Gambling on a Dream (8 page)

She lifted her left hand. “Alex Webster and I saved that kid’s life. We found out later he’d named his daughter after me and his baby boy is named after Alex.” She smiled, but the tears on her cheeks spoke of the pain the memory brought her. “But for me and Alex, the real joy was that we’d met. We hit it off immediately, and I think we both fell in love saving that private’s life. But we had to keep our romantic relationship between us. Alex outranked me, but we’d never served in the same unit, so it was easy to keep things secret.” She sniffed and wiped at the tears on her face. “Then we got our assignments for this last deployment and had the shock of our lives. He and I were not only serving in the same unit, but he was my commander.”

Wyatt wanted to stop her, to keep her from her pain, but Rachel needed this. They all did. Then maybe, she could finally grieve in open, and his family would at long last understand her.

Lance narrowed his eyes and pointed to the large diamond on Rachel’s ring finger. “This Alex. He gave you the ring?”

She met his gaze and nodded. “He asked me to marry him last Christmas. That’s why I didn’t come home. I went to Maine to meet his family.” She laughed but it came out choppy. “His dad made fun of my saying
y’all
, and I joked about his hard
Rs
. They’re great people. Alex asked me to marry him after we’d gone skiing two days before Christmas.” She choked out that jerky laugh again. “He was so nervous he dropped the ring in the snow.” She broke down and dropped onto the chair. As she covered her face and sobbed, she whispered, “God, I loved him. Why did that bastard have to kill him?”

Wyatt didn’t know what to do. Her secret was out, but his heart broke for her all over again.

Lance stepped forward, kneeled before her, and gently brushed her hair from her face. As his fingers lingered on her pale, wet cheek, she turned her gaze on him. “I’m sorry, Rach, for all you’ve gone through.” His voice vibrated deep and raw.

Wyatt rubbed his jaw line. Was Lance talking about the loss of her Alex, or everything he’d put her through when he’d slept with her sister all those years ago?

“Let’s get you to bed. Okay?” Lance said.

When she sniffled, Lance reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded white handkerchief. She stared at it when he held it out to her. “It’s not used, I promise.”

“You still carry a handkerchief with you?”

“I seem to remember you always ended up crying all over me at the movies. Carrying one became a habit I never broke.”

She wiped her nose and a ghost of a smile tilted the corners of her pale lips. “You always took me to sad movies.”

“I had my reasons.” He stood and held out his palm. She stared at it for a moment before placing her shaky hand into his.

Lance surprised Wyatt, and probably everyone else, when he helped her to her feet, swung her up into his arms, and carried her out of the room.

Wyatt turned to face the rest of his family. His father had pulled his sobbing mother into his arms, while Audrey stared out the door Lance had carried their sister through with an expression on her tear streaked face he’d never seen before.

* * * *

Whistling softly between her teeth, Dawn slowed her F-150 to take in the view in front of her. “Sweet mercy, isn’t that the sexiest thing on two legs.”

Wyatt pushed his vintage Harley on the side of the dusty country road, the action showing off his muscular shoulders and forearms below his rolled up sleeves. His light blue shirttails fluttered on either side of him indicating his shirt was open. His jeans hugged his ass and legs like a good pair of Levis should. The late afternoon sun glowed through his chestnut hair, setting the red highlights on fire. A black helmet hung from the handlebar, and a black leather jacket was folded over the worn leather seat of the bike.

He glanced over his shoulder as she approached and slowed. She wasn’t ready for the lusty clenching in her lower belly at the memories of Wyatt driving her crazy when they’d made love.

She bit the inside of her lip and tightened her grip on the steering wheel as primal need raked through her.

A pair of Aviator sunglasses covered his eyes. She pulled the truck off the side of the road next to one of the CW Ranch pastures. Massive Santa Gertrudis cattle munched on the fall grasses. One of the cows lifted her head from the grass and seemed to eye the truck curiously, as she chewed a wad of grass.

Dawn had never understood what Zack and Lance Cartwright saw in the big, ugly animals. She preferred the sleek sturdiness of a Herford or an Angus to the more exotic breeds.

Wyatt propped the bike on its kickstand and ambled to the driver’s side window. Dust covered his boots and the bottoms of his jeans as if he’d been walking a great distance. But then, out here, where miles and miles could separate one ranch house from another, and the only living things around were cattle and horses, getting stranded and hoofing it for miles before a person came along wasn’t uncommon.

“Aren’t you a sight for a weary man?” Wyatt smiled as he lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head and revealed eyes as blue as the endless October sky above them.

Her heart sputtered a beat. She pulled her gaze away from his and looked out the windshield at the old motorcycle sitting in front of her truck. He’d had the thing since graduating from college. They’d spent many warm days racing along the country roads north of Dallas when they'd dated, and she'd tormented him relentlessly because she'd always beat him. “What’s wrong with the hunk of junk?”

A corner of his lips kicked up in a lopsided smirk. “Carburetor. I think. It stalled in the intersection at Gambler’s Folly and Cattle Trail, and I couldn’t get it started again.” He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand, and squinted toward the west.

She had a hard time keeping her eyes off him. The undershirt stretched over his muscular chest under his open shirt.

“I figured it was a tossup between heading for Paul Cartwright’s house or the Kennedy place.”

Why hadn’t he gone back to Highway Six? Hell, why hadn’t he called someone? But Dawn didn’t ask. “Want to load up the bike, and I’ll take you home?”

He drummed his fingers on the edge of the door near the open window. His nails were trimmed, and his fingers were long and slender on strong hands. She knew how skillful they’d been at playing her body, and sucked in a breath. He turned his gaze on her.

“I don’t want to go home.” His husky voice washed over her, and the familiar fire in his eyes heated her insides. “That’s why I didn’t call Dad. I was heading for my ranch when the bike broke down.”

She wouldn’t give into the lust boiling between them. Too much water passed under that bridge, and she’d burned the damned thing down. Wyatt McPherson would always hold the particles of her heart--one he’d shattered to a million-zillion pieces, then trampled to dust when he walked out of her life. She wasn’t stupid enough to give him another chance.

Damn the need coursing through her body.

She cleared her throat and got her raging hormones under control. “Okay. I’ll take you back to my place. I have to feed my horses and let my dog out. If you’d like, I might even have a spare carburetor lying around.”

He chuckled. “Thought those new hogs didn’t need any maintenance?”

She smiled and shrugged.

“You still have Taco?”

The beagle had hated Wyatt. “Yeah, so I suggest you don’t try anything.”

He stepped away from the door as she opened it. “Wouldn’t think of it.”

Together they wrestled the Harley onto the back of the truck and secured it with some twine and a bungee cord. Wyatt got into the passenger side and ran his hand through his hair, which curled around his ears and fell over his tan forehead.

She turned the key in the ignition. “Missing your hat?”

He laughed and rested his hands on top of his black helmet. “Yeah. Since becoming a Ranger, I've gotten used to wearing it again.”

The heat of his gaze warmed her.

“You look good with your hair down,” he said.

She sucked in a breath and concentrated on driving into the evening sun rather than reading too much into the compliment. “Thanks. I hate wearing it up all the time for work, but I can’t bear the thought of ever cutting it.”

“Don’t…”

She glanced at him when he cut himself off.

He rubbed his mouth as if he hoped it would stuff the word back in.

“Don’t what?”

He didn’t look at her. “Nothing.”

Her stomach flipped over. Wyatt had spent hours playing with it after they’d made love.

Clearing her throat, she stared at the road ahead of them. “So, you’re moving in tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan.”

Not knowing what to say when he grew quiet, she tuned into the song playing on the classic rock station. As Lynyrd Synyrd sang about their being a free bird, she wished she could turn it up to fill the void between them with something other than the growing tension.

They passed the gate to the Kennedy spread, then the first gate to the CW, which led to Paul and Winnie Cartwright’s home. Dear God, they had another fifteen minutes of this deafening silence before…

“Audrey’s pregnant.”

His quiet voice had her risking a glance at him. “Wow. When did Audrey announce that news?”

He huffed. “The worse possible moment today at the dinner table. But it got Rachel to finally open up.”

“I just visited Rachel yesterday afternoon. I had no idea what to say to her.”

With his head bent, he nodded. “Well, it’s not only Lance and Audrey or even her injuries she’s so depressed over. She’s grieving.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rachel was engaged to the doctor who was killed when she was shot in the attack.”

Dawn let out her breath and looked at Wyatt again. He met her gaze for as long as she could safely hold it. “I take it that no one knew she was engaged.”

“No.”

“Man. This has to be brutal on your parents.” She remembered how close Wyatt was to his younger sister and swallowed. “And on you, too.”

“I just don’t understand why she kept it such a secret. She met his family last Christmas, but we didn’t even know he existed.”

Dawn glanced at him again. His wince and the huskiness of his voice bespoke of his sense of betrayal.

“Hell, I understand why she might not have told the others, but I don’t get why she hasn’t said anything to me.”

I bet she doesn’t know how you dumped me after I took a bullet for you, costing my baby’s life.

But she kept the bitterness locked deep inside and stared out at the long, deserted, two-lane county road. “I know it’s different, but when Talon was charged for dealing and possession two years ago, I didn’t know about it until I was served with a subpoena to testify. I’m sure if it hadn’t been for the defense lawyer wanting to show the jury Talon’s cop sister and retired sheriff stepfather, neither one of us would’ve been there. And we wouldn’t have known about Talon’s conviction until he was sent to prison.” She snorted and shook her head. “Hell, we probably wouldn’t have known until after he’d served his fifteen months.”

“I’m surprised he wasn’t paroled for good behavior.”

She snapped her gaze to him. “You’ve got to be kidding, right? This is Talon we’re talking about. He could find trouble at a church revival meeting.”

He shrugged and drummed his hands on his helmet. “Yet, you totally believe in his innocence.”

She hit the brake a little harder than she’d intended and snapped on the signal to turn into the long drive onto her family’s ranch. “I thought you did too. I know my brother would never kill someone, Wyatt.” The
tick-click
of the signal punctuated every word. “He has a temper that’s hot as hell, but he’s not a thug.” She slowed on the rutted gravel lane and narrowed her eyes at him.

Wyatt’s jaw twitched, and his eyes hardened. Was it her faith in her brother that he didn’t believe in, or was it the whole stinking pile of crap he was angry at? Maybe he didn’t believe in her ability to find the killer.

Well, screw you, Wyatt McPherson.

Wouldn’t you just love to be the one to do it?
Her body heated at the taunt, and she took a deep breath filled with his musky scent.

“Look, let’s not drop the gavel on Talon’s innocence before we prove he’s guilty.” She slowed to a stop in front of her trailer and looked at him. “Okay?”

His jaw tightened, but he nodded. “All right.”

She forced a smile and opened her door. “Let’s get that piece of crap fixed so you can get the hell out of my hair.”

The graveness of his gaze turned humorous as the corners of his eyes tilted upward and he grinned. “I've never felt more welcome.”

Wyatt tightened the last bolt on the new carburetor, wiped his hands on an old rag, then climbed onto the Sportster and cranked the engine.

Like a dream, the rebuilt engine roared to life and rumbled like an approaching storm. He looked over at Dawn, leaning against the doorframe of the garage, where she tapped the toe of her cowboy boot on the spotless concrete floor. As he dragged his gaze over her tight faded jeans and crazy print sweater, she folded her arms over her chest and curled her full lips into a smirk.

He fought the tightening in his lower belly, but it was useless to fight his attraction to her, especially when she moved away from the doorframe and her hair swayed. The silky black mane hung to the top of her ass. How she managed to get all the stuff tamed into a prim bun for work never failed to amaze him.

He cut the engine. “Well, I’ll get the mess cleaned up and head home. You sure I don’t owe you anything for the part?”

She laughed and stopped beside him. “No. I’m just glad it worked. Hunter left it over here last year when he got it in his mind he wanted to rebuild a motorcycle.”

Raising a brow, he swung his leg over the bike. “Glad to see your little brother has some sense.”

“Not much.”

They stood face to face for a few moments staring at each other. He couldn’t miss the heat burning deep in the depths of her rich brown eyes, but he wasn’t fool enough to get caught up in the lust, smoldering between them again. He broke the trance by looking away and wrestled with the urge to pull her to him and taste her lips.