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“Do you?” Still watching her, though the ice in his eyes had melted a bit.
“When my father died,” she said, sliding back into her own memories, “it was horrible, despite the fact that we knew for months that it was coming. Even when death is expected, it’s somehow a surprise when it actually happens. It’s as if the universe has played a dirty trick on you. I was so angry, so sorry to lose him—I needed someone to blame.” She paused and met his gaze. “We all do.”
He snorted. “A nurse and a psychologist?”
She flushed. “No, I just meant...”
“I know what you meant,” he said shortly, effectively shutting her down before she could offer more sympathy he clearly didn’t want.
And just like that, the ice was back in his eyes. Then he glanced over his shoulder, noted that his family was walking out of the office building behind them and turned back to her. “I have to go.”
She looked to where Marlene and Angelica were holding onto each other while Chance, Dylan and Evan squared off, obviously arguing. “Of course.”
“But I’d like to talk to you again,” he said, catching her by surprise.
“Sure, I—”
“About J.D.,” he added.
A tiny flicker of something lovely disappeared in a wash of sympathy. Of course he wanted to talk to her about his father. He wanted to hear from the woman who had spent the most time with him in his last several months. Ridiculous to have ever thought that he might be interested in her. Sage Lassiter dated women who were socialites or celebrities. Why on earth would he ever be attracted to a private nurse who didn’t even own a bottle of nail polish?
“Sure,” she said, giving him another smile that went unreturned. “Anytime.”
He nodded, then turned and strode across the parking lot toward his family.
Alone in the quickening wind, Colleen threw one look up at the sky and realized that a storm was coming.
* * *
“What was he thinking?” Dylan took a sip of his beer and set the bottle back onto the table. “Cutting Angie out like that? Dad had been grooming her for years to take over Lassiter Media.”
They were at a small bar on the edge of the city. Marlene had taken Angelica off for a spa day, hoping to relax her. Evan had gone back to the office and Chance was at the ranch. Left to their own devices, Sage and Dylan had opted for drinks, and the chance to talk things over, just the two of them.
The customers here were locals, mostly cowboys, ranch hands and a few cops and firemen. It was a comfortable place that didn’t bother trying to be trendy. The owner didn’t care about attracting tourists. He just wanted to keep his regulars happy.
So the music was loud and country, blasting from a jukebox that was older than Sage. The floorboards were scarred from wooden chairs scraping across them for the past fifty years. The bar top gleamed and the rows of bottles behind the bar were reflected in a mirror that also displayed the image of the TV playing on the opposite wall. People came here to have a quiet drink. They weren’t looking to pose for pictures or listen to tourists talking excitedly about “the Old West.” This was modern-day Cheyenne, yet Sage had the feeling quite a few people rode into town half expecting stagecoaches and more than just the staged gunfights in the streets.
“I don’t know,” Sage muttered, unnecessarily answering his brother’s rhetorical question.
Dylan kept talking, but Sage wasn’t really listening. Instead he was remembering the look in Colleen’s eyes when he’d confronted her in the parking lot. He’d wanted to talk to her. To see what she knew. To find out if she’d had any idea what J.D. had been up to.
Instead, he’d put her on the defensive right from the jump. He hadn’t meant to just launch into an attack. But with the memory of his sister’s tears still fresh in his mind, he’d snapped at Colleen.
Scrubbing one hand across his face, he realized that he was going to have to use a completely different tactic the next time he talked to her. And there would be a next time. Not only did she intrigue him on a personal level but there were too many questions left unanswered. Had she swayed J.D. into leaving her the money? Did she know why Angelica had lost everything? Did she maybe know something that might help him invalidate the will? His brain was racing.
“Angie was looking at Evan like he was the enemy instead of the man she loves.”
“Hard not to,” Sage said, mentally dragging himself back to the conversation at hand. “In one swipe, Evan took everything Angie thought was hers.”
