Page 22 of The Chase
And since he’d gotten the girls, she had been worth double her weight in gold.
He couldn’t do this job without her. “What is this Hiller barbecue?”
She just blinked those big dark eyes at him. “The…annual cook-out at the Hiller Ranch. Every year, since before I was born. Mom goes and helps Gayle Hiller every year, too. Where have you been?”
“I…have never been to the Hiller Ranch, let alone a barbecue there. I’m not even certain I’ve ever gotten an invitation.”
“No invitations are needed, Kurt. People just…go. Everyone knows about it. The entire town. People pitch in with dessertsand sides, that kind of thing. The Hillers handle the brisket. There are usually about two or three hundred people that go. It’s like…bigger than the town festival. It’s this weekend. You seriously didn’t know about it?”
He shook his head. Things happening at the Hiller Ranch weren’t exactlyhisthing, after all. Considering.
“That’s right…you usually go to Idaho and talk to the Rawlins’ staff this time of year, don’t you?”
Of course, she knew his schedule—she always booked his flights. “Yes, probably. So…what time? I am a part of this community; I should make an appearance. For my girls’ sake. I want them to have…a support system and all of that. To fit in with their new hometown, that kind of thing. Do Marie and Garth go?”
“I think they do. I know Janie and the seriously hot Jackson Glass do.” Luna fanned herself with what looked like a Discover Card advertisement. “That man…wow. Wow. Wow. I’m getting hot here just thinking about him.”
“Please, my blood pressure can’t take it. Does Jackson know you are in love with him? I can fill him in…?”
Luna threw the mail at him. “Too old, too hot, too much a pain in the ass like my brothers. He and Lamar are like besties, you know. So not into the bro’s best friend thing.”
“So what time?”
“Usually people begin arriving around ten-thirty.”
He’d be there by eleven.
It would get him that much closer to his woman.
Kurt was seriously going to enjoy hunting that maddening woman down again. It was time to do some strategizing. But first… “What does one do with two baby girls at aHiller barbecue?”
Priorities now. The mail could wait. The barbecue was in four days.
He had some planning to do.
17
The first stepof his plan to capture his woman was…dealingwith her brother once and for all. On the issue of Calvin’s paternity. He just hadn’t expected todealwith Gene Hiller quite so soon.
“What is the damned meaning of this?” The man who’d stormed into Kurt’s office Wednesday afternoon demanded. He tossed the letter on the desk in front of Kurt. Kurt shot a look toward the playpen in the back corner of his office. Bronte was sound asleep. He’d brought her with him to the office today. She’d been fussy from a developing ear infection, and he was terrified of overwhelming the nanny enough that she quit. And he wanted to be there, in case she needed him. She was just too little—the thought of her or Bristol being sick at all absolutely terrified him.
But she was still sleeping now. She slept like a rock, that one. Her older sister…not so much.
“Keep your volume down, my baby is napping. She’s coming down with an ear infection.” Kurt stood. He would meet this bastard face-to-face, on equal footing. “And I think the letter is self-explanatory. Is Calvin my biological son?”
“Calvin is notyours.I know exactly who the biological father of my son is.” Greer’s older brother was incensed. Gene Hiller had one hell of a temper, everyone knew that. Well, Kurt could more than hold his own. “I’ve already had DNA tests run. Years ago. It’s not you.”
He’d always respected and appreciated Chantal Fields. She was a gorgeous redheaded woman he had seriously considered asking out a few times, but never actually had. Kurt almost wished there was a way to save her from Gene Hiller somehow. She was far too good for the man in front of him.
Someone else came in through his office door. Luna was right behind him, protesting. And practically pulling on the big guy’s arm. The guy could lift her one-handed, easily. Kurt would have thought it was funny—under different circumstances.
Hudson Hanan nodded at Kurt—then shut the door in Luna’s gorgeous face. “Sorry I’m late. So, shall we get started.”
It wasn’t a question. And Kurt wasn’t damned well going to lose control of the situation in his own office.
He had more important things to worry about than Gene Hiller. Like Greer Hiller, for one thing. “I am merely requesting a DNA test to prove Calvin isn’t my biological child. Carly contacted me six months ago. She said our affair almost four years ago produced a son?—”
Gene snorted. And laughed at him. “That evil bitch lies, pal. Big time. And…Calvin’s four and a half years old now. He’ll be five in August.”
