Texas Gold (18 page)

It did not explain why someone was pounding on her door. She grabbed her robe ready to tear into the salesman, even if it was Bobby Hathaway selling magazine subscriptions so he could go on a mission trip to Belize.

It had to be a salesperson. Everyone she knew knew her door was open if they wanted to get in. No one else bothered her.

Or at least they hadn’t until this summer.

She finished tying the robe shut and hoped she didn’t look like she’d spent the night making love at the same time she tried to wipe the silly grin off her face.

Love was a fine, fine thing. She could almost taste the happiness of it.

She opened the door, and thought briefly about shutting it and locking it immediately.

The look on Carolyn’s face spelled trouble. She felt the bubbly feeling of pure joy evaporate and the burning sensation of worry settle in.

“Is he still here?”

“Who?” Mallory didn’t invite her friend in, didn’t want to hear any more.

“Who indeed. The man you’re carrying on with. Is he gone?”

No sense avoiding the issue. She opened the screen and stepped back as Carolyn walked in full speed ahead.

That alone spelled big problems. Carolyn perfected the art of slow and sensual for all aspects of life when they were still in junior high.
 

Mallory watched as her friend looked around the living room just to make sure the he in question was gone and then turned back to her. “You better get dressed, Mal. The school board’s meeting and it’s a closed session. Personnel issues is what Celinda called and said. But she said it was more than that and to come get you ASAP.”

Oh God. Not now. She’d thought....

“Come on, Mal.” Carolyn interrupted her thoughts and Mallory moved into high gear.

As she tugged on her clothes and tennis shoes, she heard Carolyn going on about what a terrible best friend she was.
 

She was tying her shoes when Carolyn finished with, ”Great sex does not a great man make. You have permission to fire me as best friend for life.”

Mallory walked past her, grabbed her purse and held the door open. “I’ll remember that later. I figure you probably still have the left side of the best friend’s locket from fourth grade. You can give it back tonight. Let’s go.”

She jumped in the passenger side of Carolyn’s car and prayed she wouldn’t die. Best friend or not, Carolyn had failed the driving test five times before she’d gotten her license. They’d finally passed her out of pity.

At least the hairpin curves kept her mind off the personnel issues before the board.

Surely, surely Brenton hadn’t lied.

But even as she thought it, she could see his eyes looking away, hiding something.

He’d promised dammit!

Carolyn pulled into the administration parking lot and Mallory flew out the door. She took the steps three at a time, barely registering Celinda’s worried face as she walked into the room where open session would begin as soon as the closed session wrapped up.

She’d give anything to walk into the closed session.

But she couldn’t.

Rules were rules.

She walked up to the posted agenda and filled in her name and the topic she would address.
 

What to write, what to write.

Age discrimination in the educational marketplace?

Petty jealousy in city politics should not play a role in the educational system?

A millionaire’s promise should not erode decades of success?

No, she didn’t know that. Brenton might be completely unaware that this meeting was taking place.

Oh God. What could she do?

She finally left the issue line blank and turned to where Celinda and Carolyn stood watching.

“What? Why don’t y’all get more people up here? This doesn’t have to happen.”

“Scott, Tim and Julie will be here shortly. The open meeting is scheduled for after lunch.” Celinda looked worried and Carolyn looked furious and Mallory wanted to scream at both of them.

“After lunch? That’s at least two hours. Where’s my daddy?”

Celinda pointed to the room across the hall. The room with the closed door. The room where right this minute Mayor Jenkins was getting his final retribution by ending the fine career of Coach J.D. Baber.

Brenton signed and dated the last of the new contracts for a
 
development just breaking ground twenty miles north of town and sat back relishing the feeling of success.
 

It felt good to know he was making a difference. To know there’d be no battle here. To know Mallory’d be at home later this evening.

His new offices were vastly different than they’d been when she’d visited him such a short time before.

The scent of the freshly painted walls still lingered in the air. The hard wood floors practically showed his reflection and the painting behind his desk showed a west Texas cowboy breaking horses in a dust filled arena.
 

Nina had picked up the painting at a garage sale two weeks ago and brought it in, swearing it was the perfect touch to authenticate his small town atmosphere.

Now all he needed was a secretary for his Serendipity office. He’d offered the position to his personal assistant in Dallas, but she’d just looked at him as if he were insane and suggested he hire someone local.

She’d been right, of course. This office cried for someone who loved the town almost as much as Mallory. Finding that person might prove difficult.

Most people with the skills he needed bailed the small town life as soon as they could. He’d just have to offer a salary lucrative enough to make it worth their while to stick around.

It shouldn’t take much to have a person fall in love with this city. He certainly had.

As he sat and enjoyed watching Main Street out his window, he thought about how content he was now. How thoroughly happy. In a way he’d never been.

Truth be told, it was more than the town.

Every ounce of his feelings could be traced back to Mallory Baber with her short red hair that gleamed like fire in the sun, with her firm athletic build and stubborn chin. With her absolute refusal to accept defeat.

God, he loved her. He’d probably loved her since he’d seen her coaching his daughter the first time.
 

But over the last few weeks, as he’d gotten to know the real woman behind the tough coach facade, he knew beyond a doubt, he was hopelessly, completely, insanely in love with her.

The thought made him smile.

Somehow, he’d convince her that living without him would be tantamount to disaster.

Then he’d ask her to marry him.

Across the street he saw a small group of men gathered around the barber's shop. A heated argument was going strong and a couple men looked angry enough to commit murder.

Maybe they were fighting over the new teen curfew Mayor Jenkins was proposing. He’d heard a few people were disgruntled over the new eco plaza going up at the grade school.

Yes, oh yes. He couldn’t wait to be a complete part of this community. He was sure he’d come to love it the same way Mallory did.

Together, they’d make sure Serendipity never lost its specialness.

Because all in all, he was sure that eventually Mallory Baber would agree to be his wife. It might take a while if her daddy did get fired. But then, he’d made it clear he wouldn’t push that agenda.

He was typing the help wanted ad for the local paper when all hell broke loose.

If he’d been prepared, it might not have been so bad.

But when John waltzed into his office in a thousand dollar suit, a giddy grin and a clear look of victory on his face, Brenton knew he wasn’t going to like the news.

The fact that the barber shop fighters were looking at his office as if he were evil incarnate did nothing to alleviate his worry.

John slapped a manilla folder on Brenton’s desk. “Well, we did it, Brenton. You should have been there. It was pure perfection.”

Clearing his throat, Brenton tired to think of the million different items on their original agenda that might be responsible for his partner’s gloating.

“What exactly did we do, John?”

As he asked the question he heard his door slam open, hit the newly painted entry wall and the sound of shoes barreling through...

He looked up in time to see Nina, a look of horror on her face as she was followed by Jen.

“Daddy, I can not believe you! How could you do this? You’ve ruined everything!”

He was just starting to ask what exactly he’d done when she interrupted him.

“My life here was perfect. I love Serendipity, and people like me, too. I wasn’t just Brenton Alexander’s daughter. I had real friends. You’ve destroyed everything. No one will like me now! I hate you!”

She didn’t let him ask a single question. Instead, she ran out the door with Jen still following her, tears flowing down her face in true anger and pain.

Whatever the hell had happened, Brenton knew he wasn’t a part of it.

And he didn’t give a damn what John wanted to say, he was going to find Nina and make sure she knew he would never jeopardize her life in this town.

Dammit. They were staying here forever.

He stood to follow her out the door and stopped when he saw Mallory standing just outside. A look of hurt bewilderment on her face. But more than that, a look of sheer rage.

He would have moved to her, to ask what was wrong, to try and make whatever was wrong better, but she beat him to it.

She stalked through his office with purposefulness, her eyes that usually filled with warmth upon seeing him, completely blank.

“Mal...”

“Stop.” She held out her hand and interrupted him. “Don’t say another word. I see your business partner has already broken the news, and since I saw Nina and Jen running the other direction, I suppose you know very well what happened.”

There was little doubt now what had happened, he just wished to hell, she’d let him explain it wasn’t his fault.

She wasn’t having any part of it.

“So let me just fill you in, Mr. Alexander.” She continued pelting the words at him like bullets and he wanted to duck.

“You might have succeeded in destroying my daddy, but I guarantee you it won’t turn out the way you planned. I don’t know why you felt it so important to run off a man who’s done more for this community than anyone else, but I do know you won’t be thanked for it. And since you must have someone in mind for the job, you can start looking for my replacement, too. I turned in my resignation, effective immediately. I don’t care if I ever see you again.”

Brenton watched as the second woman he loved stormed out of his office and wished to hell at least one of them would listen to him.

Dammit. He needed to think. To plan. There had to be a way...

The chuckle behind him reminded him he wasn’t alone.

“I must say, ol’ boy, that is one hot little lady. Not much to look at usually, but get her mad, and I can see your attraction...”

Brenton felt the white anger wash over him, and he didn’t give himself time to think before his fist connected with John’s nose.

Shaking his fist at his side, he pointed to the door with his other hand. “Get out.”

John swiped the blood away from his face. “You’ve lost it, man. Completely lost it. Over a poe-dunk town and a piece of tail. I never thought I’d see...”

“I highly suggest you use that door before you say another word.” Brenton let the anger roll through him. Dammit, he couldn’t lose Mallory. “Expect dissolution papers by courier in the morning.”

He turned his back and waited until the door closed, ignoring the threats of lawsuits and the promises to make him pay.

None of it mattered. He’d already paid the highest price possible.
 

But he had a little girl out there crazy with anger. He had to get to her first, make her understand what happened. Then he’d somehow try to mend this mess with Mallory.

In the mean time, he’d do what he could to solve the problem of her father.

Dammit. He loved her. Simple as that. He wasn’t going to lose now, not when he knew how great the final prize could be.

After she’d offered her resignation at the board meeting, Mallory hadn’t given herself time to think. She’d just turned around and high tailed it over to Brenton’s offices, ready to hear his explanation, ready to listen, but then she’d seen John standing there, that malicious smirk on his face, and she’d known.

How could she have been such a fool?

Even if Brenton hadn’t been directly involved in this mess anymore, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t stay with a man who saw everything in terms of the bottom dollar. Couldn’t be a part of his life when he’d destroyed her family.

Oh God.

She didn’t want to imagine life after Brenton, but she figured that’s the way she’d always tell time.

Before Brenton, when she’d been content, when she’d been happy to be a good daughter and excel at her job. When the idea of lounging around naked in her bed never crossed her mind. Before she’d known the many uses of melted chocolate or the feel of his chest under her hands. Oh damn.

She didn’t want to remember before Brenton. It had been a lonely existence, but she hadn’t known it.

Now that she did, she didn’t want to go back.

What was she going to do?

When she heard the knock on the door, she wasn’t exactly surprised. She’d known Brenton would find her, try to explain.

That was fine. But she wasn’t going to listen.

She stood and walked over to the door as it opened.

Tim stood there, his face white, his hat in his hands. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

“Mal, come on. Daddy’s had a heart attack. He’s on his way to the hospital now.”

Mallory felt as if the world she’d been so sure of only hours before was spinning out of control. The same way it had the day Momma died. Oh God.

Slamming her door, she followed Tim out of the house and threw herself in his truck, praying all the while.

She barely heard Reba, Faith and George on the radio as she promised God she’d give up everything if he’d spare her father. But, Lord, she didn’t know what she’d do without her daddy, too.