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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 (#ulink_c0a072e4-d83f-52b7-861a-3600cfcfdf53)
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.”
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.
