Lone Star Valentine. Cathy Thacker Gillen

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СКАЧАТЬ Two

      “I just need you to modify the custody arrangements,” Bode Daniels claimed.

      This was news. Feeling as if she’d just sustained a punch to the gut, Lily sat down opposite him at the conference table. Both surrounded and outnumbered by her ex and his entourage, she worked to contain her shock and dismay. “In what way?” she asked calmly.

      Bode rocked back in his chair and smiled charismatically, while his team of professionals wordlessly urged him on. “Give me custody of Lucas for a while.”

      As if it were just that simple, Lily thought in astonishment. Who the heck does this guy think he’s dealing with? Emboldened by the fact that she had long ago ceased being a woman who could be easily charmed or seduced, she returned, just as easily, “Why?”

      Sensing resistance, Bode tucked his hands into his armpits and set his jaw. “It’s complicated.”

      Lily looked right at him. As her confusion faded, anger took its place. Another beat of silence fell. “I’ve got time.”

      Her ex shoved a hand through his cropped white-blond hair, then adopted the earnest-but-likable look he had perfected for his signature cologne ads and continued, “You know I didn’t exactly have the best season last year.”

      “No kidding,” Gannon Montgomery agreed cheerfully as he walked in unannounced, tray of vending machine coffees in one hand, a flat of pastries he’d commandeered from the break room in the other.

      Lily turned toward him, relieved for the interruption.

      As if reading her mind, Gannon winked.

      “Exactly who are you?” Bode’s sports agent asked, clearly as surprised to see Gannon there as Lily was.

      Bode dismissed Gannon with a glare. “He’s one of Lily’s law school buddies.”

      Or at least Gannon had been, Lily noted silently, until Bode had come into the picture, just as she was getting ready to graduate.

      “Actually,” the senior lawyer on Bode’s team, a distinguished man in his late forties, corrected, “this is Gannon Montgomery—one of the top family-law attorneys in Fort Worth.”

      The other attorney, a young, good-looking woman with wiry ebony hair, squinted at Gannon. “Are you representing Ms. McCabe?” She clearly seemed to hope not.

      Gannon looked at Lily.

      He’d crashed her meeting and successfully intercepted Bode’s ridiculous demands. Now the ball was in her court.

      Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to have another member on her legal team, particularly if it temporarily set her opponents off their game, Lily said what she knew to be the truth—at least in several other cases. “Mr. Montgomery is ‘of counsel’ with my family-law attorney, Liz Cartwright-Anderson.”

      Meaning Gannon could advise on legal matters but wouldn’t do anything unless it became necessary, and then only at her current attorney’s discretion.

      Which, Lily firmly intended, would not be the case.

      Gannon beamed. As always, glad to be of service, even if it was only because he had strong-armed his way into the situation.

      Lily stifled a small sigh.

      “So where were we?” Gannon asked pleasantly, pulling up a chair and taking his place next to Lily.

      “Bode wants me to hand over custody of Lucas for a little while.”

      “Ah.” Gannon nodded, then turned to Bode, saying drolly, “Going to play the sympathy card with the press and public?”

      His legendary cool fading, Bode’s eyes started to glaze over with barely contained anger, and Lily could see the skin on his neck reddening.

      A telltale sign that he was about to implode.

      But before Bode could do or say anything untoward—like leap across the table and grab Gannon by the collar—his attorney interjected sternly, “Bode is Lucas’s father. And up to now, my client’s had precious little time with his offspring.”

      “And whose fault is that?” Lily spit out, before she could stop herself.

      Gannon reached over and put a staying palm on her wrist. His touch sent an unexpected jolt of warmth rippling through her, which left her feeling even more flustered.

      As it was meant to, his touch infused her with a sudden burst of calm.

      “Bode will be a free agent in another month,” the sports agent continued.

      So what? Lily thought impatiently but said instead, “Which means he could go to another team.”

      “In another far-flung part of the country,” his agent emphasized. He paused to let his words sink in. “Bode doesn’t want that.”

      Nor, if she were honest, did Lily. It was hard enough to arrange Lucas’s once-a-year meet and greet with his dad now.

      The agent continued, “Right now, the Dallas Gladiators are hesitating to offer an early extension of his current contract to Bode. They are concerned he is not as popular with their fans as he once was.”

      The public relations guru who managed Bode’s “brand” jumped in. “Our research has shown a big part of that is because Bode never fully recovered from the fallout over—”

      “Dumping Lily after their whirlwind romance, publicly discounting his part in Lily’s pregnancy and then marrying a Venezuelan supermodel and promptly fathering two more children with his new bride—all the while ignoring his son with Lily?” Gannon set the record straight with a taunting smile. “Until the results of a court-ordered paternity test made that impossible, that is. Then, of course, Mr. Daniels had no choice but to own up.”

      The PR expert must have noticed the way Bode was bristling, because she suddenly put her hand on the superstar athlete’s wrist. “Unfortunately for all, I think the confusion regarding Lucas’s paternity is what most people remember,” she said with a brand manager’s aplomb. “Which is why, for everyone’s sake, we need to remedy that perception, and make sure everyone knows what a devoted daddy Bode is to all his children. That starts with modifying the custody agreements.”

      Figuring this charade had gone far enough, Lily stood. “Actually, I like things just the way they are.” She smiled tightly.

      Gannon gave her an “atta girl” look.

      Then, without further ado, Lily walked to the door and opened it wide. “Now, if you all will excuse me,” she stated unequivocally, “I really have to get on with my day.”

      * * *

      GANNON HUNG AROUND long enough to make sure everyone vacated the conference room.

      “Talk sense into her,” one of the lawyers said, handing Gannon his card.

      “It’d be best for everyone,” the female attorney agreed.

      With СКАЧАТЬ