decided with you in here, maybe he should be the one running things. He sure doesn’t intend taking orders.”
And that rankled. How it rankled. With J.B. in prison, keeping things running was Luke’s job. Everyone knew it. Everyone except Sebastian Cooper. Luke didn’t intend to tolerate upstarts in his ranks. He wanted to nip this power play now. Permanently.
He’d tempered his urge until he spoke to J.B. It paid to move carefully. J.B. might have some future role in mind for Cooper Consulting Inc. He would be most unhappy if Luke screwed that up.
Though J.B. was in prison, he was still the titular head of the association of Texas “businessmen” they worked with and through. As long as so many of its members remained loyal, Luke wasn’t about to make big waves. Oh, he intended to change the situation, but he knew how to bide his time. Right now it was wisest to move carefully—with J.B.’s sanction.
Prison hadn’t altered the older man’s glare one bit.
“We may want to use him later. Send him a warning,” he barked.
“A warning?” Luke asked softly.
“One he can’t misinterpret,” J.B. said coldly.
Satisfaction rippled through Luke. “I can do that.”
Luke forced himself to remain still, though he was anxious to be away now that he had what he wanted.
J.B. eyed him for a moment, then inclined his head. He set his phone down and stood abruptly, signaling the end of their session.
Luke rose as well, replacing his dark sunglasses. He was happy to be leaving the uncomfortable confines of the prison. Already, he was mentally planning the sort of warning that would get Sebastian Cooper’s full attention.
Killing Cooper outright would have been preferable, but it was messy and there were certain risks involved. A warning lowered the risks.
Luke’s lips edged upward. Perhaps a lesson would serve his purpose better after all. The message would have to be showy and effective in case there were others having visions of grandeur.
He paused by the bumper of his car and checked again to be certain there was no sign of the earlier, minor collision. An idea began to form. Cooper was a wheeler-dealer. He was very fond of money and things. Among the things he favored most was a customized green Jaguar.
Slowly, Luke began to smile. He wouldn’t use one of the regulars on this. He couldn’t afford anything being traced back to him if the job went wrong. Norman Smith was the answer. The mercenary always gave satisfaction and he was good with explosives. He was also totally anonymous. Smith worked through intermediaries. He wouldn’t know who hired him—or care.
He was expensive, and he demanded cash up front, but that was okay. He never screwed up and he never left witnesses. Luke hoped the man was still working out of New York. Importing the talent made things that much safer.
Luke flipped back his ponytail, set his Stetson on the passenger seat, and settled behind the wheel, planning the message he would send Mr. Sebastian Cooper.
CHAPTER ONE
AFTER TWENTY YEARS it felt strange to be standing in the outskirts of the city she’d left behind. San Antonio, Texas didn’t feel like home. Skylar Diamond was pretty sure it never had. She’d moved to New York City when she was only twenty and she’d never looked back. She’d embraced the New York high-fashion lifestyle completely, doing her best to erase any trace of her indigent Texas background.
Yet she’d never escaped the knowledge that here in this city she’d given away a vital part of herself.
Sky coolly surveyed the bustling airport. For weeks she’d been trying to convince herself that the past should stay that way. It wasn’t too late. She could still turn back.
But she knew she wouldn’t.
After all these years of wondering, she was about to find out what had become of the infant she’d given up at birth. Her breath caught as her heart rate speeded up. The concept was as frightening as it was exciting.
Gratefully, she handed her heavy laptop computer case to a skycap. He immediately offered to take her briefcase.
“No, thank you.” She clutched the case a little tighter. “I’ll hang on to this myself.”
Inside were her working files for the new line. She’d already had one set of files disappear. Stolen most likely. Sky wasn’t about to lose any more.
As she waited for the skycap to collect her bags, she noticed a man who’d been in coach on her flight eyeing her archly. Nice enough looking, but she recognized the type. A ladies’ man, probably married with children. He’d be in search of a little action to fill the evening hours before taking care of whatever had brought him to San Antonio. His winter suit was good quality, but off the rack and more suited to New York than Texas. She turned him off with a look Ted had claimed froze a man right down to the marrow.
The male of the species currently ranked right below cockroaches and fly larvae in her estimation. Too bad she hadn’t used that look to intimidate her former lover when she first met him. She could have saved herself some trouble.
The stranger blinked and set his jaw. Obviously, he wasn’t used to rejection. Too bad. She wasn’t interested in anything he had to offer. The only thing of interest to her right now was the quest that had brought her back to Texas.
His lips tightened in a thin line and his eyes narrowed. He pivoted and headed for the men’s room a short distance away. Good.
Sky glanced at the skycap. He reached out to snag yet another of the bags she’d indicated from the conveyor belt. She tried to relax, while mentally urging the luggage to hurry. A rising impatience beat at her soul as it had been doing since she got off the telephone with the woman from the Finders Keepers detective agency yesterday evening. It was still hard to believe that Lily Garrett Bishop had actually discovered what had become of her daughter in such a short time. The agency was as good as it was reputed to be.
Her daughter.
A shiver skimmed down her spine. She was actually going to see her only child. Excitement was tempered by anxiety and her emotions continued their roller-coaster ride. She wanted to shout at these people to hurry along so she could get going.
Sky found herself tapping her foot and stopped, annoyed by her outward sign of impatience. She needed to calm down. Nothing would happen tonight anyhow, beyond checking into a hotel. She hadn’t expected to catch a plane to Texas this quickly. She’d thought she would need a couple of days to get things organized. Had she known how smoothly everything would fall into place, she would have arranged to meet Lily this week instead of next.
Sky told herself it didn’t matter. While she didn’t have any details, Lily had given her the essential information. Once Sky knew where her daughter now lived with her widowed father, she hadn’t been able to rest until she finally located Darwin Crossing, Texas. The search had taken perseverance. Darwin Crossing appeared to be a one-street town in the middle of nowhere. The place wasn’t even on most maps. The nearest marked town was a small place called Bitterwater, and even that didn’t have a hotel. What it had was a rooming house. Sky promptly made a reservation.
Tomorrow
