Page 32 of Cowboy Heat

Before I didn’t owe anyone my life.

I could do something different now.

I couldbesomeone different.

I could be with Beau, I think. I could at the very least share a second drink with him.

“Goodnight, Beau,” I say instead like it’s starting to become a habit.

Those baby blues are on me.

I’m a little sad I’ll lose them when I go.

But I have to.

Beau doesn’t smile, but his voice is soft. “Goodnight, Kissy.”

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Beau

Something isn’t sitting right.

I call up Lee on the way to the ranch. He answers on the third ring. It sounds like he’s been sleeping. I check the time—it’s about to be ten.

“Baby Beau,” he says on his answer. “What’s up?”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

There’s some movement. Lee is shifting around. He clears his throat. “Oh, you know me, just taking a catnap outside of a seedy motel waiting for a good morning shot from a couple a’ cheaters. The usual.”

Lee probably hasn’t slept well in a few days. Like me, he doesn’t fall asleep easy. I would feel bad for waking him usually, but I need his resources. And opinion.

“Could you do me a favor then?” I ask, remembering to take the turn that leads me to the road that runs all the way toward Blue Lolita. “Can you run a search on a name and see if anything pops?”

Lee has access to a lot of databases, not all of them particularly on the up and up. His job as a bounty hunter has afforded him a lot of access or, if not access, connections who might give him information if needed. At one time, I was one of those connections. Working in law enforcement afforded me specific access too.

Just like my service weapon and badge, I don’t have that now.

“Yeah?” One syllable, but I know he’s hooked by the interest he’s managed to put in it. “What name?”

“Everett Guidry.”

I guess Lee isn’t the only one who can infuse syllables with audible feeling. He responds with a tone change to serious. “Who is this guy? Why am I looking into him?”

The road dips and makes me regret having a rental. I cuss some, which only adds to the rising urgency I’m having a hard time keeping down. “He’s a big deal, I think, here in Robin’s Tree,” I answer, looking for more potholes. Maybe Ryan stayed on the ranch to avoid the bad road conditions to town. “He lives in a small, private community calledLa Lumiere. He’s the community’s spokesperson, apparently.”

“Is that French?”

I nod then remember he can’t see me. “Yeah. It means ‘the light.’”

Lee blows out a breath. “Sounds like a cult.”

I didn’t say as much to Kissy when she first explainedLa Lumiere,but there’s no reason to hide my thoughts now. “It sure does, which means Guidry is its bona fide leader, if so.”

I can hear Lee typing. While on the job, he always has his laptop handy. “Is he giving you trouble?” All of us Montgomery boys have complicated issues with fathers. Some of us knew our dads; some of us didn’t. Still, when the tough gets going, any of us can flip that switch.

Lee sounds like a father concerned for his son, just as much as he sounds like a brother concerned for his younger brother.