Page 43 of Lawbreaker

“What?” Cole asked.

“Wriggling like that?”

“Just until the sun goes down,” Cole assured him. “It’s natural.”

“Oh, like with a guy when you—”

“Is anybody else hungry?” Tony asked, deliberately interrupting his unthinking bodyguard. “I’m starved.”

“So are the rest of us,” Cole agreed with a chuckle. “Bull roundup is hard work, not to mention branding and vetting for that new lot of calves I bought at auction. And thanks for the help. Even though it did involve some arm-twisting.”

“Not much, and I enjoyed it,” Tony said easily. He glanced at Cole. “Don’t you do ear tag now, instead of branding?”

“Ear tags fall off. They can even be pulled off when a cow gets her head tangled in a tree limb or something. We mostly use them for ID. But heated brands last. We still have rustlers, you know. Except now they do it in sixteen-wheelers instead of box canyons,” he chuckled.

“Which is why freeze brands don’t work, either,” Odalie chuckled. “They shed along with the animal’s coat.”

Tony was watching her involuntarily. He’d been frightened for her when the snake had started rattling. Not that he was ever going to admit it.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked Odalie, his eyes betraying only a hint of the turmoil inside him. She was beautiful.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” She smiled wanly.

“Di niente,”he said.

“Cos’ è?”she replied without thinking.

Tony stared at her without speaking. She blushed. “Capisce?”he asked.

“Capisco un po’,”she replied. “And that’s about all I know,” she confessed, “although when I studied in Italy, I picked up a few words. Very few. When I sing operas in Italian, I just memorize the sounds.”

Tony just smiled at her.

Later, Cort Brannt brought over two little fairy statues that his wife had done for Tony’s gallery.

“She’ll overnight them to the gallery when you get back to New York,” Cort said, placing them from a layered box onto the cleared dining room table. “But she wanted you to see them.”

Tony was amazed. He picked up the redheaded one and smiled. “This one is really pretty,” he said. “Almost ethereal. Your wife is talented.”

“Very,” Cort said with a sigh. “I’m proud of her.”

Obviously. But Odalie didn’t say it. She was just as proud of Maddie.

Then Tony noticed the other statue. He put down the redhead and picked up the delicate little blonde in her white gown with her long pale blond hair trailing behind her as she held a butterfly on the tip of one finger. She was smiling.

“How does she do this?” Tony asked, shocked. “I can hardly see the faces here, but she’s got every detail perfect.”

“It’s a mystery to me as well,” Cort replied. “She’s amazing.”

Tony was still staring at the little statue. It was Odalie. He knew it. He wasn’t about to acknowledge it. But he was also certain that this statue would never be placed in the position of available art in his lifetime. It would be kept at his apartment, or his house, under lock and key. It was the most beautiful little creature he’d ever seen, except for its real-life counterpart talking to Cort while Tony admired his new possession.

“What’s this about a snake?” Cort was asking.

“A rattlesnake,” Odalie said. “We were looking for a stray kitten. We never found it, but I found the snake. Tony killed it. He shot it. Two shots, at distance, dead center in its head.”

He turned. They were all smiling at him.

He just stood there, trying to think of something to say.