Matt—The Callahan Brothers (Brazos Bend Book 2) (25 page)

Branch collapsed back against his pillow. “If I can’t rail against my team, I might as well be dead.” He smiled tiredly and said, “You’ve come to visit me. That’s really nice.”

The temptation to fire back the usual denial was strong, but Matt resisted. He studied his father, noted the return of color in his complexion, and felt a tenseness inside himself ease. He’d been worried, he realized. Despite Luke’s assurances, he’d needed to see for himself that his father really was okay. “What did the doctor say?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then I’ll leave.”

Branch scowled and yanked at his bedcovers. “I need rest and to watch my diet and to eliminate stress.”

“Then why in the world are you watching the Rangers play baseball?” When his father didn’t respond, Matt continued. “What about bypass surgery? Angioplasty?”

“Don’t need it. Tests all came out okay.”

Matt folded his arms and studied his father. Branch told the truth when it suited him. For all Matt knew, the doctor could have given him two days to live. Though he was tempted to hack into the hospital’s computer system and access his father’s chart, he wouldn’t. He could understand the old man’s desire for privacy. He’d been that way himself during the rehabilitation of his leg.

He decided to take his old man at his word. For now, anyway. “I need to explain what we have going on so you’re not surprised when you hear about it from others.”

“You mean, you and your brothers? You’re bringing me into your plan?” Branch grabbed the bed’s safety bars and pulled himself up, his expression eager.

“C’mon, Dad. You just had a heart attack. Settle down, would you?”

‘‘Dad,”
 
Branch repeated in a murmur. Smiling, he sat back against his pillow, folded his hands over his chest, and waited expectantly.

Matt gave a brief recap of what his father needed to know about events since Torie came to town.

“So that’s what happened to Mark?” Branch interrupted when Matt mentioned the explosion. “He got caught in a trap meant for That Damned Woman? Sonofabitch! She’s a nightmare! First you, then Mark. You’d better keep her away from Luke! Why is she still here?”

“Calm down, Branch. She’s here because I intend to find the person who rigged that explosion. Now it’s personal.”

Branch pursed his lips and nodded in agreement. “Because of Mark.”

And because you took a look at Mark and had a heart attack. And, to be honest, because of Torie.

“So how you gonna find him?”

“Oh, we’ll track him down. Between the three of us, we have a lot of resources to tap.”

“So you’ll all be leaving town.” The excitement in his father’s face died.

“Actually, no. I’ll be running the operation from here. It’s safest for Victoria that way.”

“So you’re protecting her. Her. The woman who shot you. Matthew, you are a good man.”

No. Actually, he wasn’t. “Just so you know and don’t have another heart attack, Branch, we’re faking an engagement.”

“What sort of engagement?”

“Marriage, Branch.” Having noted Torie peeking around the doorjamb, he motioned her into the room. “Earlier today at P3, I announced that Torie and I were getting married.”

Torie smiled hesitantly and wiggled her fingers in a wave hello.

Branch scowled back at her. “Why would you do something that asinine?”

At that, Torie’s chin came up and her back snapped straight. “Asinine!” she repeated, her eyes flashing and her voice bristling with offense. Never mind that she’d used the same word herself about his plan earlier.

Matt watched with rapt fascination as she visibly reined in her temper. “Mr. Callahan,” she said in a calm, quiet tone. “I’m glad to see you looking so well. I want you to know that I’m sorry for having brought trouble to your family. I sincerely regret the harm I caused Matt and Mark—”

“Stop it,” Matt interrupted. “You’re not responsible for that bomb.”

She ignored him and continued. “I’ll get out of your family’s hair as quickly as possible. You have my word.”

Branch sneered. “What good is your word? You’re a Peeping Tom. You take one picture of our Maddie, one single shot, and I warn you ...”
Cough ... cough ... cough.

Matt took a concerned step forward. Looking hurt, Torie stepped away. “You’re obviously ill. I think it’s best I wait out in the hall until Matt is finished here.”

The look on her face sliced at Matt. He scowled at his father. “Do you have to be such a hard ass?”

“I don’t like her.”

“Well, I do!”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Branch thumbed the television remote and the set switched off. “You know that I want only what’s best for my boys. I admit I had my doubts about growing grapes on a cattle ranch, but I’ve done some research. You’re building something good out there at Four Brothers. Even though you’ve never said it, I figure you’re at an age and experience that you’re thinking of trading one kind of fieldwork in for another. The thought of that fills me with such joy.”

“Branch ... ,” Matt began.

“Let me finish. With the career you’ve had, it’s made sense for you to remain single, but if you come home ... well ... I know there’s a lot of women in the area who’d jump at the chance to have your babies.”

“What’s with you and babies all of a sudden?”

“A man gets my age, he starts seeing his mistakes. Don’t let that Bradshaw woman be one of yours, Matthew. Don’t let her get her claws into you. I’m sure she’s a gold digger, too.”

The banging sound Matt heard coming from the hallway sounded like a door being kicked.

“Look, I have to go. You take care of yourself and do what the doctor tells you.”

“Thanks for coming. Really, Matthew, I mean it. Thanks for coming.”

“No problem.”

He turned to leave, but before he reached the door his father asked one more question. “Matt, can I ask a favor of you? Would you look after Paco? I’m sure he’s upset. We haven’t been apart for a night since I got him.”

Matt let out a long sigh. Paco the barking fur ball. Great. Just great. “Sure.”

“He won’t eat the kibble unless you mix it with cooked hamburger. With onions. And not Vidalias, they give him gas.”

Matt inched toward the door. “Got it.”

“And another thing ... do you think ... well ... is there any chance that Mark will come see me?”

“Branch, you just had a heart attack, and you’re alive and well enough to throw things at your ball team. You probably shouldn’t expect another miracle quite so soon.”

Torie had nothing to say to Matt as they left the hospital. She saved it all up for the relative privacy of his truck as he drove toward the center of town. “That man is just plain rude. If he wasn’t sick, I swear I’d ...” She huffed. “You could have told him I’m not after your money and that my claws certainly aren’t extended in your direction.”

“I don’t know, Victoria. I think you left some pretty decent scratches down my back the other night.”

She shot him a disgusted look. “Those are a different kind of claws, and you know it. I thought my relationship with my father was strange. I think the Callahan family just might have me beat. What’s the deal with your brother Mark? Why all the hatred there?”

“Honestly, I think there might be more to it than I know,” Matt replied, then acted surprised at what had slipped out.

“What do you know?”

Matt shook his head. “It’s a long, boring story that I’m not in the mood to repeat. Besides, we have better things to do.”

***

Torie might have argued, but she let herself be distracted by Brazos Bend’s charming downtown square. She noted a yarn shop, a barber shop, an honest-to-goodness five-and-dime, and a downtown movie theater. This was what she liked about small towns, she thought as he skillfully whipped the truck into a parking space in front of an ice cream parlor with the curious name of Princess, Too. “Wow,” Torie observed. “I wish I could parallel park like that.”

“I’ve had lots of practice parking.”

“I’ll bet.”

He shut off the engine, then turned to her. “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to walk into the store and act dippy in love. You’re going to play along with everything I say. All right?”

“Whatever. I’ll never turn down an ice-cream cone.” She climbed out of the truck, saying, “I even like ice cream in the winter.”

She rattled on about a friend of hers who’d lived in Texas for a while before moving to the Pacific Northwest. “She has Blue Bell ice cream shipped to her. Costs her over a hundred dollars for two gallons. I understand, though. Good ice cream is ...”

Torie’s voice trailed off as she realized they’d walked right past the Princess, Too, and stopped in front of Brazos Bend Jewelers. “What are we doing here?”

“Gotta get that secret decoder ring.”

“But—”

He shut her up with a kiss—
He’s always doing that!
—then whispered, “Play the game, Torie. It’s important.”

He opened the door and led her inside. “Hello, Mr. Kimbler. We’re here to buy your finest diamond solitaire. Show us what you have in engagement rings.”

It was a bizarre beginning to an even more bizarre half hour as Matt Callahan proceeded to subtly spin the biggest pack of lies she’d ever heard. Considering she worked with celebrities, that was saying something.

She learned that she’d been hired by National Geographic to photograph an expedition in the Polynesian islands lasting two years. Matt had responsibilities at the winery to see to and some loose ends at the Treasury Department in Washington—the Treasury Department?—to tie up, but then he was heading to the South Seas to be with his bride. The wedding would be on a beach in Bali in October—a lovely time of year in Bali—and instead of a white gown, she’d be wearing a red silk sarong. Matt would wear swim trunks. Both bride and groom would be barefoot.

The entire time he talked, he touched her. Kissed her hands, played with her hair, nuzzled her neck. He stopped spinning his story three times to kiss her lavishly.

Then he chose a three-carat square cut solitaire in a platinum band and asked anxiously if Torie thought it was big enough.

Torie thought it was gaudy and trendy and nothing like the classic ring she’d always dreamed of having, but for bling, it worked. Besides, it might be just the style for the other National Geographic photographers living in Bali.

“I designed the setting myself,” Mr. Kimbler said proudly. “That is a special stone and I thought it deserved something extra.”

“You did a wonderful job,” she told him.

“We’ll take it.” Matt bent her over backward for a theatrical, but still toe-tingling, kiss.

The man’s lips should be bronzed.

“I never thought I’d see the day that a Callahan boy came into my shop to buy an engagement ring,” the jeweler observed as he wrote up the sale. “Now I’ve sold two of you. Luke bought his ring for Maddie from me, you know. Why, when word of this gets around, I might have to change the name of my business to Good Luck Jewelers. I’ll have women hanging around here in hopes of catching Mark.”

“I wouldn’t hold your breath for that,” Matt observed. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before Mark spends so much as a penny in Brazos Bend.” He eyed the ticket and pulled a thick roll of cash from his pocket.

I guess spies would tend to deal in cash.

“He’s no closer to mending fences with your father?” Kimbler asked, trying to act nonchalant as Matt stacked hundred dollar bills in front of him.

“None whatsoever.”

“Well, now’s not the time for sad topics. My heartiest congratulations to you two.” He slipped the payment in the cash drawer, then put a ring box and receipt in a bag, which he handed to Torie. “I wish you every happiness.”

“Thank you,” she said, embarrassed. She surreptitiously peered at the receipt, looking for the store’s return policy. She didn’t like this sort of playacting, knowing that Mr. Kimbler would celebrate his big sale, then be crushed when Matt returned the ring.

“You ought to make time to flash her ring around at P3 or the Princess,” Kimbler suggested. “Folks are gonna want to see that.”

“Not more catfish,” Torie murmured.

“I’m always ready to watch Torie eat an ice-cream cone,” Matt said, giving Kimbler a wink. “Makes for some mighty fine foreplay.”

“Matt!” she protested. Whispering, she added, “That’s embarrassing.”

“Bet it’s true, though.”

Matt ushered Torie out the door, still playing the attentive lover with octopus hands. On the street, Torie planted her feet. “What’s going on here, Callahan?”

“Put your arms around my neck and just listen.” Matt put his hands on her waist and stared down into her face. Onlookers would see lovers, Torie knew. Only she was in a position to see the hard look in his eyes. “I learned a long time ago that details can kill you. A ring is a detail. Now, kiss me like I’m the man you love who just bought you the biggest rock in town.”

Torie found that idea insulting. “I may fake an engagement, but I won’t fake a kiss. Let’s just see if my real stuff is good enough, hmm?”