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Lily hesitated. She did and she didn’t. “I can’t govern effectively if I spend all my time worrying about what everyone else is doing.”
“Even if the plan is to wreak as much havoc as possible on your weekend-long Valentine’s Day fund-raiser?”
“Rex loves Laramie,” she replied. “I think when it comes right down to it, he won’t want to see the town embarrassed. Especially since his family still has a business here, and could very well stand to profit if the chili cook-off is a success.”
Gannon paused. “I think you may be naive about him.”
Anger stabbed her heart, quick and brutal.
“And I think,” Lily responded just as candidly, rising yet again, “that is something you have said to me before.”
* * *
YES, GANNON THOUGHT UNHAPPILY, it was something he had said. And Lily had resented it so much she had ended their friendship. Although in that instance, too, he had turned out to be right.
A fact that had made her begrudge his innate protectiveness even more...
As she came around the desk toward him and then moved past him toward the door, he could see not much had changed.
Lily was still as gorgeous as ever, he noted, as he, too, got to his feet. Still liked to wear heels that made the most of her incredible showgirl legs. Her honey-blond waves tumbled just past her shoulders, with a swoop of long sexy bangs across her forehead. Standing half a foot shorter than him, at five foot nine, she was lithe and graceful, curvy in all the right places. A fact illustrated by the trim navy suit skirt and silky white shirt that adorned her delectable body.
“I said that with good reason, as it turned out,” Gannon shot back before he could stop himself. Her ex had treated her—and the son she’d eventually had with him—like dirt.
Lily flushed.
“That’s a matter of opinion,” she reiterated tightly.
The phone on her desk buzzed. Once, then again.
Looking grateful for the interruption, Lily strode back to answer it. “Yes?” She listened, then cast a look at Gannon over her shoulder. Harrumphed loudly. “Did Mr. Montgomery pay you to say that?”
Say what? Gannon wondered.
“No, I guess not,” Lily continued, miserably. She rubbed her temples. “And there are how many of them?”
Then she muttered something beneath her breath he couldn’t quite catch but sensed was very unladylike. “No. For heaven’s sake, don’t have them wait in the lobby! Show them to the conference room down the hall from my office. Yes. Including him. Tell them I’ll be right in. Yes. Yes!”
Lily hung up the phone.
Her hand was shaking.
Her face pale.
Then red.
Then pale again.
Seeing her so distressed, it was all Gannon could do not to wrap his arms around her and make everything okay. “Rex Carter?” he guessed.
Lily scoffed and ran a hand through her bangs, pushing them off her forehead. “Worse,” she moaned. “My son’s father.”
“Bode Daniels.” The star quarterback for the Dallas Gladiators football team.
Lily’s shoulders sagged as she nodded miserably. “And his sports agent, PR rep, publicist and two lawyers.”
That was quite an entourage. Gannon studied the expression on her face. “And you had no idea they were coming?”
“None.” Lily paled again as outside in the corridor a collection of convivial voices rose and fell. Their footsteps faded.
“Do you need a lawyer?” Gannon asked, only half joking.
“I already have one. Liz Cartwright-Anderson.”
Who was, Gannon reflected, also a mutual friend.
Lily reached for her suit jacket and slipped it on. “But Liz is on vacation with her family right now, at Padre Island.” And she was the best Laramie County had to offer.
Desperation mingled with the worry in her long-lashed turquoise eyes.
It got to him—big-time.
With effort, he once again resisted the impulse to take her in his arms and smooth a hand through her hair. Anything to comfort her. “Want me to fill in for her? I’m a family-law attorney, too.”
Lily looked tempted for a nanosecond, but then she shook her head. “No. I’ve got it.” She paused, as if steeling herself emotionally for the battle ahead. “I trust you can see yourself out...?”
Gannon sighed. She’d made it clear a long time ago that she didn’t want—or need—him. Probably never would. “Sure,” he said, just as coolly. “And, Lily?”
Their eyes held. For a moment, something shimmered between them, lingered like a dust mote on the air, then disappeared altogether. “Good luck with that—whatever it is.” He jerked his head in the direction the voices had gone.
She nodded. Her expression turbulent, she took off toward her meeting.
Gannon made it as far as the lobby in the town hall before the second thoughts set in. None of this was his problem. Lily’d articulated that numerous times. And yet...she was in trouble. And maybe her son, too. He could feel it in his gut.
He’d been brought up to never ever leave a lady in distress. That went double when an innocent little kid was involved.
He wasn’t about to start now.
Chapter Two (#ulink_dd931a77-c70b-5918-88bd-f7778f0035db)
“I just need you to modify the custody arrangements,” Bode Daniels claimed.
This was news. Feeling as if she’d just sustained a punch to the gut, Lily sat down opposite him at the conference table. Both surrounded and outnumbered by her ex and his entourage, she worked to contain her shock and dismay. “In what way?” she asked calmly.
Bode rocked back in his chair and smiled charismatically, while his team of professionals wordlessly urged him on. “Give me custody of Lucas for a while.”
As if it were just that simple, Lily thought in astonishment. Who the heck does this guy think he’s dealing with? Emboldened by the fact that she had long ago ceased being a woman who could be easily charmed or seduced, she returned, just as easily, “Why?”
Sensing resistance, Bode tucked his hands into his armpits and set his jaw. “It’s complicated.”
Lily looked right at him. As her confusion faded, anger took its place. Another beat of silence fell. “I’ve got time.”
Her ex shoved a hand through his cropped white-blond hair, then adopted the earnest-but-likable look he had perfected for his signature cologne ads and continued, “You know I didn’t exactly have the best season last year.”
“No kidding,” Gannon Montgomery agreed cheerfully as he walked in unannounced, tray of vending machine coffees in one hand, a flat of pastries he’d commandeered from the break room in the other.
Lily turned toward him, relieved for the interruption.
As if reading her mind, Gannon winked.
“Exactly who are you?” Bode’s sports agent asked, clearly as surprised to see Gannon there as Lily was.
Bode dismissed Gannon with a glare. “He’s one of Lily’s law school buddies.”
Or at least Gannon had been, Lily noted silently, until Bode had come into the picture, just as she was getting ready to graduate.
“Actually,” the senior lawyer on Bode’s team, a distinguished man in his late forties, corrected, “this is Gannon Montgomery—one of the top family-law attorneys in Fort Worth.”
The other attorney, a young, good-looking woman with wiry ebony hair, squinted at Gannon. “Are you representing Ms. McCabe?” She clearly seemed to hope not.
Gannon looked at Lily.
He’d crashed her meeting and successfully intercepted Bode’s ridiculous demands. Now the ball was in her court.
Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to have another member on her legal team, particularly if it temporarily set her opponents off their game, Lily said what she knew to be the truth—at least in several other cases. “Mr. Montgomery is ‘of counsel’ with my family-law attorney, Liz Cartwright-Anderson.”
Meaning Gannon could advise on legal matters but wouldn’t do anything unless it became necessary, and then only at her current attorney’s discretion.
Which, Lily firmly intended, would not be the case.
Gannon beamed. As always, glad to be of service, even if it was only because he had strong-armed his way into the situation.
Lily stifled a small sigh.
“So where were we?” Gannon asked pleasantly, pulling up a chair and taking his place next to Lily.
“Bode wants me to hand over custody of Lucas for a little while.”
“Ah.” Gannon nodded, then turned to Bode, saying drolly, “Going to play the sympathy card with the press and public?”
His legendary cool fading, Bode’s eyes started to glaze over with barely contained anger, and Lily could see the skin on his neck reddening.
A telltale sign that he was about to implode.
But before Bode could do or say anything untoward—like leap across the table and grab Gannon by the collar—his attorney interjected sternly, “Bode is Lucas’s father. And up to now, my client’s had precious little time with his offspring.”
“And whose fault is that?” Lily spit out, before she could stop herself.
Gannon reached over and put a staying palm on her wrist. His touch sent an unexpected jolt of warmth rippling through her, which left her feeling even more flustered.
As it was meant to, his touch infused her with a sudden burst of calm.
“Bode will be a free agent in another month,” the sports agent continued.
So what? Lily thought impatiently but said instead, “Which means he could go to another team.”
“In another far-flung part of the country,” his agent emphasized. He paused to let his words sink in. “Bode doesn’t want that.”
Nor, if she were honest, did Lily. It was hard enough to arrange Lucas’s once-a-year meet and greet with his dad now.
The agent continued, “Right now, the Dallas Gladiators are hesitating to offer an early extension of his current contract to Bode. They are concerned he is not as popular with their fans as he once was.”
The public relations guru who managed Bode’s “brand” jumped in. “Our research has shown a big part of that is because Bode never fully recovered from the fallout over—”
“Dumping Lily after their whirlwind romance, publicly discounting his part in Lily’s pregnancy and then marrying a Venezuelan supermodel and promptly fathering two more children with his new bride—all the while ignoring his son with Lily?” Gannon set the record straight with a taunting smile. “Until the results of a court-ordered paternity test made that impossible, that is. Then, of course, Mr. Daniels had no choice but to own up.”
The PR expert must have noticed the way Bode was bristling, because she suddenly put her hand on the superstar athlete’s wrist. “Unfortunately for all, I think the confusion regarding Lucas’s paternity is what most people remember,” she said with a brand manager’s aplomb. “Which is why, for everyone’s sake, we need to remedy that perception, and make sure everyone knows what a devoted daddy Bode is to all his children. That starts with modifying the custody agreements.”
Figuring this charade had gone far enough, Lily stood. “Actually, I like things just the way they are.” She smiled tightly.
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.”
