“What isn’t?” Collier responded.
“I heard about the picketers, of course, from Dad. He was about to blow a gasket.”
“Well, I do have some good news amongst all the bad.” Collier hesitated.
“Go on, spit it out.”
“Senator Riley came to see me. I haven’t even told Dad yet.”
“Have you moved up another rung on the ladder?”
“How did you know?”
Jackson shrugged. “That’s a no-brainer. The senator likes you.”
“It’s Mason he likes, because of all the money he’s contributed.”
“Hell, you’ve put in almost as much. And look at your record. It’s without blemish.”
“Was, don’t you mean?” Collier said down in the mouth. “This trial is threatening to nix that.”
“Is there something else bothering you?”
Collier gave him an odd look, then said with a hedging note in his tone, “What makes you think that?”
Jackson shrugged again. “I know you, little brother. You look drawn, like something’s eating at your gut.”
“Nah. It’s just your imagination.”
“Sorry if I’m interrupting.”
Jackson’s heart dropped to his toes at the sound of the lilting voice. He whipped his head around simultaneously with Collier’s. They both stared at the figure standing on the threshold of the open door.
Collier was the first to respond. “Why, hello, Haley.” He crossed to her and held out his hand. “It’s great to see you.”
“Same here,” she said, her eyes darting around him to Jackson.
He saw the question in those expressive eyes and wanted to tell her to get the hell out of there, that she was definitely interrupting and wasn’t welcome, to boot. However, those harsh words locked in his throat. In truth, he was thrilled she had returned, though he was angry at himself for that weakness.
“Come on in,” Collier was saying, stepping aside.
She never moved. Her gaze continued to hold Jackson’s. “Is that all right?”
“Since you’re here,” he muttered more gruffly than he’d intended, “you might as well stay.”
Haley flushed, though she didn’t let his surly attitude stop her. She visibly squared her shoulders as though prepared to do battle and walked into the room, not stopping until she was close to his wheelchair, close enough for him to get a whiff of her perfume. He held his breath, suddenly feeling a crazy notion that his lower body had reacted. God, but she was messing with his mind in a bad way. He had to get rid of her.
“Are you back in town to stay?” Collier asked her.
Jackson picked up on the humor-laced curiosity in his brother’s tone, and it irritated him, though he couldn’t say why.
“As far as I know,” Haley said, her vibrant red hair swirling softly around her neck.
For a second Jackson was spellbound by that. Spellbound by her. He cursed silently.
“That’s great.”
Haley smiled. “My mom thinks so, too.”
Jackson thought her smile seemed forced, but then, so did her voice. Still, she showed no sign of leaving. But she’d always had more than her share of sweet, reckless gall. The intervening years hadn’t changed her one iota.
“Look, I’m going to go and let you two visit,” Collier said, an obvious glint in his eyes.
Damn his brother, Jackson thought, his ill humor festering. The bastard couldn’t be happier about Haley’s presence.
“Don’t let me run you off,” Haley said, frowning.
“You’re not. I need to get back to the office. I’m in court this afternoon.” He turned to Jackson. “Later, bro.”
Jackson nodded.
Once Collier was gone and the door had closed behind him, silence shrouded the room like a heavy mist.
“I know I shouldn’t keep dropping in like this,” Haley said, “but…”
“You’re not sorry,” Jackson said, finishing the sentence for her.
Haley’s delightful chin tipped defiantly. “That’s right.”
Another silence.
“What do you want, Haley?” Jackson asked in a strained voice.
“Nothing more than to take you for a ride.” She paused and peered outside. “It’s a lovely day, much too lovely to be indoors.”
“I like being indoors.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Dammit, Haley, why aren’t you at work?”
“I’m about to be. I have to check on an adjuster in the field for the first time. I thought maybe you’d like to go with me.”
“What if I told you to leave me the hell alone?”
She was silent for a long moment. “I wouldn’t do it.”
Jackson let go an expletive.
“So?”
“So, all right, I’ll go. But if you think I’m going to make a habit of this, you’re wrong.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Yeah, right,” Jackson countered darkly. “Don’t forget, I know you.”
She laughed, then sobered, her bottom lip suddenly quivering. “Please, just don’t shut me out, okay?”
“Haley…”
“Jackson…” she mimicked, her hands on her hips, her head tilted.
“I’ll call Harry,” he said in a terse but resigned tone, at the same time that he shifted his gaze off her lovely face. “He’ll put me in your car.”
“You won’t be sorry, I promise.”
Oh no, he would be sorry, all right. Still, he found himself pressing the buzzer, unwilling or unable to deny her.
Twenty-Three
Brittany always dreaded going inside the prison. This afternoon, that dread seemed worse than usual. The instant she walked through the doors, its particular smell hit her with a vengeance. She paused and leaned against the wall.
If only Tommy were allowed to go outside to visit. Unfortunately that wasn’t the way things worked in the penal system. Though she hated to breathe, she had no choice. She couldn’t hold her breath much longer.
She couldn’t imagine how her brother dealt with being caged like an animal day after day. God, was she ever morbid. It was moments like this when she considered taking Rupert up on his offer and becoming the consummate unselfish sibling.
Forget that. With a disgusted shake of her head, that insane thought disappeared. While she loved her brother dearly, she refused to degrade herself that way or put herself in further jeopardy. Being alone with Rupert would do both.
She would just have to stay on her plotted course, which was to finish college and get a fabulous job. In the meantime, she would continue to work her fingers to the bone and save money. Maybe, with some luck, she’d have enough to hire an attorney before she got her degree, an attorney who believed in Tommy’s innocence and that he was imprisoned unfairly.
For the moment, however, she had to cast those thoughts aside and get in a better frame of mind. When she saw Tommy, she didn’t need to be down in the mouth. It was her place to buoy his spirits, a burden that continually weighed heavily on her.
That wasn’t all, either. Since her run-in with Collier here, on these grounds, she hadn’t been herself. She had gone about her daily routine while completely unraveling on the inside. But she would get over him. She would. It had only been a week. What did she expect? Apparently too much. Collier had gotten under her skin, made her think and feel things she couldn’t forget. During the short duration of their affair, she’d become addicted to him.
While she hadn’t fallen in love—though just that thought almost caused her knees to buckle—she missed him terribly. What she missed were his arms, his mouth, his tongue….
Dear Lord, she begged, she didn’t want to think about Collier right now. Her time and attention belonged to Tommy. At the moment, however, Collier and Tommy were tied together. On an equal plane with her desire to see Collier was her guilt for wanting to do so. She felt as though she was consorting with the enemy. Her brother would have a fit if h
e had an inkling of what was going on. What had gone on.
Tommy must never know. She must keep her secret at all costs.
He was waiting behind the partition, staring at the door, an anxious expression on his face. She forced a smile as she picked up the phone.
“Hey, sweetie.”
“Hiya, sis.”
Her eyes took in everything about him, making sure he was taking care of himself as best he could. She didn’t want his weight to drop again. That frightened her. “What kind of week have you had?”
He shrugged. “Same as all of ’em.”
Her spirits fell. He didn’t seem as upbeat as he had last week. Something must have happened with his job in the chapel.
She voiced that thought. “Did the chapel job come through?”
“Not yet.”
“I was so hoping it would.”
“Me, too.”
“What does your minister friend say? I thought he was spearheading it?”
Tommy picked at a scratch on his hand. “That’s the problem. I haven’t seen him. I asked, but no one would tell me anything.”
“Do you want me to check?” Panic darkened his eyes. “No, don’t say anything to anyone.”
“If you don’t want me to, I won’t, but—”
“Forget it. It’ll either happen or it won’t.”
“Just don’t lose faith,” Brittany encouraged, grasping for anything that would put hope back into those bleak eyes.
“What’s been going on with you?” Tommy asked, abruptly changing the subject.
“Work and school,” she hedged, looking away.
“Sis…?”
Brittany whipped her head back around, alerted by the changed tone of his voice.
“Have you been able to pay back any of the money you borrowed?”
“No, why?”
“I was just hoping you might have, so we could borrow some more for an attorney.”
Another kind of dread spread through her, even more potent. “Tommy, we’ve been over this before. That’s not possible. I simply can’t go back for more. As it is, I’m barely managing to pay my college tuition. And remember, we have a mortgage on the trailer.”
She hated this, hated hearing that desperate, almost begging, note in his voice and being unable to do anything to help him.
Suddenly Rupert and his promise jumped back into her mind. She cringed inwardly. No. She simply wouldn’t give in to that kind of blackmail. Besides, there were no guarantees she could trust him to deliver. Trust was not what Rupert was all about.
“I was just hoping.”
Unbidden tears filled her eyes, and a sob caught in her throat. He looked so forlorn, so lost. And she felt so damn guilty. That renewed sense of guilt was almost crippling. While he was rotting in this hellhole, thoughts of Collier had consumed her, how much she missed him, how much she wanted to make love to him again.
Had she no shame?
“Hey, sis, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“I know,” she gulped, taking a tissue out of her purse and dabbing her eyes. “It’s not you.”
“Then what is it? You look like you’ve been sick. Have you?”
“No.”
“So what’s wrong?”
She knew it upset him to see her lose control. He depended on her to be the strong one, to be there for him. But oh, how she wished she had someone strong to lean on herself. Someone like Collier…
“I’ve done something awful, Tommy,” she blurted out. “I’ve been sleeping with Jackson Williams’ brother.”
Dear God, what had she done? The horror of her unplanned, unwanted confession turned her as rigid as stone. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t do anything but stare into Tommy’s stunned eyes, waiting to see his love for her turn to hate.
“Hey, that’s great news, sis!”
“What?” she managed to screech.
Tommy’s eyes and face were animated. “Way to go. That’s just great, the best news you could’ve given me.”
Brittany was too flabbergasted to speak. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. It was as if paralysis had suddenly gripped her throat.
“Yeah, that’s just great,” he repeated, a grin having removed the sullen look from his face.
Brittany rubbed her head as if to clear it. “I don’t…understand.”
“Think about it and you will.” Tommy lowered his voice until it was hardly more than a hush. “Man, can we ever use this to our advantage. What a stroke of luck.”
She simply stared at him incredulously, not believing what she was hearing. “Have you lost your mind?”
“No. He’s got the hots for you, right? So use it. I betcha if you refuse to put out anymore, he’ll be glad to do anything you want. If I’m guessing right, his brother’ll suddenly take second banana to his pecker.”
“Tommy!” she cried in horror. “That’s crazy!”
“It’s brilliant.” His eyes seemed on fire. “Use him, sis, to help me. Don’t you see? It’ll work. It just has to.”
Speechless once again, Brittany could only sit and stare at her brother, sick to her stomach.
“You mean he actually went with her?”
Collier nodded at Mason. “I hung around to see for myself.”
“Maybe there’s hope for your brother after all, though I would never have guessed that any woman, even Haley, could accomplish what we’ve been unable to do for three years.”
“Miracles do still happen.”
“We’ll see,” Mason said in a sobering tone. “I’m not going to get my hopes up again, only to have them shot down.”
His stepdad had barged into his office unannounced shortly after Kyle had come in. Before they settled down to business, Collier had wanted Mason to know about Haley and Jackson, certain Jackson would not have told him. He’d been right in that assumption.
“I didn’t think he could—” Kyle broke off midsentence, his face turning scarlet.
“He can’t,” Mason replied bluntly.
“I repeat, miracles do happen,” Collier said, almost to himself. Maybe that was what he was hoping for with Brittany—a miracle that would get rid of all the debris that lay between them, enabling them to be together again.
“Dammit, boy, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”
Collier gave a start. “Sorry.”
“You should be,” Mason responded, a fierce expression on his face.
“What did you say?”
“That I found out you made the next cut, only not from you.”
Collier flushed.
“I was going to tell you. How did you find out?”
“I just happened to run into Newton Riley. He said he’d been to see you.”
“I guess he also told you that the committee’s not happy about the picketers.”
“Sure did. He also said he told you to kiss some babies and make the women happy. Think you can do that?”
Collier didn’t bother to answer that question. When Mason hit his office, he’d been itching for a fight, and Collier didn’t see that changing. Nothing he’d done lately seemed to please his dad.
“What’s with you?” Mason demanded. “Suddenly you don’t seem interested in the appointment or anything else, except maybe that goddamn harassment case you should’ve dumped.”
Collier sighed as he glanced at Kyle, whose eyebrows were raised in a knowing manner. He knew what that look meant: his investigator was siding with Mason.
“That’s crap. Of course I’m interested in the appointment, but—”
“But what?” Mason interrupted.
“But until I’ve been appointed,” Collier said with stressed patience, “I’m going to continue to practice law, which means representing Luther Brickman. End of discussion.”
“I just hope you don’t live to regret that.”
“Me, too,” Collier said tightly.
“Meanwhile,” Mason said, seeming to have recharged his enthusiasm, “we
have to watch our backsides. With Holt’s boy Wainwright still in the hunt, it’s going to be hard going.”
“He’s a tough opponent,” Kyle added in his easygoing voice.
“Any ideas how we can spike his guns?” Mason asked, his gaze nailing Kyle.
“Let’s hold off on going that route,” Collier said. “If we start slinging dirt, then so will they. So far, it’s been civil. I’d rather keep it that way if we can.”
Mason kept his eyes on Kyle. “You agree with that?”
“Yes, sir, for the time being. But I’ll keep my ears and eyes open. That way, if anything changes, we’ll be prepared.”
“Good.” Mason peered at his watch. “I’m due on the golf course. I’ll be in touch.”
A long silence followed Mason’s exit. Finally Kyle said, “I’m on the same page with your dad. What’s up with you, anyway?”
“Both of you are imagining things.”
“I don’t think so,” Kyle said in that same easy tone, pushing himself out of the deep leather chair and crossing to the window. From there, he faced Collier once again. “You’re distracted as hell, have been for days.”
“It’s the case.”
“Bullshit.”
A smile of sorts tempered Collier’s lips. “Why don’t you say what’s on your mind?”
“Why don’t you level with me?”
“Confession’s good for the soul.” Collier smiled sarcastically. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“Whatever it takes to get your head out of your ass.”
Collier muttered an expletive.
“Tell me it’s not that woman.”
Collier felt his face burn with unnatural color.
“Holy shit,” Kyle spat, his features saying even more than the words.
“It’s worse than you think,” Collier said in a strained voice.
Kyle groaned. “Let’s hear it.”
When Collier finished, Kyle looked as if he’d been gutted. For a long moment, silence dominated the room.
“Man, oh, man, what a fucking mess.”
Collier averted his gaze. “I know.”
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