“Baby?”
She closed her eyes, sniffed. “I can’t. I’m promised to someone else.” Quickly she plucked her packages off the ground, opened her car door, and threw them in. “Goodbye, Rafe.”
Averting her gaze, she got into the car and drove off.
Off to marry another man, so she could keep her ranch.
Angie Bay, who valued things over people, property over—
Over what? True, he loved her, but she’d never said she loved him. Maybe she didn’t value property over love. Maybe she didn’t value love at all. Maybe she was incapable of the emotion.
He shook his head. No. Couldn’t be. Not the way she kissed him, touched him, made love to him. She had to be capable of something other than greed. That, or she was one mighty fine actress.
His mind tumbled to the packages of clothes she didn’t need.
Actress it is.
* * *
“Thanks for coming over,” Dallas said, opening the door on Tuesday. “There’s someone here I’d like you to meet.”
Rafe walked in. “Where’s Annie?”
“At the clinic. Didn’t you see her when you left?”
“Nope, she wasn’t in yet.”
“Good thing. She had the girls with her. You know how they love you.”
“They’re great kids,” Rafe said. And they were. Twin girls, Laurie and Sylvie, who looked exactly like their daddy. What he wouldn’t give for a bronze-skinned little girl with Angie’s emerald eyes.
But that wasn’t to be.
Dallas led him into the kitchen where they’d talked previously. “This is my friend Lisa Cohn. She’s an immigration lawyer.”
Right. Dallas had promised to call in a favor for him. Too bad he no longer needed it. Since Angie was marrying someone else, no reason existed to dissolve his marriage to Lilia after all. Yes, they both deserved love, but there was no hurry now. Everything could continue as planned. Course Dallas had gone to a lot of trouble. He might as well hear the lady out.
“Nice to meet you,” Rafe said.
Lisa stood. “You too. Dallas and Annie speak highly of you.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Sit, please.”
He sat.
“Dallas told me a little about your situation. I looked into your file. Obviously you passed the interview five years ago.”
“Yes, we did fine.”
“First of all, you broke the law. You know that. But it was a noble thing you did. Lilia Martinez is the daughter of the biggest drug lord in Nogales, right on the border.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Life couldn’t have been easy for her. Do you know any of her circumstances?”
“Just that she was physically and emotionally abused by her father and her brother. She told my mother things, thing’s she’d never repeat to us. All she’d say is we didn’t know the half of it, and Lilia had sworn her to secrecy. She said we had to protect Lilia, that her life depended on it. Those secrets died with my mother.”