“Wasn’t that sweet of him. I had to wear it immediately when I opened it over at the hotel. He made such a fuss.”
The clerk smiled and nodded.
She thanked him and followed his directions to the lawyer’s offices, wondering if he recognized her.
The brownstone building was one of the tallest in town and the office was on the second floor according to the sign in the lobby. People were coming and going and bumping into her, but she kept her wits about her.
Riley noticed the clean scent of polished wood from the staircase. It shone in the morning sunlight. The smell of lemon oil reeked. At the second door, sh
e read the name on the door and entered. The office was furnished with dark cherrywood furniture and lovely vases with flowers. Riley spoke to the woman at the large desk, and then after a long wait, she finally got in to see a gentleman. He was middle aged, with a sagging jaw and beady eyes, but a warm smile. He was dressed in a suit, and looked as though he had a thousand things on his mind at once.
He glanced at her in surprise, noting her pretty dress with the low cleavage. Problem was, she had a small bust and her cleavage merely hinted that she was a woman, nothing like Mavis.
“Well now, Miss Morgan, I’m Frank Cordell. I think we can get this straightened out quickly enough. I’ll wire for the information tomorrow. Then we’ll begin to legally sort this out. It should only take a few days to a week at most until you can return to your home,” Mr. Cordell said.
“I appreciate your promptness. I’ll check with you tomorrow then,” she said, rising and heading for the door. “But I can’t return until I’m sure they have left my ranch for good. I’d be in great jeopardy as they have already tried to kill me.”
“You let me handle this. I’m sure we can work it all out to your satisfaction. You being a stranger to our city, would you care to join me and my Mrs. for supper?” he asked.
“Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” she insisted. “Thank you, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Alright, I’ll get to work on it right away,” he insisted. “Come back tomorrow and we’ll see if we can’t get this taken care of.”
“Thank you so much…” She turned to smile at him and left.
Feeling much more confident than she expected, she returned to the hotel to tell Sam.
He was waiting for her in her room, in the dark. For only a moment she stood there staring at his silhouette and how the very shadow of him made her heart quicken. She had the urge to run into his arms, but thought better of it. Thinking about all the kisses he gave Mavis, she shucked her private thoughts of him quickly.
When she lit the lamp by the door, she came inside and closed the door.
Sam stood staring at her as though he didn’t know her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she came closer, noting his expression.
“Nothing…nothing at all. Guess that’s the first time I seen you in a dress.” He cleared his throat.
“Oh…” She laughed. “Guess it is.”
Sam’s eyes traveled her; he even backed up a bit.
“Do you like it?” She gulped.
“That’s not important. So…tell me how it went.”
“Oh it went fine, Sam, just like you said it would. The lawyer thinks he can get everything straightened out very quickly,” Riley explained.
Riley put the dark blue shawl around her shoulders on the edge of the chair and came to stand beside him. “Isn’t that good news?”
“Yeah, it’s great news.” Sam swallowed, still staring at her.
“Where’s Nodog?” she asked flippantly.
He smiled. “Getting kinda close to my dog, aren’t you?”
“Maybe…”
She looked up at him and felt her cheeks grow warm. They were only inches from each other. She could feel his warm breath tickling her shoulder. She could smell the combination of leather and all man, and she was sure he’d taken a bath somewhere.