To Catch a Texas Cowboy (Wishing, Texas Book 2)

by Julie Benson

  AJ had understood her guilt, her uncertainty that she’d handled the situation correctly, her fear over whether or not she could’ve helped prevent Derek’s suicide before she had, because the same questions dogged him. Because of his career. The one she held against him. The one, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t overlook.

  But despite that, a bond like they had shared last night sprang to life, an emotional intimacy with AJ she’d never felt with anyone. But instead of frightening her, the feeling covered her like a warm blanket, cozy, secure, and comforting.

  Some days the link swirling between them warred with the barriers he erected like the one he raised when she asked what haunted him, but today he appeared more at ease, less guarded. “Why didn’t you tell me that last night when I asked?”

  “You had enough on your mind.”

  He’d been concerned for her?

  Warmth spread through her, heating her to the tips of her toes. She’d preferred believing he hadn’t trusted her. That he was from the same mold as her father, who had insisted on knowing the details of his family’s life while refusing to share his own. AJ was much easier to resist then.

  Thankfully his phone pinging, indicating he’d received a text, saved her from replying. After checking his cell, he said, “My landlord said the plumbing’s finally repaired.”

  She pressed her lips into a thin line to keep from asking him to stay. How crazy was that? In the past, if a guy called more than twice a week she’d felt smothered. As much as she’d been around AJ, she should be suffering from major claustrophobia, but instead the thought of him leaving disturbed her.

  “Since Coop and Zane arrive tomorrow, do you mind if I hang around until after the wedding?” he asked, his voice flat as if he didn’t care about her answer.

  She nodded, and sipped her coffee, trying to ignore her giddy lightheadedness. “You might as well.”

  “Good.” He stood, took the cup from her, and placed it on the counter. “I went to Ty’s and borrowed his trailer to bring Lu and a horse for me over here. I figured you could use something to clear your head, and nothing does it better than a horseback ride.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve got to clean the bedrooms before your friends arrive. I also need to make out a menu, and get groceries.”

  “I’ll help with the chores when we get back.”

  Help clean the house? He couldn’t be as perfect as he appeared. There was always a catch.

  “Don’t you have to work?”

  “I took the day off, but they’ll call if they need me.” He stepped closer. His presence surrounded her. “Come on. Play hooky with me. Please?”

  How could she resist the quiet plea paired with his boyish grin? Not that she wanted to. “Give me five minutes to change.”

  “No need. You’re fine like you are.” His low, sexy tone, paired with appreciation blazing in his eyes, sent shivers of feminine pride through her. “Except for your footwear.”

  He bent over and grabbed a box at his feet. The magnificent view filled her with happy hormone sunshine rays, blasting away any remnants of sleep, leaving her ready to go.

  “You can’t keep running around in flip flops. Your feet are probably all cut and scratched from last night.”

  She accepted the box he held out, suspecting the boots she’d tried on at Rosalie’s shop lay within. “I can’t accept these. They’re too expensive.”

  And too personal. Something silly that somehow represented way more. A tangible link. A thoughtfulness that touched her deeply.

  “It’s rude to turn down a gift before you open it.”

  She lifted the lid to find the soft tan cowboy boots with intricate filigree stitching she’d tried on. Chewing on her lower lip, she smoothed a hand over the supple leather so similar to the color of his sun-kissed skin. He’d remembered how much she liked them, and found time to return to buy them. For her.

  “Quit making a big deal out of this. If it’ll make you feel better, pay me back after you get caught up financially.”

  “On those terms, I accept.”

  He nodded. “Where would you like to go riding?”

  “You said the plumbing’s fixed. I’d love to see your house.” She wanted to see where he lived, see into a private corner of his life.

  She swallowed hard. Dynamite chemistry like they’d shared last night she could handle. This...oh, Lord, this intimacy? Not so much.

  Don’t think past right now. Have fun today. Let that be enough.

  Who was she kidding? She’d begun to suspect no matter how much she was with AJ it would never be enough.

  A few minutes later, wearing her brand new cowboy boots, Grace stood outside beside Lu having second thoughts. When she’d gone riding with Cassie it took three attempts before she’d hoisted herself into the saddle. Looking like an uncoordinated oaf with Cassie was one thing, but AJ? Mr. Smooth Western Moves? Ugh.

  Her hand clamped around the saddle horn, her foot in the stirrup, she pulled upward as she pushed off with her right foot. She had enough upward movement, but unfortunately, her leg failed to clear the saddle. Great. She lay sprawled over a horse, flopping like a half-dead fish on the bank. Then strong hands slid around her waist, holding her steady as she struggled to right herself.

  Once seated on Lu, Grace peered down at AJ. “Why is it whenever you’re around, I end up looking like I can’t walk and talk at the same time?”

  “Beats the hell out of me.” But she couldn’t miss him working to keep from grinning as he mounted his horse in one fluid motion.

  As they rode, AJ proved more than willing to talk about himself. She learned he was the oldest of three, and except for when he was young, his family had always lived in Texas. Though his sisters were in college, he kept in touch with them through texts and short phone calls, and he talked to his mom every Sunday night. No matter what. Obvious love and pride filled his voice when he talked of what the women in his family had accomplished, making her wonder if her brothers’ voices held similar affection when talking about her.

  He told her how he loved the land around Wishing the first time he came here with Ty in college, adding how Ty and the Bar 7 provided the anchor he needed after his father’s death.

  “You still miss him.”

  He nodded. “A day doesn’t go by without me thinking about him. He was a pilot in the Air Force, and the most incredible man I’ve ever known. He died saving his crew when they were shot down, and was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross for his bravery. The last time we talked he told me I should make my mark in the world. That I needed to make sure someone knew I’d been on this earth.”

  Now she understood what drove him—honor and the need to live up to his father’s legacy.

  For a while they rode in silence until a small beige brick and wood house with overgrown, out-of-control landscaping appeared ahead of them. AJ pointed to the house. “Here it is. The house needs work inside and out, but I don’t care. The land is what matters. I’m hoping in a few months I can make old man Wilson a decent offer.”

  She admitted the view was great. Rolling hills, fields dotted with cows to the right. The sparkling lake sprawled out in the distance. Simple, but somehow soothing and beautiful. With the porch facing west, she imagined it would be a great spot for watching the sunset.

  “If I buy this place, the first thing I’m gonna do is buy a good rocking chair. The kind that makes you sigh and relax the minute you slide into it.” He turned to her, his lake-blue eyes alight with dreams. “Can’t you see yourself sitting on this porch in a rocker, unwinding at the end of a long day?”

  The scary thing was she could.

  The next day AJ sat behind his desk staring at his phone, knowing he needed to call his boss for an update, but unable to pick it up. All he could think about was Grace, and the crazy dreams that had been tromping through his head since he’d taken her to his house.

  No, not his home. The place he parked his body until he finished this case. His home w
as in Houston.

  Physically, maybe, but in his heart? It never had been.

  Life had been so simple before this case. No, before Grace.

  Work drove his life, and anyone who became a part of his world, had to accept the fact. But since Grace crashed into his world, he’d pushed his work back. In fact since she’d caught him searching the bedroom, he’d barely given the forgery case a thought.

  But could part of that be because he’d hit a brick wall trying to figure this one out? Having been unable to find any clients, he needed someone on the inside. He needed an informant.

  No matter how long he waited the news he had to deliver wouldn’t change. Especially considering the last time he talked to his supervisor he’d shoveled a pile of cow manure his boss’s way. He snatched up his phone. How could he have said the case was coming along? Saying that only made what he had to report now, that he had jack squat, much worse.

  “Glad you checked in, Quinn. I got word yesterday we’re adding another unit to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

  AJ’s heart rate spiked, thinking about the opportunities for whoever ran the new unit. Talk about the chance to make an impact on the world. “What’s the time frame?”

  “ASAP, and since I’d like you running it, you need to wrap up the forgery case in the next couple days. Otherwise I’ll have to name someone else. Can you do that?”

  Not without divine intervention. His mind raced to think of how to approach the situation. He’d worked for so long for this type of opportunity. He couldn’t blow it. “What about placing someone else here now that I’ve laid the ground work?”

  Silence. Not good.

  “Last time we talked you said the case was progressing. You said you’d have a break any day.”

  Blasted man never forgot a thing. “The situation hasn’t gone as expected. This crew’s smart. As far as I can tell they don’t offer their illegal services to anyone in the area.” He laid out his suspicions regarding Langston Printing. “Hell, I’m having a tough time finding anyone locally that uses their legal services. Yet when a friend tried to have brochures printed for the inn she manages, she was told they were so busy it would take three weeks for them to do her job. I dug deep and ran through a lot of rabbit holes on the Internet, but either they get customers through word of mouth or they’ve covered their electronic tracks well.”

  “What about Jack’s evidence? Have you found anything?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I should’ve pushed Jack harder to share his evidence when he first contacted us, but with his background I trusted his judgment.” Frustration threaded through Masters’ voice as well. “You searched his personal belongings?”

  “That and everywhere else I thought he could stash something.” Since he was coming clean, he might as well hose off the entire slate. Leaving off his forgetting to silence his phone, he told his boss about Grace catching him.

  “You say she’s new to the area, and she’s the one who wanted the brochures printed?”

  AJ recognized Masters’ tone. One indicating his boss was brewing up an idea. The hairs on the back of AJ’s neck and arms stood at attention as a rapid staccato rattled over the phone line. He envisioned Masters behind his desk, tapping a pen against his desk blotter.

  “I’ve got it. Grace runs an inn. She can say she had a maid in New York that’s coming to work for her here. The woman wants to bring her mother from Mexico to live with her in Texas. That could lead into a discussion of Green Cards.”

  Sweat broke out on AJ’s forehead. His hand tightened around his phone until they cramped.

  Not only no, but hell, no.

  “Grace isn’t a good candidate for an informant.” Not when she hasn’t recovered from the trauma of the last time.

  Masters scoffed. “With the right coaching, anyone can be a good informant.”

  “She won’t agree.”

  “Convince her.”

  “I’ll find someone else,” AJ countered.

  “She’s done the set-up work already, and knows part of what’s going on. Why needlessly involve someone else?”

  Because someone else wasn’t trying to put her life together after being an informant tore hers to shreds. Someone else wasn’t having nightmares because the man she provided evidence against committed suicide. Someone else wasn’t Grace.

  How could he ask Grace to risk going through that again?

  Granted, unlike New York, he suspected the community here would praise her for her actions to bring down a criminal operation, but what if he was wrong? AJ explained about Grace’s involvement in the New York embezzlement case.

  “She’s perfect. She’s played the game before.”

  What Grace said on the porch at the Bar 7 ran through his mind.

  Part of why I came to Wishing was for a fresh start. But if everyone here finds out what happened, I might as well head home tomorrow. People will look at me differently. I’ll have a black mark against my name I won’t be able to erase.

  “After the fallout she experienced in New York, there’s no way she’ll agree.”

  “Play up how it’s a citizen’s duty to help when they can. That’s always a good angle,” Masters said.

  AJ had always believed that, too. The case, catching the bad guys, was his goal, and recruiting informants was part of the job. Before Grace, he wouldn’t have hesitated over this decision. He would’ve insisted a person should help no matter what the cost. While he’d acknowledged the possible ramifications and lasting consequences informants experienced, those hadn’t been real. Or rather, he failed to see them because he moved on and never looked back.

  Grace had changed his perspective, pulling off his rose-colored glasses. For some, he admitted the cost they paid to help him get the job done was high, and the effects far-reaching.

  “Tell her this time will be different. Tell her she’ll be the big hero in town.”

  “What if we’re wrong about the community’s reaction?”

  “You said her best friend lives in town. She’ll be fine.”

  If people who knew me would turn on me, think I sold out someone else to save my ass, how will strangers react when they learned what I did? His protective feelings toward Grace warred with the need to take advantage of this opportunity. Heading up the task force was his big chance to leave his mark, to accomplish something lasting, to make good on his vow to his father.

  “It’s your decision, but if you want to head up this task force, you’ve got two days to wrap up this case.”

  “I gave her my word no one would hear about the New York case from me.”

  “And they won’t.”

  Technicalities again. The lifeblood and bane of law enforcement. At the thought of using this one his stomach turned with revulsion. “I’d rather not ask—”

  “Before you say anything else, think about the possible ramifications to your career,” Masters continued. “I always thought you were a team player, Quinn, but now I’m wondering. Let me spell something out for you. I expect everyone on my team to give his all and use every tool available to get the job done. If you’re not willing to do that, find someone else to work for.”

  In other words, if he refused to convince Grace to act as his informant, he needed to change offices.

  “And while you’re at it, think about what kind of assignment you’ll get without a glowing recommendation from me.”

  A band wrapped around his chest. Pressure built in his head as he swallowed the primal scream fighting for release.

  He’d be lucky to find a small rural division willing to take him. He’d have to start over. Prove himself. Rebuild trust. Work his way up. Again. If he could.

  His future or Grace’s. That was his choice.

  As to what I know, that’s between you and me. That’s where it’ll stay. You have my word.

  If Grace helped him, her providing evidence in New York would come to light. People would know she’d been an FBI informant twice. That was different. What
if people grew suspicious of her, failed to trust her?

  How could he possibly sacrifice the future of the woman he loved for his own when he’d given her his word?

  Damn his honor.

  Then his heart stopped. Woman he loved?

  The fog swept out of his mind, replaced with certainty over his decision. Honor and loving Grace left him one choice.

  “I won’t ask Grace to be an informant.”

  “When you do wrap up this case, and return, I expect your transfer request on my desk within a week.”

  AJ stood on the deck at the Carriage House the next afternoon staring at the smooth water of Lake Hope in the distance. His hands gripped the cedar rail. The rough wood bit into his skin.

  Despite the fallout, he didn’t regret his decision. If Masters couldn’t understand he couldn’t break his word to Grace, screw him. But AJ refused to let this setback derail him, and the work he was meant to do. He’d rebuild his career, no matter how long it took. If nothing else, to show Masters what a mistake he’d made.

  He could run long and hard on sheer bullheadedness.

  At least he still had Grace. Until he solved his case, they could go on as they had. The one bright spot in his world. What would he do when it really was time to leave?

  Pounding on the front door rattled the walls, announcing Zane and Cooper’s arrival and interrupting his thoughts.

  When he opened the door, he greeted his friends, and asked, “Did you stop by the Main House?”

  “Were we supposed to?” Cooper said, as he and Zane stepped inside and deposited their suitcases.

  AJ told his friends how Cassie and Ty had hired Grace to manage the inn. “Grace has a business background, but she’s never run a hotel or a B&B. She wants to practice her guest checkin spiel on you to work out the kinks.”

  “Fine. We’ll be guinea pigs, but then we’re heading to The Horseshoe for burgers. I’m starving,” Zane said as they headed outside.

  As the three of them walked across the property, Zane said, “I can’t believe you’re sheriff in these part, Barney.”