Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,21

get along well, from what Mikey says.”

“They do now. It wasn’t always that way.” She glanced toward the curb. Paul was sitting at the wheel of their Jaguar. He waved. “Well, I’ll go home. Can we drop you off?” she added.

Bernie laughed. “I’m doing really good today, and Dr. Coltrain says I need the exercise when I can get it. But thanks.”

“No problem. Anytime. See you tomorrow.”

Bernie waved them off and walked the four blocks to Mrs. Brown’s boardinghouse. She felt as if her feet didn’t even touch the sidewalk. Life was sweet.

* * *

She got through the rest of the week relatively unscathed by Jessie, although she received a lot of irritated looks when a couple of local people coming into the office mentioned that Bernie had been seen holding hands with Mikey at Barbara’s Café. But apparently Jessie still thought Bernie was no competition for her. She did mention, loudly, that she was going to spend more time at Barbara’s herself.

“And good luck to her,” Sari laughed when Jessie left ahead of them all, as usual, at the end of the day. “Mikey’s been in San Antonio for the past two days.”

Bernie smiled with obvious relief. She hadn’t seen him since their lunch at the café. He’d been out of town apparently. She’d wondered if he was leaving town. She’d hoped he’d say goodbye first, but his absence at the boardinghouse had worried her. Mrs. Brown only said that he had business to take care of, but she hadn’t said how long it might take him to conduct it. Bernie figured it was something to do with the hotel he owned. It must take a lot of work to coordinate something so big, and he must have a lot of employees who had to be looked after as well.

“You didn’t know,” Sari guessed when she noted Bernie’s expression.

“Well, no. He just told Mrs. Brown that he had business to take care of. We didn’t know where he was.”

“He and Paul have something going on together,” Sari said, without mentioning what, although she knew. It was top-secret stuff, nothing she could tell even her worried coworker about.

“I hoped he wouldn’t leave town without saying goodbye,” Bernie replied.

“Are you kidding? He’s taking you to a movie, remember?” Sari teased. “How could he leave town?”

Bernie laughed. “I guess he wouldn’t, at that.” She was beaming. “You know, I’ve only ever been on a few dates in my life.” She hesitated and looked at Sari worriedly. “Mikey’s sophisticated, you know? And I’m just a small-town girl with old-fashioned ideas about stuff.”

“So was Della Carrera before she married Marcus here in town,” she reminded the other woman. “Nobody’s more sophisticated than Marcus Carrera.”

Bernie smiled. “I guess not.” She frowned. “Mr. Carrera was big in the mob, wasn’t he?” she added absently.

“He was. He went legitimate, though. He was actually working with the FBI to shut down a crooked crime figure who planned to open a casino near Marcus’s.”

“I heard something about that.” Bernie shook her head. “I don’t understand how people ever get involved with organized crime. It seems a shameful way to earn a living.”

“That it is,” Sari said, but became reserved. Bernie didn’t know about Mikey and she didn’t feel comfortable blowing his cover. “Well, I’m off. See you tomorrow!”

“Have a good night.”

“You, too.”

Bernie watched them drive away and started back to Mrs. Brown’s. She could hardly contain her excitement about the coming date with Mikey.

* * *

Mikey, meanwhile, had been in conference with Paul, Jon Blackhawk and a US Marshal in San Antonio, while the three of them hashed out what they knew and what they didn’t know about Cotillo. Mikey had stayed at a safe house with the marshal while they discussed the case and what they were going to do about the threat.

“I don’t want the women in my boardinghouse hurt,” Mikey said during one long session. “Just being around me could put them in danger.”

“They won’t be,” Paul replied. “You’ve got more protection than you realize.”

“Yeah, well, Merrie Colter had plenty of protection, too, and she ended up in the hospital when that contract man was after her,” Mikey pointed out.

“No plan is foolproof,” Jon Blackhawk, assistant SAC at the San Antonio FBI office agreed. “But we’ve got most of our bases covered. And, frankly, no place is going to be perfectly safe. If you leave your boardinghouse, the women who live there could still be in danger if the contract man decides they might know where