Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,75

rheumatologist has me on a regimen of medicines that mostly take care of the pain. I have flares, days when I can’t get out of bed, and I have to use a cane from time to time. But there are lots of people worse off. Look at Glory in my office, and what she had to go through in her life. She still limps from time to time because her hip was broken long ago and it has arthritis in it, and her blood pressure is controlled but still subject to spikes. She lives with it. I live with my problems.”

“But you don’t think Mikey could?” he fished, his eyes piercing hers.

She toyed with a pen on her desk. “He was overheard telling his cousin that he wasn’t sure that he could.” She looked up. “Don’t you dare repeat that, ever. It would hurt his feelings. He can’t help what he thinks. He lives with glitzy people, rides in limousines, travels all over the world. I’m lucky if I can get from work to my boardinghouse without falling over my feet. How would I fit into that sort of lifestyle? I’d be a sparrow among peacocks, if you see what I mean.”

He did see. But she was a sweet, kind woman. “If he loves you, it won’t matter.”

“That’s the thing, though,” she continued. “He said it would be better if we sort of let things cool off. And he’s probably right. He has enough problems right now. They won’t kill him, will they?” she asked, and looked agonized by the thought.

“He has powerful friends,” he replied. “Marcus Carrera is one of them. Carrera runs a legitimate operation in the Bahamas, but he wasn’t always a good guy, and his reputation still strikes fear in people who knew him back in the day.” He chuckled. “He’s got Tony Garza so surrounded by experienced mercs that only a suicidal maniac would try to get to him.”

“Sari said that Mr. Garza gave her sister away at her wedding to that Wyoming rancher,” Bernie said.

“He did. He’s not what he seems.” He cocked his head and studied her. “Neither is Mikey. His reputation is fearsome. But he’s not as bad as people think he is.”

“He was arrested once, though,” she said.

He nodded. “And charged with attempted murder. But the charges were dropped,” he reminded her. “Nobody’s ever been able to bring him to trial on a major crime. For a man who operates outside the law, he’s amazingly conventional.”

She smiled sadly. “He’s amazing, period,” she said softly. “I’ll never forget him.” As she spoke, she twisted the turquoise-and-silver ring he’d given her. She wore it on her right hand, though, not her left. She didn’t want it to get back to him that she considered herself engaged, not when he was backing away.

Cash muttered something about men being fools, smiled, and left her.

* * *

“What in the hell is wrong with you?” Cash asked Mikey when he saw him with Paul at Barbara’s Café one day at lunch.

Mikey’s eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?”

“You have almost as much money in foreign banks as I do,” Cash said as he joined them for coffee and pie. “You could easily afford the newest treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, whatever they cost.”

Mikey stared at him. “I don’t have arthritis.”

“Bernie does.”

Mikey averted his eyes. “I know.”

“She wouldn’t let him, though,” Paul said, and he was giving Cash expression cues that asked him to cool it. “She’s too proud.”

“Besides that, we’re not... Well, we’re not an item anymore,” Mikey added. “She has her life, I have mine.”

“Yes, but she...” Cash continued, ignoring Paul.

Before he could finish the sentence, Jessie came in the door, spotted Mikey and came right to the table, smiling.

“Don’t forget, you’re taking me to Don Alfonso’s for supper, right?” she asked.

Mikey chuckled. “You bet, doll. Santi and I will pick you up about five.”

“I thought maybe you could drive us both and leave Santi at home,” she said with a husky laugh.

“Sorry. Santi drives, I don’t.”

“Well, okay. It doesn’t matter. I’ll be ready on time. Hi, Chief Grier. Mr. Fiore,” she added, a little unsettled when Paul just glared at her without speaking. “See you later.”

She went to the counter to pick up her order. Paul glared at Mikey with much more venom than he’d shown the gorgeous, well-dressed woman waiting for her order.

“She doesn’t mind riding around with a criminal,” Mikey said sarcastically. “She loves casinos and fancy restaurants and she’s classy enough to take to ritzy gatherings.