In a cinnamon pencil skirt and matching jacket, a pale yellow silk blouse, and a pair of four-inch, dark brown heels, fall colors for the season, she started for Conn’s office, leaving her jacket draped over the back of her chair. Kade Logan’s eyes, the same golden-brown as his hair, followed her across the room.
Ellie knocked and opened the door. “Mr. Logan’s here to see you.”
Conn rose behind his desk. He was as tall as Logan and, like most of the guys in the office, really built. He was also engaged to be married, though Ellie had her doubts.
“I need to speak to him first,” Conn said. “Then I’ll introduce you.”
“So he’s the client you were telling me about?”
“That’s right. Kade’s father and mine were friends. He owns a ranch called the Diamond Bar.”
“I’ll send him in.” Turning, she headed back to where Logan stood waiting, long legs braced slightly apart, turning his hat in his big, calloused hands. No question this guy was for real. She wondered what kind of help he needed.
She smiled up at him. A little under five-foot-four, she was at least ten inches shorter than Kade. “Go on in. Conn’s waiting.”
He gave her a cursory nod, then disappeared inside the office. She looked down at her skirt and blouse, the business attire she had chosen to meet a new client, and wondered if she should have worn a pair of jeans.
Ten minutes later, she found out.
“Kade, meet Eleanor Bowman.”
His eyes narrowed, forming tiny sun lines at the corners. “You’re Eleanor Bowman?”
“I’m Ellie.” She smiled and stuck out a hand. “Pleasure meeting you.”
His jaw tightened for an instant before he reached out and accepted her handshake.
He turned back to Conn. “Eleanor. With a name like that, I thought she’d be an older woman, someone with more experience. Either way, this is a bad idea.”
“What idea is that?” Ellie asked.
“Eight years ago, Kade’s wife was murdered,” Conn answered for him. “Her body was discovered in the mountains outside Denver, but the killer was never found. Two weeks ago, the car Heather was driving when she disappeared was discovered in a lake near Coffee Springs. That’s the town closest to the ranch. The police now believe she could have been picked up by someone who knew the area, someone who lived there or had ties to the community. It’s possible the killer abducted her, dumped the car in the lake, then drove her somewhere and murdered her. Afterward, he disposed of her body, then returned to Coffee Springs.”
“Maybe the killer wasn’t a local,” Ellie said. “Just someone passing through, someone who lived in Denver or a nearby town.”
Logan glanced off toward the window. “We were in the middle of a divorce when she was killed. I knew she was seeing someone, but I didn’t know who. He could have been local or someone from out of town. Either way, the sheriff was never able to figure out who it was.”
“And that’s the reason you want to hire me? To find out who murdered your wife?”
His gaze swung to hers. “First off, I don’t want to hire you. Conn thought it would be a good idea. He said your specialty is working undercover, but the last thing I need on my ranch is a woman snooping around. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”
Irritation bubbled up, and her spine went straighter. “Did Conn tell you I was born in Wyoming? I was raised on the Grass Valley Ranch near Jackson Hole. Did he tell you I can ride just about anything you have in your remuda, or that I moved steers up into the mountains and back down into the valley every year. And the weather doesn’t bother me. I know ranching, Mr. Logan. I can fit seamlessly into your operation. I can do whatever job it takes to make people accept me and gather the information you need.”
Silence fell.
Conn Delaney’s lips twitched in amusement. “I think you can see why I thought Ellie was the right person for the job. I think you should hire her, Kade.”
A muscle worked in Logan’s square jaw. He raked a hand through his hair, mussed a little from the hat.
“I need some time to think about it.”
“Are you sure?” Ellie asked. “Because if you want to find your wife’s killer, you’ve already had eight years to think about it.”
Kade’s golden eyes narrowed, seemed to burn into her green ones. “I need to know who my wife was seeing at the time she was murdered. I’m happy to pay whatever that information costs. You really think you can do it?”
“If you want me to succeed, I’ll need straight answers to any questions I ask. If you’re willing to do that and if the information is out there, I’ll find out who it was.”
He frowned. Clearly, he didn’t like the idea of her asking him questions about his personal life. On the other hand, he wanted answers.
Kade nodded. “All right, we’ll do it your way.”
Going in undercover was a good idea, and apparently Logan was smart enough to know it.
“It’s a hundred fifty miles from Denver to the Diamond Bar Ranch,” he said. “If you go out I-70, with traffic, it’s about a three-hour drive from here to Coffee Springs. I’ll text you the directions from there out to the ranch.”
“All right.”
“What kind of car are you driving?”
“Whatever kind I need. I have a friend in the used car business. We have an arrangement. He rents me whatever I think is best for the case I’m working. For this, definitely something with four-wheel drive.”
For the first time, she caught a glimmer of respect in Logan’s eyes. “When can you start?”
“I can be there tomorrow, but we need to figure out the best place for me to fit in. That way, I’ll know what I need to bring.”
His hard mouth edged up. “You mean besides your pistol?”
“You better make that plural.” She flashed him a phony smile. “Remember, Mr. Logan, I’m from Wyoming.”
Logan seemed to find that amusing, and some of the tension went out of those wide shoulders. “You’ll need to call me Kade. Same as everyone else.”
“Kade then.” She didn’t smile. She wasn’t thrilled to be working for a guy who didn’t want to hire her because she was a woman.
“You can use the conference room,” Conn said, rising.
Ellie walked ahead of Kade out of Conn’s office, and she led him into the glass-enclosed room next door. She wondered what sort of cover job he planned to dredge up for her and reminded herself she didn’t have to take the case.
As she studied Logan’s solid jaw, the gleam in his world-weary eyes, and his hard, sexy mouth, it occurred to her she would be making a far safer decision if she turned him down.
* * *
Kade stretched his long legs out beneath an oak conference table surrounded by ten brown-leather captain’s chairs and studied Ellie Bowman. When he’d called Conn Delaney and asked about hiring a detective, it never occurred to him Conn would suggest a woman.
And a damn pretty woman at that. A little shorter than average, she had a small waist, slender hips, and shapely legs. Dark copper hair, clipped neatly at the nape of her neck, curled softly down her back, gleaming in the sunlight streaming in through the window.