Against the Odds (32 page)

He ignored her, of course, and started toward her. Rina held up
a hand. “Stay right where you are.”

“Why?”

Because with his blond good looks and Alex Justice charm, he
was just as appealing to her as he was the first time she had seen him. And as
much as she wished it weren’t so, she was still in love with him.

“I have a lunch date, Alex. What do you want?”

“A lunch date? Tell me it isn’t with that slick-talking
Hernandez.”

“You’re one to be casting stones. And anyway, it’s none of your
business. Tell me why you’re here or leave.”

“It’s kind of involved. Why don’t we go into the living room
and sit down?”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Alex.”

Something shifted in his features. “Annie said you would.”

“Annie? What’s Annie got to do with this?”

His eyes darkened. She had only seen that look on his face a
couple of times and never known exactly what it meant.

“Annie said it wouldn’t matter to you if my future was still
unsettled. She said if I wanted to do something different, change jobs, maybe
even leave Houston, you’d be okay with it. She said you liked adventure.”

“I like adventure...I mean sometimes I like adventure. Not that
time out in the desert. That was more like survival than— Wait a minute. What
are you getting at, Alex?”

“Annie said you’d take me just the way I am. She said if I
asked, you’d follow me to the ends of the earth.”

The floor seemed to be tilting. Maybe sitting down wasn’t such
a bad idea. “I don’t... I’m not sure what...”

“Would you? If I told you I was in love with you, would you go
with me no matter where life might lead us?”

Her throat closed up. If Alex loved her... Oh, God, she
couldn’t stand this. She was going to cry and she refused to let him see.
“Please leave, Alex. Please, I can’t take any more. I don’t know what you want
from me.”

Instead he moved toward her, drew her into his arms, held her
as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

“I want you to marry me. That’s what I want more than anything
in the world. I’m telling you I love you and I want you to be my wife. I’m
asking, begging you to marry me.”

Her knees buckled. If Alex hadn’t been holding her up, she
would have slid bonelessly to the floor. “Alex... Oh, God, Alex.”

“Will you? God, please don’t say no.”

Her heart was beating, throbbing so hard it hurt. He was asking
her to marry him. She wanted to say yes more than she wanted the next breath of
air. Tears sprang into her eyes. “I love you, but... Oh, Alex, are you sure
about this?”

He kissed her mouth, her nose, her eyes. “I was an idiot to let
you leave. I screwed things up. I couldn’t figure things out, but now I have. I
love you. Marry me.”

The wetness in her eyes rolled down her cheeks. She smiled at
him through her tears. “Of course I’ll marry you. Annie was right. I’ll follow
you to the ends of the earth if that’s where you want to go.”

And then he kissed her and she kissed him back, and she knew at
last he was finding his way or at least some part of it. He loved her. Deep
down, she had known that all along. Felt it every time he had held her, kissed
her, made love to her. He loved her and they were going to be married.

It looked like Arturo Hernandez would have to find another date
for lunch.

Thirty-Five

R
ina was packing her clothes, putting her
furniture in storage, at least for a while, giving up her apartment and moving
in with Alex.

He’d asked her to marry him only last week and already he
wanted to set a date. Fall, he’d said. Or sooner, if she wanted. Fall, she’d
agreed was perfect. A backyard wedding, maybe around the pool at Sage and Jake’s
new place. They’d have the landscaping finished by then. Alex thought it was a
great idea. By then the weather would be cool enough for the guests to be
outside.

Thinking of the days they had spent together since he’d come
for her, Rina went around with a perpetual smile on her face. She couldn’t
remember ever being so happy. She loved him and he loved her. It just didn’t get
any better than that.

She was in the kitchen, packing her good dishes into a box,
humming as she worked. Alex had persuaded her to hire a moving company, which
she had agreed to do for the furniture, but the personal items she wanted to
pack herself.

She heard someone coming up the walkway to the front door of
the apartment. Alex was due any minute, on his way to help her. Of course, once
he got there they’d get sidetracked and wind up in the bedroom.

Rina grinned.

The doorbell chimed. Not Alex. Alex had a key. She peered
through the peephole, felt a jolt of surprise to see her aunt Marlene on the
doorstep.

Not good, since her son, Bob, was in jail for murder, attempted
murder, conspiracy to commit murder, destruction of property, at least a dozen
charges. With the repeated attempts on Rina’s life, bail had been denied. Bob
was sure to cut a deal, but even if he did, he wouldn’t get out of prison for
years.

At least Silla and George weren’t involved, she thought as she
pasted on a smile and opened the door. In some strange way, this had brought her
and her two cousins closer than they had ever been before.

Maybe her aunt was there to set things right between them, as
well. Still, Bob was her son. This wouldn’t be an easy conversation.

As the door swung open, Rina took a deep breath and stepped
back out of the way. “Aunt Marlene. It’s good to see you. Please come in.”

“Thank you.” At fifty-seven, Marlene Eckhart Beringer was an
attractive woman, light brown hair, green eyes, nice figure. She had always had
expensive taste, and it showed in the tailored pale blue pants suit she wore
with a cream silk blouse, the low-heeled shoes that were clearly designer
quality. With her hair swept into a stylish chignon, she could have passed for
forty-five.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse the mess,” Rina said, leading
her into the kitchen. “I’m moving.” This time her smile came easily. “I’m
getting married.”

Aunt Marlene followed. “So I heard.” Her gaze slid over the
half-full packing boxes. “The millionaire playboy. Congratulations.”

Backhanded good wishes. Apparently, her aunt hadn’t changed.
“Thank you. Would you like some iced tea? I have a pitcher just made in the
fridge. I’ve got Coke if you’d rather.”

“I didn’t come here for iced tea, Sabrina.”

Rina’s eyes widened as her aunt pulled a thirty-eight revolver
out of the handbag slung over her shoulder.

“I came here to kill you.” Marlene leveled the weapon at Rina’s
chest.

Time seemed to slow. “So it was you all along,” Rina said,
trying to think of a way to get the gun out of Marlene’s hand. “You and Bob and
Henry.”

“Not exactly. It was Bob’s plan. His company was going broke.
When Walter came to Houston that fall for a visit, he bragged about the silver
he’d found out in the desert. Bob didn’t believe him at first, but this time
Walter seemed so certain. Bob followed him back to the mine to see if it could
be true. And there it was—just like Walter said.”

“It was molybdenum, not silver,” Rina corrected, just to keep
her talking. Alex would be there any minute. His arrival might be enough of a
distraction that she could get control of the gun.

Marlene scoffed. “What does it matter? It’s valuable, isn’t
it?”

Rina didn’t answer. She was trying to judge the distance
between them, inching closer a little at a time. “So Bob decided to kill his
father,” she said to distract Marlene.

“That’s right. He figured with Walter out of the way, the land
would go to him, Silla and George. He figured you’d get cut in for a share, but
there was plenty to go around.”

“Bob convinced Henry to kill his dad.”

“You always were a smart one. But it didn’t work out the way
Bob planned because Walter changed his will and left the mine completely to
you—his daughter.”

“What?”

Marlene’s lips flattened out. “You never knew, did you?
Florence and Mike promised Walter they’d never tell you about him and his little
whore, the waitress he knocked up in El Paso. Sherry...that was her name. She
wanted to get rid of you, have you sucked right out of her womb, but Walter
promised her money. He convinced her that if she’d have his baby, he’d find a
home for it. He knew his brother and Flo wanted kids and couldn’t have them. He
knew they’d take you.”

Rina’s chest was squeezing, her heart pumping. Surely it wasn’t
true. She tried to imagine that the man she’d thought was her uncle was actually
her father. He was red-haired like she was. He was a dreamer, a risk taker. An
adventurer. More like she was than the steady, hardworking man who had raised
her.

“Bob needed you out of the way but after the first try failed
he didn’t have enough money left to get it done, so he came to me.” Marlene
smiled, enjoying her moment of triumph. “My second husband left me more than
comfortable when he died. I could afford to help my son and I relished it.” She
sneered. “Walter’s little princess. His illegitimate kid.”

“That’s why you hated Walter so much. That’s why you always
hated me.”

“He cheated on me! He was never there for me or his kids! He
deserved to die and so do you!” Marlene lifted the gun. It trembled in her
hand.

Rina steeled herself. “Put the gun down, Marlene. You don’t
want to go to prison.” Why she wasn’t more afraid she didn’t know. Maybe after
everything that had happened, she had finally just had enough. “Put it down and
this will all go away.”

“You little fool—I don’t care what happens to me. You ruined my
son’s life! You ruined my life! I want you dead!”

The gun shook as Marlene used both hands to cock the hammer. It
was now or never. Rina leaped, grabbed the wrist that held the weapon and shoved
it upward. Marlene pulled the trigger, a deafening roar next to Rina’s ear.
Using her weight, she tripped and shoved at the same time, and Marlene went down
hard on the ceramic tile kitchen floor. Plaster rained from the hole in the
ceiling.

Rina steadied her grip and aimed the weapon at Marlene.

She didn’t hear the lock being turned or the door swinging
open. She was pointing the gun at the woman on the floor when Alex rushed into
the apartment, a terrified, murderous look on his face.

“Jesus! What the hell’s going on?”

Marlene’s green eyes stared at her with hatred. “You won’t
shoot, you don’t have the guts for it.”

Rina pulled the trigger and Marlene screamed as the bullet
slammed into the tile a few inches from her foot.

“Jesus!” Alex said again, awe in his voice.

“It’s okay. I’ve got it under control.” The pistol in her hand
remained on Marlene, whose perfect chignon had come undone, her hair hanging
down around her shoulders.

Alex grinned and his dimples popped out. “Yeah, I guess you do.
Looks like you really do know how to handle a pistol.”

“I was always Big Mike’s little girl.”

“Mine now,” he said. Taking the gun from her hand, he kept it
aimed at Marlene while Rina grabbed her cell and dialed 911.

“You gonna tell me what’s happening here?” Alex asked calmly as
she ended the call.

“That’s my aunt Marlene. She financed Bob’s murder attempts.”
She thought of the secret Marlene had told her, thought of the parents who had
loved her even though she wasn’t really their child, and her heart squeezed.
“Walter’s my dad.”

Alex’s dark blond eyebrows shot up. “Wow, I didn’t see that one
coming.”

“Neither did I. I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

Alex moved closer, slid an arm around her waist and drew her
against him. “Walter loved you, sweetheart. So did Big Mike. That’s all that
matters.”

He returned his gaze to Marlene. “Bob wouldn’t give up his own
mother. I should have realized something was missing.”

“This time it really is over.”

“Yeah.”

A lump swelled in her throat. “You sure you want to marry into
a family as screwed up as mine?”

Alex scoffed. “They’re all a little screwed up, love, take it
from me.”

“Most of them aren’t murderers, though.”

He stared at Marlene and his jaw hardened. “There is that.” He
turned back to Rina, gave her a smile. “One thing for sure, married to you,
there’ll never be a dull moment.”

And then to the tune of wailing sirens, a smoking gun still in
his hand, Alex leaned down and kissed her.

Epilogue

T
hey were driving through the West Texas
desert on the two-track road leading out to the Sabrina Belle. It was still
burning hot, dust rolling up from beneath the wheels of the rented pickup. Alex
had tried to talk Sabrina into waiting for a change in the weather but she was
determined to get the mining operation under way.

He glanced at her sitting in the seat beside him, couldn’t stop
a grin at the perfect, brilliant-cut, three-carat diamond she was wearing on her
left hand.

She’d wanted something smaller, less ostentatious. He’d wanted
something even bigger, something that would keep guys like Arturo Hernandez
away. The solitaire rising up from a platinum band was a compromise, and he
could tell she loved it, even if it did look like a headlight on her small
hand.

His sister was wearing a ring now, too. The diamond was
smaller, but Becca treasured the engagement ring that had belonged to Joe’s
mother.

Alex’s gaze went to the dusty Ford pickup barreling down the
dirt road ahead of them. Hernandez was a helluva lot more reserved around
Sabrina these days, now that he knew she was engaged. Which was lucky for him if
he wanted to keep all the pretty white teeth in his head.

They had come for the meeting with Desert Mining. The lawyers
were flying into Presidio to sign the contracts, but Hernandez wanted to show
them something first. When they came to the old wooden cabin Walter had lived in
while he worked the mine, Hernandez kept driving, the dirt track narrowing even
more, the vehicles bouncing over cactus and flinging rocks out of the way.

Another mile passed before the engineer pulled up in front of a
long rocky rift that rose up from the sandy floor and ran for miles across the
desert.

“Look, Alex! There’s an opening in the hillside. It looks like
another mine.”

Braving the brutal heat, drier out here than in Houston but
still plenty vicious, they walked up to Hernandez, who stood in front of the
man-made tunnel that had been shored up with timbers in the mountain.

“This is it,” Arturo said. “I wanted you to see it before you
sign the contracts.”

“Walter was working two locations?” Alex asked.

“Yes, and as it turns out, both were productive.”

“More moly?” Sabrina asked.

Hernandez grinned, a flash of white in a face even more
suntanned than before. “Not moly, my friends. Silver.”

“Silver?” they both said in unison.

“That is correct.” He smiled. “Walter Eckhart was right. As
well as the molybdenum, there is a large deposit of silver on the property.”

Sabrina looked at Alex. “Oh, my God—Bob must have followed him
here.”

“Looks that way.”

“This strike makes the land even more valuable than our first
estimation,” Hernandez said. “You are a very wealthy young woman, Sabrina
Eckhart.”

“Soon to be Sabrina Justice,” Alex pointedly reminded him.

“He found silver, Alex.” Sabrina smiled up at him. “Half his
life, he worked morning to night, barely eking out a living, searching for
treasure. I’m glad he finally found it.”

Alex pulled her into his arms. “So am I.” Over her shoulder, he
drilled Hernandez with a look that said,
you’re too late,
buddy,
leaned down and kissed her.

“Let’s get going,” he said, grinning at the pink in her cheeks
that had nothing to do with the sun. “It’s hotter than seven levels of Hades out
here and I’ve got plans for you when we get home.” Alex winked and her cheeks
went even pinker.

He thought of all that had happened, of the unexpected twists
and turns that kept life interesting and had led him to Sabrina. Thought how
lucky he was to love a woman willing to travel life’s uncertain paths along with
him.

Alex took her hand and started walking, looking forward to the
journey ahead.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
Against the
Sun
by Kat Martin!