A Texas-Sized Secret

by Maureen Child

  “I hope so,” Naomi confessed. “I can’t help wondering if he’s going to be frustrated at how the video worked for me and try something else.”

  “I understand why you’d be worried about that, but honestly, I don’t see it happening.” Thoughtful, Scarlett looked at her. “Why would he? There’re still plenty of people in Royal to screw with.”

  “Talking about Maverick?”

  Both women looked up at Gabe Walsh. He was tall and gorgeous and his hazel eyes always held a gleam of humor. His dark blond hair was militarily short, and he had a lot of intricate tattoos. Formerly FBI, he now owned a private security firm based in Royal.

  “Sorry,” he said, mouth curving into an unrepentant smile. “Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you talking as I was walking to my table. Maverick the subject of interest?”

  “Who else?” Scarlett asked.

  “Everyone’s talking about him,” Naomi said. “Especially those of us he’s already attacked.”

  Gabe winced. “Yeah, I get that. And I know the guy’s caused a lot of misery around here. But I just left my uncle Dusty, and I swear all the intrigue and mystery surrounding this Maverick guy is really sparking my uncle’s will to live. It’s even making his cancer treatments easier for him to deal with.”

  Dale “Dusty” Walsh was in his sixties and used to be a big bear of a man. But Naomi had seen him not so long ago, and the chemo he was undergoing had whittled him down until he hardly looked like himself anymore.

  “I’m glad to hear he’s doing better,” Naomi said, knowing nothing she said could make things easier on Dusty’s family.

  “I don’t know about better,” Gabe admitted sadly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “But Maverick has sure perked Dusty up. The mystery of it has him intrigued and more interested than anything else has been able to do. I think he’s trying to figure out who the guy really is.”

  “I hope he does,” Naomi said with feeling. “I won’t feel really safe until he’s caught.”

  “He will be,” Gabe assured her before he left to meet his friends for lunch. “No one can stay hidden forever.”

  Naomi wondered, though. For months, Maverick had proven elusive enough to avoid being caught. Who was to say anything would change? And if he came after her again...

  Scarlett’s cell phone rang, and when she glanced at the screen, she said, “It’s Toby.”

  Naomi listened to the one-sided conversation, and when Scarlett hung up she asked, “What is it?”

  “It’s Toby’s horse, Legend.” All business now, she looked worried. “Toby says he’s gone down and won’t get up again. Sorry about lunch, but we have to get to the ranch.” She waved a hand at Amanda and called, “We have to cancel. Sorry.”

  Naomi was already gathering her things, and when she pushed herself out of the booth, Scarlett was right behind her.

  * * *

  Toby hated feeling helpless.

  Legend’s labored breathing filled the air and brought Toby to his knees beside the failing horse. Fresh straw littered the floor and rustled with every movement. Toby rubbed his hands up and down the big animal’s neck. He felt each shuddering breath and the thready beat of Legend’s big heart. Hell. He was old. The horse had had a long, great life. Toby had brought him to live with him at the ranch because he knew that Legend’s life was coming to an end. And God, Toby wished he could do something to change what was happening.

  He heard his sister’s approach before he saw her and recognized the quick, lighter steps of Naomi coming in with her. He’d hated to interrupt their day out together, but he didn’t want Legend to suffer. He owed his old friend that much. And damn it, he’d wanted Naomi with him.

  Scarlett came into the stall with her doctor’s bag and instantly went to work. Toby stood up, making room, and walked to where Naomi stood at the open door. She didn’t say a word, just wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her head against his chest. Toby held on to her like a lifeline in a churning sea and felt everything inside him settle.

  Holding Naomi, he watched his sister examine the horse, and as he looked at Legend, he saw his own life flash in pictures through his mind. The day Legend arrived at Toby’s home. The first time they rode off together, down back roads and out through the fields. He could still feel the excitement of being astride Legend and pretending to be everything from a great explorer to a Western outlaw. Life had been easy and full of possibilities, and Legend had been with him through all of it.

  That horse had been the most important thing to him for a lot of years, and now it was time to let him go. Toby didn’t need the sympathy shining in his sister’s eyes to know Legend had run out of time. His heart ached with the truth.

  “I can put him down gently, Toby,” Scarlett said. “He’ll just go to sleep.”

  “Oh, God...” Naomi’s voice was a whisper, but he heard the pain in it and was grateful she was with him.

  “Give us a minute with him first, okay?”

  “Sure.” Scarlett stood up, kissed her brother’s cheek and said, “Call me when you’re ready. I’ll be right outside.”

  “Thank you.” Naomi squeezed Scarlett’s hand as the woman slipped out of the stall.

  Toby walked to Legend’s side and held out one hand to Naomi for her to join him. The horse’s breathing was more labored, and his eyes wheeled as if he were trying to understand what was happening.

  “Poor Legend,” Naomi whispered, then bent to kiss the horse’s forehead. “You’re such a good boy. Such a good horse.”

  “He loves you,” Toby said simply, watching as Legend tried and failed to rest his head in Naomi’s lap.

  She lifted tear-drenched eyes to Toby’s. “I’m so sorry. So sorry you have to lose him.”

  “I know. I am, too.” He stroked the horse’s side, then back up to his neck and face. Bending down to look into the big brown eyes of his oldest friend, he said, “We had a great life together, Legend. And I’ll never forget any of it.”

  The horse jerked his head as if agreeing, then tried to stand, failed and fell back into the straw again. It broke Toby’s heart to watch the valiant old horse try so desperately to stand and be what he once was.

  “Easy, boy,” he said quietly. “It’s all right. You can go on now.”

  Naomi never stopped stroking him, whispering to him as the horse labored on until Toby couldn’t stand it any longer. Glancing at Naomi, he saw her tears and felt his own. But it did none of them any good to drag this out. Best to say goodbye and let Legend go on to the next adventure.

  “Scarlett?”

  “I’m here.” She stepped into the stall, sympathy etched into her features.

  “Do it,” Toby said. “But I’m staying with him.”

  “We’re staying with him,” Naomi said, gaze locked with his.

  “Yeah. We.” Toby nodded, his throat too full to speak.

  “Not a problem,” Scarlett said. “It won’t take long and he won’t suffer. I promise.”

  Toby tuned his sister out. He didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to watch her end the old guy’s life, even though it was a blessing for Legend. Toby looked again into his horse’s eyes, and he could have sworn he read a silent thank-you there.

  Legend’s breaths came slower, slower, then stopped, and the silence was almost unbearable. He was gone. A huge piece of Toby’s life had just ended, and he felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. Naomi took his hand and held on. Scarlett kissed him again and silently left them alone.

  “I’m so sorry,” Naomi whispered, turning into him, wrapping her arms around him.

  “I know,” he said and held on to her, burying his face in the curve of her neck.

  He’d wanted her there, with him, when he realized that Legend was dying. Toby had needed Naomi, and she’d co
me. Just as she always had. Her hand in his, he felt her warmth pouring into him and clung to it.

  After the trip to California, things had definitely changed between Naomi and him. Sure, the sex was great. Amazing, even, but out of bed, he felt the strain between them. They hadn’t talked again about the offer she’d had, and he had no clue what she was thinking. Planning. So he had to wonder what she was considering. Did she want that offer badly enough to leave Texas? Move to Hollywood? And if she did, what then? His life was here. In Royal. Living in California wasn’t part of his game plan, but was it in Naomi’s? That producer had offered a dream. Was she going to take it?

  And if she wanted to, then maybe they shouldn’t get married, after all. Was it fair to her?

  That’s bull, he told himself. All of it. He wasn’t thinking about what was best for Naomi. It was about him. What he was feeling. Every time they had sex, he felt himself sliding farther down a steep cliff. Pretty damn soon, he’d find himself loving a woman and risking everything he’d promised himself he never would again.

  Straightening up, he looked into those whiskey-gold eyes and knew he was in trouble. He just didn’t know how to avoid getting in deeper. “Thanks, Naomi. For being here.”

  “I’ll always be here, Toby.”

  He hoped so, but there was some serious doubt. Toby caught her cheek in the palm of his hand and realized that Naomi was really the only woman outside his immediate family whom he trusted completely. Why, then, was he so cautious about letting his feelings for her grow? Was it himself he didn’t trust? Or was he just too damned cowardly to risk loving again?

  Either way, he didn’t come off too well.

  Standing up, he drew her to her feet and said, “Come on. I have to get out of here.”

  “Okay.” She held his hand and followed him out of the stall, where they both stopped and looked down at Legend one more time.

  Then, together, they left the stable, and the pain, behind.

  Ten

  Two days later, Naomi was furious.

  The text she’d received an hour before ran through her mind again.

  Naomi, we must speak. Come to Oaks Hotel in Houston as soon as you can. Gio

  The fact that he’d practically ordered her to come irritated her only half as much as the fact that she was going to see him at all. Why had Gio come to Texas? Why had he texted her out of the blue after making it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested in her or her baby?

  Temper spiked inside her. Naomi hadn’t told Toby about Gio’s text, because she knew he’d tell her not to go meet the man. But she had to, didn’t she? Had to find out what he was up to. Why he was here. Had to tell him to go away and never come back. Once she had it all settled, she’d tell Toby about it, of course. She wasn’t going to lie to him about this.

  Over the past few weeks, Naomi had put Gio out of her mind completely. He had nothing to do with her or her baby. Toby was the man who would be her child’s father. Toby was the man she loved. The man she was about to marry. Gio had no place in their lives. And the only reason she was going to see him was so she could tell him that to his face.

  It was time to banish her past so she could go forward with her future.

  She parked her car on the street, fed the meter and then hurried toward Gio’s hotel. It was plush, of course, with a liveried doorman and a red carpet stretching from the sidewalk to the polished brass front door.

  Naomi smoothed her palms over her cream-colored slacks, then tugged at the hem of her pale green blouse. The fabric was light but clung to the outline of her baby bump proudly. The doorman hurried to open the door for her, and she smiled at him as she stepped into the blessedly cool interior.

  The spacious lobby was all wood, dark fabric and glass, giving the impression of old-world money and cool elegance. Naturally this was the kind of place Gio would stay. Looking around, she spotted the bar and headed for it. She was right on time for this meeting, and she didn’t want to be here any longer than she absolutely had to.

  The elegant bar held a luxurious hush. A long mahogany bar stretched along one side of the room, and a dozen or more small round tables dotted the gleaming wood-plank floor. Her gaze swept the room, and since there were only a handful of people in the room, she spotted Gio instantly. He had a table in the back, in a shadowed corner, and Naomi sighed. If he thought this was some kind of assignation, he was in for a disappointment. The only reason she’d agreed to meet him was that she wanted to look him in the eye and tell him to get lost.

  Gio had been a blip in her life. A moment out of time in her past. He had no part in her future, and that was what she’d come to tell him. As she approached, her heels tapping on the floorboards, he noticed her, and Naomi stiffened in response. She still couldn’t believe she’d been foolish enough to spend the night with the man, but in her defense, just look at him.

  Not as tall as Toby, Gio had long jet-black hair, blue-green eyes and always just the right amount of beard scruff on his cheeks. He wore black slacks, a cream-colored silk shirt and looked, as always, very self-satisfied. The man was gorgeous, but he was as deep as a puddle.

  “Bella,” he crooned as he stood to meet her, “you are so beautiful.”

  “Thanks, Gio.” She avoided the kiss he aimed at her cheek and pretended not to notice his clearly false look of hurt and disappointment.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked, already signaling to the waitress.

  “No, thanks.”

  He waved the waitress away again as Naomi took the seat opposite him at the small round table. She glanced around the room, making sure she didn’t know anyone there, then focused on Gio again. Waiting.

  “I’m so happy you came to meet me,” he said and managed to look both pleased and disappointed.

  “Gio,” she said, “I don’t know what this is about, but I’m only here to tell you I don’t want anything from you—except,” she added as she had a brain flash, “to have you sign away your parental rights to the baby.”

  “Sì, sì,” he said, waving his hand as if erasing the very thing she’d just asked for. “We will speak of all this. After we speak of something else...”

  Okay, so it wasn’t the baby he was interested in. No big surprise there, after the way he’d reacted when told he was going to be a father. So what had brought him all the way from Italy?

  The room was quiet, and so was Gio’s voice. He leaned toward her across the table, and Naomi had a moment to really look at him and wonder how she could ever have been attracted to the man in the first place. He was handsome, but in a stylized way that told her he spent a lot of time perfecting his look. The just long enough hair, the right amount of scruff on his face, the elegant, yet seductive pose he assumed, half lounging in the chair. He couldn’t have been more different from Toby.

  Toby was a man comfortable enough with himself that he didn’t need to set a scene so that a woman would admire him. All he had to do was walk into a room and his confidence, his easy strength, would draw every woman’s eye.

  No, there was no comparison between Gio and Toby. And now all she wanted to do was wrap this up and get back to the man she loved.

  “The baby is growing, yes?”

  Hard to miss that, she thought, since her top clung to the rounded curve of her belly. And as if the baby was listening, it gave her a solid kick, as if to say Let’s get out of here, Mom. Go home to Dad. She smiled at the notion, and Gio smiled back, assuming her expression was meant for him.

  Shaking her head a little, she said, “Yes. Everything’s fine. And no, I don’t need anything from you, Gio. I’m getting married, and he will be my baby’s father.”

  Gio tapped one manicured finger against his bottom lip, then gave her a reluctant smile. “Yes, I have heard of your marriage plans.” When she looked surprised at that, he shrugged. “Gossip
flies across oceans, too, bella. You have the marriage with a very rich man. I wish you well.”

  Frowning now as a ribbon of suspicion twisted through her, Naomi said, “What are you getting at, Gio?”

  “Ah, so you are in a hurry. Che peccato—what a shame,” he translated for her. “All right, then. I will sign your paper for you—”

  “Good. Thanks.”

  “—if,” he said, “you are willing to do something for me.”

  A cold chill swept along her spine, twining itself with the suspicion and quickly tangling into greasy knots that made Naomi shiver in response. Gio’s eyes were fixed on hers, and she saw the speculative gleam shining in their depths.

  “What do you want, Gio?”

  “Ah. We will be businesslike, yes?” He smiled, and she saw briefly the man she’d slept with before he disappeared into a sly stranger. “Bene. We will be frank with each other. Is best.”

  “Then say it.” She folded her hands together on the table in front of her and kept her gaze fixed on him.

  “I will be quiet, bella, about being your bambino’s daddy,” he said with a wink, “if you agree to finance my next film.”

  She blinked at him. The one thing she hadn’t expected to hear from him was a threat of blackmail. Gio was a filmmaker, but she knew his last two films hadn’t done well. So apparently, he was having trouble getting backing. Enough trouble that he was willing to fly to America for the sole purpose of blackmailing her.

  Naomi was so furious with him, with herself, she could hardly draw breath. But Gio was oblivious of her thoughts and feelings, and went on outlining his business plan.

  “Since you told me about the bambino,” he said, “I felt it my duty to check on you. And I have found that your fiancé is the man who invents so many wonderful things...” He gave her another of his I’m so disappointed looks and said, “He is very rich and yet you did not mention this to me. Why is that?”

  “Because it’s none of your business?” she ground out.