wasn’t standing in the middle of a packed sidewalk, Cole would ask Dani all sorts of questions. He might even ask for a paternity test. But he had to be glad that she wasn’t kicking him in the shins right now or calling him names. After the other night, he did not think a calm conversation with Dani would be possible, but here they were. He was prepared to do anything to preserve the peace.
But were these boys his? Was it possible that Dani had been pregnant when she packed up and left for New York? They’d had no contact whatsoever, except for a letter Dani sent six months after she left, asking if he wanted to talk. Unable to open that door and wanting to protect her, he hadn’t responded.
He looked at the boys again. There was a feeling deep in his gut that was saying they could be his. Even if that might not be the case, he had to have the chance to get to know them better. They were one half a woman he still cared for very much.
He crouched down one more time. “Do you boys like horses?”
Colin, the quieter of the two, jumped right off the bench, nearly knocking Cole back onto his butt. “I do.”
Cameron nodded eagerly. “I do, too. Do you have horses?”
“I do. I have longhorns, too. I even have chickens and goats.”
“Do you have a real farm, Mr. Cole?” Cameron asked. It was incredibly adorable how polite these two boys were. Dani had done a good job.
“It’s a ranch. A big one. Would you like to come see it some time? Maybe tomorrow?”
Dani stepped forward and placed her hand on Cole’s shoulder, digging her fingertips into his skin. If she thought it would dissuade him, she was sorely mistaken. Her touch made his pulse quicken and filled his head with ideas of taking off the dress she was wearing today. “Surely you’re busy, Mr. Cole.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Not at all. I always have time for some aspiring young ranchers.”
“Can we, Mommy? Can we?” Colin was jumping up and down, tugging on Dani’s hand.
Cameron got off the bench and joined in. “We never got to see horses in New York.”
“We did when we went to Central Park,” Dani countered. She was so good at digging in her heels.
“That’s not the same. We couldn’t ride those horses.” Cameron turned to Cole. “Can we ride your horses?”
“A few of them you can.” Cole had to disguise his smile. The boys were doing his arguing for him.
Dani dropped her shoulders and sighed. “It’ll have to be Thursday. I need to be at the restaurant tomorrow, and I have plans with Megan on Wednesday.”
Cameron and Colin began jumping up and down again, squealing with delight.
“What time do you want us?” Dani asked.
I want you any time I can get you. Again, Cole’s mind flashed to the other night and how amazing it felt to touch her velvety bare skin. “Nine? Before it gets too hot? We can have lunch. Hungry cowboys need their food.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“What?” Cole asked.
“I’m just trying to figure out how you’re so good at talking me into things I don’t want to do.”
“You don’t want your boys to have a fun morning enjoying some of the finest things Royal, Texas, has to offer?”
The smile that spread across her face held a familiar edge. It was as if she was whispering, Damn you, Cole Sullivan. Good God, how he’d missed that sight. “No. You’re right. It’ll be fun.”
He reached out and grasped her elbow, trailing his fingers down the underside of her arm. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
She cocked both eyebrows. “I have two young boys to keep an eye on, Mr. Cole. May I present a prime example of how much supervision they need?” Dani pointed down the sidewalk. The boys had found an older man with a dog several storefronts away. They were gleefully petting it, oblivious to how far they’d wandered.
“I was talking about ice cream. I was thinking we could go out for some after lunch.”
Dani pressed a finger, hard, right in the center of his chest. “Don’t push your luck.”
Cole put his sunglasses back on, feeling as happy as he’d felt in a long time. “I won’t need luck. The minute I mention ice cream to those two boys, it’ll be all over.”
Dani just shook her head and hitched her purse onto her shoulder. “Boys, we should go now,” she called.
“Oh, and bring your swimsuits Thursday. I have a slide at my pool.”
Dani cast him an incredibly hot look of disapproval. “You’re terrible.”
“I try.”
The day after Labor Day, Cole pulled up outside the Texas Cattleman’s Club. This visit was no social call, nor was he here to talk ranching or catch up on the latest gossip in Royal. Cole was here to propose a plan to his team, involving going undercover and hopefully catching Billy Orson, the crooked sheriff who had helped Richard Lowell by falsifying death records and saying that Rich had died in the plane crash that claimed Jason Phillips’s life. Orson had received several large influxes of cash since then, which they were certain had come from Rich. It was a bit crazy, but Cole was prepared to do anything to catch Sheriff Orson.
After speaking with Aaron Phillips the other day and then receiving the results of the DNA testing of the ashes in the urn that were once believed to belong to Will Sanders, they knew for certain that it was Aaron and Megan’s brother, Jason, who had died in that plane crash. This was a murder investigation. There was a lot on the line, and time was not on their side. Rich was on the run, and it was only a matter of time before he fled the country with the money he’d siphoned off from Will’s personal and business accounts, as well as the TCC. They had to catch him. And fast.
But as he strode into the TCC, Cole’s run-in with Dani and the revelation that she had twin sons wouldn’t stop running laps in his mind. Had his eyes played tricks on him? His gut was telling him no. His gut was telling him that those boys might look like Taylor Blake, but they looked even more like him. And the timeline—especially if Dani was lying—worked. Had she gone to New York and discovered she was pregnant? Was that what the letter she’d sent six months after she’d left was really about? Had it been a call for help?
If any of this was true, he and Dani had a holy mess between them, one that would demand untangling. But for the next hour or so, Cole needed to focus on work. He had to set aside one potential headache for an entirely different one.
He entered a small meeting room down one of the long halls at the back of the building. They were keeping a tight lid on the investigation, but this was the best central meeting place. Too many flapping mouths at the sheriff’s office.
Will Sanders was speaking to Sheriff Battle and his deputy,
