A Match Made in Texas (26 page)

Jared didn’t look surprised when Bri answered the door. In fact, he sent her the same smile he’d given her the first time she met him. She didn’t realize until now how arrogant and smug it was.

“Hello, Jared,” she said.

After he had given her a thorough perusal, his gaze settled on her face. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

You think?

Bri bit back the words and moved out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. “I thought I made it perfectly clear in Mexico that our relationship was over. That I thought of you as more of a friend than a boyfriend.”

“And I thought I told you that you’re not going to get rid of me that easily.” He stepped closer and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Not after all we’ve been through together.”

She swatted his hand away. “All we’ve been through together? The only things we’ve been through together are some extreme sports and a Mexican vacation that was a bad idea from the start. There’s nothing more between us, Jared. And you need to get that through your head.”

He studied her for a moment before his expression turned mean. “So are you telling me that you used me? That I spent thousands of dollars trying to give you all your thrill-seeking excursions for a chance to get in your prissy-assed pants and you never planned on giving me more than a measly kiss or two?” He grabbed her by the arms. “Well, I don’t think so. You owe me. You owe me money, and you owe me sex. And I intend to collect both.”

Bri hadn’t lived with four brothers and not learned how to fight. She doubled up her fist and hit him hard in the solar plexus. His breath wheezed out as he stumbled back.

Smoothing out her blouse, she kept her eyes pinned on him. “I’m not going to deny that I was wrong to lead you on. I guess I was so excited about finding someone who loved the same things I did that I didn’t make our relationship perfectly clear from the beginning. But that didn’t give you the right to post a picture up on the Internet. And it didn’t give you the right to stalk me.”

“You owe me,” he snarled.

“I don’t owe you anything.” She turned back to the door, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her from opening it.

“That’s not the only picture I have. And I don’t think you want your family finding out that their perfect little angel is a thrill-seeking wild child. And I won’t have any trouble spilling the beans about everything.”

There was a time when his words would’ve struck fear in her heart. Not anymore. It seemed that Jared’s arrival had helped her answer all her questions. She didn’t want to be a scared little girl. Or a sweet Southern belle. Or a spoiled socialite. She was ready to be a woman. A woman who could fight her own battles. Take responsibility for her actions. And love the men she chose to love. The realization filled her with relief and a giddiness that left her light-headed and happy.

“Sorry, but that kite’s not going to fly anymore.” She patted Jared’s cheek. “I don’t care if you tell my family—or the entire world. Although I should warn you about my brothers. They might just take their anger out on the messenger.”

His smirk dropped. “Why, you bitch.”

Bri shrugged. “At times. But I can live with that.”

Applause drifted out the open library window, and Bri glanced over to see the hens crowded in front of the glass. Baby, Sunshine, Starlet, and Olive stood circled around Minnie, who had a proud smile on her face and a derringer in her hand.

“What the fuck—” Jared started, but was cut off by the distinct click of the gun being cocked.

Bri couldn’t contain her smile as she looked back at him. “I wish I could tell you that she won’t shoot, but my brother Brant has the scar to prove otherwise.” She lifted a hand and waggled her fingers. “Bye-bye, Jared.”

Jared might be arrogant and brazen, but he wasn’t stupid. With his eyes trained on the gun, he backed down the porch steps. He tripped over Jiggers, who let out a growl and chased him the rest of the way to his sports car. The dust had barely settled when Olive spoke.

“I always wondered what BMW stood for. And now I guess I figured it out. Big Male Wuss.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

I
T WAS WELL PAST ELEVEN BY THE TIME
Dusty pulled into the parking space behind his office. The night before, he’d had to deal with some drunken poachers so he’d gotten very little sleep. Of course, it wasn’t the poachers who had kept him up until well past midnight. He laid awake for hours thinking about Brianne.

Like how the very tip of her tongue slipped out of her mouth when she was concentrating on something—cutting hair, measuring ground coffee, or reaching for orgasm. And how she never held a grudge for long. And how much she enjoyed laughing. And how easily she had grown attached to the people of Bramble.

And to him.

While lying alone in bed, Dusty had realized that he’d grown attached to her as well. He also realized that he was no longer afraid of commitment. After years of guarding his heart, he was ready to follow it wherever it might lead him. At this point, it was leading him straight into Brianne Cates’s arms.

Hoping to get his morning paperwork done quickly so he could get out to Miss Hattie’s, he hopped out of his car and walked inside. He stuck his head into Cora Lee’s office, intending to offer her a quick good morning, when he noticed the cowboy sitting in the waiting room.

“Kenny Gene?”

Kenny jumped to his feet and tried to talk around the bite of donut he’d just stuffed in his mouth. “Yesh, shur.”

Dusty moved into the room. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

Kenny swallowed hard before smiling brightly. “I’ve had enough of Twyla’s motherin’ to last me a lifetime. I’m ready to go back to work.” He brought his heels together and saluted. A salute that had him cringing in pain.

Before Dusty could force him to take a chair, Cora Lee came into the room with two cups of coffee.

“I tried to tell him to go home, but he wouldn’t listen.” She handed a cup to Kenny. The other she handed to Dusty, along with a beseeching look. “I would call that dedication, wouldn’t you, Sheriff? Especially considering what he’s been through. I think that someone who’s been injured in the line of duty has earned the right to wear a Texas star.”

As much as Dusty knew he would live to regret it, he couldn’t disagree with Cora.

“All right,” he said to Kenny, “you can be my deputy.”

Kenny’s eyes widened, and it took a moment for him to find his voice. “No kiddin’, Sheriff?”

“No kiddin’.” After Kenny released a hoot of celebration, Dusty held up a hand. “But not until I have a release from Doc Mathers. And not until you’ve graduated from the training academy.”

“The academy?” Kenny looked confused. “Like them awards on TV? I didn’t know a dep-u-tee had to learn actin’.”

Dusty released his breath in a long sigh as Cora Lee grinned from ear to ear.

“Go on home and rest up, Kenny,” she said. “I have a feeling that you’re going to need it. And be sure to tell Twyla hi for me.”

“Will do.” Kenny set down his cup of coffee and grabbed his hat off the coat rack. “She’ll be happier than a buzzard on roadkill to hear I’m gonna be a bone-a-fide officer of the law.” He paused with his hand on the door handle. “ ’Course, that means we’ll have to postpone the weddin’, seein’ as how I’ll be much too busy sheriffin’.” A wide smile lit his face as he stepped out the door.

When he was gone, Cora turned to Dusty. “You did a good thing, Sheriff.”

Dusty watched Kenny Gene almost run into a street pole as he tipped his hat at a young woman walking by.

“Yep,” Dusty turned to his office. “Stupid but good.”

It took him more than an hour to fill out the report on the poachers and another hour to answer e-mails. One of the e-mails was from his lawyer, and rather than e-mail him back, Dusty called him. His lawyer didn’t seem that excited about the news of Heather’s affair, probably because he realized that his days of fleecing Dusty were coming to an end. The lawyer did want Ryker to call him ASAP, and after Dusty got off the phone with him, he called Ryker and relayed the information.

“No problem, man,” Ryker said. “I don’t even think we’ll need to subpoena the employee I spoke to. She’s not real happy with her boss for not giving her a raise.”

Dusty straightened the paperwork on his desk. “Which means she could be making the entire story up just to get even.”

“I worried about the same thing,” Ryker said. “So I went there this morning under the pretense of needing an accountant, and I had no problem getting proof. The dude met your ex at the door, and I clicked off a few pictures on my iPhone of them heading upstairs. You want me to send them over?”

“No, thanks. Save it for the lawyer.”

There was a pause. “Look, I’m sorry, man. I didn’t realize you still had a thing for your ex.”

“I don’t.” It was surprising how easily the words came out. But no more surprising than his next words. “I have a girlfriend.”

There was another pause. “I hope it’s not Brianne Cates.”

“Excuse me?” Dusty couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice. “How did you know about Brianne?”

“Cora Lee mentioned her the other day when I called. And all I can say, man, is if you are seeing her, you need to keep it on the sly. If Heather’s lawyers find out about the naked picture, they won’t hesitate to use it.”

Dusty’s chair squeaked in protest as he sat up. “Naked picture?”

“Call me a nosy investigator, but after I talked with Cora Lee, I Googled Brianne.” There was a staccato of clicks as Ryker continued. “I guess some boyfriend of hers posted a picture of her on the Internet after their hot Mexican vacation. She’s not completely naked, but she’s naked enough to jeopardize your case if your ex found out about it.”

A ping had Dusty looking at his computer screen. Ryker’s e-mail was highlighted at the very top.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Dusty said. Without waiting for a reply, he hung up the phone.

He didn’t know how long he sat there. Seconds. Minutes. An hour. Before he reached out and clicked on the e-mail. The picture flashed up on the twenty-inch monitor like a porn screen saver. Ryker was right. The woman in the picture wasn’t completely naked. A tiny triangle of turquoise covered the spot between her legs, mirroring the color of the ocean that swirled around her calves. An ocean it looked as if she’d just emerged from. Her hair hung like a dark, wet veil from her head, the droplets of water glistening like sequins on her tanned skin.

Dusty stared at the picture and tried to make sense of it all.

Maybe it wasn’t her. Maybe it was another woman who looked like her. A woman with the same blue eyes. The same full lips. The same raspberry-tipped breasts. The same tattoo peeking out of her bikini bottoms.

Leaning up, he reached for the mouse and enlarged the picture, then zoomed in. Against her tanned skin, he could just make out the top of the skull and the very tips of the crossbones.

The concrete evidence had him scrolling back up to her face and the blue eyes that sparkled with emotions he remembered well from all the times she’d been in his arms after they made love.

Contentment and satisfaction.

The kind of contentment and satisfaction that Dusty had thought only he could give her. Before the pain and hurt could take hold, he tried to reason things out. But his mind kept coming back to the same heartbreaking conclusion: Brianne had played him for a fool.

As much as he wanted to deny it, all the evidence pointed to that fact. From the first time he pulled her over, he knew she was a manipulator. She had proved it by manipulating Judge Seeley into letting her off with only community service. By manipulating the folks of Bramble into believing that she was just a sweet, little ol’ country gal who liked to cut hair. And by manipulating Dusty into believing that there was something more to their relationship than just good sex. That he had finally found the one woman who could love him with her entire body and soul.

But it had all been a lie. And now he needed to face the truth. He stared at the picture. This was Brianne Cates. A spoiled socialite who had nothing better to do than hang out topless on some Mexican beach with her boyfriend. A spoiled socialite who had probably just finished having sex with that boyfriend. Why else would she look so sparkly eyed and happy?

And Dusty had to wonder if the boyfriend taking the picture wasn’t the same poor fool who had been at the Henhouse. Brianne had called him a stalker, but the guy was probably just some love-struck idiot trying to get closure after being broadsided by a woman who didn’t know the meaning of commitment.

Well, that wouldn’t be Dusty. He had learned this lesson with Heather and couldn’t live with that kind of heartbreak again.

Picking up his cell phone, he pressed the contact number he’d put in not more than a week earlier. Like Heather, Brianne answered on the first ring. Unlike Heather, just her voice caused a fist to tighten around his heart.

“I was hoping you’d call.” Her voice was low and sultry. “I’ve been thinking about the hammock in Miss Hattie’s backyard. And I think if you were to meet me after midnight, we might just be able to—”

“I can’t meet you.” He cut her off and reached for his stress ball. “I’ve spent way too much time out at Miss Hattie’s as is. Now that Alejandro is gone and Sam is on the mend, I need to focus my attention on Culver County.”