A Cowboy in Manhattan(72)

Katrina picked up the comb, her fingers slightly numb, mind scrambling to find some logic in Elizabeth’s words. “You left Reed a message?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Just some more paperwork we need to sign. Danielle couriered it over, but I’m not clear on some of the tax sections.”

Katrina blinked at Elizabeth. “Tax sections?” she parroted. What on earth would Elizabeth have to do with Reed’s taxes? Or what would Reed have to do with Elizabeth’s taxes? And what was Danielle doing in the middle of it?

Katrina knew she couldn’t let herself be jealous, but she simply couldn’t help it. She wanted to be the person Reed called. It wasn’t fair that it was Elizabeth and Danielle.

“Just details,” Elizabeth said brightly, coming to her feet and putting her hand on the doorknob. “If he calls, can you make sure he has my cell number?”

“Certainly.” Not that Reed would call. For a wild moment, Katrina thought of using this as an excuse to call him. But she dismissed the idea. It would be so transparent.

“So you met Danielle?” she asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth laughed lightly. “We’ve been talking every day. Ten million dollars needs a lot of babysitting.”

“Ten million dollars?”

Elizabeth stilled. Her expression faltered. Her hand dropped from the knob, and she stared at Katrina. “You don’t know?”

Katrina didn’t answer.

“How can you not know? Have you talked to Reed?”

Katrina swallowed a lump. “Not in a few days. We, well, we left things on bad terms after the gala.”

Elizabeth sat back down in the chair, her hands going limp. “The gala? You haven’t talked to him since the gala?”

“No,” Katrina replied.

“She didn’t tell you?”

“Elizabeth?” Katrina tried to tamp down her anxiety.

“Before he left New York. Before… Reed set up an endowment named the Sasha Terrell Fund. It’s for us. It’s for Liberty. It’s ten million dollars.”

The breath whooshed out of Katrina’s body.

“His only stipulation,” Elizabeth continued, “was that we kick Quentin Foster off the board and out of the organization forever.”

“What?”

“I thought…” Elizabeth gave a helpless laugh. “I assumed. I mean, a man doesn’t do something like that for just anyone. And after his performance at the gala. Well, if a man stepped up for me the way Reed stepped up for you…”

Katrina’s hands started to shake. What had Reed done? Why had he done it?

“I was embarrassed,” she confessed in a small voice. “At the gala. I was mortified by his behavior. I told him to leave, to get out of the city. I told him to go back to his sawdust-covered honky-tonks where he could make a point with his fists.”

Elizabeth’s jaw dropped open.

Katrina’s stomach churned.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “I, uh, guess he did this instead.”

“What was he thinking?”

Elizabeth cocked her head sideways. “I guess he was thinking he wanted to protect you. And he didn’t appear to care what it cost him.”

Guilt washed over Katrina. Ten million dollars? He’d spent ten million dollars? “Who does that, Elizabeth? Who does something like that?”

“Apparently, cowboys from Colorado.”

“I hate Colorado.” But Katrina was blinking back tears. “Okay, I don’t exactly hate it. But I don’t want to live there.”

“Reed’s there,” Elizabeth offered softly.

“I love Reed,” Katrina admitted her worst fear out loud. “I love Reed. But my life is here.”

Elizabeth moved to the bench, tucking in beside Katrina and taking her hand.

“I need to apologize.”

Elizabeth squeezed. “I hate to ask this. It seems terribly insensitive. But is there any chance you could do it by phone?”

Katrina gave a watery laugh. “I don’t think so.”

“We’ve got sold-out performances for four more nights running.”

“I know.” Katrina wouldn’t walk out on Liberty. “Maybe Monday? Caleb, my sister’s fiancé, has a jet. Maybe I could talk to him about flying—”

The dressing-room door swung open. The two women all but jumped up as Reed’s form filled the doorway.