The Last Cowboy Standing by Barbara Dunlop Read Free Book Online Page A

here?”
    “Managing just fine,” Travis responded.
    Randal turned his attention back to Danielle. “What did they say? More importantly, what did you say?”
    “She hasn’t made up her mind yet,” Travis put in.
    Randal sent him a glare. “I asked Dani.”
    “Well, Dani told me first.”
    “Travis,” Danielle warned.
    He was entitled to whatever theory he concocted, but that didn’t give him the right to pick a fight.
    Randal drew back his shoulders, lifting his chin. “She did, did she?”
    “They offered me a South American division,” she quickly told Randal.
    “That’s great.” His shoulders relaxed. “I’m going to head up Europe, starting in September. We’d be at exactly the same level, on the partners’ floor. I don’t have to tell you, that’s an impressive way to enter the firm.”
    “You don’t have to tell me,” Danielle agreed.
    “The expense account is unlimited. The benefits are top-drawer, and the work is some of the most intellectually stimulating—”
    “Randal?” she interrupted.
    “Yes?”
    “I’ve been listening to the sales pitch all night.”
    Travis stifled a chuckle.
    Randal’s attention immediately flew to him. “You got something to add here?”
    “Not a thing,” said Travis, polishing off his beer. “You’re doing just fine all by yourself.”
    Randal glared a moment longer, but then something caught his attention across the room. “There’s old man Nester.” He squeezed Danielle’s shoulder, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial level. “Give me three minutes to break into the conversation, then come over and join us.”
    He walked away.
    Travis looked at Danielle, and she stared back.
    “Well?” he asked.
    She was all schmoozed out. Her feet were swelling. Her makeup was about to crack. And the last thing she wanted to do was humor the wheezy, narcissistic Edger Nester through what she’d heard tended to be half-hour-long discourses on the flaws in judicial procedure. If she took the job, she’d have to put up with it. But she wasn’t there yet.
    “I’m out of here,” she told Travis.
    His hand went immediately to her elbow, helping her down from the high stool, before turning them to a nearby side exit.
    They came out into the gardens, quiet in the late hour. The breeze had picked up, cooling the air, and Travis quickly shrugged out of his suit jacket, draping it around her shoulders. They started down a winding flagstone walkway.
    “That was a quick decision,” he noted.
    “I’ve only met Mr. Nester once, but I’ve heard tales of his boring orations, and I’m tired.” She reached down and peeled off her sandals, moving to the soft grass at the side of the path. “My feet are killing me.”
    “You want me to carry you?” he offered.
    She shook her head, though the thought of being held in his arms gave her a shiver of excitement. “This is nice.” She curled her toes into the dense blades of grass.
    He took up a slow pace, along the edge of a narrow brook, in the general direction of a purple lighted pond, leaving the music and laughter behind them. “If you resign, what will happen in Chicago?”
    “You mean, what will happen to Active Equipment?”
    “And your other clients.”
    “They’ll be assigned to other lawyers.”
    “Does that worry you?”
    “I’d feel guilty,” she admitted, switching her sandals to the other hand. “But I’m not the only lawyer in the world. My firm has many other people who are perfectly capable of servicing my clients.”
    “So, there’s nothing unique about you?”
    She smiled at that. “I’d like to think there was. I’d like to think I was irreplaceable. But that would be a little conceited, right?”
    His voice was low, sounding almost annoyed. “Some people do have to stay where they’re needed.”
    “Do you think I’m letting Caleb down?”
    “I wasn’t talking about you.”
    She paused, tilting her head to peer up at him. “Who?”
    He stopped walking, seeming to