Page 39 of Lawbreaker

“Now, down to business. Let me put our Penny down for her nap and I’ll show you my newest fairy!”

Odalie laughed. “I can’t wait!”

But when they got into the studio that Cord Brannt had built for her inside the Skylance ranch, there were two fairies. One was redheaded and blue-eyed. The other was a dead ringer for Odalie.

“But you already did one of me,” Odalie protested.

“This one’s for the gallery,” Maddie said, and smiled, not giving away the fact that it had been commissioned by Stasia. It had a purpose that Odalie wasn’t supposed to know about.

“Oh. Well, okay,” Odalie said reluctantly. She smiled. “She looks just like me, except that I don’t often wear lacy white gowns to bed, and I almost never wear my hair down.” She thought of Tony’s eyes on her the day she was in the gown with her hair loose, and her heart ran wild. She bit down hard on the memory. “This one’s lovely,” she added softly.

“I’m glad you like it. Is Tony coming down anytime soon? I want to show both of them to him.”

Her heart jumped. “Yes, the end of next week,” she replied.

“Great! I can give them to him then.”

“Sounds good,” Odalie said, and missed the mischievous look on her friend’s face.

She spent the time before Tony’s visit practicing her scales in the soundproof room her mother used for a studio, with the door closed. Heather accompanied her on piano when Odalie practiced the arias that she would choose from to try out for the Metropolitan Opera with.

It hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that she kept putting off the audition. When queried, she had all sorts of excuses. She couldn’t tell them why she was so reluctant to do it. It was what she’d trained for her whole life. It was almost in her grasp. But she hesitated. The threat of nightly performances in front of hundreds of people terrified her. She had honestly tried to work around it. She just wasn’t sure enough that she wanted to live with that fear for the rest of her life.

The end of the second week came, bringing with it good weather and the last day of the most grueling thing ranchers had to do, next to roundup in the spring and fall—moving bulls to summer pasture and getting culls ready to ship.

Tempers were short. Cowboys got into fights. Others threatened to quit. And on and on.

Cole came into the dining room covered in dust and sporting a furious scowl.

“Who quit?” Heather asked, and then she noticed his knuckles. “And did he quit before or after you hit him?” she asked belligerently.

Before he could come up with a good answer, a truck pulled up outside. Voices came from the porch, and then Tony and Ben came in the door, Ben carrying two travel bags and a big suitcase.

“Hello!” Heather greeted them with a big smile. “You’re early.”

Tony raised his brows, trying not to look at Odalie, who was dressed in jeans and a revealing T-shirt with her hair in a ponytail. “Who got slugged?” he asked, having noted Cole’s fists at once.

“Larry,” Cole said, giving the name the sound of a snake hissing.

Heather rolled her eyes. “What did he say this time?”

“That I should have been a dictator, because I could give Mussolini pointers,” he replied curtly.

Tony hid a smile. So did Heather.

Cole threw up his hands. “Well, somebody had to take charge. It’s my ranch, you know. I own it,” he raged. “Two of the cowboys, including Larry, were so drunk they could hardly stand up, and Dan threatened to let Larry use a branding iron on one of my cattle dogs because it was barking too much!!”

“Now, honey,” Heather began, “I’m sure he wasn’t thinking...”

Tony’s face had gone from amused to icy. “I’d have slugged him, too,” he muttered.

Cole pointed to Tony.

Heather just let out a long sigh.

“If he didn’t quit, you should fire him,” Odalie said darkly.

Cole pointed to her, too.