The Cougar and the Cowboy

***

Collier knocked several times but there was no response. Obviously, Camille wasn’t home. She’d told him to use the code if she wasn’t there so he did. He would have to remove her papers from the desk in order to fix it. He carefully picked up each pile and placed it on the table by the desk. As he moved the last pile to the table, he couldn’t help but glance at the long list of names…all men’s names and their ages. His eyes couldn’t stop reading the notes about each one.

What the heck was this and who was Camille aka Emily? He felt bad about seeing the lists but he had a suspicion she hadn’t come to Montana to write a novel. Unless, of course, it had fifty male characters in it.

> When Camille entered the house, there was a note on the kitchen counter saying Collier had been there and the desk was fixed. She checked the time, hoping she had a few hours to compose more notes and transfer the ones she wrote at the coffee shop. As she sat at her desk, the thought struck her that Collier had to see the lists of men’s names she wrote on a legal pad. That realization made her feel terrible and at the same time, made her laugh. She could only imagine what Collier was thinking.

She finished putting her thoughts on paper. She hurried to take a shower and prepare to meet one more man today. He wasn’t able to meet during the day but told her to choose a place she felt comfortable since it would be evening. Perhaps this was a guy who was actually okay. She only knew of one place to meet where she had been before and that was The Branding Iron.

***

Camille’s stomach was growling and she didn’t want to consume much more alcohol on an empty stomach but she was growing impatient as her ‘date’ hadn’t appeared yet and it was an hour after the specified time. She was going to order. If he showed up now, he’d better have a darned good excuse. As she perused the menu, she was aware of a man approaching her table.

“Emily? What are you doing in here all alone?”

She glanced up and was looking at that sexy smile again. It was Jace, the man she met the night Collier brought her here. She shook her head and motioned for him to pull up a chair.

“Well, it’s like this…I’ve been stood up and I’m not too happy about it,” she explained.

“I can’t imagine any man being stupid enough to stand you up,” was his reply.

“Can I hug you here in front of your customers?” she laughingly asked him. “That’s the nicest thing I’ve heard today.”

She ordered a sandwich and they talked while she ate. She briefly explained she was supposed to meet someone for dinner but that was now almost two hours ago. He told her about having his name on a dating site and the same thing had happened to him the week before. They continued chatting and laughing about the horrors of dating when you weren’t a teen any longer.

Camille glanced around the room and realized there weren’t many customers. Her eyes landed on a man leaning on the bar and she thought he looked familiar, even with his back to her.

She covered her mouth to keep from screaming. She grabbed Jace’s arm and whispered, “Is there a back way out of here? Please say there is.”

He saw the anger in her face and followed her gaze to the man at the bar. He quietly took her arm and placed his body between her and the man so he wouldn’t be able to see her even if he turned around. Then he quietly guided her to his office in the back and closed the door.

She sat down and her face was ashen. “How in the world did that son of a bitch find me?”

“Who is he and why are you frightened? Do you want me to ask him to leave?”

“His name is Will and I’m not actually frightened by him…I’m just unbelievably ticked off. He’s someone from my past and he’s not supposed to know where I am. In a town this size, what are the odds he’d end up at this bar on the same night I’m here? He’s supposed to be in St. Louis.”

“We can wait until he’s gone or we can go out the back door but either way, I’ll drive you home, Emily.”

“Thank you but that won’t be necessary.”

“I’d feel much better if I took you home. I’ll pick you up tomorrow and bring you back to get your car. I insist.”

***

In the morning, Maggie opened the doors at The Branding Iron and found Jace already there.

“You’re an early bird today. Got your chores done early or couldn’t sleep again last night? Give me a minute and I’ll have the coffee ready.”

“I’m going to need something stronger than coffee, Maggie.”

She tilted her head to one side and gave him a questioning look. He rarely drank much at all and certainly not in the morning.

“What’s up, Boss Man?”

“I don’t even know how to put this into words, Maggie. Just the thought of it tears me up inside.”

There was no point in sugar coating the words or stalling. “I’m going to have to let you go. You know it isn’t because I want to. You are and always will be the best bartender in the entire state of Montana but I can’t afford to pay you any longer. You’re not making what you’re worth now and things haven’t gotten much better around here. There has been a bit of increase in our receipts but not enough. I’m thinking I’ll have to put The Branding Iron on the market and I know Blakeley is going to swoop in and buy it.”