by Becki Willis
Walker broke the connection by clearing his throat and looking down into his cup. “Thanks to these two, it didn’t have to.” He lifted it again, this time to the two women sitting between him and Hannah. “Thanks to their quick thinking, they easily defused the situation.”
“Orlan showed up at the inn, hootin’ and hollarin’ about his great ride,” Fred recalled, shaking her head. “We couldn’t quite make out what he was saying about proving the tall man was a liar—”
“But when Gouyen showed up—” Sadie broke in.
“She doesn’t normally do that, you know,” reminded Fred.
“—we knew something was happening. She just grunted and motioned for us to follow. Leroy was yapping and trying to lead the way. The golf cart was parked at the back door, so we jumped in and followed. I left the back door wide open and all the ingredients for my pie right there on the counter!” Sadie threw her hands up in a show of abandon. “But that old woman and Leroy kept urging us forward, and then, we saw he had a gun!”
Fred took over the story. “I thought she had lost her mind, but Sadie darted the cart to the left, before he got a good look at us. She made a wide swing around the backside of the pens and came up behind him, in his blind spot. I spotted the rope there on the floor of the golf cart and knew what I had to do.”
Sadie beamed at her sister. “You’ve still got it, old gal.”
Fred brushed off the compliment. “Walker, I think you and I should think about doing some calf roping together. We’d make a heck of a team.”
The lawyer simply laughed. “I think I’ll just stick with my day job. And my duties with Team Hannah. They both keep me plenty busy.”
“Sister, I hate to leave good company—” Sadie began.
“—but we should go,” Fred finished. She was already up and gathering their belongings. “You two don’t rush on our account. There’s still half a bottle of wine, and the fire’s not quite out yet.”
“I’ll take care of it before I go,” Walker promised. Even beside a pond, it wasn’t safe to leave embers unattended, much less an open flame.
“Can we switch chairs? That one’s ours.”
“Sure. Here, let me get these for you.” Walker stood and folded the vacated chair, then loaded it alongside its mate into the back of the golf cart. The rest was already stowed in his truck for transport back to the inn.
By the time the sisters and Leroy were gone, and Walker had settled into the remaining chair, the woman beside him was quiet.
“I can hear you thinking, all the way over here,” he said.
“All three inches away? Sorry, I’ll think quieter.”
“Or louder,” he suggested. “I didn’t quite make out that last thought.”
Her chuckle was short-lived. “Sure, you did. I was thinking I’ll have another glass of wine.”
He poured the last of the rich-colored liquid into both their cups, giving her the larger portion.
“You trying to get me tipsy?” she accused with an arched brow.
“After these last few days, I figure you deserve it.”
Hannah took a long draw before dropping her head back against the chair and consulting the stars. The vast night sky was as dark as her thoughts.
After a space of several silent moments, Walker spoke. “None of us saw it, you know. Quit beating yourself up.”
She didn’t pretend not to understand his meaning. “I keep thinking how could I have been so blind?”
“We all were. We knew him longer than you did. He had lived and worked among us for almost three years. None of us suspected he was capable of murder. And you heard how hard Fred took it. It completely destroyed some theory she had. Something about a man treating a woman the way he treats his horse.” He shrugged his broad shoulders, not quite certain of the exact claim.
“But you warned me, Shelton. You warned me not to trust him. Not to be fooled by his good looks and his country-boy charm. And as it turned out, he wasn’t a country boy at all. Born and raised in Las Vegas. He learned about horses from his rodeo bum father and from working backstage at stage shows and rodeos. Even the Texas accent was fake.”
Walker frowned but nodded in agreement. “I always thought it was a little thick.”
“You told me to stay away from him, but I thought you were just being—” She stopped herself before she said something foolish. She hadn’t had so much wine that she didn’t know when to keep her mouth closed.
“Mean?” he supplied.
“That’s not what I was going to say.”
“Then what?”
She hesitated, taking another sip of wine as she stalled. It was one sip closer to loosening her tongue.
“What, Hannah? Why did you think I told you to stay away from Long?”
“I thought you were jealous.” There. She had blurted it out. When the words just sat there, hanging in the air without merit, without welcome, she hurried to say, “I know. I was being foolish.”
“You weren’t.” His words were low and hard to hear, even though they sat side by side. They were even harder to say. Walker swallowed and made the admission, “I was jealous.”
“Yeah, but of Gabriella. I totally misread the situation.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “About Gabriella…”
“You don’t have to say anything. I get it. She’s a beautiful woman. Friendly and smart, and very likable. And apparently honest. She seemed truly appalled by Shelton’s scam. I believed her when she said she had no idea he had trained the horse to act injured.”
She shook her head, still trying to wrap her head around the depths of Shelton Long’s desperation. “I still can’t believe he deliberately did that to his horse. He put the wrong size shoe on her feet, knowing it would be painful for her stand. He knew she would stay off her feet as much as possible, playing into the act of being hurt. Did you catch the way Shelton called her Lady during that time, instead of Ladybird? I think that was one of the cues for the trick. No wonder Gabriella suspected nerve damage.” She was rambling, she knew, but it was the best way to salvage her pride. Because she did get it. What man wouldn’t be attracted to the vivacious vet?
Unlike her, Walker stayed focused on the topic at hand. He continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“I know I accused Gaby of siding with Shelton during the trial, but I realize now I shouldn’t have. I always knew she was trustworthy. She’s a consummate professional. She would never lie, and never jeopardize the health or safety of an animal. This episode proved that, and it forced me to go back to look at the facts from before. She didn’t lie under oath. She answered the questions as they were asked. I should have done a better job on the cross-examine. That one’s on me.”
Hannah had no idea about the details of the case, but she knew it took a big man to admit when he was wrong. She admired his candor, even if it meant heartache for her. No doubt, he and the veterinarian would get back together now.
“I hope you told her that.”
“I did. We had a long talk, and I’d like to think we made things right between us again. Gaby’s been a good friend to me.”
“And with Shelton out of the picture, you can go back to being more than friends.” She tried to sound cheerful, but suspected she failed miserably. She felt a physical pain, right in the area of her heart, at the thought of losing him.
Not that she had ever had him to begin with.
“It’s true; we did date for a short time. But long before horse boy came into the picture, we decided we did best as friends. We weren’t ever really an item.”
“Then, why were you jealous?”
“Why do you think?” It wasn’t a direct answer, but it went a long way to lessen some of the ache in Hannah’s heart. This whole conversation about Gabriella had it smarting like an open gash.
Hannah stared into the dying fire. “I don’t know what to think anymore,” she answered glumly. “Apparently, I’m a horrible judge of character. Not just with Shelton, but with ever
yone. I actually suspected Guy and Jeff of killing Rusty. I thought they were the brothers with the domestic assault records. I thought Jeff wanted to threaten me, when all he wanted to know was where to find a local jewelry store.
“I thought Ted and Tom were the nice ones,” she continued, “and that it was noble of Ted to stay behind with his brother, rather than pursuing his talents in Nashville. Little did I know, they both have criminal backgrounds! And I truly liked Pierce, once I got to know him better. Which proved I never really knew him, at all.” Her sigh was long and heartfelt.
“He and Jazz had a nice little scam going, stealing people’s personal information when they volunteered for skits. The amazing thing is how they had gotten away with it for so long. And they still would be, if Shelton hadn’t come along and spoiled things.”
“I can’t believe he kissed me,” she muttered thickly. She scrubbed the back of her hand against her lips. “He’d already killed a man by then. A murderer actually kissed me!” She scrubbed harder. “And I let him. Well, not exactly, because he just grabbed me. But I didn’t stop him. I—”
“He grabbed you?”
“Well, not like attack grab,” she admitted. “I was blabbering about something—you, I think, and how I should call you, which he said was a bit of an insult, since he had just asked me out—and he was trying to shut me up, so he grabbed me and kissed me.”
A small smile worked around the corners of Walker’s mouth. “I can see where that might be a blow to his ego.”
Hannah stared into the embers, watching the low flames flicker and wane. “It was just more of his trickery,” she murmured.
Walker stared with her into the glowing cinders. Both were mesmerized by the steady tempo of the flames. Even though it danced to the tune of certain death, the fire surged and pulsed, retreating within itself to simmer among the live embers, only to build once again into a blazing crescendo. The hiss and crackle created a beat of its own, working its way into their heads, insinuating its hum into the very beat of their hearts.
“A man shouldn’t use trickery to kiss a woman.” Walker spoke the words after a long moment. The words were thoughtful, almost spoken in monotone. “If he wants to kiss her, he should say so.”
Hannah made a murmur of agreement.
“That’s something I thought about,” he went on, “when Long had us at gunpoint.” His tone took on a faint philosophical air. “I kept thinking I blew my best chance. I should have kissed you when I had the chance.”
It took a few moments for the words to penetrate the tune in her head. She was still trapped within the fire’s trance, her blood pulsing with the heady orchestra drumming through her veins.
“Wait. What?” She turned to look at him in surprise.
His eyes were still drawn to the dying flames. The glowing embers worked like a truth serum, pulling his deepest, darkest thoughts out into the open. “It was right here at this pond,” he mumbled. “I had a chance to kiss you, but I took the easy way out. I used a trick of my own. I hid behind the thin veil of propriety, and some nonsense about being your lawyer. About having your best interests at heart.”
“I remember.”
Her soft comment broke his concentration. He turned to her, as if just now remembering she sat by his side, their chairs butted up against the other. He looked at her for a long moment, watching the weak flicker of light play there in the shadows of her face.
Neither spoke. Through the space of a dozen or more heartbeats—a full stanza of the fire’s hum—they stared at one another in honest assessment.
Walker was the first to break the silence. “I want to kiss you, Hannah.” His words were soft, but blunt. “No tricks. No gimmicks.” He blinked, revealing the first hint of his vulnerability. “No lies.” His gaze dropped briefly to her lips, then back to her eyes. “Just an honest kiss.”
“I’d like that,” she whispered.
Holding her gaze, Walker leaned forward. Her eyes fluttered close as his mouth settled upon hers, warm and steady. His kiss was neither soft, nor hard. It was the weight of shared exploration, the perfect pressure of give and take. Slow and deliberate, the kiss wasn’t too long, nor was it too short.
It was, Hannah thought with a breathy sigh of happiness as they slowly pulled apart, simply perfect.
They shifted in their chairs, so that his arms circled around her and she could lay her head back against his shoulder. Staring into what was left of the fire—and stoking it once or twice to revive the flame—they were in no hurry to end this perfect moment in time. Beneath the dark canopy of night sky, it was just the two of them, forging together into the unknown.
“Now what?” Hannah whispered after a while. For once in her life, her mind didn’t race ahead with a ticker tape of ideas. She was strangely content with not knowing what lay ahead.
“I don’t know.” His reply was honest. When she turned to look up at him, Hannah saw the light of the fire reflecting in his stormy blue eyes. It was a pale comparison to the glow she saw within. “I don’t know what’s next. But I’d like to find out.”
“So would I,” she whispered.
A slow smile stretched across Walker’s handsome face, and his arms tightened around her. Another gentle kiss, and they turned back to watch the fire, mesmerized once again by the slow crackle and burn of the glowing coals. Lost in the come-hither dance of the low flames, they both knew that strong relationships were like banked fires.
To stand the test of time, some things needed to simmer.
Join us again soon, for the next installment of Spirits of Texas Cozy Mysteries!
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