Читать книгу Tycoon Cowboy's Baby Surprise - Katherine Garbera - Страница 9

One

“Pack your bags, kid, we’re taking the show on the road,” Jacs Veerling said as she swept into Kinley Quinten’s office. The term was a stretch for the large workroom she shared with Willa Miller, the other wedding planner who worked for Jacs.

Jacs had the smarts of Madeleine Albright, the figure of Sofia Vergara and the business savvy of Estée Lauder. She was fifty but looked forty and had made her career out of planning bespoke weddings that were talked about in the media for years, even after the couples had split up. She wore her short hair in a bob, and the color changed from season to season. As it was summer, Jacs had just changed her color to a platinum blond that made her artic-blue eyes pop.

“Who’s going on the road? Both of us? All three of us?” Kinley asked. Based in the Chimera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, they did in-house weddings, but the bulk of their business came from destination weddings all over the world. Wherever their A-list clients wanted.

“Just you, Kin,” Jacs said. “I’ve inked a deal to plan the wedding of reformed NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers. It’s taking place in your home state of Texas, and when I mentioned your name, he said he knew you. Slam dunk for us. I think that might be why he picked our company over one in Beverly Hills.”

Caruthers.

At least it was Hunter and not his brother Nate.

“I can’t.”

Willa abruptly ended her call with a client, saying she’d call back, and turned to Jacs, who gave Kinley one of her patented she-who-must-be-obeyed stares.

“What? I’m sure I heard that wrong.”

Kinley took a deep breath and put her hands on her desk, noticing that her manicure had chipped on her middle finger. But really she couldn’t help the panic rising inside her. She had no plans to return to Texas.

Ever.

“I can’t. It’s complicated and personal, so I really don’t want to go into it, but please send Willa instead.”

Jacs walked over and propped her hip on the edge of Kinley’s desk, which was littered with bridal gown catalogs and photos of floral arrangements. “He asked for you. Personally. That’s the only personal that matters to me. Will you die if you go to Texas?”

“No. Of course not.” Kinley just didn’t want to see Nate again. She didn’t even want to see her dad again in person. She was content with their weekly Skype chats. That was enough for her and for her two-year-old daughter, Penny.

“Is it because of your baby?” Jacs asked.

She’d told Kinley when she started that even though Jacs had made the decision to never have children herself, she understood that being a mom was an important role. She was very understanding about Kinley’s needs and had a generous child-care policy for their small office.

“Sort of. She has just really settled into the day care here at the casino. Is it just a weekend trip?”

“Uh, no. I said pack your bags. You’re going to be out there for the duration. That means six months. I’m taking on two more clients in Texas—one is a Dallas Cowboy and the other plays basketball for San Antonio. I think you’ll have plenty to keep you busy.”

“Where would I stay?” Kinley asked, realizing there was no way to get out of the trip.

“I’ve rented a house in a nice subdivision...something called the Five Families. What an odd name,” Jacs said.

“Is there anything I can say that will make you change your mind?” Kinley finally asked.

“Not really,” Jacs said. “The client wants you, and you really have no reason not to go, do you?”

Yes. Nate Caruthers. The man who’d rocked her world for one passion-filled weekend, fathered her child and then interrupted her when she called later with that important news, telling her what happened in Vegas needed to stay there. He was her new client’s older brother and still lived on the family’s ranch outside Cole’s Hill. But she didn’t want to tell Jacs any of that. And she wasn’t prepared to lose her job over it.

The only thing that was vaguely reassuring was that Nate would be too busy running the Rockin’ C Ranch to be all that involved in wedding planning.

Fingers crossed.

“No reason. When do I need to start?” Kinley asked.

“Monday. I’m having Lori take care of all the details. You’ll fly out on Friday, so you have time to settle in over the weekend. I’ve even included your nanny in the travel plans. Keep me posted,” Jacs said as she turned on her heel and walked out of the office.

Kinley glanced down at the framed picture of Penny on her desk and felt her stomach tighten. After that disastrous call to Nate, she’d vowed not to allow him to let Penny down the way her own father had let her down. She just hoped that promise would be easy to keep once she was back in Cole’s Hill. All she had to do was avoid Nate. Surely she could handle that except in this town she knew it would be impossible.

* * *

Nate Caruthers was a little bit hungover as he pulled his F-150 into the five-minute parking outside the Cole’s Hill First National Bank. He reached for his sunglasses as he downed the last of his Red Bull before getting out of the cab of his truck. His younger brother was back in town, and that had called for a celebration that had lasted until the wee hours of the morning.

He tried the door on the bank, but it was locked. He leaned against the brick wall and pulled his hat down over his eyes to wait the five minutes until it opened.

“Nate? Nate Caruthers?”

The voice was straight out of his past and one of his hottest weekends ever. He pushed the Stetson he had tilted to cover his eyes back with his thumb and looked over.

Kinley Quinten.

He whistled.

She’d changed. Again. Wearing some kind of lacy-looking white dress that ended midthigh and left her arms bare, she looked sophisticated. Not like the party girl he’d spent that weekend with almost three years ago in Vegas. His gaze followed the curve of her legs, ending at a pair of impossibly high heels. She looked like she’d stepped out of one of his mom’s Neiman Marcus catalogs.

There may have been five years between them but none of that had mattered since he’d seen her in Vegas. She’d been twenty-three and he’d been twenty-eight.

“Eyes up here, buddy,” she said.

He straightened from the wall and gave her a slow grin that many women had told them would get him out of any tight spot as he walked toward her. “Sorry, ma’am. Wasn’t expecting you to look so good.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” she asked, opening her large purse and pulling out a pair of dark sunglasses, which she immediately put on.

“How could it not be? I guess the men in California must be blind if you’re not sure.”

She crossed her arms under her breasts. “I live in Las Vegas.”

“Really? Since when? I thought you were only there to celebrate graduating from college,” he said. “You should let me buy you a coffee after I’m done at the bank and we can catch up.”

“Catch up? I don’t think so. I’m in town for business, Nate,” she said. “Plus, I think we said all that needed saying two years ago.”

The door next to him opened with a gush of cold air-conditioning, and Kinley gestured for him to go first, but he shook his head. “Ladies first.”

She huffed and walked past him.

He watched her move, her hips swaying with each of her determined steps. She probably wouldn’t appreciate his attention, but he noticed that Stewart, the bank manager, was watching her, too.

Nate got in line behind her to wait for the cashier.

“I’m sorry I was such a douche on the phone. Can we please have coffee?” he asked. His mom always said, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” and he wanted Kinley. Or at least to spend a little more time flirting with her before he headed back to the ranch.

She sighed. “One coffee, and then that’s it. Okay?”

“Why will that be it?” he asked. “Maybe you’ll want to see me again.”

He grinned at her, and she shook her head. “I won’t have time. I’m here for business.”

“What business?” he asked. “Are you working at the NASA facility out on the Bar T?”

“No. I’m a wedding planner. I’m here to plan Hunter’s wedding,” she said.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Yes, you will be,” she said. An emotion passed over her face but too quickly for him to interpret it.

The cashier signaled Kinley over, and Nate stood where he was and observed her. She’d changed more than just her wardrobe, he realized. There was a core of strength that he hadn’t noticed in her when they’d spent the weekend together. Maybe that was because they’d both been focused on having fun.

She concluded her business, and Nate stepped up to do his. He talked with Maggie, the cashier who’d been working the opening shift since before Nate had been born. When he was done, he looked around and noticed that Kinley was waiting for him by the exit.

She had her smartphone in her hand and was tapping out a message to someone. She’d pushed her sunglasses up on her head and was concentrating as she typed. She looked so serious.

He wondered what had happened in her life in the last three years and then realized he really had no right to find out. He’d ended their affair because her dad worked for his family and Nate wasn’t really big on monogamy or commitment.

But seeing her again reminded him of how good that weekend had been and how hard it had been to hang up on her when she’d called and said she wanted to see him again.

She glanced up as he approached her.

“I hate to do this, but I can’t make coffee this morning. I have to get my office set up here, and my boss has a potential couple scheduled for 10:00 a.m.”

“Rain check, then?” he asked.

“Yes, that would be great,” she said. She held her hand out to him.

She wanted to shake hands. Did she think this was a business deal? He took her hand, noticing how smooth and small it was in his big rough rancher hand. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her knuckles and then lifted her hand to his mouth to drop a kiss there.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said, turning and walking out of the bank. He went to his truck and realized his hangover was gone.

* * *

Kinley put Nate out of her mind as she unpacked the office and got the client meeting room set up. She glanced at her watch as she worked. The day care she’d signed Penny up for was two blocks down. Kinley wanted to get the room ready for the meeting with the basketball player and his fiancée and then go to see Penny before the meeting.

Her thoughts drifted back to Nate.

Damn.

He’d surprised her. Though she’d known she would run into him, she hadn’t been prepared for it to be today. She’d sort of hoped to establish herself here first. She stood in the doorway and looked at the table she’d set up with a variety of faux cakes and flower arrangements.

Her phone rang and she glanced down. It was Jacs on the Skype app. She answered the call.

“Do you hate me now that you’re back there?” Jacs asked.

“No. I don’t hate you. But I could have used a little more time before seeing the client this morning,” Kinley said.

“Sorry about the rush, kid, but these two are hot to get married. They want to expedite the timeline but still make sure everything is one of a kind. You are going to have to really work your contacts to get this done. But I have confidence in you. Also don’t let Bridezilla bully you. She was full on this morning with me.”

“I won’t,” Kinley said. Actually, it would be good to get straight to work. “I’m seeing the local baker this afternoon for the Caruthers-Gainer wedding. If she doesn’t work, I’m going to see if I can get Carine to fly in from LA.”

“Good. Do you need anything from the office here?” Jacs asked.

“I might after I talk to my ten o’clock. We still have the dress from the O’Neill-Peterson cancellation. She was very demanding. Maybe it will work for this bride if she doesn’t know it was designed for another woman,” Kinley said.

“I like your thinking. I’ll have Lori email the sketches so you can use them,” Jacs said. “Have a good one.”

Jacs disconnected the call, and Kinley gave the room a final once-over. She nibbled on her bottom lip as she realized that she was rubbing the back of her right hand...the hand Nate had kissed.

She shook her head. This was a horrible idea. For one thing, she’d never really gotten over him. She hadn’t been pining over him; she was too sensible for that, or at least that’s what she told herself. But she still thought about him.

Still remembered all the things that had gone on in that big king-size bed in the Vegas penthouse suite. Sometimes she woke up in a sweat thinking about Nate.

Usually it only took a moment to shove those thoughts away. She’d been telling herself that he wasn’t as good-looking as she’d remembered, but the way those faded jeans had hugged his butt this morning had confirmed he was.

And the spark of awareness that had gone through her, awakening desires that had been dormant since she’d given birth to her daughter, couldn’t be ignored. Maybe it was like Willa had suggested to her last month. It was time to start dating again.

Yes, that was it. She’d find a nice guy, a townie, and ask him out for a drink. Or maybe she’d go to the local bar and see if she could find someone...to do what? She wasn’t the party girl she’d once been.

She was a mom, and frankly the idea of going out and hooking up sounded like too much work—and not the kind she wanted to do.

She left the office, grabbing her purse and keys on the way out and locking the door behind her. She needed to see Penny.

Her daughter grounded her and made her remember what was really important.

As she walked down the streets of the historic district, she took stock of how far she’d come. When her parents had divorced, Kinley was a tomboy, the daughter of a housekeeper for one of the wealthiest families in Cole’s Hill. Now she was living in one of the houses her mom used to clean and planning a wedding for the son of her father’s boss. She felt like she’d come a long way.

Not that there had been anything wrong with her parents’ careers, but she was different. She always had been.

She entered the day care facility and was shown to the room where Penny and the other two-year-olds were playing. Her daughter was right in the middle of a group that was clustered around some easels. She walked over to her daughter and stopped next to her.

“Hi, Mama,” she said, dropping her marker and turning to hug Kinley’s legs.

“Hey, honey pie,” Kinley said, stooping down to Penny’s level. “What are you making?”

“A horsey. That boy said he has his own,” Penny said.

Kinley tucked a strand of her daughter’s straight red hair behind her ear and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “There are a lot ranches around here.”

“Like Pop-Pop’s?” she asked.

Penny had seen the ranch on the many video chats they’d had with her father. And the last time they’d talked, her dad had taken his tablet into the barn and shown her his horse. The toddler couldn’t wait to visit her Pop-Pop and meet his horse.

“Just like that one. But Pop-Pop just manages the hands. It’s not his ranch.”

“I can’t wait to see it,” Penny said.

“We might not get to go out there,” Kinley said. She didn’t want to take Penny to the Rockin’ C and chance her running into Nate. She had no plans to tell Nate about Penny; he’d made it clear a long time ago where his interest lay, and it wasn’t with raising a family. “Pop-Pop is going to come to town and visit us.”

“Okay,” Penny said.

Kinley hoped that would be the last of Penny talking about going to the ranch. She visited with her daughter until snack time, and when it was over, Kinley left after giving Penny a hug and a kiss.

She got through her meeting. She’d talked the bride, Meredith, into looking at the sketches for the dress they’d already had made. Meredith liked the design but wanted a few changes. Kinley was still thinking about that as she drove over to the Bluebonnet Bakery to sample the cakes for the Caruthers wedding.

She saw a familiar pickup truck with the Rockin’ C logo on it parked out front but told herself not to jump to conclusions. The Rockin’ C probably had a lot of F-150 pickups. It was probably just Hunter.

But when she walked into the bakery, she found her gut had been right. Nate stood at the counter along with his middle brother, Ethan, Hunter and a woman who had to be Hunter’s fiancée. Derek, the second-oldest Caruthers, was a surgeon and probably not available to sample cake.

“Hello, everyone,” Kinley said.

She just had to be professional. She could do that.

“Hi, I’m Ferrin Gainer,” the woman said, stepping over to her. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“I’m looking forward to working with you and helping you plan your special day. I’ve arranged for us to have a tasting in the back room,” Kinley said, motioning everyone in the right direction. “Why don’t you go through there and I’ll be right with you.”

Everyone went into the room but Nate. He hung back.

She shook her head.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m the big brother of the groom. He asked me to come, so I did,” Nate said. “This is why I wanted us to chat earlier. Just clear the air. Like I said, I was a jerk, and I’m sorry. I don’t want anything to mess up Hunter’s wedding.”

Oh.

When he said it like that, he sounded so reasonable. And she realized that coming to Cole’s Hill had more consequences than she’d thought. She was losing her professional edge because of Nate. Part of it was the way he made her pulse speed up; another, bigger part was the fact that he was her daughter’s father and she hadn’t told him. And the cost of keeping that secret seemed higher than she might be able to pay.

“Sorry. I’m just a little short-tempered today. Must be the jet lag.” Though with only a one-hour time difference between here and Vegas, she knew jet lag was a bit of an exaggeration.

“Don’t be. It happens to the best of us. After the tasting we can get a drink and talk. It’s obvious we’re going to need to.”

She nodded. She had to check in with her nanny, Pippa, and make sure that Penny would be fine for the evening. “I have one more appointment, and then I can meet you for a drink.”

It would have been so much easier to just say no if Nate wasn’t...well, so likeable and charming. And if she didn’t have Penny. But she did. And now she was going to have make a decision that she’d thought she’d already made.