Blame It on Texas (41 page)

He switched on the lamp. When he saw the name on this phone his heart lunched. Ellen. Was something wrong?

“Is everything okay?” he asked. They’d had a blast at Dallas’s. The kids had played while they’d painted. While he hadn’t gotten nearly as close to her as he would have liked, she’d never shied away from him. He got the feeling she’d told LeAnn and Nikki about them, too.

“Were you sleeping?” she asked.

“No,” he lied, and sat up a little.

“I was just… wondering how heavy of a sleeper Ricky is.”

He ran a hand over his face. “What?”

“Is Ricky a light sleeper?” she asked.

“No… why?” That’s when the possibility of what she might mean had him sitting the rest of the way up. “He sleeps like a rock.” He pressed a hand to his bare chest.

“Then would you like some company?”

“Hell, yeah!” His smile came all the way from his gut. “What about Britney?”

“She’s at my mom’s.”

“I’m really liking this idea,” he said.

“Then would you mind opening your front door? It’s lonely out here.”

He laughed. “Seriously? You’re here?”

“Yes.”

“One second, I need to get some clothes on.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” she said. “I’m not wearing much, either.”

Rick shot out of bed and couldn’t get to the door fast enough.

“Where the hell did you find her?” Tyler’s older brother asked Tyler during their mandatory Lopez family Sunday breakfast. Tyler looked up and watched Anna lead Zoe by the hand into the kitchen with all the females.

Tyler had spent the last two days deliberating whether he should bring Zoe or not. He’d decided to just miss it. But Lola and Sam had called and insisted he bring Zoe. Then Anna had called and pleaded. He cratered. He could never say no to Anna.

“Would you believe under my desk?” he said, not thinking.

Ramon’s eyes widened.

“Not like that,” Tyler said.

Ramon laughed. “Is it serious?”

As a heart attack.
“No,” Tyler lied. Luckily, his phone rang, saving him from being quizzed for details. It was Rick, and Tyler had been hoping he’d call. “Excuse me.” He moved to the corner of the room.

“What’s up?”

As of yesterday, Rick hadn’t been able to get hold of his old buddy, the retired cop who’d worked with Officer Dean. Tyler would bet his right ball that Dean had been in on the Bradford kidnapping.

“Got Martin this morning. You were right, he doesn’t have the same high opinion of Officer Dean as Phillips does. I took the liberty of asking about Phillips, too. But Martin said Phillips was a good man. A little too soft for the job, but good people.”

When Tyler hung up, he went to find Zoe, hoping to save her from his sister’s wrath. Anna stepped in front of the door. “I’m supposed to stop you from coming inside.”

Right then he wondered if bringing Zoe here hadn’t been a mistake.

When he darted around the gatekeeper and into the kitchen, Zoe was laughing with Lola. They had taken out the photo album. He knew what photos they were showing her, too. “I already told her what you guys did to me.”

Lola chuckled. “He was such a cute princess.”

Zoe grinned up at him. Her smile sliced through him. How the hell was he going to let her go?

Breakfast was like it always was—loud, with a lot
of laughter. In honor of Zoe, they all told Tyler stories. Before the plates had been cleared, Zoe knew every embarrassing thing he’d ever done. From his mom finding a stack of
Playboy
magazines in Tyler’s room, to the time his science experiment blew up the garage when he was ten.

Everyone loved Zoe. Then again, how could they not? She even surprised him by speaking Spanish. “You didn’t tell me you knew Spanish,” he said as they helped Lola collect the dishes.

“You didn’t tell me you built bombs, either.”

Everyone laughed. Everyone but Sam. She seemed more worried about her cell not ringing than anything else. Tyler knew she was hoping Leo would call. It stung to watch her do this to herself.

When he caught Zoe alone in the kitchen refilling her coffee, she looked at him, and her big blue eyes filled with gratitude. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For sharing your family with me. Yesterday at Nikki’s and now this. It’s just what I needed.”

Tonight was the dinner at the Bradfords’, and Tyler knew she’d been more than ambivalent about meeting everyone. So was he, but for different reasons. Bradford had informed him that his family would all be there. And Tyler had checked to see which guards were on duty then. Windsor was on the list. So his two suspects would be there.

It was hard to believe someone might try something at a family dinner, but desperate people did desperate things. He knew because he was feeling desperate himself. His two weeks had dwindled down to a week. And
while he had some answers, he didn’t have all of them. Namely, who had taken potshots at Zoe? And how the hell was he going to breathe when she left him?

When they joined everyone back in the living room, there was a lull of silence, and Tyler knew they’d been talking about them.

Lola finally spoke up. “In three weeks, it’s Ramon’s birthday. We’re going all out. Tyler, you will bring Zoe.”

Zoe stiffened beside him. “I’m sorry, I won’t be here then.”

“Where will you be?” Anna asked.

“I have to go home to Alabama.”

Anna grimaced. “Is it because Tyler told Ramon that he wasn’t serious about you?”

Tyler’s gut clenched.

“Anna!” scolded Sam and Lola at the same time.

Tyler opened his mouth to say something but didn’t have a clue what it might be.

“It’s okay,” Zoe said, but Tyler didn’t miss the flash of hurt in her eyes.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

W
E AREN’T SERIOUS
.
Zoe felt the sting as she got in Tyler’s car to leave his sisters.

Oh, no. Zoe’d just been his sex toy this past week. She plastered a smile on her face. She had sworn to keep her composure. But on the inside, she was a puddle of emotional goo. And somewhere in that goo was some good, old-fashioned redheaded ire waiting to bubble to the surface. Not that she planned to let it leak out.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said as he settled in the driver’s seat.

“Not an issue,” she said.
But hey, would you like my liver to slice and dice next, because you did a fine job on my heart?

She pushed her fury to the side. He’d told her this was how it was going to be. She’d gone into this knowing, and she couldn’t start wallowing in self-pity now.

She could wait until she got back to Alabama for that. Then she could fall apart.

“Look,” he said. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine. You never lied to me. We are exactly what
you proposed we would be. Two adults, attracted to each other, and enjoying two weeks.”

It was what she’d agreed to from the start. But now, well, she just might have to cut those two weeks short.

At six o’clock Sunday evening, Zoe stood next to Tyler in front of the Bradford home. She wore the one nice outfit she’d brought with her, a fitted green dress with tan flowers. She hadn’t questioned her choice, or felt the least bit insecure until the man wearing a tux opened the door.

As the gentleman led the way, she leaned in and whispered to Tyler, “Did he say anything about this being formal attire?”

“No,” he whispered back. “You look great. Relax.” He’d worn a pair of navy trousers and a buttoned-down light blue shirt. She’d watched him get dressed. T-shirt, shoulder holster, gun, and pants. Only a couple of times had she seen him wear boxers.

She watched him look around as if he expected someone might jump out at them.

“I could tell you the same thing.” She continued walking down the hall, her gaze shifting about the home that smelled of furniture polish and floor wax. The smell called to her like a familiar scent.

“Right here,” the tux-wearing doorman said. But at that second, Zoe’s attention became riveted on a winding staircase. Dark wooden banisters swept up to the second floor. Déjà vu hit hard. She’d been here.

Driving up the driveway, she’d felt some of this, but the staircase brought it on stronger. She saw her younger self running down the stairs and being scolded by a woman in a maid’s uniform.

“Don’t run, sweetheart.”
The voice from the past came from the top of the stairs, and she looked up and in her mind’s eye saw the redheaded woman.

Zoe felt Tyler’s hand fit into the curve of her waist. “You okay?”

She turned to see the opening of a large sitting room. A room filled with people who stared at her. Someone gasped as if in disbelief.

Zoe recognized some of them from her Internet searches. The woman was Amy Daniels, Mr. Bradford’s daughter. The two teenage girls must be her children. There were a couple of men, two older women, and Mr. Bradford. All of them stared at her. All of them looked as if they were about to attend a prom. Or a funeral. They all wore dark, brooding colors. Suddenly, her twenty-nine-ninety-nine splurge at the discount outlet felt less than perfect.

No one spoke.

“Come in, dear.” Mr. Bradford motioned her closer. Closer when all Zoe could think about was running. Her heart thumped in her throat. Her palms sweat.

“She does look like our dead aunt,” one of the brunette teens said.

“She could have had facial reconstruction,” said the other. “I saw it on
CSI
.”

She felt Tyler stiffen and she touched his arm, hoping he understood that she wanted to take care of this herself.

“I didn’t,” she said, keeping her voice steady.

“Don’t pay any heed to them,” Mr. Bradford said. “Come, let me get you a drink. We have a lot to talk about. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked my lawyers to be present.”

Lawyers?
When he introduced the guys in the suits, Zoe nodded and felt Mrs. Daniels’s cold gaze.

“It is amazing,” said one of the older women. “I’m your great-aunt Sylvia. Do you remember me?”

Zoe looked at her. “I’m sorry, I don’t.”

“We don’t know for sure if she’s Caroline.” Mrs. Daniels pulled a glass with amber-colored liquid to her lips.

“We will as soon as the DNA test comes back,” Mr. Bradford said. “But I admit you bear a striking resemblance to my late daughter-in-law.”

“But Stacy’s right,” Mrs. Daniels said. “She could’ve had plastic surgery.”

“Why would I do that?” Zoe asked.

“For a piece of the Bradford fortune? Why else?” Mrs. Daniels snapped.

Zoe wasn’t sure what she’d expected. Maybe shock, a lot of awkwardness, but she hadn’t expected the open hostility. “I meant, why would I do that if I knew you’d do a DNA test.”

“Maybe you hoped we’d take your word.”

Zoe looked to the other people in the room, thinking one of them would have called the woman on her rudeness, but they didn’t. Was this how these people were? She met Mr. Bradford’s gaze. She saw the need for answers in his eyes. But what she didn’t see was love or affection. The truth stabbed her like a knife in the gut. She’d said all she’d wanted was answers, but she’d been lying to herself. A ball of hurt swelled in her chest.

She’d wanted them to love her. The grief of losing her father, her best friend, and the months of caring for her mother while cancer ate away at her bones, as well as the final straw of Chris’s betrayal, had all left her feeling lost.
She’d wanted to belong to someone, to matter to someone. Her throat tightened, but she refused to cry.

“I think getting a facial reconstruction in the hopes you wouldn’t need proof is a bit much, isn’t it?” she countered.

“Fine, but if you are Caroline, why wait to come forward?”

“She didn’t remember,” Tyler bit out, his tone taunt with anger.

“But she conveniently remembered when you heard the moneybag of the family had terminal cancer,” Mrs. Daniels snapped. “I hope you’ve heard that he lost his ass in the stock market and his last two business ventures were failures.”

Zoe emotionally flinched at the abruptness in which the woman had said those words, as if her father wasn’t in the room. As if his dying was nothing that caused her the least of concern. Zoe looked at Mr. Bradford, thinking she would see emotion in his eyes that told her he’d been affected by the crudeness of his own daughter’s words. But Zoe saw nothing. As if he was immune. Did these people even have feelings?

“I came because I saw my picture in the
Unsolved Mystery
show.”
I came because I’d lost everyone I cared about.

Her gaze cut to Tyler. She’d wanted to belong to someone, and all she’d found in Texas was a bitter and miserable family and a man who couldn’t love her back. Tears stung her sinuses. More than ever, she wanted to leave Texas.

“It’s time for dinner,” a man, dressed in a white uniform, announced from the doorway. “I have the first course waiting, sir.”

“Then let’s eat,” said Mr. Bradford. “Chef Morris is a five-star chef.”

Zoe stared in shock. How could they eat with so much hostility clogging up the air? Was this normal for these people?

“I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “But I don’t… I don’t belong here.”

She turned around and walked out with Tyler fast behind her. Her heels made popping sounds on the marble floor.

Don’t run, sweetheart
, she heard the voice from the past say again, but that was exactly what she was doing. She was running, and she wasn’t going to stop until she got back to Alabama.

Suddenly, Tyler’s laugh spilled out into the big entranceway and seemed to echo. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

Fifteen minutes later, Tyler pulled up in the Only in Texas parking lot and eased to a stop in the parking area around back. “How about I order some food in?” he said. The sun was setting and cast a gold hue on Zoe’s face. She looked so damn sad that he wanted to just hold her. But holy hell, he’d never been so proud of someone in all his life.

“Shit,” Zoe blurted out.

“What?” He followed her gaze to her car. “Damn!” Her windshield was shattered. Spray-painted on the passenger side door were obscenities.