Gambling on a Secret (35 page)

Ella swallowed hard and looked down at her clasped hands. “My brother found her hitch-hiking along Highway 6. She’s home again, and I’ve locked her in her room.”

“You know that’s not going to work.”

Nodding, Ella sighed. “I don’t know what else I can do.” Ella looked away again and sheepishly said, “Annie got mad at me because I wouldn’t let her come out here. She told me you offered her a job.”

Charli leaned back into the couch cushion. After speaking with Annie, she had talked to Ella, but she’d never mentioned that part of the conversation. She’d only told Ella about inviting Annie to go riding, which Ella wasn’t sure about allowing.

“I wouldn’t say I offered her a job.” She brushed loose hair from her face. “I did say I may someday need a trainer for my horses, but I didn’t mean...now. Mostly, I offered her my friendship.”

Ella locked gazes with her. “You’d want to spend time with her? Her stinking attitude is costing me business at the diner. But it’s the only way I can keep my eye on her.”

“I know her father works over on the CW. I saw how her eyes lit up when I invited her riding.” She gripped the arms of the chair. “Annie misses that as much as she misses him. If you let her come out here, I know I can help her.”

Ella looked down at the purse she held in a death grip. “If I tell you something, will it be kept completely confidential? Like a doctor?”

“Yes, of course.”

Ella hesitated, obviously debating whether she could trust her.

She leaned forward and clasped her hands together, locking her gaze to Ella’s. “Ella, I’m a professional–or at least will be when I eventually graduate. I also hope you count me one of your friends. I’m not a gossip. Lord knows there’re things in my past I don’t want broadcasted, and I would never repeat anything you tell me. I don’t want Annie to end up on the streets. It’s not a good place.”

Ella toyed with the strap of her purse. “When I was twenty-seven, I did a few things I’m not very proud of. One of them was cheating on my husband.”

“And Annie was the result of the affair.”

Ella nodded and averted her eyes. “Annie doesn’t know Jeremy isn’t her father. She idolized him, and now he won’t have anything to do with her. We tried for years to have a kid, and when I got pregnant, he was so happy. He’d wanted a son, but he loved Annie. Then we tried again and again to have another kid.” Ella swallowed and blinked at the moisture in her eyes. “We went to a doctor in Waco. We found out he couldn’t...”

“Did you know he wasn’t Annie’s father?”

Ella sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. I got pregnant when Jeremy was at the Futurity in Fort Worth as the rider of Jason Ferguson’s champion cutting horse. But I lied to make him think it happened when he got home.”

She didn’t judge Ella. Her mother’d had an affair with a married man when she was nineteen, which resulted in her existence. “Annie thinks Jeremy doesn’t love her. She blames herself for the loss of that love. It’s ripping her up inside, Ella.” She rubbed her hands on her legs. “I hated my father because I thought he didn’t want me. I didn’t know he was never told about me. Annie’s hurting for the same reason. Maybe the time has come to tell her the truth?”

Ella’s breath caught as she stared at her. “I want to help her, but I’m afraid to tell her the truth. I’m afraid to let her know who her father is because she’ll want to see him. Annie can’t ever have contact with him. He’ll turn her into what he is–a snake who can’t be trusted. He’s done things. Terrible things, to get what he wants.”

She closed her eyes for a second.
Lord, help me get through to this woman.
“Annie deserves to know the truth.”

Ella’s made-up face lost all color under the layers of foundation and blushing powder. She jumped to her feet. “No. Annie can never know the truth.”

While Ella paced before the couch, wringing her hands, Charli remained sitting. “Ella, lying to her is only making the pain and hurt worse. So, you don’t want to tell her who her real father is, then don’t–for now. Just explain to her your ex-husband isn’t her father. She deserves to know that much.”

After a long time, Ella stopped moving and peered at her. “I’ll let Annie come over. I know you’re right. But if her paternity is ever revealed, certain folks will have their lives rocked to hell and back.”

* * * *

The last Tuesday of June was hot, but Charli was glad to be outside. Dylan and Kyle were loading the last of the hay into the completely refurbished barn. Tom and Jesse were building the new porch. The house would be painted and the last of the outside work was scheduled to be finished the following week, after Independence Day.

Earlier that morning, she had gone riding with Annie for the first time. To her delight, Annie was quite an accomplished rider. They hadn’t talked much, but she was thrilled just to have her on the ranch. After Julie Larson picked up her niece, Charli spent the rest of the afternoon working in the border garden along the lake.

She was still afraid of the snakes making the water their home, but as long as she didn’t see one, she was okay. Dylan had finally relented and set some traps to catch some of the vermin to release them in the other lakes on the ranch.

She finished trimming back some of the ivy and stood to stretch her back. She tired so quickly the past couple of weeks, and now she felt like she’d puke. Maybe she needed to lie down. The morning sickness had caught up to her a week ago and was becoming an all day thing. Spending the early mornings with her head in the toilet was already getting old.

After she gathered her tools, she headed for the potting shed in the backyard. Jesse waved as she passed the construction going on at the front porch. “Giving up already?”

With her hand resting on her belly, she smiled at the older man. “It’s too hot out here, and I’m not feeling well. Would y’all like some sweet tea?”

“Hope you feel better soon. The tea sounds good. Thank you kindly, ma’am.” Jesse smiled and went back to work when Tom moved in with a new floorboard.

After taking two glasses out to the guys, she was pouring herself a glass when the screen door opened. Believing the person was Dylan, she said without looking, “Oh, Zack called...”

“Hello, Bambi.”

She spun around and dropped the glass.

Barely able to force enough air past her numb vocal cords, she wheezed, “Leon… H–how do you know about that name?”

Leon laughed as he moved toward her.

She backed away until she came up against the counter.

He shoved at the mess on the floor with the toe of his boot. “I know a lot of things, Bambi Deere. I know how you got that extremely unimaginative moniker, for one.” Leon went on, “I know you were tried as an adult in Nevada and sentenced to five years for possession of cocaine, prostitution and accessory to murder. You ended up serving only a year in Florence McClure Women’s Correction Center because you were paroled on good behavior at the ripe old age of nineteen. By the time you were twenty-one, you were admitted into rehab for alcoholism. Hence, the reason you don’t drink.”

She was beyond sick and wrapped her arms around herself. “Dylan was right about you all along. I defended you! I didn’t want to believe him, even when I knew he was right.”

Leon laughed again, the sound grating along her nerves.

“What do you want?”

“I think you know what I want, if Dylan was so right about me.”

She grabbed hold of the granite countertop to keep from falling to the floor. How could Leon do this to her? Her voice rattled when she demanded, “Why do you want my ranch?”

“That has to remain a mystery, I think.”

Leon had played her for a fool. After drawing a deep breath into her constricting chest, she narrowed her eyes on him and let her shock and pain over the betrayal turn to anger. “You were leading me on.” She stepped away from the counter, and though her knees were weak, she moved toward him. “You told me you were my friend!”

The crack of her hand slapping his cheek was loud in the large kitchen. Leon slowly pressed his hand over the red mark and looked down at her. His eyes burned with an insane fire. He grabbed her and pushed her against the counter. The memory of the times Ricardo had grabbed her and forced himself upon her rushed to the surface. Before she could scream, Leon held his hand over her mouth.

Leon shook her until her teeth rattled. “You led me on, too, whore. If you scream, you’ll be sorry,” he warned before taking his palm away.

She wiped her mouth with the back of one hand. “I never claimed to be more than your friend.”

“I want this ranch, and you will sign it over to me, or your past becomes public knowledge.”

She glared at him. “Never!”

With his breathing heavy and his voice low, Leon calmly asked, “What do you think Dylan will do when he finds out about your past?”

Her heart stumbled over a few beats. She had to believe Dylan loved her enough to forgive her.

Leon must have seen her thoughts in her eyes because he snorted. “You think he loves you. You thought I loved you, too. You thought Rodriquez loved you, and the cowboy Danny Palmer. Love is a fickle thing, Bambi.”

How did Leon know about her first love? Hank had fired him, but if Danny had truly loved her, he would have come back for her. Danny had known how much she hated the Long Arrow and her grandfather.

Dylan had never even hinted at the words.

“Let me tell you what Dylan will do.” Leon broke into her racing thoughts. “My dear self-righteous nephew will dump you so fast your head will spin. He’s the type of man who would never settle for a woman like you, no matter how much in lust he is with you or how much you think your money and designer clothes have changed you. You’re still a whore. No better than his ex-wife. And the baby you’re pregnant with–”

“H–how...do you...”

Leon cut her off as if she never uttered the disjoined words. “He’ll definitely not want you after I tell him it’s mine.”

“I’ll have a test done!”

“A test?” He sneered. “Money can buy me anything I want, Bambi.”

She fought against him. “No! I’ll tell Dylan the truth about my past. I won’t let you take my land. I’ll tell him about you. He’ll believe me because he knows what you are. He’s been warning me about you ever since we met.”

Leon seemed taken aback, but not for long. “You think that will stop me?” He gripped her upper arms and shook her again. “I’ll just have him eliminated and pin the murder on you. It wouldn’t be the first time I got rid of an obstacle to something I’ve wanted. Who wouldn’t believe you’d kill your lover? You’ve already served a year in prison for your role in having a man killed. The only reason you weren’t charged for helping murder Hodges’s five bodyguards was a technicality. It would be so easy to make it look like Dylan found out about your past and threatened to leave you. Out of anger and fear, you kill him. A crime of passion.”

Bile, boiling out of her stomach, scalded her throat. “Stop! Just stop.” She had to breathe. She swallowed the bitterness and forced unsteady air into her lungs. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want, Charli. I want you to sign the ranch over to me after we are married.” Her eyes widened, and Leon snickered. “Saturday night, the Charity Ball will take place at the Country Club. You will be my companion, where I’ll publicly propose to you and you will say yes. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you. You’ll still be my wife and mistress of my ranch. A member of society. No one needs to know you’re my personal whore. And the bastard you’re carrying... Just one more thing I’ll take way from Quinn.”

She fought the dizzy haze threatening to snatch her consciousness away. “Fine. I’ll give you the ranch, but I’ll never marry you,” she growled, shaking her head. “I won’t do it.”

“No, Bambi. It’s not just the ranch I want. I want you, too.” Leon let her go and she fell against the counter, her legs no stronger than a five-minute-old foal’s. Leon looked around the kitchen. “It’s truly amazing how dangerous ranching is.” He left the way he’d come. The banging of the screen door was loud as a gunshot.

* * * *

The Dodge Ram extended cab pickup rolled to a stop near the barn. Dylan had spent all day working in the heat of a hay field and the barn. He just wanted to go into the house and get a tall glass of Charli’s sweet tea and something to eat.

Zack got out of the truck, looking more like the rodeo cowboy he’d been as a younger man than the county sheriff he was now. He paused and opened the back passenger door, then helped a black-haired little girl of about five or six from the backseat.

“Hey, Captain,” Cartwright greeted as he came toward him, but something was off with his usual cheerfulness.

He scowled at the other man. “How many times do I have to remind you I’m no longer in the Army? Were you kicked in the head one too many times by a bronc, or did those prissy Marines warp whatever brain you had?”

“The Marines are great!” The little girl stared up at Dylan with her chin sticking out. She held a naked Barbie doll in her free hand and had a small backpack on her back with another doll sticking out of the open zipper. “Daddy was the best Marine ever.” The narrow-eyed conviction she’d pinned him with snapped him out of his bad mood.

“That’s right, baby girl, you tell him.” Zack snickered and yanked on the girl’s single ponytail atop her head. “
Captain
, like it or not, you’re a retired officer and I was enlisted. It’s what’s done.”