Free Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren Page A

precious little about her all these years.
    “You never talk about her.”
    He shrugged.
    “A man thing, huh?”
    “You got it. Talking is a woman thing.” He took another swallow of his beer. “Speaking of women—when the hell is Naddy coming back?”
    “When she runs out of money.”
    “God. I shouldn’t have to raise my mother.”
    “Naddy can take care of herself. You told me that.”
    “Mmm.”
    There was silence for a moment and it wasn’t uncomfortable like in the past. That easy companionship felt surreal since she’d wished for it so many times as a kid.
    “So how did Mrs. Braxton take the news that this Brodie Hayes is her son?”
    Alex laid her fork down. Back to business. “I haven’t told her yet.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m giving Brodie time to accept the situation.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Brodie? Are you involved with this man?”
    She met his eyes squarely. “By involved do you mean attracted to, sleeping with or generally making a fool of myself?”
    “All of the above,” he snapped.
    “I just feel this man’s pain. That’s all.”
    “Good grief, you’re just like Joan. Get your head on straight. We run an investigating agency and our clients put a lot of trust in us. Mrs. Braxton is our client and she is your first priority. Get on that phone and call her this instant.”
    She slowly stood, throwing her napkin onto her plate. “This is my case and I will handle it my way.” She gritted her teeth and counted to three. “A lot of lives will be changed when the DNA results are revealed so I’m taking it slow. If you have a problem with that, you can take me off the payroll.”
    “Now you listen here…”
    Alex grabbed her purse and headed for the door. So much for a nice evening. Buck had turned into his usual controlling, manipulative…No wonder her mother cried a lot. She felt like crying now. But she wouldn’t.
    She jumped into her Jeep and sat for a moment. How could one man make her doubt every decision she’d ever made? Buck wasn’t getting to her this time. She’d made the right decision concerning Brodie and Mrs. Braxton.
    As she backed out of the driveway, she wondered how Brodie was taking the news of the second test. Pulling to the curb, she poked out his number. No answer. He either wasn’t home or not taking calls. Shehad to tell him she was informing Mrs. Braxton in the morning of the DNA findings so she headed for the freeway and Mesquite.

Chapter Six
    When Alex drove up to Brodie’s ranch, everything was in darkness except for a couple of spotlights at the corrals. Through the beams of the light, she saw the dogs running toward the Jeep. She got out.
    “Hey, guys, where’s your master?”
    One of the dogs barked and she had no idea if it was Buck or Butch. Since he was the mouthy one she decided it was Buck. Sensing she wasn’t a danger or threat they trotted back to the barn.
    She breathed in the fresh country air. A coyote howled in the distance and an owl hooted. She wasn’t used to living in the country. The hum of traffic, horns honking and curse words hurled through the air were the usual night sounds in her world. But here was a peacefulness as comforting and pleasant as a hug from an old friend. She liked Brodie’s ranch.
    Her thoughts came back to him. Where was Brodie? He’d gotten the report so what would a stubborn hardheaded cowboy do?
    Go home to confront his mother. She crawled backinto the Jeep and reached for a phone book she kept in the backseat. Actually, she had several books for different towns around Dallas. They were very useful for finding people and places quickly. Flipping through it she found Claudia Hayes’s name and her address. Great. She knew the street. It was in a subdivision not too far away.
    Thirty minutes later she drove by the house. Lights were on and the garage door was closed. No big white truck in sight. She drove by once again to make sure she hadn’t missed it. Brodie wasn’t there.
    She wasn’t sure why