“That’s when she decided to nix the kidnapping plan for a while. Her running me off the road was meant to scare me enough to simply put the money in the bank account when she asked for it instead of taking the chance of getting caught grabbing Marti. When we didn’t comply with her wishes, she finally put the kidnapping plan into action. And all along, this woman had wanted us all to think it was Derek’s doing.”
“In a way it was,” Mingo stated flatly. “He’s the one who brought this evil person into our lives.”
Lucita’s own guilt washed up in her throat like bitter bile. “I should have listened to you, Daddy. All those years ago when you tried to tell me that Derek was no good. I thought you were just being a possessive parent—that no man would have been good enough for your daughter. But you were right all along. And now I feel so stupid. I nearly got my own son killed!”
Tears that seemed unending, once again began to flow down her cheeks. Mingo pulled her head against his shoulder and patted her back just as he had when she’d been a small girl with a big hurt.
“Hush, my little darlin’. This is all over now. You have a new life ahead of you and that’s what you need to concentrate on now.”
A week later, the heinous ordeal continued to haunt Lucita each time she allowed her mind to drift to all that had happened. As for Marti, the family had tried to soften the details of his father’s death and his association with the kidnapper. Even so, they couldn’t erase the trauma that her son had been through. He’d not only been held hostage, but he’d had to face the fact that there would never be a chance for Derek to reform or be a part of his family again.
During this past week, she’d kept Marti home from school. He’d gone to counseling with the family priest and also a child therapist. Both professionals had told Lucita that her son was dealing with the whole experience in an open and healthy way, yet she couldn’t help but worry. She could see the somber sadness in his eyes and her heart ached for him. She wished she could wave a wand and make him instantly happy. But the only thing that seemed to put a smile on his face for now was Ripp.
The night the deputy had pulled Marti from the closet in that dilapidated house, her son had clung to him and refused to leave his side. After Faye’s initial booking and interrogation Ripp had ended up spending the remainder of that night on the couch in order to make Marti feel safe. And since then, Ripp had been out to the ranch every day to check on the boy. The two of them had taken to playing catch in the backyard with Marti’s baseball and last evening they’d walked down to the horse barn to visit Trampus. Clearly, her son was growing closer and closer to Ripp. And there was no denying that she was growing completely attached to the man.
That afternoon Lucita was in the mudroom, loading the washer with dirty clothes when she heard voices entering the kitchen.
Glancing around the doorjamb, she saw Ripp dressed in jeans and a green checked shirt being tugged across the kitchen floor by her son. Yesterday Ripp had warned her that he would probably show up at some point this evening to check on Marti and she’d agreed that right now he seemed to be the best medicine for her son. But she wondered if he realized just what his visits were doing to her. Just hearing his voice filled her heart with sunshine.
“Mom! Ripp is here!” Marti called out with loud excitement.
Stepping into the kitchen, Lucita smiled at Ripp as she smoothed a hand over her mussed hair.
“Yes, I see. And as loud as you were yelling everyone over in the big house probably knows Ripp is here, too,” she teased Marti.
Wrinkling his nose at his mother, Marti snatched a hold on Ripp’s arm and tugged him toward the back door. “C’mon, Ripp, I wanta show you the rattlesnake that Grandpa killed! It has ten rattlers and he’s gonna use the skin to make a hatband for me.”
“Marti,” Lucita called as her son continued to pull Ripp along. “Ripp has only walked in the door. He might like to sit down for a minute before you start dragging him all over the ranch.”
“Aw, Mom, Ripp ain’t old,” Marti shot back. “He don’t get tired.”
Above the boy’s head, Ripp grinned and winked at Lucita. “No, Mom, I don’t get tired. You go on with what you were doing and we’ll be back in a little while.”
Lucita waved them out the door. Once she was certain they were away from the house, she raced to the bedroom and quickly stripped off her sloppy housecleaning clothes. After jerking on a pair of white shorts and a red-and-white tropical print blouse, she dashed on light makeup and brushed her hair into a loose fall of waves upon her shoulders.
As she looked at herself in the mirror, she realized it had been years since she’d felt this excited about anything. Just the thought of being with Ripp made her giddy. And though she realized she was behaving foolishly, she couldn’t help herself. Ripp made her feel like a woman again. He made her feel attractive and wanted. Something she desperately needed after having her self-esteem squashed by Derek.
By the time Ripp and Marti returned to the guesthouse, Lucita had made a pitcher of lemonade and the three of them sat on the patio drinking the iced drinks and eating homemade cookies.
Marti was telling Ripp all about the trails on the ranch where they could ride horses when Gracia walked over from the big house to join them.
After kissing both Lucita and Ripp on the cheek, the teenager turned an impish grin on her little cousin. “Hey, Marti, I’m going to a roller-skating party tonight. Want to come along?”
Marti glanced thoughtfully from Ripp to his cousin as though he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to leave his buddy.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled. “When are you goin’?”
Like her dad, Gracia was a tough little cookie and didn’t believe in coddling her cousin for any reason. Once Marti had been rescued, the girl had hugged him and fussed over him for about two hours and then she’d gone back to giving him orders.
Rolling her eyes with impatience now, she tossed her head. “In thirty minutes. So get up and get ready. A friend of mine has rented the whole rink for the evening and there will be all kinds of food to eat. You know you want to go. And when we get back, you can stay all night in the big house. I’ve got a new video game we can play.”
Once again, Ripp could feel Marti turning a questioning look on him and for one brief moment he almost felt like a father to the boy.
“What would you do if you were me, Ripp?”
Ripp chuckled. “Well, I’ll put it this way, Marti. If a pretty girl asked me to a party, I don’t think I’d disappoint her.”
Marti tossed a comical frown at Gracia while he said to Ripp, “Aw, Gracia is my cousin. She’s not like a girlfriend.”
Ripp chuckled again. “Yeah. But she’s good company, isn’t she? And I’ll see you soon.”
Rising to his feet, Marti glanced earnestly at him. “Promise?”
Touched by the almost-pleading sound in Marti’s voice, Ripp nodded. “I promise. Now go have a good time. That is, if your mother gives you permission to go.”
“Oh, you will, won’t you?” Gracia asked Lucita. “I’ll keep a close watch on him this time. I promise. Please, please.”
Realizing that Gracia needed to know she could be trusted with Marti’s welfare just as much as her son needed the outing, Lucita wasn’t about to deny either child.
“Of course Marti can go,” she said.
Excited now, Marti waved for his cousin to join him in the house. “C’mon, Gracia, help me get my things ready.”
A few minutes later, the children had raced over to the big house, leaving Lucita and Ripp alone on the patio.
For the past week, since Ripp had been coming daily to the house, Marti had always been present. Now that her son was gone, Lucita was keenly aware of the sexual tension building between them.
“Well, this is—I wasn’t expecting this to happen.” Rising from her chair, she began to cover the container of cookies with a plastic lid. “Do you think letting him go was the right thing to do?”
&nb
sp; “The very best thing to do,” he answered quickly.
Turning, she darted a glance at him. “I think so, too. Good for him and Gracia. But I—I can’t help but think about the last time I let Marti go for an outing. I thought—” She broke off with a shudder. “I was afraid I’d never see my son alive again.”
Instantly Ripp was on his feet, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her against him. “Lucita, you’re going to think about that night probably for the rest of your life. But you also know that you can’t keep Marti confined because you’re afraid.”
With a shake of her head, she murmured, “I’m not afraid, Ripp. Not now. Maybe that sounds crazy, but getting Marti back, learning that Derek is dead—I don’t know, it’s like the terrible cloud that’s been following me has disappeared and I can finally see sunshine again. Does that make sense?”
Placing his forefinger beneath her chin, he lifted her face up to his. “It makes all the sense in the world.” He brushed his fingertips against her cheek. “And now that we’re alone, I’m wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight.”
Surprise flickered in her eyes and then she laughed softly. “Dinner? Am I cooking?”
“No. I am. At my place. I’d like for you to see it, Lucita. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s mine.”
Just standing in the circle of his arms, the front of his body pressing against hers, was enough to make Lucita’s heart pound, her blood heat with excitement. Kissing him in the gazebo had been days ago, yet the memory of those moments still burned deep within Lucita, reminding her of what could have been or maybe what could be.
“I’d love to see your place.”
He smiled, but just as quickly the warm expression faded and his eyes went somber. “Lucita—before we go. I—there’s something I want to say. About me being here—a part of the reason is Marti. I care about him very much. But he’s not the only reason I’ve been turning up every day. Or maybe I’m wasting my breath here. Maybe you already knew that.”
The husky suggestion in his voice turned her bones to mush and her lips quivered as she smiled shyly up at him. “What I know is that Marti needs you. And so do I.”
A long breath of relief rushed from him and then his head lowered slowly toward hers. Anticipating his kiss, Lucita snuggled closer and closed her eyes.
“No,” Ripp said suddenly. “Can’t do it. If I kiss you now I have a feeling we’ll never get away from here.”
Lucita’s eyes flew open just as he grabbed her hand and began tugging her toward the house. “Ripp!” she exclaimed with a laugh. “Are we in that much of a hurry?”
He paused long enough to toss her a seductive grin. “Yeah. I’m in a great big hurry to make love to you.”
Chapter Ten
On the way to Ripp’s place, Lucita tried not to think about his comment. Make love to her? Had he meant that literally? Just thinking of being connected to Ripp in such an intimate way was enough to curl her toes. She found it very hard to think about anything else as they drove toward Goliad.
But when he finally turned down a short dirt lane and pulled to a stop in front of a wood-sided house, she was suddenly piqued with curiosity. This was Ripp’s home. It was an important part of him and she was eager to see everything.
The house and nearby garage were white, trimmed with green. The house was built in long, shotgun style with a porch running across the front. Several Chinese Pistache trees, slash pines and one enormous pecan tree shaded the structure, while at one end of the porch a huge oleander bush dripped with white blossoms.
“Sorry the grass is a little long,” he said as he helped her to the ground. “I’ve been too busy to mow.”
“Oh, don’t apologize. It all looks very pretty to me.”
His short laugh held a hint of disbelief. “Thanks for that, Lucita. But let’s face it, this place is—well, it’s nothing compared to what you have.”
Lucita laughed. “Ripp, I don’t have a home of my own right now! I’m living in my father’s guesthouse. That’s what I have. So quit comparing and show me around.”
A crooked grin slashed his face. “Yeah, you’re right, you’re homeless,” he teased. “And I don’t have one damn thing to apologize for.”
As both of them laughed, he placed his hand against her back and urged her toward the house. Before they reached the steps, a black Labrador came racing from across the yard, barking with excitement. He ran straight to Lucita, reared up on his hind legs and pawed the air.
“Don’t you dare jump on our guest, Chester!” Ripp gently warned the dog. “I’ll lock you in your pen.”
Seeming to understand that threat, Chester bounced down on all fours and whined. Laughing, Lucita reached out and stroked the dog’s head.
“Chester, you’re just too handsome. Marti would love you.”
As the shiny-coated dog wiggled and shivered against her legs, Ripp said, “Chester would love Marti, too. I don’t play nearly enough to suit him.”
“Will he fetch?”
Ripp quickly placed a finger against his lips in a shushing gesture. “Lord help us, don’t say that word! He has a piece of rawhide—”
Before Ripp could finish, the dog leaped away from them and disappeared around the side of the house.
Bemused by the dog’s behavior, she looked at Ripp. “What’s wrong? Why did he leave?”
“He heard you say fetch. He’s gone after his bone—or what used to be a bone. Now it’s just a piece of chewed-up leather. Maybe we’d better go in the house before he gets back.”
Reaching for her hand, Ripp tugged her toward the steps, but Lucita dug her heels in the thick carpet of grass.
“I’m not about to disappoint Chester. Besides, I want to see the rest of the yard before we go in.”
Groaning with amused indulgence he threw up his hands in surrender. “That dog is more than a nuisance. He’s—”
“Back,” Lucita interrupted with a laugh as Chester skidded to a stop between her and Ripp. A nasty piece of leather was hanging from his mouth.
The dog dropped the treasure at Lucita’s feet. Laughing, she picked it up and threw the rawhide chew to a far corner of the yard. As Chester raced after it, Ripp curled his arm around her shoulders.
“I think he’s already fallen in love with you.”
The three of them made their way around the back of the house and while Chester patiently waited to fetch again, Ripp showed Lucita a small outbuilding that he called his workshop. The area was equipped with a table saw, drill press, work counter and a vast array of carpentry tools. Outside, on a small, redbrick patio, he pointed to a fancy, shingle-roofed doghouse that he’d constructed for Chester and then to the many purple martin houses resting atop a row of tall poles lining the backyard fence.
The birdhouses were equally ornate, all of them done in three-story Creole style, right down to the black iron balustrades on the tiny porches.
Learning that Ripp was such an accomplished carpenter surprised Lucita, but even more unexpected was the vegetable garden growing in a sunny spot some distance away from the house.
Presently, the patch of ground was still yielding squash, okra and a few late-summer tomatoes. The okra stalks were at least ten feet tall, soaring above the enormous sunflowers that grew at the garden’s edge.
With her hands on her slim hips, Lucita stood surveying the vegetable patch. “Ripp, I’m so amazed. I never figured you to be a man of the soil.”
His smile crooked, he lazily tangled a finger in her light brown hair. “What did you think I was?” he teased softly. “Just a gun-totin’ lawman?”
Trying not to outwardly shiver from his sensual touch, she looked away from him and out to the green sweep of land dotted with spreading live oaks. “No. I didn’t think that.” She glanced curiously up at him. “I guess I haven’t had much time to think of anything except how to keep my family safe.” The corners of her lips tilted upward. “But now I’m getting to see a part of you that I didn’t know a
bout and I—like it.”
To her surprise a faint flush spread over his face. “Lucita, growing a few vegetables doesn’t take special skills.”
She frowned at him. “I wouldn’t say that. Not just anyone can make things grow like this. I certainly wouldn’t know how. Nor can anyone build the sort of houses you made for Chester or the purple martins. Where did you learn these skills?”
“From my dad. Remember, I told you he was a farmer before he ever became Goliad County sheriff. And he was pretty handy with a hammer and saw, too. He wasn’t the sort that hired helped to do anything that needed doing around the farm. He did it himself. I guess some of it rubbed off on me.”
She smiled up at him. “Well, I’m notably impressed.”
It was downright crazy how much power this woman had over him, Ripp thought. Just a smile from her was enough to make him feel as though he was walking ten inches off the ground. Being near her injected him with joy and almost made him forget that he was exposing his heart. Something that he’d vowed to never do again after Pamela had walked out on him.
“Does your brother share your talents?” she asked.
Her question diverted his thoughts and he chuckled lightly. “Mac? No. Mac thinks I’m boring. He’s into raising cattle and raising hell on the side—if you know what I mean.”
She looked amused as she pondered this revelation. “I see. In other words, you’re nothing like your brother.”
Laughing outright, he looped his arm around hers and turned her toward the house. “God, I must really be boring. I’d better feed you some supper before you fall asleep.”
A suggestive smile slanted her lips and Ripp felt a fire flicker deep in his belly.
“I really doubt I’m going to get that bored,” she gently teased.
Once inside Ripp’s kitchen, Lucita insisted that a light meal was all they needed and he complied by making a plateful of tacos, along with guacamole and tortilla chips.
After the two of them had eaten, they went out to the front porch and sat on the wooden swing hanging at one end. The night was still very balmy with just enough southerly breezes to keep most of the mosquitoes away. Chester was curled in a black ball at her feet and Ripp’s arm was circled around her shoulders. Lucita couldn’t remember a time that she’d felt this content.
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