A Match Made in Texas (4 page)

Sunshine stood next to Baby, a good foot taller and a good decade ahead in fashion. She wore clogs, bell-bottom jeans, and a crocheted sweater that looked like they were straight from Woodstock. And since Sunshine had lived during the sixties and done her fair share of partying, it was possible.

The leader of the hens and the proprietor of Miss Hattie’s sat in a wheelchair in front of the other two women. Minnie didn’t have a decade as far as fashion went. She wore a black satin negligee that hung on her frail body like an expensive trash bag. She looked thinner. More than likely due to the chemo she’d gone through in the last year. Chemo would also explain the huge Dolly Parton–style wig. Except Bri knew that Minnie had always been partial to wigs.

The tower of curls bounced as she zipped her wheelchair toward Bri.

“Well, it’s about time you got here, Brianne Cates.” Minnie pulled within inches of the toes of Bri’s beige pumps. “Now we can finally have a little peace and quiet without your brothers callin’ every hour on the hour to see if you got here safely.” She squinted her eyes. “Did you shrink? You look even tinier than last time I saw you.”

Bri smiled politely. “No, ma’am.”

Minnie studied her for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t know how you ended up so short when your brothers are as tall as hickory trees.”

Bri didn’t understand that, either. All the boys in her family had taken after their father and mother while Bri had acquired the short genes and big butt of her Granny Lou.

“I guess I’m just luck—” Her words cut off when Olive dropped the luggage by the elevator and, in two strides, had Bri lifted up in a bone-crushing hug.

“This little bit of a woman is Brianne Cates?” Olive jiggled her like a colicky baby. “Well, why the hell didn’t somebody say so? Any sister of them good-lookin’ Cates boys is a sister of mine.”

“Put her down, Olive,” Minnie said. “Let’s try not to kill her before she has a chance to settle in. Speaking of which…” She waited for Olive to release Bri before she continued. “I’m afraid all the upstairs rooms are rented out for the next few days. So you’ll have to room with Starlet—which I think will work out nicely since you two are around the same age.”

“Or she could bunk with me out in the tack room.” Olive grinned, revealing a set of teeth with more than a few missing.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Washburn,” Bri quickly said, “but Starlet’s room will be just fine.”

“Just Olive.” She picked up the luggage and started down the hallway next to the elevator. “And it’s probably for the best. If Sunshine sneaks Jiggers too many chocolate chip cookies, that cat can get to fartin’ worse than my granddaddy after a couple bowls of Texas chili.” A laugh escaped Bri’s mouth, and Olive flashed her a grin. “But I guess you’re used to that growin’ up with four brothers.”

“Actually, being the only girl, I’ve always had a room to myself.”

Olive shot her a confused look. “Well, that must’ve been lonely.”

Bri was taken aback by the words. Everyone had always thought she was so lucky to get a room of her own in a family so large. And Bri did feel lucky. But there were also times when she had felt, if not lonely, then segregated. Especially at night when her brothers’ laughter and roughhousing would ring down the hallway.

“Starlet’s with her mean ol’ pi-anna teacher right now,” Olive said as she stepped into a bedroom painted a pretty spring green and filled with beautiful antiques. “But I’m sure she’ll be tickled pink to see you. And maybe if she has a few friends her own age, she wouldn’t be spendin’ all her time writin’ letters to her mama.” After dropping the luggage, she moved over to the dresser. When she turned back around, she had a hairpin in her hand.

“Here.” She held out a hand. “Let’s get rid of those handcuffs.”

Bri hesitated for only a second before she held out her hand. It didn’t take long for Olive to jimmy the lock. With a wink, she handed them to Bri.

“It’s a little trick I picked up.” Her smile faded. “You in trouble with the law, Little Missy?” While Bri tried to come up with a good lie about the handcuffs, Olive continued. “Whelp, I’m a livin’ testament that you can’t run from your mistakes, but you can sure hide out for a little while.” She held out her hand. “Give me your keys, and I’ll take care of your car.”

It had been so long since Bri had trusted anyone with the truth that she almost felt like crying. “Thank you, Olive,” she whispered as she laid the keys in Olive’s calloused palm.

Once Olive had clomped out of the room, Bri moved over to the window to make sure that Granny Lou’s car got safely in the barn. As she stood there, her gaze swept over Miss Hattie’s prize lilac garden. In the spring and early summer, the bushes were covered with purple blooms. Now the blooms were all gone, and the leaves were a faded autumn green. As were the leaves of the big cottonwood trees. In fact, the only splashes of vivid color in the garden were the dots of red that rested against the two headstones in one far corner.

To those who didn’t know the story, the graves would seem out of place in such a serene setting. But one of the headstones belonged to Bri’s great-grandfather, William Cates. The other belonged to Miss Hattie, the notorious madam who started the Henhouse.

From what her brothers Billy and Brant had pieced together, William had met and fallen in love with the beautiful madam on his way back from a business trip to Bramble. After going home to his family in Lubbock, William discovered that he couldn’t live without Miss Hattie. So he broke it off with his wife and returned to the Henhouse. Angered by her husband’s betrayal, Bri’s great-grandmother followed him and shot him down in cold blood. William died in Miss Hattie’s arms.

While most people thought the story romantic and tragic, Bri thought it was foolish. Foolish for William to fall in love with a prostitute. Foolish for him to leave his wife and son. And foolish for her great-grandmother to waste her time following him when she had an inheritance that would financially take care of her and her son for the rest of their lives.

Which was why Bri had no intentions of ever getting married. She had money. She could adopt kids. And she’d had more than her fair share of men. This was proven minutes later when her cell phone rang. She grabbed it from her purse and looked at the number before answering.

“Hi, Brant.”

“So you got there.” The words were as straightforward and dry as her oldest brother. He didn’t wait for her reply before he continued. “I don’t think you’ll need to stay long. Just long enough for things to quiet down. I can’t remove the picture from the Internet, but I sure as hell can call in some favors and keep the story from hitting the newspapers and television. For now, you need to lie low. Stay away from the guests as much as possible.”

“No fraternizing with the guests,” she repeated.

“And I wouldn’t be letting your friends know where you are,” he continued. “Or do any social networking.”

“No friends or social networking.”

“And I don’t want you learning any dances from Minnie—”

The phone beeped with an incoming call, and Bri glanced at the number.

“Can you hold on, Brant?” she said. “It’s Billy.” She clicked over to the other line. “Hey, Billy.”

“Hey, yourself. Did you get to Miss Hattie’s okay?”

“Safe and sound.”

“Good. Shirlene and I are getting ready to board the cruise ship, but I wanted to check in with you first.” There was a long pause, and Bri could just picture Billy running a hand through his hair. “Look, Bri, Shirlene doesn’t think I should push you. But if the sonofa… if he forced you, I’m going to break every bone in his—”

“No,” Bri cut in. “Jared didn’t do anything.” It was a half lie. Jared hadn’t forced her to go to Mexico. Or cliff jump. He
had
posted the half-naked picture of her on the Internet. And he
was
stalking her.

Bri flopped down on the bed.

Men.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Billy said. “An innocent young lady just doesn’t decide to do something like that out of a clear blue sky.”

Bri could’ve argued that she wasn’t that innocent, but instead she kept her mouth shut. Partly because she knew Billy was too hardheaded to believe her and partly because she couldn’t stand to corrupt the saintly picture he held of her. She might think that men were a bunch of Neanderthals, but she adored her family of cavemen.

“Listen, Billy,” she said, “Brant’s on the other line so I’ll let you get on with your vacation. Have fun, and kiss Shirlene and kids for me. Did you want me to check on Jesse while you’re gone? I would imagine that he’s pretty upset about missing the trip.”

“Not as upset as Shirlene. Personally, I think the kid failed his last test on purpose just so he wouldn’t have to go on the Disney cruise. So there’s no need to worry about him. He’s staying at his friend’s, and I have the entire town keeping an eye out.” He paused. “Listen, Shirlene’s waving so I better go. Love you, Bri.”

“Love you, too.” She clicked back to Brant. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“I just want you to keep to yourself until Elizabeth and I can get there,” Brant said. “We would be there sooner but Minnie said the Henhouse was full. And I refuse to sleep out in the barn with that ex-con Minnie hired to drive—”

The phone beeped again. Glancing at the number, Bri made her excuses.

“I’ll call you later, Brant. Beau’s calling.” She pressed the button. “Hi, Beau.”

“Hey, Bri.” Beau’s congenial voice came through the receiver. “Are the hens taking good care of you? I’m sorry I wasn’t there to welcome you, but Jenna got a bee in her bonnet about building a girls’ school in Africa. And since we didn’t take a honeymoon, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to let her have her way.”

A wall of guilt washed over Bri. “I’m so sorry I didn’t make the wedding, Beau. I guess you figured out that I wasn’t sick.”

There was a pause. “I guess I can’t point any fingers since I missed my fair share of family functions in the last two years. But I’ll be truthful with you, Brianne; you’ve got us all a little worried. What’s going on—?”

Beep.

Bri jumped on the excuse to cut their conversation short. “I’ve got to go, Beau,” she said. “I’ll call you later.” Hoping this was the last interruption, she pushed the button and Beckett’s teasing voice came through the receiver.

“Hey, Willie.” He used the nickname he’d called her since birth. “You take any more naked pictures?”

She laughed, relieved that this brother was much less suffocating than the other three. “Stop being a smart butt.”

Beckett paused. “So what happened?”

Bri leaned back on the bed and released her breath. “Bad decision making. Similar to the time you hacked into Billy’s e-mail and sent all those love letters to his ex-girlfriends. Fortunately, only I know about that. Everyone seems to know about my little mishap. Talk about a big black eye on the family name. I rank right up there with Great-Grandpa Cates and his love for a prostitute.”

Beckett laughed. “Stop being so dramatic, Willie. It’s not that bad. So you decided to have sex on the beach—”

“I was not having sex.”

“So why was your top off?”

For a moment, she considered telling Beckett the truth. But before she could, Baby’s breathy voice echoed down the hallway.

“Minnie! Minnie! You aren’t going to believe who’s at the door.”

Fear tiptoed up Bri’s spine as visions of mirrored sunglasses flashed through her mind. “I’ll call you back, Beck.” She hung up and jumped from the bed, glancing around for an exit. She had just decided on an escape route out the window when Baby continued.

“It’s the King. The King has come to Miss Hattie’s!”

Chapter Four

D
USTY
H
ICKS BARELY WAITED FOR
R
ALPH
to pull up in front of his office before he opened the door and jumped down from the tow truck.

“You sure you don’t want to go to the doctor’s for your allergies, Sheriff?” Ralph asked. “I’ve never seen a nose or eyes so red in all my born days.”

A wall of anger welled up inside of Dusty, and he gritted his teeth. “It’s nothing that a little Claritin won’t take care of. Thanks for coming out to get me, Ralph. Give my best to the missus.”

“Will do, Sheriff. And I’ll try to get your car back to you by next week.”

“No hurry. The county still hasn’t auctioned off my old squad car, and I figure it will do for the time being.” He glanced back at the battered car hooked to Ralph’s tow truck. With an oath, he slammed the truck door and turned to his office.

It was a pathetic, old building with sagging walls and cracked and peeling stucco. After the jail roof leaked so badly during the last rainstorm, Dusty had petitioned the town for money to build a new jail and sheriff’s office, but Culver, Texas, was one of the towns hardest hit by the recession. Not only was there no money for improvement, there was talk about moving his headquarters to Austin.

Dusty wasn’t moving to Austin. Or any big city, for that matter. There was only one reason he’d live in urban craziness, and that reason had been taken away from him.