Logan’s fiancé hadn’t cheated on him, I’m guessing. Holy crap. What woman would cheat on him? He was even hotter than I remembered. Damn men getting better looking as they aged creamed my corn.
I’d had a crush on Logan throughout high school. Told myself those taunts had been because he liked me. And so I waited. Waited for him to ask me out. To a dance. To a movie. To an outdoor concert at Sleepy State Park. Nothing. Every pretty blonde he dated, I’d told myself, he was making me jealous. Which he did.
The brain could be mighty delusional warding off depression.
Then he kissed me. Days before graduation. I was ready to shit-can my summer vacation abroad to spend a sexy sweaty summer with Logan Grady while he slowly and gently made love to me by the river. I was a virgin and I wanted him to be the one. My first.
No, he’d gone back to picking on me the very next day. And worse than before. I spent the summer in Italy heartbroken. And then I’d left for college. But I never forgot his lips.
Don’t look at his lips now. They belong to someone else!
My phone rang and the buzzing knocked me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah, Grace. Hey, listen. I went through the rental spreadsheet and saw Logan Grady hadn’t paid up in six months. What’s the deal with him?”
“Oh, um... Oh...”
“Never mind. I stopped by his house and—”
“You’re at his house? Now?”
“I can’t believe he was behind all those months. Don’t—”
“Let me explain.”
“Don’t worry, Grace. I know you know I always let people slide. But I’m sorry. Not Logan Grady. I never told you this, but he bullied me in high school.”
“I didn’t know that. But, Delsey, listen—”
“Grace, it’s fine. I just didn’t know he had a daughter.”
“That’s his niece,” Grace said in a breathless rush. “Delsey, there’s something—”
“Niece? That’s Janey’s daughter?” I caught the last glimpse of a little blonde girl going back into the house.
“Yes, Delsey, listen—.”
“How is she?”
“Maddie? Well considering—”
“No, Janey. How is she?”
“Oh, Delsey. I don’t know how to tell you this—”
“Oh shit, here comes Logan. Never mind, I’ll ask him.” I ended the call and my heart stopped, mesmerized by the man strutting up to my car. The power in his gait with his shoulders back. Oh, yeah. He was a proud cowboy, that one. But I ran a corporation. I was a CEO, for crying out loud and I didn’t stay there without knowing how to handle men.
My phone buzzed and it was Grace again. I sent it to voicemail and checked my makeup quickly. I wanted Logan wanting me when I... Shit. I couldn’t kick him out in front of his niece. Janey was a sweet girl. I hoped she—
JANEY’S DEAD! Flashed on the front screen of my phone in a text from Grace.
“What?” I screeched.
Holy Mary Mother of Moses. I had no idea about Janey or that he was... Christ, was he raising the little girl? In the house I was ready to toss him out of? Call the sheriff and make a spectacle of him the way he humiliated me?
Oh, for Pete’s sake.
First the plane crash.
And now this?
Panicking, I threw the SUV in reverse to get the hell out of there and regroup, but a blast of cold air hit my bare legs when the driver’s side door swung open.
“Okay, you. Get out of the car. Let’s do this,” Logan Grady sneered, bundled up in a black corduroy bomber and tight jeans. His chestnut brown hair blew in the autumn breeze and turquoise eyes stared at me as his face crumpled in anger.
I thankfully wore shades so that he couldn’t see my eyes, or how shell-shocked I was from this horrible news. Why hadn’t Grace put this huge detail in the one hundred pages she had me read about Willow’s dog poop area upgrade?
“Mr. Grady.” I planted my feet in the gravel, my high heels skidding on the tiny stones making me unsteady, but I kept my back straight. “Good to see you.” I held out my hand which he just stared at.
I drew my hand back, biting my lip. My entire body trembled, gazing at him. I opened my mouth, but a noxious waft of diesel fumes drifted into my mouth, making me cough. A yellow school bus lumbered up to the mailbox.
“Some kind of notice you were coming by would have been polite. Now I have to drive my niece to school since the bus won’t wait and I won’t let her watch this.” He brushed by me. “Excuse me.”
“I can come back.” I spun around.
He pointed a leather riding glove at me. “Don’t bother. I know why you’re here.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Of course, get your...niece taken care of.”
“Maddie, her name’s Maddie.”
“Maddie...” My throat went tight, but I repeated, “I can come back.”
“Nope.” Logan stalked off to the bus where he laid a quick nod and a genuine smile to the pretty driver. A grin I knew I’d never see on his lips.
Had Grace told me about Logan’s sister in a phone call? Had my mother mentioned it? I saw Walker two years ago in Houston, he never said anything. When did this happen?
Talk about egg-on-your-face.
Once the bus drove off, sans niece, Logan stomped back over and crossed his arms. “Go ahead. Say what you have to say.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have called.”
“Landlords don’t need an appointment. Landlady, excuse me.” He glanced over his shoulder. “It’s your house. You have the right to come anytime.”
“So, you know why I’m here.”
“Yep.”
“Six months, Logan. That’s a long time to not pay your rent.” I took a breath and without the diesel fumes, I caught his minty scent. “You’re not the first person to miss a payment. I can be reasoned with. I just won’t be ignored.”
He scoffed at me in response. “I’ve been a little busy, Delsey.”
Hearing him say my name reminded me of when he kissed me, the way he whispered it. Like he’d finally seen me. Me. That was a long time ago, though. “Lo... Mr. Grady. I had no idea about the situation with your niece. And I’m so sorry about Janey. Anyone dying that young is a tragedy. Was she sick?”
“Sick?” He stared at me like I was crazy.
Okay, I’m going about this the wrong way. I should have talked to Grace about it first. I’d been so charged up to get my revenge.
A honking horn spun me around. Grace’s red Camry came roaring into the driveway. Oh. Come. On. Wait... Was there something going on between Grace and Logan? I stepped back, shocked and...jealous. Visceral envy clawing at my insides.
“Owen, Mama will drop you off at school in a few minutes,” she said, tearing out of the driver’s seat.
“Grace, did you not tell Delsey what happened?” Logan said, winded and taken back.
“Tell me what?”
Grace paled and I hurried toward her. A lesson in business, disconnects with your associates made you look weak and foolish.
I caught Owen sitting in the booster seat in the back of her car dressed for school playing with a game console.
Before I could say something, Grace muttered, “Delsey, I... I thought you knew.”
“I...” I shook my head. “I should have paid more attention. You must have told me about Janey. I just don’t...remember.”
A look passed between her and Logan and my heart sank. So, there was something going on.
Now revenge cut into me a little deeper. “Okay, Logan. I’m gonna have my lawyer draw up an official warning. Since you’ve made no attempt to work something out with me.” God, that little girl... “Um, can Maddie stay with your parents?”
Logan staggered back and Grace released an audible gasp. The two exchanged looks and Logan’s harsh face of anger shot toward Grace. “Did you seriously not tell her anything? I told you not to use it as an excuse for me. But...”
I turned around
and Grace looked ready to hurl. “Tell me what?”
“I thought she knew about the accident, Logan.” Grace wandered back to her car.
Holding his head, Logan stomped up toward the house.
“Accident, Grace?”
“I’m taking Madeline to school,” Logan said over his shoulder. “I’ll be at Nickel Song tonight at six p.m. to discuss my departure from these premises, ma’am.” He tipped his hat and gave me a fake smile.
Catching my breath, I leaned against Grace’s car. Owen still stared in his lap, lost in his game. I wished I could disappear into a video abyss. “What accident, Grace?”
Her head tipped back. “Janey and Mr. and Mrs. Grady were all killed last year.”
I grabbed the side-view mirror of the Camry to keep from falling, the gravel too much for my wobbly high heels. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t be certain I’d not been told any of this. Wasn’t this something I’d remember?
Sure, my days started at five a.m. I was the ultimate control freak. Ninety-minute workouts on the treadmill while I checked stock prices on my phone, read chemists’ reports on my iPad, line managers’ emails on my other iPad. My days flew by. People threw all kinds of crap at me. I had a full team of vice presidents handling the day-to-day work, but I was still a geek and loved to get lost in my lab.
My intense focus on my research was also how I didn’t see the false allegations coming at me. I had a saboteur in my ranks. And now I was expected to resign.
No, I had no plans to resign. I planned to get at the truth.
“Delsey!” Grace had been calling my name.
Holy crap. I’d spaced out, as I usually did when I started thinking about my work. Maybe someone had mentioned the accident. “Did you tell me any of this, Grace?” Of all people, she should have known I wouldn’t have been so heartless. She’d worked for me for a while now. Didn’t my treatment of the other tenants teach her something?
“I just thought you knew. I assumed your mother had told you.” She shrugged. “It was a year ago. It was the talk of the town.”
A year ago... I’d started dating Truitt. The handsome-as-hell, three-piece-suit VP who’d wanted me. The nerdy girl. I’d lost my head. So much that I might have been told, or read that three people from my hometown had been killed and it’d all faded into the background. “God, I feel awful.”
“He’s a proud man, Delsey. He doesn’t want a pass. The last few months—”
“Six months.”
“Right. The last six months must have gotten away from all of us. I’m sorry. I accept responsibility.”
“Grace, sweetie, this isn’t your fault. I’m just gonna accept that someone must have told me and I’d been too stuck up in my own world to let it sink in.” Flying around on jets. Posing for People’s cover and other magazines.
“Let’s get out of the driveway so he can take the girl...Maddie to school.” I fumbled with my keys, getting into re-set mode from this whole debacle. Was it too early for a shot of whiskey? Maybe a martini with my lunch. “Grace, what kind of accident?” I asked quietly.
“His dad’s truck got stuck on the railroad crossing.”
My brain clicked. “Down past Main Street?”
Grace nodded.
“They never fixed that grade?”
It’d been my senior physics report. How the steep hump could catch the undercarriage of a car and trap it. All the town did was change that crossing to one way, so only half the amount of traffic was at risk.
“I’m so glad that little girl wasn’t in the car.” When Grace banged her head on the driver’s side window, I held my chest. “Are you kidding me?”
Grace exhaled. “She was in the car. Maddie was the only survivor. But she lost her right leg.”
My throat closed as a wash of tears immediately built up behind my eyes. That poor little girl. Maddie. I broke down as the level of that tragedy overwhelmed me. “Where were they all going anyway?”
“Maddie’s dance recital.”
“Of course they were.” I sniffed, wishing by some miracle, my plane had crashed. And that I’d been in some kind of screwed-up coma and none of this crap was real.
Logan
I GOT BACK IN THE HOUSE and found Maddie just looking around, her knapsack loose at her feet. My confusing emotions from seeing Delsey, anger, desire, humiliation, all rolled into one got pushed to a back burner. Maddie would always come first. And in whatever shabby one-bedroom apartment I rented for us, I’d sleep on a sofa for her.
Last year, I’d been in the spotlight and pocketed some green as the lead trainer for Blue Lake, Cam Renner’s racehorse. While I’d enjoyed the thrill of the racing circuit, Cam and his wife Lakelyn now traveled all over the country to compete. Since taking custody of Maddie, I could no longer travel. I’d taken nearly six months off and Cam kept paying me. It was as far as I’d let his generosity ride up my ass.
“Are you ready to go, peanut?” I dug through the bowl by the door for the keys to my F-150.
“We have to move?” Maddie asked in a small scared voice.
“I’d rather us talk about it after school. I don’t want you to worry about this in class.”
“I’m already worried.”
As much as I wanted to hate Delsey for shoving all of this reality in my face and making me feel strangled, none of this was her fault. She was a businesswoman and this was business. Except, I’d known others who’d not paid their rent and never mentioned a special visit with a delicious smile and a body that sent my blood moving. She looked so good. I’d felt my hormones stir for the first time in over a year. I’d bet she didn’t show up to evict all her tenants in a short skirt with legs that didn’t quit.
No, that extra on the side was just for me.
Because I’d been a bastard to her.
Those who’d said she’d worked out extended rent payments all said nothing but nice things about Delsey. Vengeance made a person act nuts, though. I didn’t think she was lying about not knowing Janey and my parents had been killed. It didn’t pay to throw any anger at Grace either.
I brought Maddie to the sofa. “Okay, peanut, here’s the bad news. I’m broke. Gran and Pop’s house had a huge second mortgage. The rent here is high because of all the property. I’m in default.”
“What’s default?”
“Sorry.” I pushed my brown Stetson further up so she could see my eyes better. “It happens when you can’t pay your rent.”
“Oh, okay. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, peanut. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” I held her tight. “I may not have much money, but I have you and that’s what’s important.” I could have let my father’s house go into foreclosure when I found out they were underwater. Instead, I covered the shortfall and bankrupted myself in the process. “There’re some cute apartments in town. Near Iona’s bakery. We can get you a cupcake for breakfast every day.” When that got a small smile, I kept going. “Town’s nice, right?”
“It’s decorated so pretty for Christmas.” In her eyes, I saw all the lights.
The smell of pine from the wreaths hanging on the lampposts had always done me in, too.
“Now you’re talking. That’s a few months away, but I like how you’re already looking forward to it.” I kissed her on the forehead. “Once I get caught up, we can start over and save for a new house.”
“Like Delsey’s house?”
I leaned back. “You know about Nickel Song?”
She snorted. “It’s the biggest house in town that’s not on a ranch. I think it’s so beautiful. I used to ride my bike there in the summer. I could see the river in the back from the front left brick pillar.”
I glanced at her prosthetic realizing she’d not been back on a bike or a horse since the accident. God, all that she’d lost, and I was just piling on now.
“Delsey’s father was a patent lawyer before he retired. He was a good man. And Delsey... She’s a nice woman, I hear. Very smart. In high school, she won all kinds of sc
ience awards.” I looked away, surprised I’d remembered that.
Like my buddy Jamie Miller, Wild Heart’s country music star, anytime Delsey Mackenzie won an award or made some fantastic donation to Hearts and Horses, her favorite charity, the town buzzed about it. Everyone was proud to say they lived in her town.
Apparently, she didn’t give a hoot what happened back here in Wild Heart, since she hardly ever came home. My family’s accident. Or how Mrs. Reid just died of cancer. How Bic Aimes got run over by his tractor. Okay, his wife had been driving it and it hadn’t been an accident.
How divorced did Delsey let herself get from Wild Heart?
Did she really not care at all?
“So that’s that.” I checked the time, I was already late for my job at Renner Ranch. “Let’s get you to school. And don’t worry. I’ll always make sure you have a roof over your head. And you’ll always have me. I ain’t going anywhere.”
“Promise?” She threw her skinny arms around me.
“Cross my heart and hope—” I stopped myself and squeezed tighter.
How much bad shit could happen to one family, anyway?
Chapter Four
Delsey
How much bad crap could happen to one family? Back at Nickel Song, I made use of Google to read about the Gradys’ accident on my laptop. And finished all the donuts to make myself feel better.
I shuddered thinking, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to hide out here. This wasn’t such a sleepy small town anymore. Holy crap. I’d missed a lot. Jamie Miller, the country music god had moved back into town. The Renners had bought a racehorse that nearly won the frickin’ Triple Crown?
And Walker Rhodes had a steady girlfriend, the most earth-shattering news of them all.
An hour after the Logan humiliation, Grace and I had gone through her notes about the tenants I needed to meet this week. I could barely look her in the eye the way I acted this morning. Logan planned to show up at six. For what, though? That had been the burning question. Of course, I wouldn’t throw him and Janey’s daughter out on the street.
If it had been just him, perhaps I would. Or at least I’d make him grovel a bit first, give him a taste of what it’d felt like to be humiliated. Now wasn’t the time to teach him a lesson, though. Not after what he’s been through. And not with a little girl to care for.
The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Second Chance Romance (Wild Texas Hearts Book 4) Page 3