by Joanna Wayne
He reached across the space between them and rested his hand on Julie’s shoulder. “I’m thinking we should go to the dance.”
She looked surprised. “Any particular reason?”
“So that I have a good excuse to hold you in my arms.”
Julie leaned in close. “You don’t need an excuse for that.”
She pressed her lips against his. Desire hit with so much force that he had to keep one hand on the wheel to stay grounded. Her breath mingled with his, and the taste of her was like liquid fire shooting through his veins.
The honk of a car horn finally yanked him back to reality.
“To be continued,” he said.
“At the dance.” She smiled and traced her lips with the tip of her tongue, all but driving him mad.
He was going to make love with Julie. They were moving toward that at rocket speed.
And then what? The answer was a no-brainer. And then he’d go back to the battlefield with memories of Julie burning in his mind. Romance was the last thing he’d expected to find in Mustang Run. And the last thing he needed, when it had no chance to last.
Still he didn’t think he could wait to hold her in his arms, on or off the dance floor.
A lemon yellow Jaguar convertible was parked in front of the house when they returned to Willow Creek Ranch. “More company,” Julie noted. “I predict another homemade casserole for dinner tonight.”
Troy met them on the porch. “There’s a Candice Cameron here to see you, Julie. She says it has to do with your investigation.”
Tyler had a disturbing hunch that this would not be good.
CANDICE APPEARED TO BE IN her mid-fifties, though from the thick layers of makeup she wore, age was difficult to judge. Her ears dripped with dangling diamonds and silver balls in some kind of chunky, contemporary design. Her fingers flashed diamonds and rubies. Her straight black skirt was chic, the red silk blouse provocative.
Troy and Tyler had disappeared quickly, leaving Julie to entertain her surprise guest in the family area.
“Can I get you something?” Julie asked. “Water? Coffee? A soda?”
“No, thanks. I don’t have much time, since I’ve already been waiting for over an hour.”
“We didn’t have an appointment,” Julie reminded her.
“I realize that,” Candice said, “but Sheriff Grayson told me that you were staying with Troy Ledger and I really wanted the chance to talk to you. I was afraid you might not see me if I called first.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Julie asked.
“I didn’t know what the sheriff might have told you about me.”
“He said you were off-limits, but there’s no law that I know of against talking to whomever I choose.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. Sheriff Grayson doesn’t like you interfering in this, but I don’t understand why. You’d think he’d want all the help he could get seeing as how he never found Muriel’s killer.”
“Already we agree on something,” Julie said. “I’m glad you came.”
“So am I. Muriel didn’t just work for us, she and I were really good friends. I wasn’t sure if anyone had told you that.”
“Kara Saunders mentioned that to me.”
“You’ve talked to Kara?”
“I did, just a few days ago, in fact.”
“Kara was a trip and a half. I still miss her, but she was never as crazy after Muriel was killed. I’m talking about the good kind of crazy. The kind that makes you laugh. Kara, Muriel and I had some really good times together. I guess Kara told you about that.”
“We didn’t get to talk much.”
“Anyway, if you’re doing a story about Muriel’s murder, I thought you should hear some of the good things about her.”
“Why don’t you tell me some of those?” Julie took out the notebook and pen she’d been using in the car.
“Sure. Muriel was smart and pretty. Petite, but not so little that she didn’t have curves in all the right places. And she had this flirty way about her that drew the attention of every man she met. We all joked that you should lock up your husband when Muriel came around.”
“She must have inspired a lot of jealousy.”
“Too much and most of it unfounded. When women took the time to know Muriel, they found she had a heart of gold and didn’t want their husbands. That’s the Muriel I knew.”
“You don’t think she was killed by a jealous wife?”
“No. I think she got involved with the wrong people.”
“What wrong people?”
“Able Drake for one. He was exciting, but trouble. He always had a beautiful woman on his arm. Troy Ledger can tell you about him. They were friends back then. My guess is that they still are, though Able is a respected Dallas socialite now.”
“What was he back then?”
“The U.S. connection for a Mexican drug cartel. Drug running is not new, you know. It’s been going on for years. It’s just getting a lot of media coverage now. But that’s how Able Drake made all his money. And believe me, he has plenty.”
“Were they still together when she was murdered?”
“No. Able was furious when she agreed to raise her niece, even ordered her not to. When she took the girl anyway, he walked out on her.”
Julie’s chest tightened. “So she gave up a lot to take in her sister’s child?”
“A lot of trash if you ask me. I never cared for Able. I’m sure you know how her niece came to live with her.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
Julie shifted nervously and wondered if anything Candice was telling her was the truth or if she had reasons for concocting her own version of history.
“Muriel’s sister was killed in a brawl up in some Tulsa roadhouse where she was working as a barmaid. She was a good woman and a good mother, but then her husband deserted her and she got hooked on street drugs. It broke Muriel’s heart to see her niece so neglected.”
“How do you know this?”
“Muriel confided in me when her sister was killed. Muriel flew right up to Oklahoma and got the little girl. I lent her the money for the plane ticket. It was less than two hundred dollars, but Muriel didn’t have it. She paid me back, though, wrote me a check right before she died.”
A check for $186. That explained that check. And if Candice was telling the truth about that, then everything she said might be accurate.
“Her niece was a scared, pitiful creature. She’d hardly even talked to Muriel when she first arrived. And then she lost her mother and her aunt in a matter of months. I doubt that little girl ever recovered from that.”
“I wouldn’t count the niece out,” Julie said, fighting her own reaction to a few details she was hearing for the first time. “Some people are a lot more resilient than you’d ever imagine.”
Julie was reeling from all the new information. Candice seemed genuine, but she couldn’t be sure.
Candice scooted her chair closer and cupped her mouth. “Muriel isn’t the only reason I came here today.”
Now they just might be getting somewhere.
“I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay in this house,” she whispered. “I don’t know what happened to Helene Ledger, but I’m convinced that Able Drake had something to do with Muriel’s murder, probably because she knew too much about his business. I wouldn’t trust him or Troy, especially if you start getting too close to the truth.”
Suspicions clattered in Julie’s mind like a summer hailstorm. Able Drake had been questioned by Grayson. She’d seen a report of that in the file though there was no mention that he was involved in drugs or of his relationship with Troy Ledger. But then he’d been questioned months before Helene’s murder.
What if Drake had also killed Helene? If it was true that he liked beautiful women, he might have lured Helene into an affair, as well. Or Troy might have caught them together and gone into a rage.
What would Tyler say if she did discover that his father was guilty of killi
ng Helene? Was it even ethical for her to be staying in this house, knowing what she did about Able Drake?
Only she wasn’t sure that any of what she’d heard was factual. Candice Cameron might have orchestrated the interview to lay blame on Able.
Julie was thankful a few minutes later when Candice said she had to go. Julie needed time alone to think. She flew off the porch and started walking as Candice drove away. She didn’t realize she headed directly toward the horse barn until she heard the beckoning of a whinny.
Guinevere would have her hands full if she was supposed to give Julie perspective now.
WHATEVER CANDICE CAMERON HAD come to say had apparently not sat well with Julie. Tyler watched from the back steps as she stormed away from the house on foot, not even slowing as she stamped through a thick patch of bluebonnets.
Had she wanted him, she’d have come looking for him instead of forging out on her own, he told himself. She may look like a youthful burst of energy and feel like innocent vulnerability in his arms, but she was competent and determined, a force to be reckoned with.
He gave her a half hour to herself and then started walking in the same direction she had, through the sun-drenched bluebonnets and along the trail to the horse barn. He stepped from the heat of the sun into the shade and shadows of the barn. When his eyes adjusted to the change in light, he spotted Julie, curled up practically in a ball just outside Guinevere’s stall.
“I thought I might find you here.”
“I needed a place to think.”
“About whatever the rich witch of cosmetic land had to say?”
“About how the facts in the case keep twisting into new coils, each one more bizarre than the last.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She stood and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans, her perky breasts poking out from her ramrod stance.
“No. I want to forget about it for one whole hour. I want to think of absolutely nothing except sunshine and wildflowers and…. And you, Tyler. I want to go somewhere and concentrate on you. The only unknown in my life who isn’t involved in a murder mystery.”
“I’m game as long as you’re not thinking of playing twenty questions.”
“What’s wrong with that? I used to love that game.”
“I don’t know twenty answers.”
“I’m quite sure you underestimate yourself.”
“How about a horseback ride?” he asked. “Nothing like the wind in your face and the feel of a good horse beneath you to provide the perfect escape.”
Julie glanced around her. “I told you that I’m not quite ready for that.”
“That was then. This is now. You could ride Lady. Collette says she’s extra gentle.”
“Which one is Lady?”
“The mare right behind you.”
Julie looked at the horse and frowned. “You want me to climb up there? I’d need a stepladder.”
“You’d only need me.” His voice grew husky.
Julie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “How about we take a ride in your truck and save Lady for next time?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“It is. Can I hear a Yee-haw?”
She was joking again, but frustration still colored her voice.
In minutes, they were in Tyler’s truck and bumping and shimmying along rough ranch roads. Without thinking about it, he ended up at the swimming hole.
Memories rushed into his consciousness, this time all good ones. He could practically hear the laughter and yells of his brothers as they swung out over the pool.
Amazingly the old rope was still there, the gnarled strings coming unwound.
“What a beautiful spot,” Julie said. “We should have packed a picnic, not that I’m hungry.” She jumped out of the car and started walking toward the water.
Tyler set the emergency brake and joined her.
“The water is crystal clear,” she proclaimed. She reached down, made of cup of her hand and splashed the water on her face. “And cold.”
“It’s always cold, even in the summer. It’s spring fed.”
“A spring-fed pool for a swimming hole. Now that’s living.”
It had been when he was a kid.
Julie kicked out of her shoes and rolled up her jeans. She stuck one toe in and twirled it about in the water. “That first dip is a shock to the system, but it’s refreshing once you get used to it.”
She walked back to where he was standing. “How old are you, Tyler?”
“Twenty-six. You?”
“Twenty-five. How is it you’re not in a serious relationship?”
“Not a lot of opportunity when you’re fighting a war.”
“But before that. Were you ever engaged?”
He leaned against the rough trunk of a pine tree. “Your twenty questions are about up. Are you sure you want to waste one of them on that?”
She scooted close and put her arms around his neck. “Why do you always change the subject instead of talking about yourself?”
“I hate to be bored.”
“Oh, no. You’re not going to wisecrack out of this one. Why do you keep me at a distance?”
“I never had a lot of practice in opening up.”
“You could learn. You’ll never know unless you give it a try.” Julie pulled away. “Do you know a man named Able Drake?”
“Not if he’s a shrink you’re about to recommend.”
“He’s not, but I think he could be a friend of your father’s.”
“Now that you mention it, that name did come up the other day.”
“What did he say about him?”
“That he is the kind of friend who he can count on in a crunch. Why do you ask?”
“Candice said Muriel was romantically involved with him.”
“Troy never mentioned that. What else did Candice say?”
“Nothing much. She just wanted me to know that she and Muriel were good friends. One more question. Why is it you never call your father Dad?”
“Are you sure you’re not a trial attorney?”
“That’s not a hard question, Tyler. Just the simple truth would work.”
There was no simple truth. “I had a dad once, a long time ago. The body may be the same, except older. But the man inside the body that goes by the name of Troy Ledger isn’t that man.”
“Give him a chance. He might be again.”
“Or I could find out that he never was the man I believed him to be. Now let’s talk about you.”
“I’m an only child, spoiled rotten, didn’t take advantage of the educational opportunities offered to me, so I ended up telling teenage girls how to dress, what not to text and how to say no to the hot guy in your senior class who wants to steal your virginity.
“And one day I’m going to be a high-profile investigative reporter who major news networks jockey for the privilege of paying the big bucks. And I’ll make a difference in the world.”
“Unless you get killed on your first case.”
“Well, there’s that. And I’m tired of talking about it, so I’m going to strip out of my clothes and go dive into that inviting, spring-fed pool.”
She reached under the hem of her blouse, caught hold of it and yanked it over her head. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she gave her seductive hips an extra swing or two as she twirled the shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground.
She looked back at him. “Coming?”
Without waiting for an answer, she continued stripping her way to the water. The bra was the next to go. Wiggling out of the jeans took a bit more time. And then she was down to the skimpiest pair of red bikini panties he’d ever seen.
She slipped a thumb under the waistband and stood in one spot while she peeled the scrap of silky fabric from her body.
Tyler’s sexual energy topped the charts. The desire to pull Julie’s naked body against his felt like an explosion ripping through his body.
None of the reasons h
e’d come up with earlier for keeping her at a distance reached his passion-muddled brain.
Tyler shed his clothes in record time and plunged into the icy water, so overcome with his need for Julie that he never even felt the cold.
Chapter Eight
The plunge stole Julie’s breath. She closed her eyes and swam beneath the surface of the shallow water, smooth, steady strokes to warm her. The exercise felt good, but it didn’t begin to soothe the frustrations that haunted her.
Able Drake. His connection with Troy Ledger. The fear that Troy might not be totally innocent.
The way she hungered for Tyler.
She felt a gentle tug on her leg which caused her to stop, plant her feet. When she opened her eyes, now above water, Tyler pulled her into his arms. The frustrations dissolved into honeyed gold as the thrill of Tyler filled her.
A heated slickness slid between them as he cuddled her in his arms. He was standing on bottom and she pulled up her legs and wrapped them around his hips.
He kissed her then, a slow, wet, consuming kiss that shook her senses and left her trembling. “You really know how to push a man over the edge, Julie Gillespie.”
His kisses grew more ravenous and she kissed him back just as madly, twice as deliciously. She loved her body locked with his with nothing but the glaze of moisture to separate them. She loved the feel of her hands splayed across the smooth, muscular flesh of his back. Loved the hard push of his erection against her naked flesh.
“You’re the best part of Texas,” Tyler whispered. “You’re the one thing worth coming home for.” He trailed kisses down her neck and nuzzled his mouth in the hollow formed by the gentle swell of her cleavage.
Lowering his head, he nibbled her right nipple, creating heated sensations that swept through her like a fever. And then his hand slid between her legs, finding the sweet spot that turned her core to liquid gold.
He played her one finger a time, pressing, kneading, titillating until her wetness was like a bubble of heat at his fingertips.
“I’m not sure…” His voice got caught on emotion.
Julie shushed him with her mouth on his. “Don’t try to explain this, Tyler. You want me. I want you. Just let that be enough.”
