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Finally he nodded and stepped out of her path. “Don’t make me regret this,” he warned.
“I won’t,” she promised. Her lips curved into the beginnings of a smile. “Careful, Rafe. Someone might get the idea that you have a heart.”
“They’d be wrong,” he said tightly, then watched her go. As she was about to take the final step into the plane, he called to her. She looked back. “I hope everything goes okay with Cassie’s mother.”
She acknowledged his words with a wave, then disappeared inside the plane. Rafe walked slowly back into the hangar, then crossed to the office.
Inside, he found a middle-aged woman chatting on the phone. She glanced up, murmured something to whoever was on the other end of the line, then smiled at Rafe.
“What can I do for you?”
“That charter you’ve got going out, did the pilot file a flight plan?”
“He sure did. Plus, when Lauren called, she told me where they’re going.”
“Which is?”
Her gaze narrowed. “Are you with the media?”
“No.”
“Because I’m not doing or saying anything that’s going to get that woman’s picture splashed all over one of those supermarket tabloids. When she’s around here, she’s among friends. What she does and where she goes is nobody’s business.”
“Believe it or not, I don’t give two hoots about where Lauren Winters goes, but I do care about her friend Gina. I need to know where that plane is headed.”
Her eyes widened at his fierce tone. “Is Gina in some kind of trouble?”
“That depends on where that flight is going.”
“Denver,” she told him finally. “They’re going to Denver to be there for Cassie while her mom has her surgery.”
Relief flooded through Rafe. Gina hadn’t lied to him. “Good,” he murmured. “That’s great.”
The woman regarded him with a puzzled expression. “You think it’s great that Cassie’s mother is having surgery?”
“No, of course not.” Any explanation he tried to give would be way too complicated and unnecessary. “Never mind. Thanks for the information.”
“Sure thing.”
Rafe felt lighter somehow as he drove back into town. For once in his life his trust hadn’t been misplaced.
Of course, it remained to be seen if Gina actually showed up back in Winding River when this mission of mercy ended. Something told him that until she came back again, he was going to be doing a lot of pacing and worrying.
7 (#ulink_8d6e748d-9b5f-527f-ac1e-98fa8204fac7)
Rafe was not used to having time on his hands. He didn’t like being idle. Worse, he realized that he actually missed Gina, and not just because he couldn’t ask a few more sneaky questions in an attempt to learn something new about Rinaldi and the missing money. He also found it worrisome that her planned two-week trip was now creeping on into its third week with no sign of Gina in Winding River.
“Still in town?” a gruff voice inquired just before Gina’s father slid into the booth opposite him at Stella’s. “I thought you’d be long gone by now, especially with Gina out of town for the last few days.”
“Unfortunately, I haven’t finished my business here,” Rafe said. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
“Don’t mind if you do,” George Petrillo replied, signaling to Stella. “You never did say what your business here is, did you?”
“No.”
George’s gaze narrowed. “Is there some deep, dark secret to it?”
“No, it’s just a confidential matter. I can’t discuss it.”
“Okay, then, let me think. What kind of professions take their secrets so seriously? You don’t strike me as a psychiatrist. And given the way you were kissing my daughter, I doubt you’re a priest. How am I doing so far?”
“Right on target,” Rafe conceded, impressed with the man’s deductive reasoning, if not the suspicion behind it.
“Then I’d say that leaves the law. Are you an attorney, Mr. O’Donnell? And if you are, what business could you possibly have that concerns my daughter?”
“I never said—”
“Let’s get serious,” George said, leaning forward. “Your being here is no accident. You’re not a tourist. Your bumping into Gina way out here, when it just so happens that the two of you live in New York, is no coincidence. The way I figure it, you’re either stalking her or she’s in trouble. Which is it?”
Rafe admired the man’s blunt assessment. He had a feeling that under other circumstances, they could get along very well. “I think you should discuss this with Gina, not me.”
“The only person I’m going to be discussing anything with is the sheriff, if I don’t get a straight answer in the next ten seconds.”
Rafe nodded, accepting the fatherly concern and the determination he saw on George Petrillo’s face. “Okay, then. I’ll tell you as much as I can. I came out here because of your daughter. I’m handling a case involving her business partner. I thought Gina might have some information.”
“Does she?”
“She says she doesn’t.”
“Then go home, Mr. O’Donnell. If Gina says she doesn’t know anything, then she doesn’t know anything.”
“I wish I could do that, Mr. Petrillo, but I can’t. Your daughter is my best link to Roberto Rinaldi. Sooner or later they’re bound to be in contact.”
“And when they are, I’m sure she’ll let you know,” her father said. “Gina’s an honest, law-abiding citizen. That’s the way we raised her.”
“As reassuring as it is to hear you say that, it’s not good enough.”
George frowned. “You’re not suggesting that my daughter is mixed up in whatever this Rinaldi fellow did, are you?” There was a sudden flash of alarm in his eyes. “Did he kill somebody? Gina’s not in any danger, is she?”
“No, it’s nothing like that, I assure you.”
“Then what are you suggesting that my daughter’s mixed up in?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just saying that I can’t leave here until I know more than I know now.”
George Petrillo sighed. “If this is all about some legal difficulty my daughter and her partner might or might not be in, what the hell was that kiss at the house all about? Was that just some sneaky tactic to try to get her to talk?”
Rafe felt his cheeks burn. He should have known better. Not only had his behavior been unprofessional, but both of those kisses they’d shared had been in plain view of Gina’s neighbors or her family. The very least he could have done was to exercise more discretion.
“Actually, that was a mistake.”
“Which time? At the rodeo or at the house?”
“Both times, to be perfectly honest.”
“Then I suggest you keep your hands to yourself from now on. I don’t want to hear any more about any so-called mistakes. This isn’t New York City, where two people can get away with anything. Around here there are reputations to be considered. Eventually you’ll go on your way, but Gina has to live in this community.”
“I thought Gina lived in New York.”
“This is her home. New York is where she works,” her father said, making the same distinction Gina herself had once made. “Keep that in mind.”
“I’ll do my best,” Rafe promised.
George bobbed his head, clearly satisfied that he’d put Rafe on notice. “See that you do,” he said as he jammed his hat on his head and strolled away, pausing for a minute to share a joke with Stella before heading for the door.
After he’d gone, Rafe muttered a sharp expletive. Why was it that every time he was around Gina, her friends or her family, they wound up asking all the questions? He hadn’t been on the defensive so much since he’d discovered in the middle of a trial that his client had been lying to him about almost everything except his name. And he didn’t like the feeling any better now than he had then.
Nor was he crazy about the fact that he hadn’t even discovered why Gina’s trip had already lasted several days longer than originally anticipated. Just when the query had been on the tip of his tongue, George Petrillo had cleverly distracted him with his own barrage of questions.
The fragile trust Rafe had begun to feel for Gina was already wavering. He’d give her one more day. If she didn’t turn up tomorrow, he was going after her. And heaven help her if she wasn’t where she had told him she would be—at Mrs. Collins’s bedside in Denver.
* * *
For some reason Gina wasn’t the least bit surprised to find Rafe sitting in a parked car just down the street from her house when she finally got back home several days after she’d intended to. She hadn’t been on such an emotional roller coaster in years. A confrontation with him fit right in.
She watched him strolling toward her, a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. One word, she thought. Let him say just one wrong word and she would belt him. After what she and her friends had been through, she was just itching to take her anger out on somebody.
Rafe bent down to peer in the car window. “You okay?”
“No.”
He seemed taken aback by her response. “What’s wrong?” he asked eventually.
“Everything.”
“Are you planning on sitting in there all evening?”
She scowled at him. “I might.”
Rafe shrugged and walked around to the other side of the car, then got in. He sat there, staring straight ahead, seemingly perfectly comfortable with the silence.
“Caleb died,” she finally murmured, barely able to get the words out. “Karen’s husband. He just collapsed and died. It happened while we were in Denver. By the time we got to the hospital in Laramie, he was dead. I’ve been staying with Karen at her ranch for the last few days.” She glanced at him. “In case you were wondering where I’d run off to.”
“Never crossed my mind,” he said.
She almost managed a smile at that. “Liar.”
“I’m sorry about Caleb,” he said.
Gina regarded him with faint surprise. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“I do. I didn’t meet him at the reunion, but I saw you and the others with him. It was obvious how close you were. It must have been a terrible shock.”
“It was. I don’t know how Karen’s going to manage without him.” Gina hoped she would never experience the kind of loss that Karen was going through. Karen was heartbroken and racked with guilt because she hadn’t been there. Nothing anyone had said had been able to console her.
“She could lose their ranch,” Gina whispered. “That will kill her. It meant everything to Caleb, but I don’t know if Karen can keep it running on her own. I would hate to lose Café Tuscany, but it’s not the same. I love it, but it’s just a business. Even I can see that. That ranch meant everything to Karen and Caleb. And there’s this man, Grady Blackhawk, who’s just waiting in the wings to take it from her.”
She shuddered at the thought. “How can something like this happen?” she asked bitterly. “Caleb didn’t deserve to die. Karen certainly doesn’t deserve this.”
Gina glanced at Rafe to see how he was reacting to her tirade. Not until he reached over and brushed away the tears on her cheeks did she realize that she’d been crying.
“I’m sorry I’m so emotional,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you. I just can’t bear the way Karen looks, so lost and alone. She’s one of my best friends. How can I even think about going back to New York in a few days and leaving her here to cope?”
“The others—” Rafe began.
“Will be leaving, too,” Gina said. “Except for Cassie. She’s staying because of her mom. At least that’s the excuse. I think there’s more to it. Her son’s father is here and they have a whole lot of unfinished business between them. Lauren says she can stay a little longer. And Emma may be coming back and forth for a while.”
“See, Karen will have people to look after her.”
“I need to be here,” Gina said firmly. As much as she loved Café Tuscany and her life in New York, nothing was as important as this, as being here when her friend needed her. “I have to call Deidre. Maybe she can go on managing things a little longer.”
Looking resigned, Rafe handed her his cell phone. “Call.”
Gina accepted the phone, but before she could dial, she remembered the deposition. “Rafe, I’m not deliberately trying to avoid the deposition.”
“I know,” he said with something akin to admiration in his eyes. “You’re a remarkable woman, Gina Petrillo.”
Startled, she stared at him. “Remarkable? Me?”
He grinned. “Yes, you. With everything that’s at stake for you back in New York, your first priority is your friend’s well-being. That’s an admirable quality. It makes me wonder how you ever got mixed up with a sleaze like Rinaldi.”
“Just lucky, I guess,” she said wryly.
“Make your call.”
“I could...” She hesitated, then took a deep breath. “I could talk to Emma. Perhaps we could do the deposition here. I know you can’t hang around out here forever.”
“We’ll worry about that later. Take care of your business. After that I want you to go inside, take a shower and then I’m taking you out to dinner.”
“I don’t know,” she protested, though without much vehemence. “I’m beat. I’ll be lousy company.”
“You don’t have to entertain me, Gina. But you do need to eat a decent meal and get some color back in your cheeks. How can I possibly go after you in a deposition, if you look as if you might faint at any second?”
“Oh, I think I can handle you any day of the week,” she retorted, feeling better already at the prospect of a good battle of wits. She handed back the cell phone. “I’ll call from inside. I don’t need you listening in on my trade secrets. Give me twenty minutes.”
Rafe grinned. “Should I call Tony’s and make a reservation?”
“Winding River’s not New York. Besides, Tony always has room for me.”
