Behind them, Chloe burst out laughing. “Like the wrestling! Pin him, Luz!” she crowed, leaving the pony she’d finished grooming to edge closer.
“Whose side are you on?” Aaron grunted at Chloe as Luz elbowed him without meaning to, trying to move farther away from the appaloosa, but collapsed back in a heap when she couldn’t stop laughing.
“Better watch out,” she taunted. “Bet I could take you.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. Laughter faded from his face.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Unaware of the heat building between them, Chloe clapped her hands. “Come on! I’ll referee—”
Luz fished for an answer.
“Well! I thought it was strange no one looked out the door to see who was here,” Esmeralda said from a few feet away. “But I see you all were too busy—what, body slamming each other?”
Contempt and insinuation hardened her words, and Luz stiffened. Beside her, Aaron sat up straighter and looked at Esmeralda without embarrassment or welcome.
“Good morning, Esmeralda.” He stood, then held out a hand to Luz as if nothing were unusual about sprawling in the sand with his daughter’s…what?
She didn’t know what she was to Aaron, and though he belittled her apprehensions, the counselor’s demeanor and sarcasm clearly said she expected to be Aaron’s woman and didn’t think much of Luz’s attempts.
Her face colored more by anger than embarrassment, she let Aaron pull her up, but when she would have stepped away, his hand still holding hers kept her from doing so.
“Luz and Daddy were wrestling,” Chloe offered helpfully.
God bless innocence. Because I don’t think that’s what we were doing.
“Luz was winning,” Chloe added.
Esmeralda gave the girl a false smile and stepped over to pet her mare’s neck. Domatrix turned and nuzzled her shoulder. Esmeralda ignored the greeting, and looked back at Luz. “How nice for you,” she muttered.
“I assume the tack room is open?” she asked.
“I never lock it,” Luz answered, irritated a little by the question. Was the woman trying to get her away from Aaron? And hadn’t she promised not to get into this kind of situation, trying to thwart someone else’s interest in a man?
“Do you know why I named her Domatrix?” Esmeralda directed the question at Aaron.
“No, and—”
Her hand slid caressingly over the glossy neck. “She says who rides her or doesn’t,” she almost purred. “Completely controls who rides her.” She untied the horse and moved her toward the tack room, but looked back to give Aaron a wink. “Maybe you should try her sometime. I’d let you.”
“Well!” Luz freed her hand and moved away, and Aaron made no move to stop her. “Think I’d better finish some stuff. And then I need to go out and see if I can find anyone who’s seen Princess. I keep hoping she’ll just come home.”
Aaron’s face had turned hard and he looked irritated more than interested in the counselor’s invitation. Weren’t men generally flattered by that kind of attention? Maybe she’d been wrong about not competing with Esmeralda, Luz realized. She’d thought that Aaron wasn’t ready to move on, but when she’d seen him with Esmeralda, she’d changed her mind. A kissed palm and a kiss or two later, she’d given herself permission to hope. To reach out to the only man who’d interested her since her disastrous marriage and divorce.
But she’d been wrong. She should follow her own rules. She hadn’t wanted to compete against Esmeralda, because through looks, persistence, and the ability to play on her horse’s name, the woman would win.
Luz raked a hand through her hair. No. Esmeralda wouldn’t win, either. Because Aaron Estes already had a woman he loved heart and soul. Clearly, he wasn’t over his dead wife.
• • •
Aaron cursed under his breath and fought not to fling his cell phone against the far wall.
Chloe was in her room, but she might pop into the living room any minute, wanting help with her homework or just not to be alone.
She’d complained bitterly when he’d told her that they wouldn’t go out to visit Luz this afternoon, claiming that he didn’t love her. Always the drama queen, she’d thrown in that Rumbles would forget her and maybe even die of a broken heart. And who would help Luz look for Princess again? Luz might die of a broken heart, too. Chloe never gave in without a fight.
Unbidden, the thought came to him that she truly was her mother’s child. Never giving an inch. Always taking more than she needed. Never getting enough.
The bitterness threatened to overwhelm him. The call, the worry over a little girl’s need to exaggerate—he couldn’t let Stella reach out from her grave and control him.
After Esme’s clear invitation, Luz had withdrawn, busying herself with chores, some, he suspected, which wouldn’t have been done if she hadn’t needed to rebuild those walls she wanted around her. She said she wouldn’t fight for him. In a macho-man kind of way, he resented that. He wanted to be worth fighting for. He snorted derisively at his own conceit. Worth fighting for? Stella certainly hadn’t thought so. And Luz hadn’t indicated she’d like to be the woman in his life. There had been a couple of stolen kisses—hell, not even necessarily lip to lip—that was just play, right? Play sometimes turned to really fun play…
Desire threatened to slug him, so he forced himself not to think of Luz and games two lonely adults could play.
Instead, he stood up and looked around the room. He’d bought a new end table and lamp, and at Chloe’s insistence, a framed oil painting of a horse’s head hung on the wall. The half-hearted attempt to dress the house up for his daughter couldn’t change the loneliness he felt. Or ease the pain.
And now, the detective had called from Alabaster. Could he answer just a few more questions? The investigation was wrapping up, but only he might have the information that they still needed to close the case. He supposed he could refuse to go. He really had no information. He didn’t know why they just didn’t close the case; the man who’d taken Stella’s life died when the next officer arrived on the scene and took him down.
He jerked a hand violently through his hair, and then massaged his temples with his fingertips. Nothing helped ease the tension.
He had to go, though. When the investigation after the shooting revealed that Stella had been targeted, and the other victims were innocent bystanders, the rumors and the accusations had become unbearable. That was why he’d taken Chloe and fled the little town she’d always called home. How could he bear to have Chloe grow up among the whispers and the rising hatred aimed at Stella by those who were finding out what really happened? There were insinuations that he must have known something, and those seared his soul. But he could deal with everything except Chloe being hurt worse than she already had been. So he would go one last time, and try to lay ghosts to rest.
He didn’t want to keep leaving Chloe, though. When he’d been traveling around in pursuit of the fortune he thought Stella wanted, leaving had been easy. “Dammit,” he muttered, and walked over to retrieve his phone, hoping it still worked.
He had no choice but to call Mrs. Baker and see if she’d keep Chloe one last time. He’d make it clear to anyone in Alabaster that it was just this once. And while he was away, he’d think seriously about Luz, and just where she might fit in his damaged life.
Chapter Thirteen
Luz stared at the wall, frowning. The day that had started with such expectation had turned ugly in a hurry. Aaron and Chloe hadn’t stayed long after Esmeralda turned up with her leering remarks and clear expectation of prying Aaron away.
Princess was still missing, and although Luz hadn’t wanted a pit bull and didn’t need a dog underfoot, she worried about her and wanted her back. She hadn’t taken pictures. She should have. Ann had the dog’s information in her office, but no picture. It didn’t seem like posters without a picture were likely to attract attention.
And now, this. She slowly put the cell phone
back on the arm of the sofa. Chloe’s teacher, Joannie Baker, had called in a panic. Her mom had fallen and injured a hip. Thankfully, the hip hadn’t broken, but they were admitting Mrs. Baker to the hospital to run tests and try to discover why she had suddenly had a dizzy spell that led to her injury.
Luz remembered her own mother’s decline, the pain of watching an active, vibrant woman lose her shine and health, and breathed a prayer for Mrs. Baker.
She could help Joannie Baker. She didn’t want to, but for heaven’s sake, she’d been a first-grade teacher for five years. She could manage part of a week, even with the differences she was sure she’d encounter between Rose Creek’s tiny elementary school and the large, affluent school back in Atlanta.
Chloe would be there. She didn’t know how she felt about that. Chloe was bright and she sparkled, remarkably happy for the tragedy she’d suffered in her young life. Luz loved—she liked the girl a lot. But be a teacher in her class? She stood up abruptly, angry with herself.
Chloe wasn’t her daughter.
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. She should never have had Lily in her own classroom. Lily had been an opportunity to ruin her life, in the guise of an innocent, loving little girl. And she’d stepped into the trap without the faintest concern. When Lily’s mother had come into her life, she should have insisted that the principal move the child to another teacher. After all, teachers never taught their own children. But Lily’s mother insisted that she wanted her daughter with Atlanta’s teacher of the year.
“What conflict?” Brian’s ex had demanded. “I’m her mother.”
A chill shook her, and she rubbed her arms, trying to recapture some warmth. Where on earth had her brain been back then? A woman Brian had sworn would never want Lily back, a woman who had been in jail for drug use, then in rehab, stepped into her life, and she thought she could handle the situation?
Luz snorted, a sound half bitter laugh and half hysterical sob. Sometimes she’d wished that her parents hadn’t loved her so absolutely, that she hadn’t believed Brian’s empty promises of love held the same truth as her parents’ unconditional faith and support. Maybe she would have seen her world crashing down in time to avoid at least the loss of her career. She could never have saved Lily, because once Brian wound up back in his ex’s bed, she had no legal claim on the child of her heart.
She knew soon after Lily entered her class that she’d been set up. Lily’s mother wanted to hurt her, to destroy her, even though she’d already taken Brian back.
One morning, Lily had come into class looking sleepy and Luz thought she must have come down with a cold. She went on with the morning activities, watching Lily with growing worry. Once she had groups in their centers and noticed Lily had dozed off, she filled out a nurse’s pass and went over to wake her little girl up.
She couldn’t. Lily’s skin wasn’t feverish; she felt clammy and looked pale. Fighting a wave of panic, she’d called the nurse, who said she’d call 911, and seconds later, the principal and nurse were in her room. The nurse lifted Lily and carried her out of the room, while the principal made reassuring remarks and called a paraprofessional to keep the class so Luz could go to the nurse’s office to wait for the paramedics and be with Lily.
By the time the ambulance came, Lily’s mother was there, accusing Luz of trying to injure Lily out of anger over losing Brian.
Luz had never walked into another classroom, because due to the severity of the charges, she was immediately placed on administrative leave and barred from being alone with children. Damn you, Brian. Suddenly she wished she’d taken his call, if only to tell him to go to hell. She forced herself to take several deep breaths and work on pushing all the hurt back into the past where it belonged. He’d destroyed her once, but she was remaking herself into someone who wouldn’t be hurt again. Maybe then she’d pick up the phone and call him.
Grimly, she headed to the kitchen. She’d eat and get an early night’s sleep. Monday would come too soon, and there was a lot she needed to do before walking into a classroom again.
• • •
Even on Sunday, Dr. Ann Cottwell could turn out the volunteers. Luz stood aside as laughing men shook hands with each other. A couple stood apart, gulping the water and lemonade she’d brought out to help in the process.
Surprisingly, that process seemed complete. Two stalls, each with a tiny but separate paddock area, sat neatly tucked into one corner of her mom’s land. A larger corral backed up against the hospital stall, and a little utility building had been adapted to house a cabinet for medical supplies and an area for small amounts of feed.
“We should probably invest in a bathroom,” Ann noted, “seeing as how pretty soon I’m going to be living in them.” Her husband looped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed.
“What do you think?” Ram asked Luz. “It’s your land—”
“But it would keep me out of your house—”
“Like that’s a selling point?” Luz laughed. “Seriously, if you all want to invest in one, go for it. What would you need?”
“You might need to get us a building permit, I can ask tomorrow.”
“Okay, but don’t count on me for anything until after four,” Luz warned.
“Going into San Antonio?”
“I wish. Mrs. Baker’s going to be in the hospital part of the week and Joannie asked me to sub.”
Ann smiled. “Good for you! Just wait—you’ll want your job back in no time!”
“No,” Luz said slowly. “I don’t think so. Sometimes, even if you loved something once, you can come to resent it just as much.”
“Or someone?” Ann asked. She didn’t know Brian, but Luz had told her the whole story.
Luz shrugged. “We both know that’s true.” She forced a smile. “Wish me luck.”
“I don’t think you’ll need it,” Ann retorted. “You act like you’ve been a bum for a lifetime, not just a few months.”
Bum. The word bit into her soul. She’d been hardworking and ambitious. Still could be, if she wanted to. But she didn’t want to. She was living off the money her parents’ insurance provided, and her only needs, really, were for the animals and utility bills. She could afford a little more time off…unless she never did go back to doing anything. Could she spend her life in this limbo, not wanting more, content to trot children around on ponies and salvage animals discarded by uncaring owners? She thought briefly of the menagerie. Of Princess, gone missing and facing unknown danger again. She could find out what she’d need and do the paperwork. She could open a shelter. She’d need income, but she could seek donations. Improve her boarding facilities. Hire Aaron to manage her finances.
Her thoughts were distracted by Aaron’s SUV turning unexpectedly into her drive. How the devil did I conjure him up?
Ann grinned and elbowed her. “Ooohh! Sunday company!”
“Wonder what he wants,” Luz muttered, annoyed at Ann, Aaron, and the whole damn world.
“Well…”
“Shut up!” Luz flipped a hand in Ann’s direction in farewell and headed back toward the house, not hurrying. He’d taken off because Esmeralda had embarrassed him? If she were generous, she might suppose he’d been shielding Chloe from the other woman’s sly innuendo. But regardless of the reason he’d gone so quickly, he’d reinforced what she’d known all along—the man was taken. And she didn’t need another fight over a man who’d wind up in another woman’s bed. Not ever again.
Aaron was sitting on the porch step when she reached the house, twisting his hands slowly. She’d never seen that before, and wondered if he was apprehensive about something or if his fingers itched. Maybe he’d gotten chigger bites in the hay.
“Where’s Chloe?” she asked, not even greeting him, and seeing surprise flicker across his face.
“Hi, Luz. Sorry to just drop by—”
She plopped down on the porch beside him. “Don’t be. Don’t know what bit me. Let’s start over. Hello, Aaron. What a nice surprise.�
� She knew the humor she was attempting probably came out tinged with sarcasm, but couldn’t stop anyway. “Where is your beautiful daughter Chloe on this lovely Sunday?”
“She’s right here,” Chloe announced, sticking her head out the door. “I’m fixing a surprise in the kitchen.”
Luz stood. “Oh, well let me help—”
“No! You’ll ruin everything!” The screen door closed, followed by the door.
“My daughter locked us out.”
Luz started to remind him that the door didn’t lock, but she’d planned on getting it fixed and hadn’t. It was one more piece of proof that she really didn’t have a shred of motivation left. She sat back down beside him.
“Just so you know, I set her up.” He shifted on the porch so he could lean against the post holding up the stair railing. On her side, she did the same.
“Why?”
He looked distinctly uncomfortable now. “Luz, I have a huge favor to ask.” Again the brief massage of his fingers, and she wondered if he always did that and she’d just never seen him this way.
“I have to go back to Alabaster again. Two, maybe three days. Hell, if I’m lucky, I might be able to wrap it up in a day—but I haven’t been lucky recently.”
“And?”
“Last time I left, Mrs. Baker sat with Chloe. She’s a wonderful woman but—”
“She’s in the hospital for tests.”
He seemed surprised. “You know?”
“This is Rose Creek. Of course I know.” She drew air into her lungs to force out the admission. “Besides, her daughter Joannie couldn’t find another sub, so I agreed to go.”
“Wow.” He fell silent for a moment, then straightened and stretched. “Everything either just got easier or harder.”
Luz narrowed her eyes and frowned. “How can my subbing for a couple of days make anything different for anyone except Joannie Baker?”
“Luz, I came to ask if you’d keep Chloe until I got back.” He shrugged, extending his arms. “There’s no one else I know or trust, and I can’t take her.”
Luz gaped a little. “Me, keep Chloe? But—”
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