3 - Tough Texan: Cowboys, Ropes and Kisses by Maggie Carpenter

Author:Maggie Carpenter [Carpenter, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cowboys, Ropes and Kisses#3
Publisher: Dark Secrets Press LLC
Published: 2023-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“That’s how Penny met him! Online!” Ethan exclaimed. “He claimed to be a financial adviser. I saw his website and it looked like the real thing. She even visited his office.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. When he disappeared she was sure something terrible had happened to him. It never occurred to her that he was a phony, but I had this real bad feelin’. When she told me she was goin’ to his office I drove her over there. It had been completely cleaned out…and so had her bank account.”

“Oh, my gosh, that’s unbelievable.”

“It was, it is, and Shelley Goodwin must be his next victim,” Ethan muttered, snatching up his phone and calling Duke. “We have to find her.”

“I heard,” Duke exclaimed the moment he picked up.

“Excuse me,” Deedee said, touching Ethan’s arm, “can you put him on speaker?”

“Sure. Hey, Duke, Deedee has something to say.”

“Hi, Deedee.”

“Hi, Duke. Listen, I’m sure you both want to track down this woman and warn her, but you need to think about this. Even if you find her, what will you say? If you call her up out of the blue and start bad-mouthing him I doubt she’ll believe you. In fact, she’ll probably hang up and call him. Then he’ll be on guard, maybe even change his plans. And you heard that accent he put on. We don’t even know what name he’s using.”

“Dammit, you could be right,” Duke grunted.

“I am. If she’s fallen for him, and we have to assume she has, she won’t want to hear any of it.”

“Then we need to keep him here!” Ethan said vehemently. “That’s the only way to protect that woman.”

“I agree. I heard there was major damage around the Atwood airfield, though I don’t know about the other two,” Duke remarked. “I’ll see what I can find out. There’s more weather comin’ in so he may not be able to go anywhere right now anyway, but I’m headin’ off to get that tracker on his car just in case.”

* * *

As Ethan ended the call, Deedee leaned into his body.

“Are you okay, hon?” he asked softly, moving his arms around her.

“Yeah, but it’s disturbing to think I’ve been working with such an evil man all this time. Maybe I should have filed a complaint when he—you know—assaulted me. I feel stupid for not speaking out, but it would’ve been his word against mine, and I really wanted to keep the job.”

“Hey, it’s water under the bridge, and now we have a chance to put him where he belongs, behind bars.”

“I would love to see that,” she said with a sigh, glancing down at his laptop. “You should keep watching him while I make us dinner. Do you like pasta?”

“Sure do.”

Kissing him on the cheek, she slipped off the bed and ambled into her closet to dress. Watching her, Ethan felt his heart swell, then abruptly realized he knew nothing about her, just as the woman named Shelley Goodwin knew nothing about Gary Lynch—or whatever his name was.

Glancing

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