Gambling On a Heart (31 page)

Zack suppressed a chuckle, but Wyatt wasn’t as reserved as he snickered. “We’ll see about that. Let’s go.”

As they turned to go, Tracy caught Zack’s attention. She was biting her lower lip, and her eyes were still wide with disbelief. Once Jake, Tilley, and Wyatt were out of the room, he stepped over to stand beside her.

“You think Jake stole your horses?”

Zack shrugged and twisted his hat in his hands. “It looks like it.”

Logan stepped in behind Tracy and laughed. “Well, I have to say this is a first in four years of practicing law. Thanks, big brother, for upstaging me.”

“Anytime.” Zack matched his brother’s grin.

“So, what happens now?” Tracy glanced between the brothers.

“We ask for this ridiculous custody suit to be thrown out, for one thing.” Logan gathered his notes. “And you have some fun. Hey, I’m doing a show tomorrow night at the Longhorn. Probably my last before I head off to Nashville. Why don’t you two show up, have fun, and do some dancing?”

Tracy locked gazes with Zack. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t stay away from her. “Okay. I’ll be tied up all day with the case, but tomorrow night sounds good.”

She smiled and touched the hand holding his hat. Her fingers were soft and hot and reminded him of how she touched him in other places. “Would you like me to pick up Mandy this afternoon? I can bring her back to Oak Springs with me when I pick up Bobby. I think it’s a safe bet he won’t be going to Jake’s tonight.”

He hesitated for a long moment, but his mother was playing bridge that night, and he hated dumping Mandy on Lance and Audrey. “I’ll call the school and let Mrs. Longoria know you’re picking her up.”

Logan smirked as he closed his briefcase. He winked at Tracy and thumped Zack on the shoulder as he passed by. Zack met her gaze, and he was well aware that they were suddenly alone, until Logan whistled the
Wedding March
as he went through the door.

She laughed, until the gales of mirth turned breathy. “He isn’t very subtle, is he?”

“Tracy.” He sobered, caught for a moment in the spell she wove with her innocent eyes and inhaled breath. He broke the trance by looking away. “Don’t think any of this changes how I feel. I’ll never fall for you again.”

Unable to bear watching the hopefulness in her pewter eyes turn to regret and hurt, he turned and plopped his hat on his head. As he hurried down the aisle to the door, his heart reminded him with each beat he was the biggest fool around.

Because he’d never stopped loving her.

* * * *

“I have no idea what y’all are talking about. Last Friday night I was in Waco.” Jake leaned back in the wooden chair.

Zack paced the floor of the conference room. He’d agreed to let Wyatt and Dawn question Jake. Wyatt suggested for sake of preventing a conflict of interest–on more levels than just the fact Jake was the prime suspect in stealing Zack’s horses–that could jeopardize the case.

“Who were you with?” Dawn asked and leaned over her arms on the table.

“I’ve told you four times. Angela Duran. I met her for dinner at her place and didn’t leave until seven the next morning. Call her. She’ll verify it. Dammit, I’m not the guy you’re lookin’ for.”

“How did you cut your hand?” Wyatt sat forward in his chair and leaned over the table to look Jake in the face.

Jake shifted in his seat and shrugged. With a chuckle sounding more forced than real, he said, “Angie is a bit of a klutz. She broke a wine glass, and I cut my hand picking up the pieces. I probably should’ve got stitches, but I was havin’ too much fun to care. Y’all know what’s it like when you’ve got a willin’ woman around. Isn’t that right, Zack? Is Tracy still a wildcat in the sack?”

Zack jerked to a stop and took a step forward. Only years of discipline and Wyatt and Dawn’s warning looks stopped him from punching the smirk off Jake’s face.

With his hands fisted tightly, Zack turned away and stared at the wall.

“Do you know where your brother Brent was on Friday night?” Dawn asked.

“Nope. I’m not his keeper. But isn’t he next door? Why not ask him.”

“Okay, folks, I think my client has answered all the questions he needs to. He can’t be the person you’re looking for.” Preston Tilley scraped his chair against the floor as he stood. He’d remained rather quiet throughout the four hours of redundant questioning, which surprised Zack. Then again, Tilley was a divorce lawyer, not a criminal attorney.

With the warning for Jake not to leave the county, Wyatt and Dawn allowed him and Tilley to go. Zack turned and let out a breath. “He’s lying through his teeth.”

“Brent told me and Kennedy the same thing when we questioned him. I’ll check out their alibis.” Dawn headed for the door with Wyatt watching the gentle sway of her backside as she left.

Zack poured them both a cup of coffee from the stained, old Mr. Coffee in the corner. “So, what’s going on between you and Dawn?”

“Nothing.” Wyatt sat down in the chair Jake had vacated and sipped his cup.

“Uh-huh.” Zack sat across from him. “How come I believe you even less than I do Parker?”

Wyatt ran a hand through his reddish-brown hair. “She drives me crazy.”

With a laugh, Zack set his mug down. “No kidding. What’s really going on?”

Wyatt took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “When we were partners on the Dallas PD, we crossed a line that should never be crossed by a female and a male partner. Especially when that partner was a friend for almost thirty years,” he added more to himself then to Zack.

“Let me guess, she wanted more than you were willing to give?”

Wyatt shook his head. “The other way around.” He stood and picked up his mug. “It’s all water under the bridge.”

“Until it floods my department. I’ve never seen Dawn so uptight in my life, and she’s been my friend since we shared the same bath water in her grandmother’s kitchen sink. She may have been your friend, but she’s always been like a sister to me. And I don’t like seeing her like this.”

“I’ve tried to talk to her.” Wyatt drank more coffee and turned toward the large framed map of Texas on the wall. “I’m not the one who ended it. She did. What else is there to say?”

Then Wyatt faced Zack again. “Enough about me and Deputy Dawn Madison. What the hell is going on between you and my cousin?”

Zack took a gulp of coffee and shrugged. He wanted to say nothing was going on, but that wasn’t exactly true. He’d promised Tracy he’d treat her like a girlfriend. “Tracy and I are dating.”

“That so?” Wyatt grinned and sat down again. “I seem to remember you swore you’d never speak to her again.”

“True. But then Dylan came back from the war, and I couldn’t let him continue to beat himself up over something outside of his control.” He stared into his coffee mug at the black brew. “I needed Tracy’s help since he’s her brother and he was living with her.” He shrugged and drained the cup. “Who knows if anything will come of us dating?”

He couldn’t let anything come of it. He owed that to Lisa. She was dead because he couldn’t love her more than he’d loved a memory.

“Tracy’s a good woman, Zack. I know she hurt you, but I think you’d be wise to give her a second chance.” He shook his head. “I know her life with that idiot Parker sure as hell wasn’t a bed of roses. I’ll never understand what she saw in him, because he treated her like shit. Tracy’s too good-natured for her own good.”

What was with everyone? His friends and family were free with their opinions on his love life lately. He was about to tell Wyatt that whatever went on between him and Tracy was none of his damn business, when Wyatt’s cell phone began playing Toby Keith’s
Beer for My Horses
.

Wyatt set his cup onto the table and pulled the phone from his belt. A moment passed before he spoke, and as he listened, his forehead furrowed. “It’s okay, Ma, I’m finished for now. What’s going on?” It didn’t take Zack too long to realize the news wasn’t good. Wyatt’s tanned face lost most of its color and his voice was rough. “Yeah, Ma, I’ll be right over. Have you called Audrey?” He paused to listen. “No, I’ll stop by the CW, then come over. Love you, too. See you soon.”

Zack waited for Wyatt to slip the iPhone into the holder on his belt. The stricken look on his face told Zack something terrible happened in his family.

Wyatt swallowed and looked at him. “That was my mother. She and Dad just got a call from an Army chaplain.”

Zack was instantly on alert. Wyatt’s younger sister, who recently deployed to Afghanistan, was a registered nurse and Army major. “Rachel?”

Wyatt nodded. “Yeah. Ma didn’t know much, except Rachel was injured today and is being airlifted to Germany. I have to go. I need to stop by Lance and Audrey’s place to tell them.” He paused at the door but didn’t look at Zack. “I hope my twin sister can forgive herself if our little sister dies over there.”

As Wyatt left, Zack leaned back in his chair and silently sent a prayer to heaven for a fellow soldier and one of his friends.

Chapter 15

“Zack.” Tracy opened her door a little after one AM, instantly wishing she wasn’t wearing the rattiest t-shirt she owned as a nightshirt. “I wasn’t expecting you until morning.”

He walked across the porch as if his shoes were made of concrete, and stepped into the entry, removing his hat. “Is Mandy sleeping?”

Tracy glanced up the stairs. “Yeah. I was headed upstairs myself when I saw your headlights in the driveway.” He nodded and looked around. She got the impression he was trying not to look at her. She clasped her hands together in front of the old University of Texas t-shirt. “Want something to drink? I usually drink tea at night, but I can make coffee. You look like you could use some.”

He met her gaze, and the ghosts haunting his eyes took her aback. “That would be good. How long has Mandy been asleep?”

Shrugging, Tracy led him down the dimly lit hall to the kitchen. “Oh, since about nine. She and Bobby played in the pool after supper and that tired them both out.”

Her laptop and American History text lay on the counter where she’d left them after finishing her paper that was due tomorrow. He touched the book cover. “So, the classes going okay?”

“Yeah. I’m getting back into the groove and already decided I’m going to try going full time next semester.” She went about making coffee while Zack sat at the island bar. His gaze caressed her every move, heating her skin. “It will be tough, but I also would like to get into med school before I’m forty.”

“I have faith in you.”

She looked at him and smiled, her heart swelling. “I’m glad.”

“Bobby in bed, too?”

As the coffee brewed, she leaned against the sink. “Yeah.”

His brow lowered as he studied her for a moment. “Where’d you get that shirt? It obviously isn’t new.”

Surely, he didn’t remember it, did he? “Where do you think?”

He shook his head and laughed, but it was choppy and short-lived. “That’s not the shirt I gave you for your eighteenth birthday, is it?”

Tracy turned and poured two mugs of coffee. After dumping four heaping spoonfuls of sugar into his and milk into hers, she headed for the island. With his brow furrowed and his kissable mouth twisting in puzzlement, he looked more handsome than any man had a right to. She took the stool next to him. “Yes, it is.” Before he could comment, she asked, “How did the questioning go?”

For a moment, Zack stared at her, then shook his head and picked up the steaming mug. “As I expected. Brent and Jake denied everything. Dawn checked out their alibis tonight. Jake’s appears to be watertight. He was in Waco last Friday with a girlfriend.” Zack glanced at her, as if he were waiting for a reaction.

Tracy didn’t even blink at the news. “How about Brent?”

“Colleen Stryker provided him with a story, too.”

“Johnny Blackwell’s mother?”

“Yep.” Zack sipped from his cup. “Brent was with Johnny Blackwell and his son Matt all night playing poker at Colleen’s place.”

“Damn, I was hoping they were the culprits. If for no other reason, just to have the rustling stopped. Good people are being hurt badly by this.”

“I know.” Zack looked into his mug, his brow low over dull eyes.

Tracy lightly rubbed his shoulder and leaned forward for a better look of his face. “What’s wrong? Somehow, I don’t think it’s only the case bothering you.”