The Lawman's Apache Moon (Texas Lawmen Book 2)

by Debra Holt

  “No, my nephew, you did not. Perhaps you were too busy.”

  He could just imagine those dark eyes of hers as she spoke into the phone. He could feel them on him even across the airwaves. Their censure was sparking across the distance.

  “We’ve been busy; however, we’re on the way home. I know the news must have come as a surprise to everyone, but there’s—”

  “You have not brought this woman to meet us before now, and you think it might come as a surprise to us? That is saying it mildly. I am here at the mayor’s dinner and it has been broadcast in moments across the ballroom. I am being congratulated not only on my selection to the governor’s council on family life issues, but that my family has grown by one I never was aware of before. Surprise? You have done that, nephew. It was not right for your family to be told about this by someone else. Are you ashamed of your marriage or of your family? What was wrong with having the wedding ceremony in your family church? It will become the talk of the town by the morning.” There was a silence on her end and then she lowered her voice.

  “Am I also to become a great-aunt in the not too distant future? Is that the need for expediency?”

  “No, Aunt Victoria that’s not the reason!” Jace quickly corrected her.

  He would give his life before ever shaming his family. And now he had placed them all on the edge of a tall cliff. His idea to simply laugh it off and tell her what a joke it had turned into would not suffice. It had become too complicated, too quickly. Particularly since his aunt had just attained the seat on the state level she had longed to achieve. Could this have been any worse timing? He was walking through a minefield at that moment.

  “It simply happened in a second just as you often said it had between you and Uncle Tomas when you first met. My only excuse can be that I fell so quickly… and wanted to not let her get away from me. But I should have called you first. When you meet her, you’ll understand. She is definitely one of a kind.” That, at least, was not an exaggeration, as he pictured the woman just beyond the closed door.

  “I shall judge that for myself. When will you arrive?”

  “Sometime late tomorrow afternoon. Although it might be best to wait a couple of days, to allow her time to get used to her new home and—”

  “Nonsense! She will have years in which to do that. Your family will not wait. No more shameful behavior will be acceptable. Have a safe journey home.” The line went dead.

  Great, just great. His aunt had mentioned the word shame more than once in her conversation, just as he had feared. A simple mix-up had now grown into epic proportions. There were standards of behavior which his family still valued even in this modern age. He always had respect for them. Now, it appeared to others he had none.

  His Aunt Victoria and Uncle Tomas had given too much to him in his life for him not to take this seriously. He owed them more than he could repay in a lifetime. There would be no dishonor brought to them by his actions… ever.

  Jace crossed to the mini bar and opened it. Finding a can of beer, he reached for it but stopped. Best stick to soft drinks for this evening. He needed his wits about him whenever Angelina Lord was near. And he needed to find a solution, at least in the immediate future, for the mess created by sheltering from a storm in the wrong hotel.

  This comedy of errors might be funny at some point in a distant future. But right now, he needed to do something. Twisting off the soda’s bottle top, he took a long draw of the liquid. A second one followed. It was in the middle of the third gulp that the idea popped into his mind. He almost choked at its clarity… or its twisted insanity. Right now, he would take a clearly insane idea over no idea at all.

  The idea expanded in his mind as he took a seat in the chair beside the couch. There were pros and cons. Maybe more cons? Maybe not. It just might be the perfect solution. Could they pull it off? He only had to convince the female still barricaded in the bathroom. He would need her to cooperate. His eyes narrowed at that thought and he drew his mouth into a determined line. “Cooperative” was a description that he doubted could ever be applied to her.

  He would need something more than just appealing to her softer side. Did she have one of those? Of course, she did. He had seen it with her best friend at the wedding. He just had to hope he could find the key to where she kept it locked away. Or find something that would appeal… wait a minute. A light bulb clicked on in the back of his mind. There might be a way. It was going to need a great deal more thought on this plan. He picked up his cell phone and went to work.

  Chapter Two

  “You are certifiably insane.”

  Yep, this was going to take a lot more persuasion. Jace steeled himself to the task at hand. He finally managed to get Angie to open the door of the bathroom a few minutes before. That alone had taken some coaxing. When she did come out, she walked over and took a seat in the chair directly in front of him. She sat looking at him, her arms folded across her chest. Her jade green eyes studied him way too closely and had sidetracked him a time or two.

  Was it all men or just him to bring such wariness out in her? Jace didn’t have time to dwell on that thought. There were more important matters at hand at the moment. And the invisible clock on the wall was ticking.

  Jace had outlined his plan, in brief, almost nonstop sentences which elicited the sarcastic comment about the state of his sanity. He would have agreed with her in normal circumstances, but nothing had been normal about the last few days. Nothing. Now they were together in a ridiculous “Honeymoon Suite,” in a cheap hotel… the term he assumed she used in her mind while she surveyed their surroundings with disdain etched in her body.

  Angelina Lord was a “someone”. At least he had gleaned that much from Clay before the wedding. She was a hotshot fashion designer from New York City. She probably never stayed in anything less than five-star luxury resorts. This had to be a real change for her. Jace supposed she deserved to be cut some slack if she appeared to be less than cordial to him over the last few hours.

  “Let’s see if I have this straight.” Her words dripped with sarcasm and brought him back to their situation. “You propose—oh wait. Did you propose? I seem to not be too clear on that point. It sounded like you were ordering me to do something.”

  Nope, she was not going to make this easy at all. “Look, I know this sounds crazy—”

  “Crazy? Don’t be silly. It fits right in with what I’ve been through the last few weeks. I was just thinking to myself that this trip was boring up until now. I admit it would be nice to have a few flowers, some moonlight maybe. But a girl can’t have everything I suppose, in a proposal… from a total stranger.” Her tone matched the sharp green glint in her eyes at that point.

  “Next time, there can be hearts and moons.” Jace’s tone almost matched hers. “But, right now, we need to get to the clerk’s office at the local courthouse, pick up the license, and then meet Judge Perez at his home. In an hour, it will all be legal and done.”

  “Do I want to know how you managed to get all this worked out while I was in the ladies’ room?”

  “It’s a matter of favors. You never know when you’re going to need to call a few in.” Jace noted the skepticism cross her face and elaborated. “When I was a deputy in Texas, I picked up a nephew of the judge’s on a drunken driving matter. I rode the kid hard and put some fear into him. Anyway, he chose the right path and not the wrong one. I met the judge on a few occasions when I moved back to New Mexico. The judge was grateful. Now he can help me by agreeing to marry us this evening, all legal and no questions asked.”

  Marry us. Those words brought a look of dread in her eyes and she looked like she could upchuck. He tried to not take it personally. Angie had listened to his preposterous plan the first time with a growing sense of incredulity and widening eyes. As he repeated parts of it, her eyes began to narrow and her attempt at flippancy shielded the growing panic.

  It seemed her brain was beginning to work again by the look she fixed on him as he
paced in front of her chair. “The walk and body language reminds me of the time I sat in a jury box for a trial in New York. The attorney had paced back and forth trying to state his case and get us to see things his way. Of course, the difference here is that the case you’re presenting is not trivial. The verdict impacts us both.”

  He came to a halt facing her, his hands jammed into the pockets of his slacks, his eyes studying her with a dark gray sharpness.

  “Look,” he began again, “maybe I could have found a way to present this to you with more finesse but time is not on our side now. It’s a win-win situation. My aunt and family have already been alerted and we’ve yet to arrive. They know we stayed at this hotel, together in the same room… the honeymoon suite, no less. Half the town of Santa Fe will know soon enough.”

  “Who chose the hotel and the honeymoon suite?” Angie flicked an imaginary piece of lint off her skirt.

  No way was she going to make it easy for him.

  “Blaming is not going to help the situation. The damage is done. We need to have a plan to minimize the fallout.”

  “Right. Remind me again just why I should be involved in any of this? I’m not too clear on that part.”

  Was she always so difficult? She could try a man’s patience faster than any female he had come across.

  “Because you don’t want to arrive in a city where you plan to do business under a cloud of rumor and innuendos. Do you? Santa Fe is not a typical big city like your cities in the East. Family values still count for a lot. It isn’t just because Luther Jackson’s wife is a close friend of my aunt; her sister is married to the mayor. My aunt was just appointed to the governor’s Select committee for family issues. This news is being telegraphed; telephoned, emailed, texted… you name it… across half of the state as we speak. When I called Judge Perez, he had already ‘heard’ mention of it from a clerk in his office. I can’t imagine how she came to know so quickly. By continuing with this plan, your business reputation will be protected from sordid gossip. It won’t be for long. You’ll take care of whatever business you have and be on your way.”

  “And what happens when I do leave? How will your family take that?”

  “Life happens. We’ll find that marrying in haste was not a good idea. Our cultures are too different… you are a workaholic missing the big city and …”

  “Excuse me? Whoa! Back it up, mister.” Angie sat straighter in the chair. “I’m a workaholic? This breakup will be my fault?”

  “No one will be at fault. Marriages don’t work out. We’ll be one of those statistics. Divorces are easy to get these days.” He threw that last part in to help his cause. A divorce in his family would be a huge deal, but he would cross that bridge later. Right now, that did not need to be a concern for this woman. He would handle one catastrophe at a time.

  “You have a very cavalier attitude about marriage and divorce. I take it your family doesn’t know this about you?”

  “Marriage and divorce are not cavalier attitudes to me. I believe in the sanctity of marriage… a real marriage. But this is far from that.”

  The look on her face told him that he needed to pull out something big to seal this deal. “Okay, so you’ll be doing me a huge favor,” Jace admitted. “My aunt means the world to me. She places high importance on the old value system of families. She and my uncle took me in and raised me like one of their own. I owe them my life. Everything I am as a man today came from the values they instilled in me. I don’t want to do anything that brings shame or dishonor to either of them. If you had heard her voice on the phone a little while ago, you would know that she is upset and hurt, but she would never voice it in so many words. I will do whatever it takes to make amends. Surely you would do the same for your own family? This can’t be construed as just some wild night in a cheap hotel with a bored debutante.”

  “Bored debutante?” Her eyes were spitting emerald sparks at that comment.

  Was he good at timing or what? Jace had wagered she would rise to the bait.

  “I have never been a debutante in my life. I’ve worked hard to get where I am today.” She moved her gaze around the shabby room once more. “This has to be a nightmare.”

  “I’m just saying that the gossip could be avoided, by simply following this plan until you leave. Besides, there’s a bright side.”

  “There’s a bright side?” She swung her gaze to him in a heartbeat. “Did I miss that part?”

  “We both benefit in this. Your reputation stays untarnished. If anything, being part of my family may even provide entry through business doors that might otherwise have been harder for an outsider to gain entrance. Your business plans may proceed easier than you could have ever expected. As for me, I will cease being catnip for every single female above the age of consent and below the age of senility in Santa Fe. It’s a genius plan all the way around.”

  Long moments passed as Angie eyed him in silence. Did he really think his smile would make her fall at his feet like all the rest of those females? The size of this man’s ego was unbelievable. Then there was his mention of her doing the same thing if her family was involved… if he only knew. There would never be any comparison between her family and his, but he need not ever know that. This man appeared ready to go to great lengths for his family. He held his aunt and her feelings in very high regard. She felt a strange tug at her emotions at that thought. The way he spoke of them and the tone in his voice… it was difficult to get past the feelings he had evoked with his words. But she had learned long ago to not mix emotions with the reality of her life, and certainly never with business.

  Yet, Angie had to admit that his plan did have some merit. If nothing else, he appealed to her business acumen. She had promoted a management staff who had already rearranged their lives to make a move to the Southwest. Her business advisors had produced the figures for a shop in Santa Fe, and the projected results were most impressive. Clothing was already in production for a store based there. Angie could lose time and the profit margin if she had to scrap all the plans in motion and begin at square one for another location. That was all that really mattered in all this… the bottom line. Right? This was just a minor hiccup in her plans to acquire more locations and expand her fashion empire. Move forward and never look back. That had been the impetus once her career had taken off. She needed to stay focused on that. Besides, it might be a fun adventure… to add to an already memorable vacation. Right.

  With her mind made up, Angie stood and stuck out a hand to the man in front of her. His scowl of surprise was laced with uncertainty. The gray gaze grew even darker as he looked at her hand and then back to her face. His incredible silver locked on her emerald as his palm closed slowly around her smaller one. Angie’s immediate reaction was to jerk away at his touch, but he held her hand secure in his. Taking back anything was not an option.

  “We have a bargain,” she began, trying to keep her voice steady. “We will make this farce legal. It’s a marriage, on paper only. Once my business is concluded in Santa Fe, and I leave, there will be a quiet and fast divorce. Agreed?” This might have been his idea to begin with, but Angelina Lord was laying out the terms.

  *

  Angie found herself seated beside Jace in the SUV in no time at all. The drive to the clerk’s office was a short one. He held a rain slicker over both their heads as they had raced up the steps of the building during a lull in the rain storm. Papers were signed and fees paid. A few minutes later, they stood in Judge Perez’s den. His wife and son served as witnesses to the very brief ceremony.

  The first hiccup in the whole plan surfaced about midway when the man asked for the ring. Ring? For a split-second, Jace seemed stumped and then a look of relief crossed his face. Reaching toward his shirt collar, he loosened his tie and undid a couple of buttons of his shirt. His fingers found the bit of leather he wore around his neck and closed over the metal band that lay close to his heart.

  Angie watched him produce the ring and felt a sigh of relief i
nside her. Was there anything that could stump this man? He must have been a boy scout growing up. Always prepared. She watched in silence as he was instructed to slide the band on her finger. Was that her hand that shook? Or was there a tremble from an earthquake? Angie hoped for the latter but knew better. For all her bravado, she was a bundle of nerves inside. Everything seemed so surreal.

  A mere eight hours ago, she had stood beside another bride, her best friend, and watched as she and her groom had repeated their vows. Only this time, Angie was not the witness. She was the bride. Not exactly how she had envisioned her wedding day. She had to admit it to herself if not to the man beside her. A few times over the years she had allowed herself to wonder what it would be like to be one of those lovely visions in white who floated down an aisle strewn with rose petals. She would look up at the handsome groom watching with such rapt attention and love in his eyes that it would make her feel like the most loved woman in the world.

  Oh yes… Angie had thought about it once or twice, but the groom never had a face in her dream. Somewhere along the pathway of her life, she had settled. She made peace with the fact that marriage and family would not be in the cards for her. There was too much “baggage” that came with her for any man to want to sort through. She would design the glorious dresses for those brides to celebrate their special day in and to be admired by their grooms. That would be enough for her.

  The feel of the metal on her finger brought her swiftly back to reality. Angie looked at the intricate scrollwork on the silver band with its center stone of deepest onyx. It was unusual and very dramatic. She was immediately drawn to it. Who had it belonged to? Why would this man carry it around his neck like a talisman? A mystery she’d think about later. It was her turn next.