Page 89 of Wyoming Heart

His eyebrows arched. “Ask me.”

“You know the commando group I hang out with, the ones I was just in Nicaragua with?”

He nodded.

“Well, obviously, I can’t go crawling through jungles pregnant, but I need some insight into drug smuggling for the book I’m working on, and the guys have done interdiction in other countries...”

“And they want to come talk to you,” he guessed. He laughed at her expression. “Tell them to come on. But wait until Sandra gets here.” He rolled his eyes. “She’ll go crazy when she knows they’ll be here. She used to hang out with narcs and mercenaries and former mob members...”

“You’re kidding!” Mina exclaimed gleefully.

“I’m not. You’ll understand when you meet her.”

“When is she coming?” Mina asked.

“Day after tomorrow.”

“So I’ll text Ry and tell him to come with the guys day after tomorrow,” she promised. “It’s going to be so much fun!”

He shook his head. “What a change you’ve made here already.”

She smiled. “Thanks. I love Latigo. I’m going to be very happy here.”

TWODAYSLATER, Vic walked in the door with his wife, Sandra, fresh from the airport in El Paso. She wasn’t at all what Mina expected. Sandra was little and wiry with amber eyes and brown hair and a smile that would stop traffic.

“Willow Shane, and I actually get to talk to you,” she exclaimed as she hugged Mina. “I couldn’t believe it when Vic told me! And you have a commando group for research. I thought I’d die of happiness!”

“I’m so happy to meet you. He—” she indicated Vic “—was very sad without you.”

She turned her eyes on her husband and pursed her lips. “Yes, well, we have a few things to work out.”

“A couple back home had those issues and they went to a psychologist,” Mina said gently.

Vic sighed. “I’d go to a psychologist today if Sandra would give me another chance.”

“You would?” Sandra exclaimed. “Honest?”

He nodded. He shrugged. “I guess I have more issues than I realized.” He glanced at Mina and smiled. “I seem to have lucked out on daughters-in-law however. She’s a wonder.”

“She’s my favorite author,” Sandra replied. She took off her denim jacket. “I have about a thousand questions...oh dear...” Her voice trailed off when she saw Mina’s face.

“Sorry!” Mina jumped up and ran to the bathroom in time to lose her lunch. She cleaned herself up and came back out with a wet washcloth, bathing her face on the way.

“Goodness, do you have a virus or something?” Sandra asked worriedly.

“I’m just pregnant,” she confessed, and laughed.

“You lucky woman,” Sandra said softly. “I’m too old to get pregnant, and I was too career-minded to even want to, while I was young. I’ve missed the boat.”

Mina put an arm around her. “You can share mine. Would you like the morning sickness or the heartburn first?”

Sandra burst out laughing and hugged her back.

MEANWHILE, CORTwas just finishing up talks with the union to finalize a new contract and feeling guilty for leaving his new wife alone with his father at Latigo. He was miserable. He missed Mina. He wanted to go home. But there was a meeting he had to attend with some business leaders in Akron who were involved in the ranch’s real estate holdings. It was a cocktail party.

In the old days, he’d loved mingling with beautiful women—and there were always beautiful women, married or single—and drinking until he felt pleasantly numb. But now, alcohol and other women had lost their appeal. He must, he mused, be getting old.

A gorgeous brunette he’d had a brief affair with latched on to him at the party and he became aware belatedly of the flash from a camera of some sort. But he disregarded it. Someone was always taking candid shots of other people, or selfies, and the room was dark.