My Best Friend's Baby by Lisa Plumley Read Free Book Online Page A

her head, staring
over his shoulder at the Cattleman's Bank. If looks could burn,
hers would've set fire to the building's rustic southwestern
façade—preferably with Griggs still inside. Then she took a step
back and shook her head.
    "I guess the good old boy network still
stands tough in Saguaro Vista," she croaked. "And since I'm not a
man or, worse, not one of Griggs's poker buddies," she added,
swiping her hand across her eyes, "it looks like it's back to the
old drawing board."
    "Hey ..." Nick thumbed her chin higher and
examined her face. "Are you crying?"
    She jerked her head sideways. "Who, me?" she
asked, brushing intently at something on his shoulder—a smudge of
her candy-apple red lipstick, probably. "You know me. I never
cry."
    "I know. That's why I—"
    "And I'm not now." She frowned up at him,
then slung her purse higher on her shoulder and took a deep breath.
"Look, buying Red's pet shop was just an idea, okay? Nobody knows
about it but you. Nobody knows, nobody's disappointed, and things
go on like before." Her voice cracked. "It's no big deal."
    "You're acting like it's a big deal," he
persisted. And Chloe wasn't the type to get worked up over nothing.
She wanted that loan to buy Red's pet shop. It was important to
her—mysteriously important, given her hedging and hawing yesterday
over keeping her loan appointment—and Nick wanted to know the
reason why. There was definitely more going on here than met the
eye.
    "It doesn't add up," he went on, looking
closely at her. "What's special about getting this loan, this time?
About getting it now?"
    "Please don't ask me that, Nick."
    "Chloe—"
    She said nothing, just closed her eyes. When
she opened them again, her slanted hazel-eyed gaze looked bright
with determination.
    "It's just time I started acting like the
responsible adult I am, that's all." She swiveled on a burst of new
energy, making her high heels click against the tiled courtyard. "I
do a good job running Red's pet store and I'd be an equally good
pet store owner. I'm not going to let Effram Griggs and his old
cronies stand in my way. I'll find a way to convince him yet."
    "There's always a Phoenix bank."
    "No."
    "Or an assumable loan. Talk to Red and
Jerry. What have you got to lose?"
    "It's not what I have to lose," Chloe said.
"It's what they have to lose. I'm not telling them until
everything's all set."
    On tiptoes, she stuck her face in his. "And
you're keeping mum, too, mister," she warned. "Not a word about
this to anyone, okay?"
    Nick held up two fingers. "Scout's
honor."
    She gave him a sassy grin and looked him up
and down. "You're no boy scout, Steadman."
    Not with the kind of thoughts he'd been
having about her lately, he wasn't . And Chloe was no damned
campfire girl, either—not with the secrets she'd been keeping.
    And he still wanted to know what they
were.
    "I still know how to light a fire." He
grinned. "It's all in the way you lay the kindling."
    She quirked her lips. "Save it for your
breathless admirers, Smokey. I've got things to do."
    Yeah—mysterious things.
    Turning, she headed for the parking area
with a little less sizzle in her stride and a lot more secrets than
he'd suspected whirling in that crazy blonde head of hers.
Suddenly, Chloe seemed something Nick had never imagined she could
be—a woman of mystery.
    He put his hand on her shoulder from behind,
slowing her down to his speed. Beneath her smooth silk
business-suit armor, her neck and shoulder muscles tensed like
knotted steel. This particular loan denial had been especially hard
for Chloe to take. He wanted to know why.
    Hell, as her friend, it was practically his
duty to find out why.
    "Wait up," he said.
    He tucked his notebook beneath his elbow and
kneaded her shoulders with both hands, hoping to coax out some of
the tension and all of the truth. Her secret was getting bigger,
and it was driving him crazy.
    "I was serious back there," he said. "You've
tried for this loan three times now, and struck out