Cowboy Daddy by Susan Mallery Read Free Book Online Page B

teeth?”
    Heather shook her head. “You gave me this information two hours ago, Anne. What is the matter with you?”
    Anne groaned. “My concentration is completely gone. The RCR Company relocation committee will be here at the end of the week and I’m not even close to prepared.”
    Heather leaned forward from the seat opposite Anne’s desk. “Man trouble?”
    “Don’t sound so excited. No, it’s not man trouble. At least not the way you mean it.” She pushed her chair away from the desk and slumped against the back. “Laurel called me again last night.” In spite of herself she smiled. “Told me all about this movie she’d seen. Boy meets girl. Girl turns out to be a vampire. They don’t make movies like they used to.”
    Heather tilted her head and frowned. “But if your daughter is calling you every other night, what’s the problem? I thought you wanted to stay in touch with her.”
    “I do. I love hearing from her. We talk about movies and clothes and she tells me everything she’s doing.” Anne picked up a pen and fiddled with it. Just thinking about Laurel was enough to give her a warm feeling inside. She wasn’t sure if it was genes or the way she’d been raised or both, but Laurel had turned out to be a fun, sweet, charming young woman. Their phone conversations were equal parts pleasure and pain. Pleasure at the relationship they were building and pain at what she’d missed all these years. “It’s not her, it’s her father. He doesn’t trust me. The worst of it is, I almost don’t blame him. If she were my child—”
    “Isn’t she?”
    “Good question. I’ve been wrestling with the same one for almost a week and I still don’t have an answer. All I did was give birth. Jake and his wife raised her.”
    “So where does that leave you?” Heather asked.
    “Confused.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    Anne tossed the pen back on the desk. “The only thing I can do. Keep working on the RCR bid. Try not to let the situation destroy my job performance.”
    Heather placed her hands on the desk. “When Wilson retires in four months, you’re right in line for the vice presidency.”
    Anne nodded. “I know. If I can get RCR to sign, I’ve got the promotion. If not, Tim the Turkey gets it.” She jerked her thumb to the office next door. “He’s always hated the fact that I’ve done better than him and I’m just a woman.”
    Heather chuckled. “That does make him cranky, doesn’t it? I’ll go get you the figures for the RCR project.”
    “Thanks.”
    “When do you see Laurel again?”
    “Day after tomorrow. I’m hoping Jake will have cooled off enough so that I can arrange to visit her in Colorado from time to time. I’d like to stay in touch. She’s important to me.”
    “Sounds like everything is going to work out.”
    “I do my best. There’s nothing like a little Texas hospitality to persuade the unbelievers.” She raised her eyebrows. “Doesn’t everyone want to live in Texas?”
    He glanced down at the rink. Laurel perched on the edge of her seat and watched the skaters. “My daughter sure does.”
    “I know the move has been hard for both of you, but it’ll get better.”
    Tm not so sure.”
    “Once school starts and she makes a few friends, everything will change.”
    He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I hope you’re right. I couldn’t take another summer like this one.” He sensed she was about to start asking questions he didn’t want to answer. “How long have you worked for the company?”
    “Since I graduated from college. There’s been a lot of opportunity for advancement. I’m up for a promotion. To vice president.”
    He glanced at her. Now, with her red hair curling to her shoulders, with the casual silky blouse draping the curves of her breasts, with most of her makeup worn away and a tentative smile tugging at her lips, she didn’t look like anyone’s example of an executive on the way up. But he remembered her cool confidence in