Gambling on a Secret (32 page)

“You can’t be serious.” He stared at her, his heart raced in the back of his throat and his breaths stuck between his ribs, making him dizzy. His chest was bare, his jeans were down around his ankles, and he was still buried inside her. If she’d asked him to marry her, he wouldn’t have been more surprised.

But she hadn’t told him she loved him.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? You and I have equal shares in Blackwell Ranch and equal say in what happens to it. Shouldn’t we both have a say in what our child inherits?”

He moved away from her, yanked his jeans to his waist. She sat there on the workbench still naked. He thrust his hands through his hair.

“I don’t have anything to give our baby, Charli.” He turned away. “Nothing. Brenda cleaned out my bank account long before she decided to divorce me. Not that I had much to begin with. Even with my hazard pay, I wasn’t ever gonna get rich in the Army. I sunk all of what I inherited from my grandfather Quinn into the ranch she weaseled me out of during the divorce.” He faced a wall of bridle hooks and every muscle sagged as if dipped in lead. “I don’t have the capital or the collateral to even think about going into a partnership with you.”

Charli hopped off the bench and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She laid her head on the back of his broad shoulder. He relaxed, the tension leaving his body as he leaned into her.

She whispered near his ear, “Dylan, I’m not asking you to sink money into the ranch. I’m asking you to make a commitment to this land and to our baby without the complications of saying ‘I do’ to me.”

He turned and swallowed her up with his arms. “Are you sure about this? What if things don’t work out between us?”

“I guess we had better make damned sure things do work out.”

Did she understand what she was offering? If things went south between them, he could fight her for half of the ranch or half of the profits from the sale of it. Not that he’d do it, but it would be well within his right as her business partner. When he found his voice, it was a hoarse croak. “I’ll think about it. But if I do agree, it won’t happen until the baby’s born. I want to give you time to back out if you decide to.”

Charli swallowed and slowly nodded. He’d given them both an out if they wanted it. “Okay.”

“There’s one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“This place needs a new name.”

Her laugh was watery. She laid her head on his shoulder, holding him close. “I’ve been thinking about that since the auction. I still have no idea.”

He turned in her embrace and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

She smiled up at him and her eyes glittered in the slanted evening light from the window. “Maybe Monroe and Quinn? M bar Q?”

A memory drifted to him of them standing in the garden when a tiny blue butterfly fluttered by. The house and ranch had been crumbling, the fields hadn’t seen cattle in years, and he’d been a broken down drunk who hated his life. Now, the ranch was on its way to new life. And he’d been given a second chance at a beautiful life.

He thought about the girl, Annie. Charli would turn her into one of her butterflies, too. She had done it to herself, hadn’t she?

It was so obvious, he chuckled. The delighted sound brought a sharp sting to his eyes and a look of concern from her.

“What about Butterfly?” He ran the pad of his thumb over her soft freckled cheek, still flushed a lovely pink from pleasure. “You’ve transformed this place, just like you wanted. The ugly worm has become the butterfly.”

“You remember that? My crazy thing about caterpillars and butterflies?”

“Yeah. I think it’s perfect.”

Her eyes swam in unshed tears. “Butterfly Ranch it is. You sure it’s not too sissy for you?”

He nuzzled her neck and held her as tightly as he dared. Her soft naked breasts fit perfectly against his hard bare chest. “Nah, I’ll just claim you came up with it. No one will ever question the assertion. After all, you named the horses after Greek and Roman goddesses and the bulls after a horny god who can’t decide what his name is.”

She giggled and pulled away to meet his gaze. “You still having trouble with your horse’s name? You’d have probably called Artemis something lame like Blackie.”

“Damn straight. It’s bad enough they’re moody mares.”

Charli shifted out of his arms and dressed. She moved with the quiet grace of a dancer. When she caught him watching her, he snickered and picked up his shirt from the concrete floor where it had slipped off the bench.

“You know, I think we just christened the barn, so to speak.” Dressed again and looking very much like a cowgirl, she ambled over to him. She laid her hand on his cheek and gave him a sexy-as-hell pouty grin. “I think it’s time to go buy some horses. What do you think, cowboy?”

Then she kissed him.

* * * *

“You were supposed to be making sure she wanted out of the cattle business, not buying more,” he ground out and held his cellphone in a death grip. He rarely angered, but when it came to Blackwell Ranch, he did so often.

“How the hell was I supposed to know she’d buy more cattle?” Kyle McPherson’s whiney voice raked over his nerves. “I couldn’t kill the calves. The damned old man, Jesse Riley, watches me like a hawk. It’s Quinn. He’s pushing her to do this. They shacked up together. Today when she was riding in the roundup, Dylan acted like a lovesick puppy because she was with us. Tom told me he thinks she’s knocked up. Now, the bastard really acts like he owns the damned place.”

He ran a hand through his hair. The jewelry box weighed down his suit pocket. Flipping open the lid, he looked at the diamond ring. Snapping the lid closed, he tossed the five-carat bauble across the room. He never,
ever
lost a conquest, and he wanted Charli Monroe more than he liked to admit. The fact Dylan Quinn was the one warming her bed damn near had him seeing red.

“Do something about it. I’m paying you to make sure Charli Monroe signs over that ranch to me.”

“What the hell do you want me to do? I can’t kill Dylan. I already tried.”

He reached into the depths of his being and found calm against the seething rage making it hard to breathe. He’d long ago learned never to let extreme anger or fear show in the business world. To do so was a weakness the enemy could easily exploit, a lesson his grandfather had taught him.

“Come up with something, Kyle.” He paused to make sure his point got across loud and clear. “I want the ranch. I still have the evidence I’m sure your Texas Ranger brother or the Dallas police would love to get hold of.”

A loud, disgusted curse sounded down the wire. He let a predatory smile touch his lips. The young fool was right where he wanted him. “All right,” the younger man said, resigned. “All fuckin’ right.”

He disconnected the call and looked out at the night. He’d get what he wanted and avenge the wrong done to him when that crazy bastard abandoned him long before he’d been born.

* * * *

After making love in the barn, Charli and Dylan went inside. She listened to his even breathing as he spooned close behind her. Hugging the arm holding her, she stared at the wall. She should have told him she loved him when she offered him the partnership. She’d told Ricardo she’d loved him, too, and he’d even married her, or so she had thought at the time. But he hadn’t ever loved her.

And neither did Leon. She doubted he was even truly her friend, and that hurt. Every man she’d ever cared for had used her or planned to steal from her by bending her emotions to fit their purposes.

Was Dylan doing the same? Why hadn’t he ever told her he loved her? But when she’d offered him exactly what he’d always wanted, a ranch of his own, he didn’t take it. What else could be holding him here? If he was only with her for the baby, why didn’t he want to marry her so their baby would never carry the stigma of being illegitimate? What would he do if he ever found out about her past? Would he take her baby from her? The thought terrified her. She could never give up her baby.

Sniffing back a sob, she closed her eyes against all the questions buzzing in her head. When sleep finally came, she was no closer to having the answers to any of the questions. Then the dream flickered to life.

“
I can’t stay here,” she said as she threw clothes into a duffle bag. “You shot him when he was right beside me. What if you would’ve missed, Ric?”

He laughed, tossed the bag across the room and grabbed her wrists. “You’d be dead, I guess.”

Her knees turned rubbery and bile boiled in her stomach. She couldn’t fight his grip.

“You think I care about you?”

“You told me you’ll take care of me. You told me you loved me.” Her brittle voice cracked. “You married me.”

The harsh chortle hurt as much as his tightening grip on her wrists did. “Shit, how many of your Johns tell you the same thing, Bambi? The only reason I even keep you in my bed is because you’re a good fuck. The reason I take care of you? The reason I married you? Guys know you’re my girl, so they’re willin’ to pay some major bucks to fuck you. You’re an investment. I’d be a moron not to make sure you have clothes and food and plenty of coke to keep you happy. I love you making me a rich man. I love the way you give a blowjob, but that doesn’t mean I’m in love with you. Better get used to men sayin’ they love you to get what they want, baby. Only fools ever mean it.”

She yanked on her arms, trying to get free. Her heart, what little hadn’t already shattered, crumbled to dust. “I’m not doin’ it anymore! I’m leavin’ you.”

“Where the hell do you think you’ll go? Back to the farm?” He pulled her close and his face twisted into a frightening glower. “No one will ever want you. You’re nothing but a coke addict and high-priced hooker who helped me kill six men.”

When she shook her head, he scoffed, “Oh, you forgot about Hodges’s guards. I had them killed, too, you know. You led me to Hodges’s hangout. You’re as responsible for those deaths as you are Tyrone’s.”

“No!” She sobbed and fell to her knees before him.

He picked her up by her wrists and tossed her on the bed. “Who will buy your drugs, Charli? You have no idea how good you have it, being my personal slut. You get to have the pick of Johns, live in my apartment, and I provide you with all the nose candy you want. All I ask is I get to fuck you whenever I want.” He ripped her shirt and bared her breasts. “Like right now.”

“No, Ricardo, no!” she screamed, but fighting him was useless. She’d learned that lesson a long time ago.

Dylan gathered her in his arms, murmuring soothing words into her hair, and held her until morning.

Chapter 18

Two days later, Ella called Charli. Annie was at work. When she entered Ella’s Diner, the place was empty. Ella nodded in greeting and brought her a glass of sweet tea.

A few moments later, Annie stopped next to her table. “Mom said you want to talk to me.”

She smiled and gestured to the seat across from her. “Yes, please sit down.”

Annie remained standing with her arms crossed over her black t-shirt. “I don’t want to talk to you. I saw you that day at the mall.”

She returned the girl’s stare. “And I saw you.”

Annie put her hands on the table and leaned over them into her personal space. The skull pendant of her necklace swung forward and
dinged
off the untouched glass of iced tea. Charli calmly moved the glass and continued to stare into the girl’s scowling face.

Annie snarled, “I could get fined and have to do stupid community service and rehab for a fuckin’ year because of you.”

“You sure could,” she evenly said. “Rehab isn’t a bad thing and neither is community service. It’s your first offense and you’re a minor. If you were older, like your friend who sold you the drugs, you’d be doing jail time.”

Annie cursed again and straightened to stand over her. “I’d have to be caught first.”

“Like you were when I called the sheriff?”

Annie growled and turned away.

“I only want to talk, Annie.”

With her face flushed and her hands fisted, Annie spun around. “I don’t need a shrink.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t think I did either.”

The words had the effect she hoped they would. Annie glanced over her shoulder. “What do you mean?”

The tea was cold and sweet, but it did very little to calm her nerves when she took a drink. “Sit and I’ll tell you.”

For a tense moment, they locked gazes. Then Annie slid into the booth. “I’m sittin’.”

Charli smiled and sat back. “How long have you been smoking pot?”

Annie lifted one shoulder up in a half-shrug. “Everyone knows pot is harmless.”

“Really?”

“Hell, they want to make it legal.”

“Sure. For medical purposes. Are you suffering from some disease?” She leaned forward. “Annie, marijuana is far from harmless. It’s addictive. Since the authorities don’t usually threaten rehab and jail time unless something a lot more potent than marijuana has shown up on your drug test, you’ve done more than just smoke pot. I know it was coke in the bag.”