“Are you serious?”
He strode over to the four-poster bed and touched a hand to the brown spread. “This is the same bedcover.” Turning on his boot heel, he made a complete sweep of the room. “The curtains are the same. And my trophies and ribbons that I won at the livestock shows are there on the shelves. The photos and mementoes I collected are there, too.”
Dazed, he walked over to the pine desk where he used to do his homework. A plastic model of the great race horse Dash For Cash still sat on one corner. He picked up the model and stared at it while his mind whirled with questions, doubts and even hopes.
“I can’t imagine what this means, Rosa. The last words Dad said to me were to get the hell out and don’t come back.” He placed the horse back on the desk, then rubbed a hand over his weary eyes. “I figured he’d probably had Mom get rid of all this stuff that I’d left behind.”
“Maybe he did, but she refused,” Rosa suggested.
“No. No way would she ever defy him. There’s some other reason for this.”
Walking over to him, Rosalinda laid a hand on his arm. “Why did your dad say those things to you?”
He shrugged. “Dear God, Rosa, now when I try to remember all about that time it’s like a foggy dream. None of it makes sense. I only know that back then I was full up to here with him telling me what to do, how to act, how to deal with my wife and Trent.” He used a hand to mark a spot just below his chin. “I’d had enough of his ramrod ways and I told him I was leaving. I didn’t want to be a part of the Rocking P anymore.”
“So he didn’t try to talk you out of it? Try to stop you from leaving?”
Tyler shook his head. “He understood it would have been useless. So he didn’t try. Instead, he told me to never come back.”
“But here you are,” she said softly.
He let out a heavy breath. “Yeah. Here I am. Even if it is only for a day.”
Rosalinda moved away from him and wandered over to the windows that overlooked the back of the house and the working ranch yard in the far distance. As she gazed at the view, she said, “Maybe it hurt him too much to say anything else.”
Walking up behind her, he slipped his arms around her waist and linked his fingers over her stomach. “I’d like to believe that, Rosa. But Warren Pickens doesn’t feel any pain.”
He’d barely gotten the words out when a red pickup truck, much like the one Trent had been driving, rolled to a stop at the backyard fence and two men climbed out of the cab. The driver took off walking in the direction of the ranch yard. The other one headed to the house and even from this distance Tyler could see it was his father.
Everything inside him tightened with dread. “There he is now, Rosa. Do you want to go down with me to see him? Or stay up here?”
She turned and gave him a brief, reassuring smile. “I think it would be best if you first talked with him alone. I’ll come down later.”
“All right.” He kissed her lightly on the lips, then left the room before he could convince himself that Warren Pickens didn’t warrant a word from his estranged son.
By the time Tyler reached the downstairs landing, he could hear his father yelling from somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen.
“Verbena! Where the hell are you? I want some fresh coffee! And that doesn’t mean I want it two hours from now!”
“You want it on a silver platter?” the old woman bravely called back to him.
Warren’s answer was the slam of a door. Tyler continued through the house while guessing the sound had come from his father’s office, where he did his own bookkeeping for the Rocking P Ranch.
When Tyler arrived at the closed door, he’d expected to feel stiff with nerves and full of dread. Instead, he felt strangely calm and he wondered what sort of cataclysmic event had taken place inside him. Seeing his mother so ill? Realizing he was ready to love again? He didn’t know. But he welcomed the steady strength flowing through him.
Rapping a short knock on the door, he stepped into the dimly lit room. With his back to him, Warren continued to dig through a drawer in a file cabinet.
“That was fast enough. You still have any of that pie left? The chocolate one.”
“I’m not Verbena,” Tyler said.
Warren Pickens whirled around to stare at him and for a moment Tyler thought his father was the one who was going to die of heart failure instead of his mother. Warren had aged considerably since Tyler had last laid eyes on him. His leathery skin was creased with wrinkles and the corners of his mouth drooped with the shape of his walrus mustache. Blue eyes that were once vibrant and full of life were now faded and dull.
“Tyler! How— Nobody told me you were coming!”
“Nobody knew it.”
He wiped a hand over his face as though he didn’t trust what he was seeing. Then, using his back to push the drawer closed, he walked over to the large desk and sank into a big leather chair.
“What are you doing here?” he finally asked.
“I came to see Mom. Connie phoned me. Do you understand how seriously ill she is?”
He glowered at Tyler. “You think I’m stupid?”
“No. I think you’re an indifferent, unfeeling bastard.”
“Is that what you came here to tell me?”
“I’d not planned it. But you asked.” Tyler moved across the room and eased into a straight-backed chair that was positioned in front of Warren’s desk. “I mainly came to tell you that when Mom gets better I’m taking her out to the Pine Ridge Ranch to live with me for a while.”
Warren’s eyes narrowed. “And what is this Pine Ridge Ranch?” he asked sardonically. “Ten acres with a cow/calf pair on it?”
Ignoring his father’s hateful sarcasm, he said, “I’ll let Mom tell you about it.”
Warren’s pale face suddenly grew red with anger. “Edie isn’t going to tell me about anything of yours because she’s not going to New Mexico. She’s coming right back here!”
Tyler merely smiled. “Sorry, but you’re finished running roughshod over her, Dad. You can turn Trent into an alcoholic and ruin the rest of his life, but you’re not going to ruin what years Mom has left.”
The older man’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t turn Trent into an alcoholic! DeeDee has done that!”
“And who put him on to her in the first place?”
He spluttered. “I was only trying to save you, Tyler! Hell, I knew she was all wrong for you. And I knew she had eyes for Trent. It was easy to sic him on that airheaded blonde. Those two mealymouths deserve each other.”
Tyler’s head shook ruefully back and forth. “Did you ever love either of your sons, Dad? Ever since we were little boys, you pitted us against each other. Why?”
Suddenly Warren’s shoulders slumped and his face returned to a sickly white. “Keeping a ranch of this size going takes guts and strength, Ty. I realized that someday I’d be too old and one of you would have to take over. I had to see which of you boys could stand up to the task. And the only way I could find out was to test you.”
Tyler suddenly felt sick. All the loss and waste. The anger and bitterness. All for nothing. “So who won, Dad? I sure as hell don’t see any winners around here.”
“You won, boy. By the time you were ten years old I could see you had the guts and the makings to be a rancher. But then you married DeeDee and I didn’t want you ruined by the likes of her.”
“So you ruined my marriage and my relationship with my brother instead. And I suppose you think I should be grateful to you for that.” Rising to his feet, he looked down at his father. “You know, you were right about one thing, I was the one with the guts. Enough of them to walk away from you. And I thank God for that.”
He walked out of the study and quietly shut the door behind him.
Chapter Thirteen
On the drive back to Austin, Tyler only made small talk, and Rosalinda understood he wasn’t ready to get into his conversation with his father. But it was clear to her that the meeting hadn’t gone that well.
Once he’d come back upstairs and collected her from his bedroom, they’d said goodbye to Verbena, then quickly left the ranch. He’d not asked Rosalinda if she wanted to meet Warren Pickens and, frankly, after being exposed to Trent for those few short minutes, she’d been relieved she was being spared the father. If Warren was anything like Tyler’s brother, then she didn’t want to meet the man.
It was no wonder he’d chosen to live such a quiet, lonely life these past nine years, she thought. The Pickens family had undoubtedly turned him against the whole human race.
Now as they stepped into the plush suite Tyler had reserved for them, the air was blissfully cool from the Texas heat and as Rosalinda sank onto a brocade couch, she realized just how drained the day of traveling and meeting his family had left her.
As she kicked off her heels and massaged her feet, Tyler put their two small bags in the closet, then removed his hat and raked both hands through his hair.
“I don’t know about you, Rosa, but I don’t want to leave this room tonight.”
“You don’t plan on visiting your mother again tonight?”
“Connie texted that Mom was too exhausted for another visit tonight. I thought we’d go to the hospital in the morning. Before we have to catch our flight.”
“I am tired,” she admitted. “Are you?”
He walked over to the couch and sank down close to her side. “I feel like someone threw me in front a truck and it’s been rolling over me all afternoon.”
He dropped his head against the back of the couch and let out a weary sigh. She reached over and placed her hand over his.
“I wish there was some way I could make it all better for you, Ty. I really do.”
He closed his eyes. “I expected things to go bad with Dad. And they did. But during the drive back here to the city, I kept thinking about the things he said to me. Most of them were damned hard to believe. I never imagined he felt that way about me.”
She leaned earnestly toward him. “How do you mean?”
Raising his head, he looked at her with a mixture of anguish and wonder. “In his own twisted way, I think he loves me.”
Rosalinda gasped. “Oh, Ty! That’s good, isn’t it? I mean, I got the impression that you thought he hated you.”
“I couldn’t think anything else. From the time I was a small boy, he goaded and pushed, then exploded when I didn’t follow his commands to the letter. He always kept a tight, tight rein over me while he allowed Trent to go on his merry way. Trent had always appeared to be the apple of his eye while I was the whipping post. All those years he never told me that I was the one he considered the good, responsible son, the only son he had worthy of running and inheriting the Rocking P. Today he decided to let me in on his feelings.”
Stunned, Rosalinda’s gaze swept his face. “Oh, Ty, to find that out now. Your family’s ranch is worth a fortune. Are you now regretting you left? That the ranch won’t go to you?”
A wan smile moved his features and the soft gaze he settled on her face made her feel like she was the most special thing in the world to him.
“Owning that ranch was never my dream, Rosa. Now I feel sorry for Trent. Dad set him out for everyone to fawn over and left him there to spoil.” He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. “Oh, Rosa, my ranch back home—I never realized how much I loved it until now. And you—I’m so blessed to have you. You’re what makes me happy.”
The warm, hard strength of his body, the intoxicating scent of his skin and hair muddled the questions and doubts that were racing through her mind. There would be time to try to unravel them all later, she promised herself.
Bringing her face around to his, she spoke against his lips, “You make me very happy, too, Ty. Do you think it’s too early for us to go to bed?”
He groaned with pleasure. “I think it’s a perfect time,” he said. Then, scooping her up in his arms, he carried her to the king-size bed.
* * *
Much, much later, after the sky had darkened and the lights of the city twinkled through the plate-glass window, Rosalinda rested her head against Tyler’s shoulder and laid her hand upon the steady beat of his heart.
“Here in this room it seems like we’re a world away from everything,” she murmured. “Your family. The fire. And tomorrow.”
He shifted so that they were facing each other. “I can put all of that out of my mind for a while. But not you, Rosa.” He touched the dark tendrils of hair lying against her shoulder, using his forefinger to trace the lush curve of her lower lip. “Today when we were at the ranch I realized that nothing in my life would be the same without you, Rosa. I love you.”
Rosalinda’s heart had been longing to hear those words, and for the past few weeks, she’d let herself imagine him saying them to her. She’d thought she would feel elated and complete. But so much had happened in the past twenty-four hours that her emotions were on a roller coaster. Hearing his declaration of love felt almost surreal. A part of her wanted to laugh with sheer joy, while at the same time she was close to breaking into tears.
“You don’t have anything to say?”
She focused on the rugged line of his lips while she tried to make sense of the feelings that were sweeping her onto the crest of a wave. The ride was exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
“I’m trying to catch my breath,” she finally admitted.
A gentle smile touched his face. “Surely I didn’t surprise you. I think you’ve always understood me better than I have myself.”
She rubbed the back of her fingers against his cheek. “To be honest, Ty, I think I’ve been dreaming about you saying those words to me ever since that night outside the Blue Mesa when you kissed me. Even then I felt so drawn to you. But I wasn’t expecting to hear this from you tonight.”
“I hope that’s a roundabout way of saying you love me, too.”
A tide of feelings suddenly flooded her, making her voice low and husky when she spoke. “I do love you, Ty. Very much.”
Groaning with relief, he wrapped his arm over her and hugged her tightly to him. “Rosa, ever since that night—ever since that kiss at the Blue Mesa—you’ve changed my world. Day by day I started to see that hanging on to the past was only ruining my future. A future with you. I want us to be married, soon. If you’re one of those women that wants a fancy wedding, then I’ll give you time to make the arrangements. But as far as I’m concerned, I’d like to marry you tonight—tomorrow—as soon as possible.”
With her hands against his bare shoulders, she levered herself back enough to look at him. “Ty, I’ve just now learned that you love me. Marriage is an important step. I— We both need time to think about this.”
He went very still and she knew her resistance had taken him by surprise. And why not? She’d just made long, passionate love to him. Hadn’t she been telling him with every kiss, every touch that she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life?
You do want to be with him forever, Rosa. What the hell is the matter with you anyway? The man of your dreams proposes and you start running backward. You’re crazy.
No. She wasn’t crazy. She was scared. The moment she’d agreed to marry Dale was when all their troubles had started. From that point on, their relationship and plans for the future had slowly but surely broken into pieces. Senseless as it seemed, she was afraid if she said yes to Tyler’s proposal the same thing would happen to them.
“You think I’m not serious?”
His question interrupted her troubled thoughts. “Yes, I believe you’re serious. But I think you— Well, so much has happened in the past few days. Especially wit
h your family. I imagine you need to sort it all out. You need to give me time to sort it all out.”
Clearly frustrated, he suddenly scrambled upright and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Time? Hells bells, Rosa. I’ve had ten years to think about what my family did to me. I’ve come to terms with it. What else is there to sort out?”
His words suddenly forced her thoughts in a different direction. Maybe she was the one who needed to come to terms with everything. These past few weeks with Tyler had shown her just how much she’d been missing in her life. And because of him, she’d found the courage to reach for love again. And somewhere along the way, a part of her had begun to dream about marriage and a family. But the moment he’d actually spoken the word to her, something inside her had frozen with fear. How could she explain such irrational feelings and expect him to understand?
Rising up in the bed, she touched a hand to his back. “You just figured out that your dad loves you. That has to change things in your mind. Maybe even your plans for the future.”
Amazed by her reasoning, he shook his head. “You weren’t listening, Rosa. I said he loves me in a warped way. Not the way a father should really love his son. And even if he did, I wouldn’t go back to the Rocking P. My home is in the Capitan Mountains. With you.”
“I want to believe that. But seeing your family home today has started me wondering. Your father might be an unforgiving man, but I have the feeling he’d welcome you home in a heartbeat. Probably even deed the Rocking P over to you. And Verbena said that Trent and DeeDee are getting a divorce.”
He twisted around to look at with stunned fascination. “What does that have to do with anything?”
She climbed off the bed and reached for the silk robe she’d draped over the back of an armchair. As she wrapped it over her nakedness, she said, “You didn’t go see her.”
He made a sound of disbelief. “Why would I want to?”
“She obviously doesn’t want Trent now. Maybe she realizes she should’ve never given you up. And maybe you were afraid that seeing her would make you realize you still care for her.”
The Deputy Gets Her Man Page 17
