Chapter Nine

A/N When anyone is talking to Michelle they will be saying either Miss LaBaron or Shelly. However, if I'm just writing about her, I will still say Michelle. I hope that will not be too confusing.

~oOo~

"Impossible!" The Marque, who was storming around in his living room and acting worse than a two year old, was talking to the private investigator he had hired to find his missing daughter, Michelle. The gentleman, a black haired twenty-nine year old man who had been doing private investigating work for over nine years, had just give the Marque his report. "You have not looked hard enough!" Then due to a comment that had made earlier about saloons always needing help, the Marque added with an extra snap to his voice, "I told you before the law was wrong! My daughter would not leave of her own accord! Someone had to have taken her!" Then, due to another comment the detective had made, the Marque added, "I can't see them taking her to work in a saloon when that would be too easy to check out!" He took a deep breath and added, "If by chance, she did get away, she would come home. She would not to go to some saloon herself! I told you all that before! So, it's not like you had to waste your time looking through those places! Still, she shouldn't be that hard to find! A woman as beautiful as she isn't something one would hide! If anything, they'd threaten her to keep her in line and flaunt her!"

It was all Mr. Lee Burns could do to not to tell the man who had hired him where to go and exactly how to get there. It's not like the Marque was telling him something he did not know when it came to Michelle's beauty. However, in his experience, places such as a saloon is exactly where he found many girls whose parents swore up and down had been taken… or swore the girls would never go to "such a place". And, the fact that he had indeed gone to such places, among others, in spite of what the Marque had said was not something he was about to divulge at the moment. No, instead Mr. Burns stood straight and tall as he could while he replied to the Marque's childish outburst. "Impossible or not, my men and I have scoured this part of California for the past two months. If your daughter is, as you insist, still in California, she either went, or was taken, to another part of it!"

For the first time since the Marque had woken up to find Michelle gone, he had to admit to himself that finding her within a relatively short amount of time had just disappeared. "If she indeed left on her own," he thought angrily, "she has done more than shame our family name; she has dishonored me as well!" "So, what are you standing here for?" He demanded with arrogance in his voice. "Get the search started again! Money is not a problem!"

"Yes, sir," Mr. Burns turned and headed for the door, the whole time swearing up and down he and his men would take as much time as they darn well pleased. If money was not a problem, and the Marque was going to act so childish, Mr. Burns figured he might as well make as much money as possible on this case.

~oOo~

"Come on, Shelly." Nick stood in Jarrod's office talking to Michelle. "It's not like Jarrod is a taskmaster who works you through your lunch hour." He had just asked Michelle to go to the restaurant with him to eat. "I promise, I won't get you back to work late. I mean, I do have to get back to the ranch myself."

Michelle was torn. She was enjoying Nick's company, and he did make her laugh. Still, she had promised Jarrod she'd have the paperwork down by two o'clock and she just couldn't see how she could have it done on time if she stopped working. It might not have been a problem only one thing after another had come up that morning and delayed her work with the documents. "I can't, Nick," she pointed to the papers and explained the situation. "I gave Jarrod my word. I need to keep it."

Nick shook his head. He almost told her she was as bad as Jarrod when it came to getting lost in paper work and such only he didn't. Instead he smiled and said, "Fine, I'll go get something and we can eat it here while you work."

Michelle stared at Nick. She couldn't believe he was concerned enough to bring food to her instead of telling her how wrong she was. "Fine," she finally answered as she shook her head and went back to reading and sorting the papers in front of her. "But don't get me anything that has a much of sauce or something else that is runny." The last thing she wanted was wet papers!

"Yes, ma'am!" Nick was grinning from ear to ear as he walked out the door, leaving Michelle to again shake her head. Maybe now she could get some more work done. However, that thought flew out the window when Jarrod, who had seen Nick leave the office without Michelle, opened the door and stepped inside.

"Nick told me earlier he was going to ask you out to lunch. What happened?" Jarrod asked as he walked over to a filing cabinet that stood in the right hand corner of the room.

Michelle pointed to the paperwork in front of her and related all that had taken place that morning. "He's going to bring lunch to me instead."

While the fact that she would put such emphasis on keeping her promise to him was impressive, it appalled Jarrod to think that she would sacrifice her lunch hour to keep it…endangering her health as far as he was concerned. He told her as much. "If you are ever having that busy of a morning again, feel free to still take your lunch hour." He, without thinking, walked over to her, reached down, took a hold of her chin and made sure she was looking at him. "Your well being is far more important than those, or any other papers. Understand?" He asked with a smile upon his face.

Knowing he wouldn't leave her be until she gave him an answer Michelle answered and gave him a small smile. "I understand."

"Good," Jarrod let go of her chin and straightened up, saying he was slipping into his office as he had some work to do. Truth was…he had been thrown off guard as he felt a pull towards Michelle as he had looked into her eyes. It was a feeling he quickly pushed aside. After all, Nick was courting her and, from what Jarrod could see, in spite of the uncertainty that Michelle had expressed earlier, she was actually getting along rather well with Nick. No, it would be better for everyone involved if he continued with his work and forgot what he'd just felt.

Michelle, who told herself that the look in Jarrod's eyes was that of a concerned friend and boss, turned her attention to the papers in front of her. She hoped Nick would show up soon with the lunch he'd promised. After all, her stomach was beginning to growl.