Tangled With A Texan (Texas Cattleman’s Club: Houston Book 8)

by Yvonne Lindsay

  “You’re giving me advice now? What’s going on? Has the world turned upside down?” Perry commented with his signature brand of cynicism.

  “Not upside down, not yet, anyway. But we need to talk. Settle things once and for all.”

  “I have nothing to settle with you. As far as I’m concerned, you’re nothing more than a burr under my saddle. Now that you and Angela are no longer engaged, I can rest happy in the knowledge that, aside from today, I need never face you again.”

  Ryder let the man’s words roll over him. The bitterness in the other man’s tone was deep-seated and went back twenty-five long and often unhappy years. Ryder didn’t want the next twenty-five to be the same. Somehow they had to reach a reconciliation of sorts. If they couldn’t, he’d never be able to go back to Angela and beg her forgiveness for walking away on their love, their life, their future together. That knowledge forced him to remain calm in the face of Perry’s veiled insults.

  He drew in a deep breath. “Look, I know you hate my guts—”

  “That would require effort I wouldn’t even bother expending,” Sterling said as if the conversation bored him.

  “You still resent my friendship with your late wife.”

  “Your relationship with Tamara was inappropriate,” Sterling replied, biting back. “But she chose me. She always chose me.”

  “I know, but I want you to know that I never had an affair with her. I’ll swear it on a stack of Bibles if it will help you to believe me, but as much as I admired and respected her, I never touched her. Not that way. We were friends, that’s all.”

  Sterling shook his head. “Why should I believe you? You’ve not long come from my daughter’s bed. What kind of man are you, anyway? First the mother? Then my daughter? That’s just sick.”

  Disgust dripped from his every word.

  “It would be sick if it were true. But I did not sleep with Tamara, ever. And my relationship with Angela is completely different. I loved Tamara, sure, as a friend, as a mentor in many ways, and I certainly didn’t think you deserved her. Still don’t, to be honest. But like you said, she remained with you and she remained true to her vows to you until her death, as well. For better or worse, Perry, she loved you and only you.”

  There must have been something in his words that started to sink in, because the hardened set to Perry’s face began to soften. Not a lot, but enough for Ryder to begin to hope that maybe they could get past this at long last.

  “So what if what you’re telling me is the truth? It doesn’t change the things you’ve done since. The land you inherited from Tamara’s father—the land that was so rich it oil it made your damn fortune—should always have been ours, not yours.”

  “You want it back in your family’s hands?”

  “Damn straight I do.”

  “Then give me your blessing to marry Angela.”

  The air between them crackled with barely restrained energy.

  “Impossible. You broke off your engagement. She won’t have you back.”

  “She will if she knows she doesn’t have to choose between us. Angela loves me and I love her. We deserve to be happy. We deserve to be together.”

  “Why? You couldn’t win her mother from me, so now you’re settling for my daughter?”

  “If I weren’t a decent man I’d punch you in the mouth for that remark,” Ryder growled through gritted teeth. “How dare you speak of your daughter so disparagingly. She deserves way better than that.”

  “I could argue that she deserves way better than you,” Sterling spat back in return.

  Ryder clenched his hands tight and then forced himself to relax his fingers. He had no doubt that Sterling was deliberately baiting him, seeking any excuse to call security back into this office and to see him escorted out of the building. He would not give the man the satisfaction.

  “Luckily for you, I’m not the piece of crap you think I am. Look, we both love Angela. We both want her to be happy. I know that, as her husband, I can make her happy. I want to devote the rest of my life to her.”

  “And why should I believe you?”

  “Because you can see it’s true. I’m here, aren’t I? I’m extending an olive branch. Deep down, you know Angela loves me, too. Despite everything you’ve ever done to try to turn her away from me. But I won’t stand between the two of you, not the way you’re standing between her and me. I loved her enough to let her go, but not having her in my life isn’t fair to either of us. Now I’m telling you I love her enough to make a deal with you. If you agree to stand aside and stop trying to influence Angela against me, I will deed the land that her grandfather willed to me to her on our marriage.”

  There, he’d laid his trump card on the table.

  “Obviously,” he continued, “I would have preferred you to bestow your blessing on our relationship without what some may see as a bribe, but I prefer to look at it as an act of good faith. And Angela, well, she can make of it what she may. I’m sure you would rather your daughter see you through eyes that aren’t clouded by the thought that you only gave us your blessing because it meant, in the long run, your family would get their hands back on land you’ve always considered should have been yours and Tamara’s.

  “Look, I love your daughter with all my heart. I will be a good husband to her and a fine father to any children we might be lucky enough to have. That land will eventually become theirs. Isn’t that what you want in the long run?”

  Sterling leaned back in his executive chair and pressed his fingertips together, studying Ryder carefully over their steepled peaks.

  “Let me think about it,” he finally said.

  Ryder felt himself begin to relax. As progress went, that was a start. Certainly a better position than where they’d been before he walked into Perry’s office today. Perry might have conceded to think about it, but Ryder could see that his stony visage had softened. By sweetening the pot with the land he’d inherited from Tamara’s father, he knew he stood a far greater chance of winning the man’s support.

  “Which brings me to the Texas Cattleman’s Club,” Ryder started.

  “I wondered when you’d bring that up. Don’t push me, Currin. I might consider supporting your marriage to my daughter, but I will not relinquish my pitch for control of the TCC here in Houston.”

  “I’m not asking you to. But I do think we need to declare a truce and actually start to work together to find the killer. On opposite sides of the boardroom table we’re formidable, but think how much stronger we could be if we worked together. Both for Angela’s sake and for the reputation of the Houston club.”

  Again, silence stretched between the two men. After a couple of minutes Sterling Perry stood and came around to where Ryder had also risen from his seat. Was this where he ejected him from his office? Ryder wondered. He didn’t know who was the more surprised when Perry stuck out his hand. Ryder didn’t waste a second. He took it and shook it firmly.

  “Truce,” Perry said.

  “Truce,” Ryder agreed.

  Eight

  Zoe paced her motel room in irritation. Still no confirmation from the sheriff’s office of a day when she’d be able to interview Jesse Stevens. Royal wasn’t that antiquated. Someone was stalling; they had to be. In the meantime, she had an investigation to complete. She’d spent much of the day visiting places around town, asking random questions about Mr. Stevens and how the people around here saw him. So far all she’d heard were his praises sung from the rooftops. It was starting to get on her last nerve. No one was that perfect.

  She’d begun to think she’d be better off hauling him back to Houston and questioning him there, but she knew if she did that, she’d likely get offside with Sheriff Battle, and she’d been at this long enough to know that you needed all the friends and solid contacts you could get. You never knew when you might need to call in a favor. So that left her cooli
ng her heels, wondering what the heck to do next. Take up horse riding? A course in cattle branding, perhaps? Both ideas made her skin crawl.

  Zoe reached for her laptop and fired it up, scrolling again through the case notes she had on Vincent Hamm. It had all been so convincing, the way he’d left work after bitching about his job for weeks and vocally dreaming of a life in the Caribbean, spending his days surfing, then virtually disappearing into thin air before sending a text from the British Virgin Islands. But she knew he couldn’t possibly have sent that text. Then who’d done it?

  For a guy who had no enemies, he still managed to end up dead. Instinct told her it had to be connected to the building where he was found—the proposed Texas Cattleman’s Club in Houston. But then there was this message from Jesse Stevens on Hamm’s phone. As far as she knew, Stevens had nothing to do with the new club, but maybe there was a link she was missing here. Someone had tracked Hamm to the building. Was it Stevens? The crime-scene pictures were useless. After the flooding there’d been little chance of retrieving what could have been vital evidence. The forensic examination of his body by the medical examiner had also yielded very little, besides a grossly bloated body with its face gone.

  “Argh!” she groaned out loud and closed her computer.

  Maybe a run would clear her head. She glanced at her watch and decided she had time before getting ready for tonight. Across the room the garment bag hanging on the door of the cupboard that passed as a wardrobe in this place caught her eye. She’d splashed out on the new dress specifically with Cord’s reaction to it very firmly in her mind. Together with the skinny-heeled black patent leather pumps, the emerald green cocktail dress with its plunging neckline was bound to excite him. Heck, it had excited her just trying it on in the store. And teamed with the green-and-white crystal necklace she’d bought to go with it, and the white crystal studs the sales girl had told her were the perfect accompaniment to the outfit, she knew she’d knock his eyes out.

  She thought for a second of how much she’d spent. Almost a month’s salary. And for a guy? Someone she’d known, what, two days? She had to be mad. But that ever-present tingle that took over her body every time she thought of him reasserted itself, reminding her that this wasn’t just about pleasing him or seeking his approval. It was about pleasing herself, too. She wanted to look good. So what if it wasn’t the kind of outfit she’d wear to a family barbecue, which was pretty much the sum total of her social life. There’d be other men, other dates.

  As soon as she thought of it, she pushed the idea out of her head. She didn’t have time for dating. Not now. Not when a murderer still roamed free. But a dalliance with a handsome rancher? Yeah, she thought, smiling to herself as she subconsciously reached out to stroke the garment bag, she could squeeze that in.

  Feeling as though she’d fooled herself into total justification for her shopping spree, Zoe changed into her running gear and slipped out of the motel, locking the door firmly behind her. An hour ought to do it, and maybe it’d help wear off the edge of sexual hunger that constantly badgered her every time she thought about Cord Galicia.

  She was wrong. Two hours wouldn’t have even been enough. Even though she’d pushed herself hard in the early evening heat, after returning to her room she still had that crazy itchy feeling that she knew only Cord Galicia could scratch. She was losing her grip. Normally at this stage of a case she’d be 100 percent focused on the job—no distractions. And yet with this one—and very possibly because there was so little to go on—she was all too easily distracted.

  Maybe she ought to call Cord and cancel their arrangements for tonight. She even got as far as pulling his number up on her phone, but as her finger hovered over the call command, she backed out of the app and put her phone back down again. She groaned out loud and stomped one foot in frustration. She couldn’t do it. She wanted to see him tonight. There, she admitted it.

  Groaning again at her weakness for a man she should never have hooked up with, Zoe went through to the cramped bathroom and stripped off her running gear before stepping under the cool spray. She sucked in a sharp breath as the water hit her overheated body and goose bumps rose on her skin. It took a couple of minutes before the water came up to temperature, and it gave her time to get her thoughts in order and her raging libido under control.

  Normally she’d be fine at this stage of a relationship. She snorted as she squirted some shampoo into her hand and massaged the liquid through her short, thick hair. Relationship? No way this was anything approaching that kind of serious. Besides, she didn’t do serious. Didn’t want to. Not yet, anyway. She had several more notches she wanted to achieve on the metaphorical belt that was her career with Houston P.D. She’d made it this far without distraction; she didn’t plan on derailing her momentum any time soon.

  Zoe rinsed out the shampoo and applied conditioner before using shower gel to wash herself clean of the grime she’d picked up during her run. Half an hour in one direction and she’d been out of town in open space. Sure, there’d been signs of civilization, like fences and the occasional car, but overall, there’d been a sense of openness and calm that she’d never felt before. Running in her neighborhood in Houston was always risky. Whether it was traffic or other sidewalk users, she always had to have her wits about her. She came home satisfied with the physical outlet but less mentally fulfilled than she felt today. Maybe the country had something to recommend it after all. Not that she’d ever live here, not with her work in Houston. But visit from time to time? Yeah, she could do that.

  As she dried herself off and blew out her hair, tousling it with her fingers, she thought about her family. They’d hooted with laughter when she’d told them where she was heading, knowing how citified she was. And her sisters-in-law had chuckled alongside her brothers in total agreement. While Zoe loved the fact that her brothers had met their perfect matches, and that her parents were still incredibly happy together, she did wonder sometimes if she’d find that level of contentment herself.

  When she thought about her future, contentment never really factored in, anyway. It was all about drive and progress and promotion. At a certain point, though, she’d have to stop, unless she wanted to find herself chief of police one day. She smirked at her reflection as she smoothed on some tinted moisturizer and dusted it with a light coating of powder. Her? Chief of police? She’d never handle the politics or the glad-handing required. But she wouldn’t mind, one day, finding the balance between work and play and settling down with that special someone.

  Her parents had fallen in love in high school and married the day after graduation. Her brothers had waited until they were a little older, but each had met his future wife and known what he wanted almost immediately. None of them had wasted time on long courtships or engagements. It seemed the Warren family were all about knowing what they wanted and going for it.

  She’d never found that one person that made her feel certain that he was the one. Except for Cord.

  She froze, her hand midway to her eyes and the mascara wand dangling uselessly in her fingers. Where the hell was she going with this? She wasn’t ready to be married. She wasn’t ready to settle down. Cord had made it clear, even if he hadn’t used the exact words, that he was the kind of guy that wanted a woman who was all about home and hearth and family. She was definitely not that person. She was driven by her career. By the need to bring the bad guys to justice, by the determination to see that her victims wouldn’t remain victimized for the rest of their lives. That they’d have closure.

  Geez, she didn’t even know why she was letting her mind flow down this track. That was the trouble with having to leave the city. It left you too much damn time to think and let your mind wander down ridiculous paths that under normal circumstances you wouldn’t consider at all.

  Giving herself a sharp mental shake, Zoe finished applying her makeup and stepped through to the main room to take the cocktail dress from the hanger.
It was nothing to look at just hanging there; in fact, she’d been very ho-hum about it when the shop assistant had suggested it to her. But when she’d put it on, it was transformed—and it transformed her right along with it. Not just her appearance, but how she felt. In this dress she felt all woman. A woman with wiles.

  The deep V of the neckline made wearing a bra impossible, and due to the silkiness of the fabric Zoe had accepted the suggestion she wear nipple covers with the outfit. Given her company for the night, and the way he made her feel, she thought she’d spare the rest of the restaurant the evidence of her perpetual desire for Cord Galicia. She chuckled as she put the things on, then slipped on a skin-toned thong before putting on the dress.

  She smoothed it over her hips, then reached for the jewelry she’d bought to go with it. Finally she slid her feet into her shoes and picked up the small evening bag she’d bought to complete the ensemble. She went back into the bathroom to check her reflection in the floor-length mirror behind the door and barely recognized the creature who stared back at her.

  A knock at her motel room door made her move away from the mirror and the stranger she’d seen there. Was this what seeing someone like Cord was doing to her? Changing her into someone she no longer identified with? But it was still her beneath the figure-hugging emerald green dress and the hair and makeup. Just a different her. And there was no reason why this version of herself couldn’t have free rein right now, was there?

  She swung the door open and felt her heart skitter in her chest at the sight of the man standing there waiting for her. Dressed all in black, from his boots to his shirt and jacket, and wearing a stunning silver-and-turquoise bolo tie, Cord looked about as dark and mysterious as a man could get. Until he smiled and her new lover shone through under his frank appreciation as his eyes skimmed her from head to foot and back again.