Maggie insisted on paying for lunch. She jumped off her chair with a sudden burst of energy and renewed confidence. Put on or for real, she was more the Maggie Galway who could go on about Jane Austen one minute and wrestle with their little brother the next. Ellen wondered if she was reading into things because of her own raw emotions.
She and Ellen walked back to their hotel. Saratoga’s once-famous grand Victorian hotels had been razed decades ago. Changing laws and a changing society had made them obsolete. Ellen thought she might like Saratoga better nowadays, but the former Canfield Casino, now a museum, was on her list of sights to visit. It was Thursday, and she was flying back to Austin on Sunday. She’d spend tomorrow hanging out in Saratoga with Maggie and then visit friends in Albany on Saturday. She’d be back at her desk in Austin on Monday. By then, the heat was forecast to have subsided to normal warm temperatures.
Except for the months in Boston during their parents’ estrangement, she and Maggie both had lived in Texas their entire lives. Neither had illusions about their home state’s weather. More heat lay ahead with summer settling in. Ellen didn’t mind. She and Maggie had grown up mostly in San Antonio, but they both lived in Austin now and loved it. With their father’s promotion to Texas Rangers headquarters a few years ago, he and their mother and brother were in Austin, too.
Ellen took a shower and changed clothes for Maggie’s talk, then checked her messages.
Nothing from Luke.
But she hadn’t expected anything. Not only that, she didn’t want to hear from him.
It was time, now, to focus on Maggie Galway and what she had to say about Jane Austen.
***
Ellen arrived in the hotel lobby five minutes ahead of the time she and Maggie had agreed to meet. She eyed another wall of black-and-white photographs of old Saratoga Springs. Lillian Russell, Ulysses S. Grant, the famous red-and-white awnings of the Saratoga Race Track and a half-dozen thoroughbreds.
“Nothing like a good horse.”
She went still at the voice of the man behind her. It was deep and slow, with a wry, familiar Texas drawl.
No.
She turned around, weak-kneed—not like her at all.
Luke Jackson tipped his white cowboy hat at her. “Hello, Ellen.”
“What are you doing here?”
He gave her a grin that was the stuff of a woman’s dreams. “I’m here to attend a talk on Jane Austen by an up-and-coming Texas scholar.”
“Luke…”
“You don’t believe I’m interested in Jane Austen?”
“Not for a second.”
“Good, because I’m not.” His expression turned serious. “I’m interested in what’s going on with your sister, and so are you.”
Ellen recovered her composure, at least enough to hold a coherent thought. “What do you know?”
“About Jane Austen? Nothing. I haven’t even seen any of the movies.”
“Maggie and I have seen them all, multiple times. Nary a Texan in sight.”
“You like that, do you?”
“Let’s just say I don’t see you in a waistcoat and pantaloons.” She waved a hand. “Never mind. Maggie would tell us we have a shallow understanding of Jane Austen. Anyway, you know what I meant. What do you know about what’s going on with her?”
“I know you’re worried. That’s enough for me.”
Her determination not to fall for him wasn’t made easier by such comments. Ellen reminded herself he knew how to lay on the charm when he wanted to. He had the bluest of blue eyes and a jaw that reminded her of a young Clint Eastwood. But Luke wasn’t classically handsome so much as arresting, magnetic—totally impossible to ignore. But she was strong, intelligent, determined. A Galway. She could do it. “Maggie and I are meeting in two minutes,” she said. “When she sees you, she’s going to know you’re on to her. I don’t want to upset her before her talk.”
“You want me to disappear?”
“At least keep a low profile, if that’s possible.”
“Sure,” he said. “I can do that.”
“Since you’re not interested in her talk, why don’t you meet us afterward and find something to amuse you in the meantime? Maggie and I plan to celebrate with champagne—”
“Good. I’ll be there. It could help her open up.”
“Your presence could help?” Ellen rolled her eyes. “You’re out of your jurisdiction.”
“Who says I’m here professionally? But if whatever is up with Maggie needs the attention of law enforcement, you both will be returning to Texas. You know I have options—”
“All right, all right. I get it. Maggie will be here any second.” Ellen dug out her room key and handed it to him. “Room 204. There’s a short reception after Maggie’s talk. We should be back in two hours, tops.” She grinned at him. “You have time for a mineral bath.”
“Or I could watch a movie in your room.”