Gambling on a Secret (42 page)

Leon would have money stashed away just in case his crimes ever caught up with him. He’d take her to South America and change his name. After he’d used her until he tired of her, he’d kill her, too, and steal her baby to raise as his own–if he didn’t kill him or her, too.

In spite of his agitation, Leon aimed the gun with a deadly still hand. His ragged breaths stirred the hair by her ear. Heat and perspiration penetrated through his shirt where she pressed against him, moistening the skin of her bare back. From the sour smell, he hadn’t showered in a day or two. Her stomach churned at the thought of how close he held her.

Dylan met her gaze as Leon spoke. She couldn’t allow him to hurt Dylan. She had spent years being used by men like Leon. Dylan would never hurt her or take from her. She’d offered him the partnership in the ranch with the hope that by giving him what he’d always wanted, he’d never leave her.

She didn’t have to buy Dylan; he loved her and she loved him. She wasn’t going to stand by, waiting for him to be killed.

“But I would have killed him,” Leon added, breaking into her thoughts.

“Like you killed Ella, the mother of your daughter?”

“Ella was no better than this whore.” Leon jerked her hair. “She deserved to die.” When his finger twitched on the trigger, she had to act. “And so do you.”

She lifted her right leg and brought the long, spiked heel of her sandal down onto the top of his foot with as much force as she could muster.

Leon howled in pain and tossed her to the pavement. A gun exploded, and less than a heartbeat later, another went off, but closer and muffled.

While she searched for Dylan in the dimness, she screamed his name. Was he hit, bleeding, dying?

Leon pitched forward, grabbed his right shoulder, and fell to the ground. The gun flew from his hand.

“Charli!” Dylan fell to her side when she tried to scramble to her feet. “Are you okay?”

She reached for him. He pulled her close, holding her as tightly as she did him. Sobbing and shaking, she stammered, “I–I was so scared. I was afraid he’d kill you and take me away.”

“Shhh,” he murmured next to her ear. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”

Sirens sounded in the distance. She started when someone knelt beside her. “I always knew high heels should be considered dangerous weapons.”

When she recognized Zack Cartwright’s easy Texas drawl, she sagged again in Dylan’s arms.

Zack laid his hand on her shoulder. “I’m glad you did what you did, Charli. I was afraid I’d hit you or Dylan if I tried to take a shot. Are you okay?”

She nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to pull her face from Dylan’s shoulder. Breathing him in, she found strength and reassurance in his clean, breezy scent.

Before she or Dylan could ask, the sheriff said, “Ferguson’s not going anywhere.”

Dylan turned his head from out of the crook of her neck. “Is he dead?”

“No, I didn’t aim to kill. I want him to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Of course, this is Texas. If the other murder charges stick, Ferguson might not be behind bars for long, if you know what I mean.”

Dylan nodded, and she got it, too. Unless he got a lenient judge or his wealth and former power influenced a jury, he’d likely get the death penalty.

“Who else did he kill?” Dylan asked.

She lifted her head. “He admitted he killed Jock Blackwell.”

Zack nodded. “Apparently, Jock isn’t the first relative he’s helped into the grave to get what he wanted.”

“His grandfather,” Dylan said.

“Yep. The Rangers also reopened the investigation on the supposed suicide of the forger who’d signed the will as your grandfather. Leon’s own mother suspected him for years of killing her father, but was too afraid of him to come forward until earlier today. Ferguson wanted to reopen the oil well on Oak Springs, but his mother’s father forbade it.”

“So, he killed him.” Dylan puckered his brow. He stood, bringing her with him. “Why didn’t Leon open it after he killed him?”

“Because he couldn’t. Turns out Maddie’s father ordered those oil wells closed when Jock divorced her. Jock’s father, Jason Ferguson and Maddie’s father were all business partners. When Jock was discharged from the Army, he came home and took over his father’s business. The only reason they married was that her father threatened to back out of the deal when Jock got Maddie pregnant. Leon couldn’t reopen the well on Oak Springs without Jock’s approval to reopen the two on Blackwell Ranch. The crazy old coot wouldn’t agree to it and became determined to keep the oil right where it is.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Zack shrugged. “I didn’t get the chance. I just found out myself today.”

Within moments, the parking lot was ablaze with flashing emergency lights from more than a dozen police cars and two ambulances. Guests from the ball and Country Club staff crowded near the building, as one of the most respected men in the county, maybe in all of Texas, was taken away on a gurney with a police escort.

Tracy rushed over to Dylan and Charli and hugged them. Afterward, Dylan immediately pulled Charli back to his side where she clung to him.

“Let’s go home.” Dylan turned her away from the ruckus.

Epilogue

One month later

Charli carried two mugs of coffee out onto the front porch.

Dylan lazily pushed the porch swing back and forth with the heel of his worn boot. He reached for the cup of coffee she offered him. “Annie all settled in?”

She sat beside him on the swing. “Yes, she’s asleep already. I promised her earlier she and I would go shopping for school clothes tomorrow. I thought we’d go down to Waco.”

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, prompting her to look at him.

“What?”

“Nothing. It just amazes me how much the girl has turned around.”

She sipped her coffee. “Annie’s doing okay, but she has a long way to go. I’m just glad Sam and Julie allowed us to have guardianship of her. And I was able to convince my old therapist to see her by teleconference at the doctor’s office.”

“If you ask me, I think you’re the biggest help for her.”

“We can relate to each other.”

Night had finally chased away the heat of the summer day. Frogs and crickets filled the darkness with music, while the climbing jasmine and summer roses scented the air with sweet perfume.

After a few moments of enjoying the peacefulness, she said, “Annie asked about Leon. She’d like to meet him.”

“You don’t think that’s a good idea, do you?”

“I don’t know. I can understand her need. My biggest regret is never knowing my father.”

“Yes, but your father wasn’t a crazy murderer. He was a simple cowboy.”

“True. I’ll have to ask her psychiatrist what she thinks.”

He sipped his coffee. “You do have a brother you’ve never met.”

She smiled at him. “I’m thinking about contacting him. I’m not sure I’m ready for the tabloid attention, but I really do want to meet Nate.”

He set his mug on a table beside hers. “Speaking of family. Mom and Dad liked what you’ve done to the house. They really like you. I told you they would.”

His parents, sister and nephew had all gone back over to Oak Springs after they’d had supper. Robert and Eileen Quinn had come to Texas two weeks ago for the reading of Jason Ferguson’s real will, which, as he had suspected, had been in Leon’s possession. The authorities found it in the safe at his Dallas office two days after they’d taken him into custody.

“I like them, too. Tracy got her personality from your mom.” She grinned and kissed his nose. “And you look like your dad. No wonder he was able to steal the heart of a born and bred daughter of Texas, even though he’s a Yankee.”

His low chuckle rippled through her like a summer breeze. “Has he stolen the heart of my Oklahoma cowgirl?”

She shook her head. “He can be very rigid, I guess, but he seems like a fair man. I’ll miss them when they leave tomorrow.”

When he nuzzled her neck, she squirmed at the tingles his lips caused. “They’ll be back.”

“Oh, when?” She pulled away and looked at him.

“Dad decided to retire from the government for good this time. I think he and Mom are going to move in with Tracy over on Oak Springs.”

“I’ll like them living so close.” She still had to get to know Dylan’s parents, but she could see them becoming close over time. “So, Tracy is officially moving into the house?”

“I’m sure as hell not moving over there.”

“That would give the Grapevine some new grapes. Our taking Annie in, her paternity, and my past are becoming boring.”

“Wouldn’t want the Grapevine to run out of grapes.” He reached under the cushion of the swing. “That would just be a damned crying shame.”

Her breath caught when she saw the small white box he’d retrieved.

He snapped open the lid to reveal a diamond ring nestled in white satin.

Her hands went over her mouth, muffling her “Oh my God!”

His eyes were as luminous as a cloudless summer sky when she met them. Dylan removed the ring, took her left hand from where she held it over her mouth, and slid it onto her finger. “I love you, Charli, and I can’t imagine my life without you. You once offered me a partnership without the complications of marriage. How about we complicate things?” He kissed the back of her trembling left hand. “Will you marry me?”

Her heart swelled, and happy tears welled up in her eyes. She moved her right hand to her throat. She swallowed and somehow pushed words past her wildly beating heart. “Yes. I love you so much, Dylan.”

“I know, Peaches.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly.

“So, what are we going to call our ranch?”

She furrowed her brow. “The ranch already has a name.”

The ceremonious job of installing the new sign over the driveway entrance had been one of the last things Tom and Jesse did before becoming fulltime ranch hands for Butterfly Ranch.

He kissed her nose. “I don’t mean Butterfly, and I don’t want to rename Oak Springs. It goes back for generations, but we should combine the businesses, incorporate, under one name.”

They had signed papers yesterday making them business partners, combining the two ranches, and they’d agreed to keep the oil wells capped. They were ranchers, nothing else. She nodded in understanding, thought for a moment. “How about Butterfly Springs Cattle Company?”

“I like it.” He turned her in his lap so she could rest her back against his chest and her head on his shoulder.

Moonlight shimmered over the skeletal frame of their new barn, and she sighed in total contentment. “I finally became a butterfly.”

“I think we both did.” She looked up at him, but before she could reply, he rubbed a hand over the slight curve of her belly. Not only had they signed papers making them business partners, they discovered they were having twins–a boy and a girl, if the ultrasound could be trusted. “I can’t wait until the babies are born. We’ll have to start thinking about names for these little guys.”

“I was thinking of maybe naming our son after our grandfathers–Jason Henry. Henry was Hank’s real name.”

“I’m surprised you’d pick something so mundane.” She narrowed her eyes on him, and he grinned at her. “Let’s name our daughter after your momma.”

“LeAnn Eileen–for your momma, too.”

“Mom’ll be thrilled.”

She laughed and kissed his lips, slow and deep with lots of tongue. “It’s settled. Now, let’s celebrate our engagement.”

“Celebrate?” Dylan feigned confusion.

“Oh, yeah,” she purred and stood. Taking his hand, she gave him the little pout he loved.

He let her pull him to his feet. “So, does this celebration involve us getting naked?”

“Definitely.” She let go of his hand and stepped away, placing one booted foot directly behind the other, undulating her jeans-covered hips in the seductive roll that drove him crazy. She reached for the top snap of her Western shirt, then the second, the third. “C’mon, cowboy.”

He followed her toward the front door and grinned devilishly. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I learned how to follow orders a long time ago.”

About Sara Walter Ellwood

Although Sara Walter Ellwood has long ago left the farm for the glamour of the big town, she draws on her experiences growing up on a small hobby farm in West Central Pennsylvania to write her stories. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for nearly 20 years, and they have two teenagers and one very spoiled rescue cat named Penny. She longs to visit the places she writes about and jokes she’s a cowgirl at heart stuck in Pennsylvania suburbia.

She also writes paranormal romantic suspense under the pen name of Cera duBois

Gambling On a Secret

9781616504410

Copyright © 2013. Sara F. (Walter) Ellwood