Barbara Dunlop - Thunderbolt over Texas

“Without you?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course. But you do have the Thunderbolt, right?”

“It’s in a lawyer’s office in Wichita Falls. But don’t tell a soul. Bradley Slander is still gunning for me, and I don’t want him getting wind of this until it’s a done deal.”

“If it’s not a done deal, why am I setting up the show?”

Sydney twisted the phone cord around her hand. “It is. Sort of. Well… I have to marry the owner.”

Another silence.

“It’s a complicated inheritance thing.”

“You’re going to marry into the Thunderbolt family?”

“It’s a marriage of convenience.”

“Don’t you think that’s above and beyond?”

“It’s the only way. I’m pretending to fall…” Sydney hesitated over the details. “Anyway, we’ll divorce as soon as the show’s over.”

“I don’t know, Sydney.”

“Trust me on this. I’ve got it under control. My notes on the other antiquities are in my computer, along with the contact names. I’m going to reserve the front gallery.”

“You’re making me nervous.”

“I can do this.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

She had to do this. She had no choice but to do this. It didn’t matter how complicated her feelings got for Cole. Nor did it matter how much she was starting to love this crazy Texas ranch.

She was here to do a job. Once she got back to New York it would all fall into perspective. She’d be hailed a hero, and her professional reputation would be saved.

“Okay.”

“Great. Talk to you in a few days.” Sydney let out a sigh of relief and hung up the phone.

It was going to happen. It was truly going to happen.

Then she glanced up, and there was Katie, white-faced in the doorway.

Damn. She opened her mouth, but Katie turned on her heel.

“Katie!” Sydney scrambled around the desk, sprinting to the door. “Katie, it’s not what-”

“Don’t!” Katie gritted her teeth, her hands balling into fists as she stomped down the hallway. “You lied to me. You lied, straight-faced, and I let you into my family.”

“Cole knows.”

“Yeah, right.”

“He knows.”

Katie shook her head, her voice quavering. “No, he doesn’t. But he’s going to. Right now.”

She stormed out the door and Sydney took off after her.

The plan was ruined. Sydney had screwed up everything. She should have talked quieter. She should have closed the door.

Cole was going to kill her, and so was Kyle, and now Katie would be more stressed than ever.

“Katie, listen,” she gasped, rushing through the open doorway and struggling to catch up. She tried running, but her pace in heels was no match for Katie in her boots. Katie easily outdistanced her to the toolshed.

“She’s a con artist and a liar and thief,” yelled Katie as Sydney rapidly approached the three.

Kyle dropped a tool onto the ground and wrapped his arms around his wife. “What the hell?”

“She overheard me,” Sydney called as she made her way through cacti and range grass.

“She’s pretending to fall in love with Cole.” Katie’s voice broke. “I heard her. She’s only after the Thunderbolt.”

Cole stuffed a hammer into his tool belt and moved toward Katie, laying a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Katie. I know that already.”

“How could you know that?” she sniffed. “She’s lying to you. She’s lying to all of us.” She shot Sydney a look of venom.

“I am so sorry,” said Sydney, her voice shaking, a sick feeling swirling in the pit of her stomach.

“I’ll just bet you are,” Katie snapped.

“Sweetheart.” Kyle spoke against her hair in a soft voice. “This is all my fault.”

Katie tipped her chin to look up at him. “How is it your fault?”

Sydney wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Katie was such a wonderful human being. She didn’t deserve this heartache. She deserved Kyle’s love every minute of every day, plus a whole troop of little Ericksons running around her house.

“I did something really stupid,” said Cole.

“It was me,” said Sydney. She didn’t want to break up this happy family. They loved each other. They meant the world to each other.

“Will you two stop?” asked Kyle.

“Katie,” said Cole. “After the baby thing-”

Katie turned a shade paler.

“-I thought your stress level would drop if I got married and had babies.”

“We weren’t really going to have babies,” Sydney put in. “We were just going to let you think we’d have babies. It seemed like the perfect plan. I’d get the Thunderbolt. You’d probably get pregnant. By the time we got divorced, you’d be okay again.”

Katie turned to Kyle. “You went along with this?”

“I-”

“We talked him into it,” said Cole. “I talked him into it. Thing is, Katie. I’m going to make it come true.”

The breath rushed from Sydney’s lungs and she blinked at Cole’s rugged profile. Because of last night? Because of what they’d shared?

Was it possible? Did Cole think there was something growing between them?

Her chest expanded with a warm glow. She had no idea how they’d work it out, but the thought of Cole wanting to try settled around her like a soft blanket.

“As soon as I divorce Sydney,” Cole continued, and Sydney’s heart went flat, “I’m going to find another wife. A real wife. I’m going to take on some of the responsibility of this damn dynasty.”

Cole’s words died away to silence and Sydney took an involuntary step back.

Of course he’d find a real wife. What on earth was she thinking? Cole couldn’t do New York, and Sydney wasn’t staying in Texas. Her career and her life were about to take a quantum leap. The sky would be the limit after the Thunderbolt show.

Katie stared at her, and Sydney forced out a shaky laugh. “See? It’ll all work out.”

“Cole,” said Kyle. “You don’t have-”

“My mind’s made up.” Cole rubbed Katie’s shoulder. “I just hope I can find a wife who’ll hold a candle to you.”

Katie wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Sydney.

Sydney moved closer. “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about.” Katie had come to a perfectly logical conclusion.

She nodded her agreement. “Okay. But we probably shouldn’t tell Grandma it’s a sham.”

Cole looked at Kyle, and Kyle looked at Cole.

“You’re right,” said Cole. “We still have a wedding to plan.”

Sydney parked herself on an old workbench to watch Cole finish the window repair. It had seemed like a good idea to give Katie and Kyle some time alone. She wanted to ask Cole about his marriage promise, but she didn’t want him to think she cared.

If she didn’t care, would she ask or stay quiet? Hard to know. Probably ask. After all, it was all academic to her.

She made up her mind. “Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“Were you serious? Or were you just trying to make Katie happy?”

“Serious about what?”

“Finding a real wife.” She hated the pain that flashed through her chest when she said those words. It was almost as though she was jealous. Which made no sense. She was never going to see Cole again after the museum show. That had always been the plan.

Just because she’d slept with him, she didn’t need to get all moony-eyed about it. She’d slept with men before. Men she’d liked and trusted. But she’d never gone around the bend over it. She’d never started imagining forever. Never even been jealous of the women they might date in the future.

Cole nodded as he hammered tiny nails around the wood that held the new glass. “I am putting too much pressure on Kyle and Katie. It’s time I held up my end of the family.”

“Do you think planning to marry some unknown wife is such a good idea?”

He stopped hammering and gave her a long look. “Yes, I do.”

“It doesn’t strike you as just a little bit self-sacrificing?”

He went back to hammering. “Not really. We Texans take loyalty and honor very seriously.”

Sydney shifted on the bench. “Ouch.”

Cole shrugged. “Not a criticism.”

“Yeah, right.” Obviously her values were a question mark in his mind. She might be fine for a night in bed, but she sure didn’t meet his standards for a wife.

Good girl, bad girl again. At least this time she knew which one she was.

“We can probably move the marriage plans up,” he said.

Sydney nodded. “That’s good.” The sooner she got away from him, the better.

“If Grandma suspects anything,” he continued, “it’ll be that you’re pregnant and we need a quickie wedding.”

“But you’ve only known me a few days.”

He pounded in a final nail and dropped the hammer into his belt. “I travel a lot. She’ll assume we’ve met before.”

“Of course.” Sydney nodded. Because a bad girl is always good for a one-night stand when a guy’s on the road. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to focus on business. “I’ve asked a colleague to start preparing for the show.”

Cole gave a nod.

“Is there any way I could take a look at the Thunderbolt before the wedding?”

“I guess so. What for?”

“It’ll help me conceptualize a display for it. It would really help if I could take a couple of pictures to send to the museum.” Business, business. All business. She could do this.

Cole stood back to scrutinize the job. “I’ll drive you in as soon as I can get away.”

One thing about having Katie in on the marriage plan, it meant Sydney didn’t have to see nearly as much of Cole. While she waited for the trip to Wichita Falls, she made museum arrangements by long distance and spent some time visiting Grandma.

Sydney was growing to like the eccentric old woman. Grandma was smart, opinionated and had one zinger of a sense of humor. She also told stories about the Thunderbolt and about her early years in Texas that fascinated Sydney.

Like the time the pack string stepped in a wasps’ nest. The first horse through was stung once and did a little crow hop off the trail. His burden of flour and utensils stayed put. The second horse through was a bomb-proof mare. She barely flinched when three wasps stung her rump.

Unfortunately, the third horse through took the brunt of the attack. He was a reliable four-year-old entrusted with the month’s supply of whiskey. The horse leapt off the ground, all four feet in the air. His frantic bucking loosened the pack saddle, sending the whiskey swinging under his belly.

The unnatural load spooked him even more, and he ran hell bent for leather into the creek. Though the cowboys raced to his rescue, the precious cargo was washed over the falls.

The cook was so frightened at the prospect of showing up at the cattle drive without a fresh whiskey supply that he rode two days and two nights to restock.

When Cole finally announced he had time to take Sydney to the city, she eagerly hopped into his pickup. She couldn’t wait to see the Thunderbolt, even if it meant a two-hour drive alone with him.

“Haven’t seen much of you,” he commented as they pulled onto the main road.

“Haven’t seen much of you, either,” she returned, gauging his tone, wondering how to read him and annoyed that she felt the need to try.

He shrugged. “Had work to do.”

“Me, too.” She did have a life. It wasn’t as if she’d been pining away, wondering if he regretted their lovemaking, or if he’d found any likely Susie Homemakers to take her place.

“Have I done something to annoy you?” he asked.

Did he mean other than announce to his family that he was finding a “real” wife just as soon as he dumped her?

“I’m not annoyed,” she said.

“So this is the level you’ve picked for our relationship?”

The level she’d picked? “You wanted something more?”

He shrugged, flipping on his right signal and leaving the gravel road behind in favor of the four-lane interstate. “You must admit, it all turned on a dime there after Katie got in the loop.”

“Ah.” Sydney nodded, wishing she could control the jealousy cresting in her veins. “So you did want more sex.”

He twisted his head to look at her. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry about that. I guess I did turn off the tap all of a sudden.”

His eyes narrowed, and he glanced to the highway and back to her again. “Was there a particular reason you backed off?”

She shrugged. No reason that was remotely logical, just a horrible, kicked-in-the-gut feeling when he’d rejected her. “We didn’t need to pretend anymore,” she said.

“You mean, the Thunderbolt was in the bag.”

“Yeah. Right. Something like that.” She turned her head to look out the window.

“I see.”

“Okay.”

“Fine.” He pressed on the accelerator and turned up the radio.