Blame It on Texas

by Christie Craig

  “Got Martin this morning. You were right, he doesn’t have the same high opinion of Officer Dean as Phillips does. I took the liberty of asking about Phillips, too. But Martin said Phillips was a good man. A little too soft for the job, but good people.”

  When Tyler hung up, he went to find Zoe, hoping to save her from his sister’s wrath. Anna stepped in front of the door. “I’m supposed to stop you from coming inside.”

  Right then he wondered if bringing Zoe here hadn’t been a mistake.

  When he darted around the gatekeeper and into the kitchen, Zoe was laughing with Lola. They had taken out the photo album. He knew what photos they were showing her, too. “I already told her what you guys did to me.”

  Lola chuckled. “He was such a cute princess.”

  Zoe grinned up at him. Her smile sliced through him. How the hell was he going to let her go?

  Breakfast was like it always was—loud, with a lot of laughter. In honor of Zoe, they all told Tyler stories. Before the plates had been cleared, Zoe knew every embarrassing thing he’d ever done. From his mom finding a stack of Playboy magazines in Tyler’s room, to the time his science experiment blew up the garage when he was ten.

  Everyone loved Zoe. Then again, how could they not? She even surprised him by speaking Spanish. “You didn’t tell me you knew Spanish,” he said as they helped Lola collect the dishes.

  “You didn’t tell me you built bombs, either.”

  Everyone laughed. Everyone but Sam. She seemed more worried about her cell not ringing than anything else. Tyler knew she was hoping Leo would call. It stung to watch her do this to herself.

  When he caught Zoe alone in the kitchen refilling her coffee, she looked at him, and her big blue eyes filled with gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For sharing your family with me. Yesterday at Nikki’s and now this. It’s just what I needed.”

  Tonight was the dinner at the Bradfords’, and Tyler knew she’d been more than ambivalent about meeting everyone. So was he, but for different reasons. Bradford had informed him that his family would all be there. And Tyler had checked to see which guards were on duty then. Windsor was on the list. So his two suspects would be there.

  It was hard to believe someone might try something at a family dinner, but desperate people did desperate things. He knew because he was feeling desperate himself. His two weeks had dwindled down to a week. And while he had some answers, he didn’t have all of them. Namely, who had taken potshots at Zoe? And how the hell was he going to breathe when she left him?

  When they joined everyone back in the living room, there was a lull of silence, and Tyler knew they’d been talking about them.

  Lola finally spoke up. “In three weeks, it’s Ramon’s birthday. We’re going all out. Tyler, you will bring Zoe.”

  Zoe stiffened beside him. “I’m sorry, I won’t be here then.”

  “Where will you be?” Anna asked.

  “I have to go home to Alabama.”

  Anna grimaced. “Is it because Tyler told Ramon that he wasn’t serious about you?”

  Tyler’s gut clenched.

  “Anna!” scolded Sam and Lola at the same time.

  Tyler opened his mouth to say something but didn’t have a clue what it might be.

  “It’s okay,” Zoe said, but Tyler didn’t miss the flash of hurt in her eyes.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  WE AREN’T SERIOUS. Zoe felt the sting as she got in Tyler’s car to leave his sisters.

  Oh, no. Zoe’d just been his sex toy this past week. She plastered a smile on her face. She had sworn to keep her composure. But on the inside, she was a puddle of emotional goo. And somewhere in that goo was some good, old-fashioned redheaded ire waiting to bubble to the surface. Not that she planned to let it leak out.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he said as he settled in the driver’s seat.

  “Not an issue,” she said. But hey, would you like my liver to slice and dice next, because you did a fine job on my heart?

  She pushed her fury to the side. He’d told her this was how it was going to be. She’d gone into this knowing, and she couldn’t start wallowing in self-pity now.

  She could wait until she got back to Alabama for that. Then she could fall apart.

  “Look,” he said. “I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s fine. You never lied to me. We are exactly what you proposed we would be. Two adults, attracted to each other, and enjoying two weeks.”

  It was what she’d agreed to from the start. But now, well, she just might have to cut those two weeks short.

  At six o’clock Sunday evening, Zoe stood next to Tyler in front of the Bradford home. She wore the one nice outfit she’d brought with her, a fitted green dress with tan flowers. She hadn’t questioned her choice, or felt the least bit insecure until the man wearing a tux opened the door.

  As the gentleman led the way, she leaned in and whispered to Tyler, “Did he say anything about this being formal attire?”

  “No,” he whispered back. “You look great. Relax.” He’d worn a pair of navy trousers and a buttoned-down light blue shirt. She’d watched him get dressed. T-shirt, shoulder holster, gun, and pants. Only a couple of times had she seen him wear boxers.

  She watched him look around as if he expected someone might jump out at them.

  “I could tell you the same thing.” She continued walking down the hall, her gaze shifting about the home that smelled of furniture polish and floor wax. The smell called to her like a familiar scent.

  “Right here,” the tux-wearing doorman said. But at that second, Zoe’s attention became riveted on a winding staircase. Dark wooden banisters swept up to the second floor. Déjà vu hit hard. She’d been here.

  Driving up the driveway, she’d felt some of this, but the staircase brought it on stronger. She saw her younger self running down the stairs and being scolded by a woman in a maid’s uniform.

  “Don’t run, sweetheart.” The voice from the past came from the top of the stairs, and she looked up and in her mind’s eye saw the redheaded woman.

  Zoe felt Tyler’s hand fit into the curve of her waist. “You okay?”

  She turned to see the opening of a large sitting room. A room filled with people who stared at her. Someone gasped as if in disbelief.

  Zoe recognized some of them from her Internet searches. The woman was Amy Daniels, Mr. Bradford’s daughter. The two teenage girls must be her children. There were a couple of men, two older women, and Mr. Bradford. All of them stared at her. All of them looked as if they were about to attend a prom. Or a funeral. They all wore dark, brooding colors. Suddenly, her twenty-nine-ninety-nine splurge at the discount outlet felt less than perfect.

  No one spoke.

  “Come in, dear.” Mr. Bradford motioned her closer. Closer when all Zoe could think about was running. Her heart thumped in her throat. Her palms sweat.

  “She does look like our dead aunt,” one of the brunette teens said.

  “She could have had facial reconstruction,” said the other. “I saw it on CSI.”

  She felt Tyler stiffen and she touched his arm, hoping he understood that she wanted to take care of this herself.

  “I didn’t,” she said, keeping her voice steady.

  “Don’t pay any heed to them,” Mr. Bradford said. “Come, let me get you a drink. We have a lot to talk about. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked my lawyers to be present.”

  Lawyers? When he introduced the guys in the suits, Zoe nodded and felt Mrs. Daniels’s cold gaze.

  “It is amazing,” said one of the older women. “I’m your great-aunt Sylvia. Do you remember me?”

  Zoe looked at her. “I’m sorry, I don’t.”

  “We don’t know for sure if she’s Caroline.” Mrs. Daniels pulled a glass with amber-colored liquid to her lips.

  “We will as soon as the DNA test comes back,” Mr. Bradford said. “But I admit you bear a striking resemblance to my late daughter-in
-law.”

  “But Stacy’s right,” Mrs. Daniels said. “She could’ve had plastic surgery.”

  “Why would I do that?” Zoe asked.

  “For a piece of the Bradford fortune? Why else?” Mrs. Daniels snapped.

  Zoe wasn’t sure what she’d expected. Maybe shock, a lot of awkwardness, but she hadn’t expected the open hostility. “I meant, why would I do that if I knew you’d do a DNA test.”

  “Maybe you hoped we’d take your word.”

  Zoe looked to the other people in the room, thinking one of them would have called the woman on her rudeness, but they didn’t. Was this how these people were? She met Mr. Bradford’s gaze. She saw the need for answers in his eyes. But what she didn’t see was love or affection. The truth stabbed her like a knife in the gut. She’d said all she’d wanted was answers, but she’d been lying to herself. A ball of hurt swelled in her chest.

  She’d wanted them to love her. The grief of losing her father, her best friend, and the months of caring for her mother while cancer ate away at her bones, as well as the final straw of Chris’s betrayal, had all left her feeling lost. She’d wanted to belong to someone, to matter to someone. Her throat tightened, but she refused to cry.

  “I think getting a facial reconstruction in the hopes you wouldn’t need proof is a bit much, isn’t it?” she countered.

  “Fine, but if you are Caroline, why wait to come forward?”

  “She didn’t remember,” Tyler bit out, his tone taunt with anger.

  “But she conveniently remembered when you heard the moneybag of the family had terminal cancer,” Mrs. Daniels snapped. “I hope you’ve heard that he lost his ass in the stock market and his last two business ventures were failures.”

  Zoe emotionally flinched at the abruptness in which the woman had said those words, as if her father wasn’t in the room. As if his dying was nothing that caused her the least of concern. Zoe looked at Mr. Bradford, thinking she would see emotion in his eyes that told her he’d been affected by the crudeness of his own daughter’s words. But Zoe saw nothing. As if he was immune. Did these people even have feelings?

  “I came because I saw my picture in the Unsolved Mystery show.” I came because I’d lost everyone I cared about.

  Her gaze cut to Tyler. She’d wanted to belong to someone, and all she’d found in Texas was a bitter and miserable family and a man who couldn’t love her back. Tears stung her sinuses. More than ever, she wanted to leave Texas.

  “It’s time for dinner,” a man, dressed in a white uniform, announced from the doorway. “I have the first course waiting, sir.”

  “Then let’s eat,” said Mr. Bradford. “Chef Morris is a five-star chef.”

  Zoe stared in shock. How could they eat with so much hostility clogging up the air? Was this normal for these people?

  “I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “But I don’t… I don’t belong here.”

  She turned around and walked out with Tyler fast behind her. Her heels made popping sounds on the marble floor.

  Don’t run, sweetheart, she heard the voice from the past say again, but that was exactly what she was doing. She was running, and she wasn’t going to stop until she got back to Alabama.

  Suddenly, Tyler’s laugh spilled out into the big entranceway and seemed to echo. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Tyler pulled up in the Only in Texas parking lot and eased to a stop in the parking area around back. “How about I order some food in?” he said. The sun was setting and cast a gold hue on Zoe’s face. She looked so damn sad that he wanted to just hold her. But holy hell, he’d never been so proud of someone in all his life.

  “Shit,” Zoe blurted out.

  “What?” He followed her gaze to her car. “Damn!” Her windshield was shattered. Spray-painted on the passenger side door were obscenities.

  He reached for his gun. His gaze shifted around to make sure the person responsible was gone.

  Ten minutes later, Tyler called the cops just so he’d have this on record. They sent someone over to make a report, but he didn’t expect them to do shit about it. And since he really couldn’t tell them why or who he suspected had done this, it was little help.

  After the cops left, Tyler went into the office and called Mr. Bradford. The man started giving him hell for taking Zoe away from his house. Tyler interrupted the old man. “Is Windsor still working tonight?”

  “Why?”

  “Just answer me!”

  “He didn’t come in tonight. Why? You don’t think… Is Caroline okay?”

  He almost bit out that her name was Zoe. “She’s fine.” He hung up. Tomorrow morning Tyler and Windsor were going to have a long chat.

  Going back into the apartment, he pulled her against him. “I’ll have it fixed tomorrow.”

  “I have insurance.” Her head rested on his chest.

  They ordered Chinese food and ate on the sofa with the television on. Zoe barely talked or ate. He pulled her against him again. “Need a shoulder?”

  She smiled. “I think I’d better go it on my own.”

  He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t like it.

  When they went to bed, Tyler decided sex was out of the picture, so he’d been surprised when Zoe crawled into the bed and kissed him in a suggestive way.

  He pulled back and brushed her hair from her face. “You sure?”

  “Yes.” When she ran her hand down his chest, there was something slightly different in her touch. A desperation. The feeling seeped into his chest as he made love to her. This time, there was no playfulness, no talking. But there wasn’t a spot on her body that he didn’t pass his lips over, either.

  She reached for the condom and slid it over him. Then she crawled on top and with a slowness that left him breathless, she lowered herself on top of him.

  She gazed into his eyes while moving up and down, easy strokes until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He placed his hands on her waist and encouraged a faster pace. She obliged. Afterward, he bundled her up in his arms and held her while she cried.

  Happy tears she’d told him. But they didn’t feel happy.

  Tyler lay awake watching Zoe sleep, his mind going over and over what he planned to say to her. How was he going to convince her to stay in Texas? How could he do it without making promises he swore he’d never make? Startling him, his phone rang. Looking at the time, almost midnight, he hurried to get it. His first thought was Sam. He prayed he was wrong.

  He wasn’t.

  “Tio?” Anna’s scared voice came through the line.

  “What’s wrong, Anna?” he asked, and saw Zoe sit up.

  “Leo’s here and he’s being mean. Can you come hit him in the nose again?”

  Tyler grabbed his jeans, his stomach in knots. “I’m on the way. You stay in the room. Okay? Promise me.”

  By the time he’d gotten off his phone and grabbed his gun, Zoe was dressed.

  “Don’t take the gun,” Zoe said.

  Tyler frowned. “I’m not going there to shoot him. I’ll get much more pleasure beating his ass to a pulp if he laid a finger on her.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Someone needs to watch the kids,” Zoe said.

  She had a point. “Fine, but you stay in the car until I say you can come in.”

  “Stay here,” Tyler told Zoe ten minutes later as he pulled into the parking lot in front of his apartment. He heard Leo yelling when he stepped out of his car. He ran to the door and let himself in.

  Leo had Sam against the wall. Tyler saw the blood on her mouth. “Take your hands off her!” he growled.

  Leo stumbled back. Sam slid to the floor and started to cry. Leo was so drunk, he swayed. It took Tyler back to his childhood so fast it made him dizzy. Leo came at Tyler. And Tyler realized the difference from now and back then. He wasn’t six years old. He knew how to fight. When Leo swung, Tyler swung back with everything he had.

  He
gave him one right in his mouth. The man fell over the sofa and landed on the floor. But he got up and came back at Tyler.

  “Stop it!” Sam yelled.

  Tyler ducked Leo’s fist and swung again. The man fell. “Did I tell you what would happen if you laid another hand on her?” Leo got to his feet and took another swing. Tyler grabbed the man by the shirt.

  “Stop it!” Zoe yelled from the doorway. Tyler looked back at the door and saw Zoe staring at him in something akin to fear. And for some crazy reason, he remembered Lisa staring at him when she’d told him it was over.

  He shoved Leo down on the sofa and looked at Sam. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “You were right. I brought this on myself. I can’t do this to my kids. Now all I have to figure out is how to stop loving him.” She glared at Leo. “But I will. I will stop.”

  Zoe walked past Tyler and knelt down beside Sam. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go in the kitchen and let me make sure you’re okay.”

  It was after four that morning before Tyler returned to the Only in Texas office. Zoe had hardly said two words to him. He’d hardly said two words to her.

  Hell, he couldn’t even look at her.

  When they got to the apartment, she headed straight for the kitchen. He dropped on the sofa. When she came out, she reached for his hand and put the bag of frozen peas on it.

  “I don’t need that,” he said.

  “Yes, you do.” She held on to his forearm.

  He gave up and let her hold the cold bag to his hand.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong tonight, Tyler,” she said.

  When had she gotten so damn good at reading him? “You were afraid tonight; I saw it in your eyes.”

  “I was afraid of someone really getting hurt. Not that that jerk wouldn’t have deserved it, but…” She paused. “But I wasn’t afraid of you.”

  He inhaled. “I hate getting that angry.”

  “Everyone does,” she said.

  Emotion knotted his throat, and he couldn’t answer. After a few minutes, she got up and went to bed. And he let her go.

  Tyler stayed on the sofa until the sun was up. He might have dozed off, but mostly he thought about Sam, and about how he loved Zoe with the same desperation that Sam loved Leo. He’d been fooling himself to believe he wasn’t in love. So now the question was, what the hell did he plan on doing about it? Logic told him to let her go. That the longer he held her, the harder he’d fall. And yet… Oh, hell, he couldn’t lose her. Was this what Sam felt? And if he was so sure that Sam was making a terrible mistake, was he doing the same? Then again, he could be worried about nothing. He didn’t even know if she would consider making this into something permanent.