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Emily’s discomfort returned in a rush. Did she really want to sit across from this man and tell lies, even if only on paper? But Cody was rising obediently while Wanda beamed approval. Emily didn’t feel she had any choice but to follow him across the room and sink down in the chair he held for her.
And try to conceal her pleasure that some men still followed the old amenities with such perfect assurance.
Cody stared down at the form on the table before him, trying to concentrate. The first part, at least, was easy: Cody James, 30, male, cowboy. Well, he was a cowboy, he thought, easing his conscience. Income. He was ready for this one. No way would he tell the truth. Carefully, he wrote, “Enough to get by on with enough left over for a wife and kids, if they’re not too extravagant.”
That worked.
He read the next inquiry. Build. He stifled a smile. Yeah, he built—he’d helped build the hay shed on the Flying J a couple of months ago but he didn’t figure that’s what they wanted to know.
Dumb question. He’d skip it.
His impatient glance shifted just a tad too much and he found himself looking across the table at Emily Kirkwood. She was bent over the forms with total concentration, and he saw her straight white teeth tugging at that full lower lip. Made his mouth water, just watching.
Too bad about her. He’d liked her right away but he would never get involved with another drop-dead beautiful woman as long as he lived. Unfortunately, Emily was beautiful. Gritting his teeth, he went back to the form. Marital Status: divorced. Children: “No, but I sure want some,” he wrote.
Then he came to Type of Residence and stopped again. In actual fact, he lived in the big main ranch house at the Flying J with a whole passel of other Jameses but he sure didn’t want that known at this early stage of the game. If he was going to find a woman more interested in him than how many cows and buffalo and acres his family owned, some things were better left unsaid. He wrote, “House,” and let it go at that.
Pets. That was easy enough. Dogs, a buffalo. Under Favorite Animals, though, he chose horses; Least Favorite, cats. Favorite Sport was rodeo; Favorite Nonsporting Activity was watching rodeo and Favorite Food was Tex-Mex.
He heaved a sigh of relief; so far so good. He glanced up again, well pleased with himself. His gaze locked with that of the beautiful brown-eyed blonde sitting across from him. For a moment, he forgot all about the vow made on the heels of his divorce.
No more beautiful women. You just couldn’t trust ’em.
With her gaze locked with Cody’s, Emily forgot to breathe. Surely it wasn’t just his good looks, she thought, a little panicky at the way he made her feel. He’d seemed like a very nice man while the three of them were getting acquainted a few minutes earlier.
She gave him a quick, tentative smile and looked back down at her questionnaire. In Dallas she’d filled out the personal information form with unerring accuracy and gotten a lemon. This time she saw no reason to bare her soul.
Next item, Children. She wrote, “Goodness, no!” Actually, she liked children, and if she ever married, she’d certainly want them, but that was years and years in the future. No need to go into any of that. Pets. Cats, of course; she had two back in the apartment she shared with her old friend, Laurie Billingsley. Least Favorite Animal gave her pause for thought since she really liked most animals. Finally, she wrote, “Anything big.”
Favorite Nonsporting Activity. If she was being honest, the answer to that would be reading. But who would be interested in a woman who’d give that kind of response? She wrote, “Partying,” even though it was a barefaced lie. The answer to General Interests/ Hobbies would, in actual fact, be volunteer work. She’d taught children to read back in Dallas and would do so again when she returned. But since truth was not required, she wrote, “Shopping!!” with two exclamation points and an S with curlicues.
Her Favorite Food was macaroni and cheese, but she wrote, “Vegetarian,” because it seemed more sophisticated. Under A Perfect Date Would Be, she wrote, “Dinner in a four-star restaurant and dancing,” when the truth was closer to “A romantic movie at home before a roaring fire and with a bottle of wine.”
Ideal Vacation? “A Caribbean cruise,” she wrote extravagantly, even knowing she’d be happier in a cabin in the mountains. Ideal Partner Would Be...?
This stopped her cold. She couldn’t write, “Poor but honest and loving,” which was the truth although she didn’t suppose anyone would believe it. So she wrote, “Sophisticated, wealthy, handsome man-about-town.” And tried not to lift her gaze to the man seated across from her, a man who certainly appeared to be “poor but honest and loving”—and so handsome that her pulse quickened just looking at him.
She was not here to find a husband, or even a serious relationship! She was here to pay a debt of honor. She lowered her head and forced herself to stare at the next question. What I’m seeking in a relationship.
Nothing. She wasn’t seeking a darn thing. And once she finished this questionnaire and got away from the appealing Cody James, it wouldn’t be so hard to remember that. But since she had to write something, she wrote, “Fun and games!” in great big letters.
No more computer geeks for her!
Ideal Partner Would Be...?
Cody frowned at his questionnaire, wishing he could come up with an easy answer. He wasn’t sure what his ideal partner would be but he sure knew what she wouldn’t be.
She wouldn’t be like Jessica.
The thought of his ex-wife sent a familiar shaft of irritation through him. She’d said all the right things—until she had him roped and tied. Then all of a sudden, she didn’t want children, she didn’t want a boring life on a ranch and, eventually, she didn’t want him.
She did want his money and she’d made off with a hefty chunk of it. By then, it had been worth it to Cody to be shed of her. But sometimes he still remembered the things about her that he’d loved, things like a quick laugh, a ready humor, a passionate nature...
And she sure was easy on the eyes....
Blond, brown-eyed, peaches-and-cream skin, a figure that made men drool—actually, Jessica looked a lot like Emily Kirkwood. Jessica knew her power, too, although it took him a little while to realize it Now, two years after the divorce, he realized that he’d based all his hopes and dreams on what she’d said, not on what she’d done. He’d been wearing blinders, he realized in retrospect. He’d seen her with children and she was completely disinterested; he’d seen her with his family on the Flying J and she’d been standoffish and reluctant to join in.
But all the time she’d been insisting that she loved kids and she loved ranch life and she loved big families and—the biggest lie of all—she loved him. He figured if he’d watched what she did instead of what she’d said, he’d have been spared a lot of heartache.
The opening of the door broke into his reverie. Wanda stood there smiling. “Almost finished?” she asked cheerfully.
Emily said, “Almost. May we have a few more minutes?”
Wanda said, “Of course,” and went back outside.
Emily looked at Cody and it wasn’t at all the way Jessica had looked at him. Somehow he felt as if Emily really saw him.
She smiled. “It’s hard, isn’t it.” Her voice was soft and intimate, so appealing that it took him a moment to respond.
“What’s hard?”
“Answering all these personal questions.” She wrinkled her pert little nose. “I mean, it’s hard unless you sit around all day thinking deep thoughts about your life. Do you?”
He laughed, feeling some of his tension drain away. “Not too often. Guess you don’t, either.”
She made a rueful little face before turning back to the paper before her. Cody did likewise.
Ideal Partner Would Be, “A good old down-home country girl without pretensions,” he wrote. What I’m Seeking In A Relationship: love and marriage.
Last question. Describe Yourself In Your Own Words. He scowled at the paper for a long time, finally writing a single word: tall.
Emily had finished the questionnaire well before Cody but hadn’t been satisfied with her answers. Going back over what she’d written, though, she couldn’t find anything worth changing.
What difference did it make? It was all a pack of lies anyway. Still, she’d instinctively asked for more time when Wanda appeared. She didn’t need it but had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to like what came next.
Wanda reappeared a few minutes later, bustling over to the table with her eyes twinkling. “There,” she said, scooping up the questionnaires, “that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
Cody groaned, which made Emily smile. She hadn’t enjoyed it, either.
Wanda pursed her lips. “Now, now, I know we ask a lot of nosy questions, but the computer needs to know!”
“I suppose.” Cody rose, stretching his lanky frame. “Now what?”
“Why, now we take a couple of pictures.”
“Pictures?” Emily didn’t much like the sound of that. She didn’t like having her picture taken because she thought the result never looked like her.
“It’s a very simple procedure,” Wanda assured her. “The camera is all set up. I just plunk you down on the stool and say, ‘Smile!’”
“And then what happens?” Cody asked again. “When will you have news for us?”
Wanda frowned thoughtfully. “Tomorrow,” she announced, “unless George gets temperamental on me.”
“Tomorrow!” Emily was astonished. “I wouldn’t even think that would give you time to put our information in the computer, let alone get the results.”
For the first time, Wanda looked flustered. “I’m very good with computers,” she said defensively. “I know I didn’t grow up with them the way you young people did, but—”
“Oh, Wanda, I didn’t mean...” Emily hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. She wouldn’t hurt this nice lady’s feelings for the world. “I only meant that I didn’t think anybody could work that fast. If you can, then I applaud you.”
The old lady seemed to recover herself. “I guess I’m touchy about my age,” she confided. “When George was installed, it took me forever to learn to get along with him. For a while there, I thought I might actually lose my job.”
“Hey,” Cody said, “you’re not the only one with computer problems. Those blamed things can be more trouble than they’re worth sometimes.”
“You know, they really can.” Wanda gave him a grateful glance. “Let’s go get those pictures and then you can both run along. I’m sure you have many more important things to do today.”
Cody grinned. “This is the most important thing I’ve got to do, period. As far as I’m concerned, you can take all the time you need.”
He and Wanda turned expectantly to Emily. Cornered, she could only smile and agree. Even if it wasn’t true. None of this had the least bit of importance to her. Except, of course, that she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
Or get involved.
From: MataHari@Upzydazy.com
Sent: Monday, Nov. 2, 7:42 p.m.
To: SuperScribe@BoyHowdy.com
Subject: Hold your horses!
Calm down, will you, Terry? I said I’d go to the Yellow Rose and I did. Answered the usual nosy questions, had my picture taken, the whole nine yards. The lady I dealt with, Wanda Roland, is really nice. I also met a really cute guy. Almost makes me sorry this isn’t for real. :-((Not really.) I’ll let you know if and when I get matched, but in the meantime... Yellow Rose Matchmakers is located in a beautiful old Victorian house in a quiet and shady neighborhood...
CHAPTER TWO
From: SuperScribe@BoyHowdy.com
Sent: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 6:30 a.m.
To: MataHari@Upzydazy.com
Subject: Good girl!
I knew I could count on you, Emmy. Sorry if I pushed. Here’s a rose as a peace offering: @)->—>—Okay, down to business. Wanda Roland is in my notes and I want to know more about her, especially how she gets on with the computers. There seems to be some question about this “completely computerized” claim. Also, be sure to keep me posted on your adventures with the “really cute guy”....
EMILY downloaded her E-mail from her laptop computer first thing Tuesday morning and read Terry’s note at the breakfast table while Laurie looked on with ill-concealed curiosity. When she’d finished the message, Emily wadded it into a ball, which she tossed on the floor for her yellow cat, Archie, to bat around.
“I’m dying of curiosity!” Laurie announced. “What did he say?”
“He who?” Emily reached for her glass of orange juice, trying to compose herself. She wished to heaven she’d never mentioned the “really cute guy”.
“C’mon, that E-mail was from Terry, right? What did that con man want this time?”
“That’s no way to talk about my cousin,” Emily said primly, but she couldn’t help smiling. She’d called him worse herself, but blood was still thicker than water.
“Don’t forget, I know the guy,” Laurie said darkly. “Old Anything-for-a-scoop Kirkwood.”
“Give him a break. This is a new job and he’s trying to make good.” Emily uttered an exasperated sigh. “Do you realize you’ve made me defend him? I must be nuts.”
“You sure are, after he basically blackmailed you into helping him research this story. He tried to pull the same stunt with me but he didn’t have anything to hold over my head.” Laurie took a sip of coffee. She was already dressed for work although she’d come in quite late the night before. This was the first chance the roommates had had to talk since breakfast yesterday.
“He didn’t have to blackmail me,” Emily said. “You know I owed him after he saved my father’s life in that boating accident. I can never repay him for that.”
“No, Em, your father can never repay him for that. Or couldn’t—I guess now that he’s dead, it kind of gets both of you off the hook.”
“Really? Then why do I feel so beholden?”
Laurie shrugged. “Because you’re one of the good guys,” she said with a smile. “You’d probably help Terry even if he wasn’t your cousin and you didn’t think you owed him.” She grinned and added, “But it’s still blackmail!”
“You could be right.”
Laurie returned to the main point. “Was Terry happy you’ve been to the Yellow Rose?”
Emily nodded. “My...counselor or whatever you call her is a delightful old lady named Wanda Roland. I mentioned her in my E-mail to Terry yesterday and he’s apparently heard of her. He wants to know all about her and how she gets along with computers.”
“That sounds innocent enough.”
“Yes, except...there’s something funny about Wanda and computers.”
“Funny ha-ha or funny strange?”
“Definitely funny strange. She talks about using them, even boasts about how computerized the company is, but she touches her computer the way I’d touch a snake.”
“Not with love, huh.”
“Definitely not.” Emily frowned. “She calls her computer George.”
“That is peculiar. Most computers I know are named Max.” Laurie laughed. “So did anything else happen yesterday, except that you met a strange little old lady?”
“Well...” Don’t go on, Emily warned herself. Don’t mention Cody James. She’d never see him again, so why bring him up? “I...uh...” She licked her lips, surprised at the unexpected desire to talk about him. “I met a really good-looking man. I mean, really.”
“Better-looking than John?”
“Much better-looking.”
Laurie rubbed her hands together with glee. “Now we’re getting down to brass tacks!”
“But I don’t want to get down to brass tacks. After John, I’m not in the market for a man, as you well know.”
For a moment, Laurie frowned at her friend. Then she shook her head sadly. “Emily Kirkwood, I don’t understand you at all. Just because your former fiance was a louse doesn’t mean they all are. Every woman without a man is in the market for one, preferably the right one, of course.”
