedding and engagement rings. “That’s not really necessary, Gannon,” she told him archly.

“So you’re saying you forgive me for the things I said after we graduated from law school?” When they had still technically been friends. Although he had never stopped wanting something more...

Lily raked her teeth across her soft lower lip. “You were right about Bode, Gannon. He was all wrong for me.”

The knowledge brought Gannon no comfort. He followed her back over to her desk. “You didn’t think so at the time. In fact, as I recall, you accused me of being jealous of what you had with him.”

She shot him an uncompromising look. “Weren’t you?”

More like worried. Because Gannon had seen, even when Bode was merely a backup quarterback who’d spent his first three years in the NFL sitting on the bench, that he wasn’t the kind of guy who would ever give Lily even a fraction of the love and attention she deserved. A hunch that Bode had proved true shortly after he became a star.

Because then he had dumped Lily. Pronto. And hadn’t cared that she had been pregnant with his child.

But seeing no reason to go into that—Lily had suffered enough humiliation due to her ill-considered end-of-law-school liaison with Bode Daniels as it was—Gannon merely folded his arms across his chest. Stood, legs braced apart. “I never stopped wanting to date you.”

Lily looked surprised. As if she had never known he had wanted to be anything more than friends after she had rebuffed his advances that first year at UT Law.

Figuring it was time they cleared the air, Gannon went on, “But, by the same token, I wasn’t going to waste three years waiting to see if you would change your mind and eventually go out with me after all.”

Frustration and regret crossed Lily’s face. She held out her hands beseechingly, came closer. “Had I not been in my very first year of law school when you asked me out...had I not seen all of our friends who got seriously involved or married to someone in their first grueling year of professional school eventually have their relationships destroyed amidst all the stress and pressure, I probably would have gone out with you.”

“But you didn’t want to risk it.”

She started to speak. Stopped. Then tried again. An invisible emotional wall went up. “I wanted you to be friends with me, the way we never had been when we were growing up.”

“And I was.” Although, given how much he had yearned to make her his woman, it had been hard as hell keeping things light.

Her eyes grew stormy. “I wanted us to use that first year to build a foundation for whatever came next, assuming something came next, not just jump heart-first into an affair that was pretty much guaranteed because of the pressure-filled circumstances we were in, as first-years, to crash and burn!”

“You see, Lily?” Gannon shot back. “That’s the difference between us. Because I never thought a relationship between us would end in failure. And if you had been brave enough to start something with me, regardless of the timing, you would have discovered what I already knew—that we would have been the exception to the rule. The couple everyone else looked up to because we had made our relationship work in the face of impossible odds.”

Briefly, Lily looked as crushed as he had felt back then, when she had turned him down. As though her heart had been broken.

As usual, however, she bounced back fast.

With an angry sniff, she folded her arms in front of her and asserted, “Not that we ever had a chance to find out, since you went on to pursue everything in a skirt that came your way over the next three years. Thereby unwittingly proving my point that relationships forged in the maelstrom of professional school do not last.”

Acutely aware his serial dating had been a mistake, embarked on because he was still smarting from Lily’s rejection, and knew she would never do anything more than hold him at arm’s length, no matter what she said, Gannon shrugged.

“So sue me for not wanting to sit on the sidelines while you soldiered on bravely alone!” Gannon volleyed back. Because, true to her self-flagellating vow, Lily hadn’t dated anyone until the very last few weeks of her law school years.

Lily stuffed papers in her briefcase willy-nilly. “You always were an all-or-nothing kind of guy.”

His gaze swept over her, head to toe. Reminding him all over again what a lithe, beautiful body she had. How she was determined to let the satisfaction he could bring her go untested. “Whereas you live your life in all half measures,” he retorted just as stubbornly.

“You’re right. I do see the value in compromise.” Lily zipped her briefcase shut with quick, jerky motions. Hunted around for her purse.

Finally finding it, she flung it on her desk next to her briefcase, then defiantly marched toward him, chiding him all the way. “And if you’d grown up the way I had, as the fifth-born of six daughters, you, too, would be happy to get whatever you could—whenever you could—and never ever expect too much because...”

Recognizing another We Can’t Do This speech coming on, Gannon decided the time for treating her with kid gloves had passed. Lily was all woman. He was all man. And the attraction between them was tantalizingly real.

Wordlessly, he closed the remaining distance between them and took her in his arms. Flattened one palm over her spine and threaded his other hand through her hair.

Smiling at her gasp of surprise, he tilted her head up, lowered his mouth slowly and deliberately over hers.

“What are you doing?” Lily sputtered, her turquoise eyes flashing.

Just this once, Gannon decided to stop putting his own wants and needs aside. “Showing you exactly what you could expect if you ever let down your guard with me.”

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