by Sable Hunter
Until then, she had to get back with the program. She’d promised.
This coming weekend she’d planned a trip to San Antonio. Not only could they have fun on the River Walk and eat some good Mexican food, but she wanted to take Heath over to the Alamo Complex to view an exhibit of memorabilia she thought he would enjoy. Dr. Scott Walker was allowing his private collection to be shown. Her only regret was that Heath’s favorite author was speaking there earlier in the week and Cato just knew it would make him happy to hear him and maybe to meet him. Oh well, there was no way he could get away that soon.
Taking a sip of coffee, she returned to the couch, sat back down to begin scanning through the documents again. Dalton Smith had worked for different oil companies, but apparently he’d also been working for himself. Mixed in with the surveyor’s reports, title searches and land deeds were notes on possible locations of silver mines, including the Bowie mine that she and Philip had been investigating. It might not have been ethical, but Cato couldn’t help but jot down several facts that could be of interest in her own research. And then she saw something that almost made her drop the laptop she was holding.
Rubbing her eyes, she leaned in for a closer look. Surely not. With a trembling hand she zoomed in on the scribbling at the bottom of a map. Good Lord, talk about the plot thickening! She saw the Texas Cultural Center’s name and a date and the map was of the very area where Dalton Smith had died. Going to the next page, she gasped. What had been going on? A screen print of an email thread was emblazoned across her monitor. The sender’s email address was [email protected] but the document wasn’t readable, the original scan was blurry. Glancing down through the papers, she could see for sure that Dalton used this email for personal communications and business communications but not with his bosses at the oil company. For those purposes, he used [email protected].
Every instinct she possessed told her this was important.
Heath, she wanted to talk to Heath. Her hand went to grab the phone, but she remembered how late it was. Oh well, before she shared what she’d found, Cato really needed to get to work and try to access the company email and verify what had gone on. A chill ran down her spine. She had a bad feeling, a really bad feeling.
* * *
“Hello?” Ryder grabbed her phone without checking the read-out. She’d been running from one room to the other putting together a care-package for Jaxson, a glass of ice tea in her hand. Heath was headed there today to check on him.
“Ryder, it’s Samson.”
Bang! She dropped the glass.
“Ryder, are you okay?”
She took a deep breath and leaned against the door facing, her pulse beginning to pound. “What do you want?”
An almost imperceptible growl came through the phone. “I think we’ve already established that. I want you. We want you.”
“Don’t say that,” she begged.
“I’m not going to stop telling you how I feel.”
Before Ryder could respond, another voice came over the phone, very similar, but different. “Neither will I.” It was Gideon.
“A three-way conversation?” She spoke before she thought, setting herself up.
“Appropriate, don’t you think?” Gideon chuckled.
“Hush,” she huffed. “Look, even if I were interested…which I’m not.” Liar. Liar. “My brothers would never allow this.”
“We’re not afraid of your brothers,” Samson spoke low but plain.
“Give us a chance to show you how good it can be, baby.”
Gideon’s voice sent cascades of chill bumps skittering down Ryder’s arms.
“No, I can’t.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I just can’t. Don’t call here again.”
She hung up the phone and felt like she was going to die.
“Got the stuff ready to go?” Heath spoke and Ryder jumped. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing, nothing.” She waved her hand. “Yes, I’m finishing up.” Refusing to face her brother, lest he could read her thoughts, Ryder added a few more items to the box she’d put together for Jaxson and stepped back, wiping her hands on the apron she wore to protect the dress she intended to wear out with Pepper to a concert at Austin City Limits. “Tell him I love him and we miss him, please.”
“What’s in here?” Heath asked, digging into the neat piles Ryder had assembled.
She stepped up. “Don’t mess things up, Heath. There’s fudge, cookies, socks, books, music and fruit.”
“Good, I’ve put some beer in an ice chest.”
Ryder turned, concerned. “Are you sure you should take him alcohol?”
Heath shut his eyes, exasperated. “Your brother’s not suicidal, Ryder.”
“I didn’t say he was.” But the thought had crossed her mind. “He left us, he’s staying out in the woods by himself. I’m worried sick.”
Heath went and gathered his sister in his arms. “We all are. That’s why I’m going. I’m going to try and talk him into getting some help out there other than Dan.” He named one of their older ranch hands who had stuck close to Jaxson for years.
“Good.” She pulled on the bib of her apron, wadding the material between her fingers. “Tell him I want him to come home.” If Jaxson were here, she’d have someone to talk to. He’d always been the one she ran to first. Jaxson wasn’t as explosive as Heath was and he didn’t give her a hard time like Philip or Tennessee.
“I’ll tell him.” Heath kissed her and turned to pick up the box.
“How’s Cato?” Ryder smiled, the thought of Heath and his love interest instantly improving her mood.
“She’s fine.” Heath pressed his lips together, determined not to say more than he had to.
“When are you seeing her again?”
“I’m not sure.” Well, he wasn’t.
“Why don’t you invite her over for dinner this weekend?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Heath was about to growl at his little sister’s persistence when a commotion at the front door drew his attention.
“You can’t come in here!”
“Pepper.” He took off through the house, wondering who was barging into Highlands uninvited. Frowning, he had a sneaky suspicion.
He was right.
“Arness,” he growled.
Caesar Arness stood just inside the front door with his hat in his hand. Upon seeing Heath, he nodded toward him. “Pardon me, Mr. McCoy. I hate to arrive unannounced.”
“I hate to see you, period.”
Arness ignored Heath’s venom. “I have some papers I need to give you. These officially shut down your oil production.”
Heath grabbed the papers and grimly read them. Dammit! He’d have to cancel contracts and lay off workers. There was no way he could keep everyone on if no revenue was coming in. “You’re not going to get away with this. We own the mineral rights and I’m going to prove it.”
“Good luck.” Arness put his hat on. “I’ll see myself out.”
Heath slammed the door behind him and then called one of the men he knew was working close to the house. “Make sure Arness is escorted off my property.”
“What are we going to do?” Ryder placed her hand on Heath’s arm. “Will we lose the ranch?”
“Hell, no.” He headed toward the den. “We’re in the process of getting an injunction. We’ll just have to speed up the process. Where’s Ten?”
“He went to see Molly.”
Shit. “Did Philip go with him?”
“No, he went by himself. Philip had class.” Ryder gathered her hair into a ponytail and twisted a tie around it. “I think he’s wrong about her.”
“That’s Ten’s business,” Heath was quick to interject. He knew how it felt when family tried to tend to your affairs. “How about Dad, is he around?”
“No, he and Olivia rode into Austin. She had some kind of meeting.” Ryder took off her apron and folded it up. “Do you think he’s going to
marry her?”
Heath could hear the concern in her voice. “What would you say if he did?”
Ryder shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s not Mama.”
“No, she’s not,” Heath agreed. “But Dad deserves to be happy. Don’t you think?”
“Yea, and so do you.” Ryder countered his point.
He was saved from answering by another phone call. It was Cato. “Look, I’ve got to take this. Hold on.” Stepping away, he spoke to her. “Hey, I want to talk to you. Can I call you right back?”
“Sure,” she answered. “Take your time.”
He shut the phone and returned to Ryder.
“Who was that?”
“Business, he answered quickly. “You and Pepper be careful tonight. I’ll call you when I start back.”
“We’ll be fine. We’re going to see Judah James perform.” Ryder pirouetted. “Pepper likes him. She wants to invite him back. They talked at the BBQ.”
Heath stiffened. “I don’t like the idea of her seeing him. I’ve heard things about him.”
“What kind of things?” Ryder went on alert, stepping closer.
“Nothing you need to be concerned about.”
Ryder hated those words. She had heard them often enough growing up.
“Gotta go, keep an eye on your sister. She isn’t to be left alone with James.”
“Yes, Kill-joy.” See, if he was like this about someone as successful and nice as Judah, what would Heath do if he found out she would give ten years of her life to give herself to not one, but two men? No, no, no, it could never happen. Ryder watched him go, seeing him smile when he talked to whoever it was on the phone. If he was talking to anyone but Cato, she’d eat Heath’s hat.
* * *
“Hey, beautiful.” Heath was in Old Red, sharing face-time with someone he’d give his eye-teeth to be with at this very moment. “What’s up?”
Cato tried to smile but she was too worried. “I’ve found something.”
“What?” Heath straightened, his eyes narrowing.
She explained about the note and the email. “I went to work after hours. Heck, I’ll get fired if they ever found out. But I went in to Mr. Redford’s office and got into his files on his computer. I found the email, it was in archive, but I found it. And I was right. Dalton Smith approached my boss for information on the Bowie mine, sharing with him enough information that someone could guess when he’d be exploring, and he did it using Philip’s name.”
“Why would he do that?” Heath was shocked. “And what does it mean?”
“I don’t know. Apparently Smith didn’t want anyone knowing his real identity and he knew Philip’s name would open doors. It could also mean Mr. Redford killed Smith or he could have shared the information with someone else. I just wanted you to know, so you could call Zane. I’ll continue looking, but I have copies. I printed out the thread, I can prove it.”
“Thanks, Cato. I’ll call him immediately. This could very well be what we’ve needed to establish reasonable doubt.”
“You’re welcome.”
And then something else hit him like a ton of bricks. “You need to quit that damn job. You’re not safe there. If that son-of-a-bitch is involved in Smith’s murder and framing Philip, you’ll be a target too.”
Cato shook her head. “No, I need to be there in case I can learn something else that will help.”
Heath didn’t like it, he didn’t like at all. “We’ll discuss this—in person. What are you doing tomorrow, can you take the day off?”
This was the first time Heath had done the asking and Cato felt a thrill rocket through her like a shooting star. “I’m on the road tomorrow, I’ve been sent to check out some herb farms and pick peaches.”
“Can you do that on the way to San Antonio?”
“Yea, I guess. You’re going to San Antonio? That’s where I was taking you this weekend, if you happened to be free.” She finished weakly.
“Well, I don’t know about this weekend. I have to go down there now. Zane wants me to meet with a judge on the Energy Commission. Arness is trying to shut me down and we’re trying to get an injunction to stop that from happening. I don’t want to have to lay off workers and lose my trucking contracts.”
“I’m so sorry this is happening to you. But, yes, I’d love to go with you and the timing is pretty good. If we have time, I have a surprise for you.” She was already thinking about the possibility of him meeting Culhane.
“After I get out of that meeting, I’m all yours. Today I’m headed to see Jax.”
“How is he?”
“Well, I’ll know more when I can look him in the face.”
“I’ll be thinking about you.” She smiled shyly. “I can’t believe I’ll get to see you again so soon.”
“I’m finding it hard to stay away from you.” He considered something for a moment. “Look, this time let me make the arrangements. You just pack some sexy underwear and leave everything else to me.”
“Except my surprise.”
Heath laughed. “Okay, I love your surprises. Just don’t make it a metal jock strap with a lock on it or something.”
“Okay, I won’t.”
“And be careful, dammit!” You belong to me went unspoken but that was exactly what went through Heath’s mind.
* * *
“Can I come in?” Heath tapped on the rough-hewn surface of the front door to the cabin Jaxson had rented.
There was a creak and the door opened, but it was Dan standing in front of him, not Jaxson. “Been expecting you. ‘Bout time you got here.”
Heath didn’t really know how to take that. “I could’ve been here at any time, all you’d had to do was call.”
Dan stepped aside and Heath moved into the sparsely furnished interior. All he saw was a couch, a chair and a table—no Jaxson.
“He wouldn’t let me.”
Damn, that didn’t sound good. “Where is he?”
“Out back.”
Heath set down the stuff Ryder had sent and walked through the house to the back door. He looked through the glass. There was a small dock leading off the bank and out into the slow moving Comal. Jaxson sat on the end in a wheelchair. He looked lost.
“Anything I need to know?” he asked Dan before heading out to where his brother was staring out into the river.
“He’s selling his horse.”
“The hell he is…” Heath pulled his hat down over his eyes and started across the yard. “Jaxson? I gotta bone to pick with you…”
* * *
“I’m going backstage.” Pepper announced. “You wait here.”
Ryder gave Pepper a thumbs-up as she left stage right. She didn’t know everything that was going on in her sister’s head, but Ryder had been aware of the looks Pepper and Judah had exchanged. Even though the singer had put on a stellar performance, he hadn’t been able to hide his awareness of the young woman who sat in the front row.
Judah James was a sensation, his music had dominated the charts, his soulful voice was known and loved world-wide. But if he hurt her sister, Ryder thought, there wouldn’t be any safe place he could hide.
Pepper wasn’t worried. Eternally optimistic, she sidestepped groupies and weaved her way between stage hands moving lights and sound equipment. Ahead, she could see Judah’s dressing room guarded by a bald-headed behemoth who stood with crossed arms and hooded eyes.
Until he saw Pepper.
She moved forward hesitantly and was relieved when the stoic giant smiled. “Hello, Miss McCoy. Judah is expecting you.”
Pepper’s heart soared. “Thank you, Arnold.”
Arnold opened the door and Pepper entered. Surprisingly, the room was dim. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she saw Judah sitting on a couch, leaned forward, head in his hands. “Judah?”
Judah jerked his head up, then he stared at Pepper oddly. “I didn’t hear the door open.”
“Arnold let me in. Your music was fabulous. I love
d every moment.”
He stood and moved toward her, putting out a hand to touch her shoulder.
If Pepper didn’t know better, she’d have though he was making sure she was really there. He looked relieved when she covered his hand with her own.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
Dismay and hurt washed over her. “I thought you wanted to see me.”
He did. Judah steeled himself to lie to the one woman who could possibly be his salvation. “You need to go home, Pepper. I don’t have time to baby-sit you. There’s a real woman waiting for me in my bed at home.”
Pepper reeled from the blow. His words hit her like bullets. “Oh, I’m sorry. I misunderstood.”
Judah swallowed hard. “Yes, you did. I appreciate your family’s friendship and support and I’d do anything for Jimmy Dushku, but getting involved with an unsophisticated Pollyanna is more than can be expected. Now, would you like an autograph?”
Pepper didn’t answer right away, she backed out of the room, never taking her gaze from his face. Why did his eyes look so sad when his words were so hard? “I won’t bother you again.”
She fled.
As soon as the door closed, Judah turned and slammed his fist into the wall.
* * *
“You’re not taking my baby away from me, Tennessee McCoy.”
Tennessee blanched, he literally felt the color drain from his face. “I never considered taking your child, Molly.” What kind of man did she think he was?
“Good.” She felt behind her for the chair, feeling dizzy and unsteady on her feet.
Tennessee was confused. “Why would you say something like that? We may have our problems but…” As if a light had come on in his head illuminating the area around him, Tennessee realized that Molly didn’t look well. “Are you sick? Is the baby okay? What does the doctor say?”
Molly hung her head. Of course he would be concerned about his child, but he didn’t care about her. He was a McCoy, a rich man. Her baby was a McCoy.
