Gambling On a Heart (10 page)

She cleared her throat and looked back onto the field. “I was married then.”

“Of course.” He looked up and saw that the Cowboys had scored two more touchdowns. Bobby passed the ball and the crowd cheered when the intended receiver plucked it out of the air.

“I’ll never think of March in quite the same way, however.” She looked across her shoulder at him with a wry smile.

That calendar had seemed like such a good idea at the time, coming off the high from winning his first NFR and heading for his second. Only about half of the guys in the spread were even cowboys, the rest were male models. Four of them were straight from New York City and had never touched a live horse before, let alone ridden one.

He remembered the photo to which she referred. The pretty New York photographer had taken many shots, but only one was picked. He still had the pictures–somewhere. In the one that became the pinup for March 2000, he was leaning against a corral fence with his Appaloosa stallion, Wild Aces, standing behind him.

He was shirtless and dressed in a pair of custom black cowboy boots, faded jeans, one of his big rodeo silver buckles, and a black Stetson. He grinned at the thought of the jeans he’d worn for the shoot. They were so tight he could hardly get his fingers into the pockets further than to his first knuckles. No way could he have mounted the horse. He’d been hard-pressed to hide the nice response in the jeans as the female photographer posed him against the fence rails, making sure he got an eyeful of her cleavage.

He’d repaid her skill with the camera later that night by inviting her to his hotel room. He’d almost let her talk him into going back to New York with her and try modeling for a while.

He smiled at the thought of what
that
kind of life would have been like. Zack Cartwright, underwear model and pinup poster boy.

Naw,
he couldn’t even imagine it.

“Nice sock, by the way.”

He cocked an eyebrow as her meaning dawned on him. His best slow grin–one he hadn’t used for a long, long time–curled his lips. When was the last time he’d flirted with a woman? He leaned over and whispered, “I think we both know
that
is no sock stuffed down my jeans.”

The choice of the present tense was very deliberate and Tracy had to know it. Her face turned red, and he couldn’t explain the burst of joy it brought him. She elbowed him in the chest and took a deep breath as she squirmed in her shorts. And that action sent his burgeoning hard-on to full mast, especially when he found himself glancing down at the logo on her t-shirt. Two distinct points were slightly visible. So, he was affecting her the same way she was him.

Thank God his jeans weren’t as tight as those in that calendar had been.

Swallowing hard, she blessedly changed the subject. “I registered for classes at UT.”

“You got in this late?”

She shrugged and nodded. “I’m only taking two classes and they’re on-line. They start tomorrow.”

He laughed and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. “I’d call that cutting it close.”

Tracy laughed and the breathy sound of it settled over him. “Definitely, considering before Monday, I wasn’t even thinking about going to school.”

“What made you decide to go back?”

“I really don’t know.” She met his gaze and held it. “I think I realized I settled where my life is concerned. On a lot of things.”

He didn’t miss the heat in her steady gray eyes.

Amanda came back then, surprising Zack with his change, water and corndog. She immediately scampered off to play on the swings with her friends–besides Kayla and Malinda, three other little girls trailed behind her.

Once she was gone again, Tracy said, “She’s very outgoing.”

“Mandy’s very much like her mother. We couldn’t go anywhere without Lisa knowing someone, even on a new base. I remember being stationed in Japan between my first tour in Afghanistan and deployment to Iraq.” Talking about Lisa was like someone dumping a bucket of ice water over him. “We weren’t there three days when she’d already befriended all of our neighbors and began volunteering at the hospital on base. Hell, I hadn’t even met my sergeant yet.”

“Mandy’s a very special little girl.” Tracy averted her eyes, and he got the impression she’d have rather hidden the sentiment.

“Yes, she is.” Not for the first time in the past year, he sensed a loneliness about her.

But he had to be mistaken. He knew Tracy Parker was never without a man in her life for long. She dated prolifically. There was also the rumor of her living with the man she’d left Jake for in Waco until she bought her hair salon in Colton. He’d never heard what happened with that relationship. Her sadness must stem from a broken heart.

A heart I’d like to fix.

Where the
hell
had that come from? He quickly ate the lard-fried processed meat byproducts and cornmeal on a stick that masqueraded as actual food. The last heart he ever wanted any part of was Tracy Parker’s.

Right?

The next series of plays on the football field kept Tracy’s attention riveted. Zack’s focus was completely on her. Peripherally he was aware of Bobby tossing the ball to another player, who ran it in for a touchdown.

Tracy jumped up, cupped her hands over her mouth, and yelled, “Way to go, Bobby! Yahoo!”

Zack followed her to his feet, but he felt like he was somewhere else and not part of what was happening around him. Only the woman and his unadulterated desire for her mattered.

* * * *

Tracy glanced at Zack, taken aback by the raw fire in his deep blue eyes. She’d seen desire in his eyes before when they were talking about his photo in the calendar. She’d even surreptitiously noticed how tight his jeans had become. No, Zack didn’t need a sock. But what burned in his eyes now was powerful and unguarded, catching her on fire, and would have consumed her if he hadn’t looked away.

Searching for some kind of handhold to steady herself, she looked out over the field. With a dark scowl, Jake watched them across the sea of green and spectators. Her ex didn’t look like a man winning a football game. Soon after they were married, she’d discovered Jake hated Zack. Why, she hadn’t ever found out. Would Jake try to use her friendship with Zack against her in their custody battle?

Friendship
. Hell, she and Zack weren’t more than enemies bound by treaty to make nice with each other. It was the Cold War all over again. The accord had been made a year ago in his office when he convinced her he wanted to help with getting Dylan’s life back on track. Jake was delusional if he thought there was something going on between them.

But Dylan is fine now. Married to the love of his life. Happy, with twins on the way and a pending adoption of a girl who needs a family.

She looked up at Zack. If he really hadn’t wanted to sit with her, he’d have left when Mandy did. Not only was he still here with her, but he was actively flirting with her.

If you’re given a second chance, don’t screw it up.
Her father’s words whispered through her mind. Was Zack considering giving her a second chance?

After reclaiming their seats, Zack said, “Bobby’s good with the pigskin.”

Tracy shrugged, needing to find her center again. “The first toy Jake gave Bobby was a football. The nurses all laughed at him when he wanted them to put it in his nursery crib after he was born.”

Zack turned away. He shifted to sit on the heel of his cowboy boot and drank his water. He looked so sexy and capable of anything in the worn jeans, chambray shirt and leather vest, complete with an old tan Stetson. She’d glimpsed the Glock in a shoulder holster under the vest earlier when he’d sat down. He also had his Sheriff’s badge clipped to his belt, as he did when he wasn’t officially on duty.

He twisted on the top of his bottle. “Jake would have probably played professionally if he hadn’t torn his knee to hell that summer before our senior year when that horse stumbled. I’m still sorry it happened. Without the football scholarship, he didn’t want to go to college. He hated school.”

Jake gathered his team around him. When they broke up to execute whatever football magic he had up his sleeve, her ex-husband found her again with a glower. A shiver quaked down her spine, thoroughly cooling the heat Zack had ignited in her only seconds before.

She looked at Zack’s profile. “He hated that you were doing so well riding rodeo after his injury ended his chance at playing football in college. You’d gone professional, and he was stuck working for his dad.”

Zack looked at her, sharp and penetrating. She probably shouldn’t be telling him any of this, but she’d gone too far not to tell him something.

“What do you mean?”

Sighing, she folded her hands in her lap. “Jake saw you as having it all.”
Including me.

“He was my closest friend since kindergarten.”

She couldn’t hold back the snort. “Yeah, well, Jake has only ever taken care of number one. Trust me, I know.”

Tracy didn’t want to talk about Jake. She’d called her lawyer, but didn’t get much satisfaction from him. If she didn’t think of something fast, she could lose her son. But right now, Zack didn’t need to know her problems with Jake.

“Do you have any leads regarding the cattle thieves?” she asked.

Zack cleared his throat and shifted his weight onto his other boot heel. “No. There was another one sometime last night over in Hamilton County.”

“Crap. Neither your office nor TSCRA has any leads?”

Zack shook his head and dropped his voice to a husky whisper, which did all sorts of crazy things to the fluttering in her lower belly. “Nope. I have some ideas, but no concrete evidence.”

She had to get her out-of-control libido corralled. “Wanna share?”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Unless it’s me you’re considering hauling off to jail for stealing cattle, I don’t have any intention of telling anyone. I want these thugs caught as much as you do. They stole my brother’s steers.”

Zack stared at her for a long time, then sucked in a deep breath. He leaned closer, and in that low, rumbling timbre, he said, “Have you noticed the new Silverado Brent Parker is sporting around town? I thought he was still laid-off.”

She furrowed her brow and flashed to her conversation with Henrietta just two days ago. “Yeah, I have. And I think he is still officially out of work, but Granny Parker said he’s been riding shotgun with Jake driving truck.”

Zack’s brow wrinkled as if he was in thought. “Well, keep your ears open, will ya? I know the government is extending unemployment benefits and from what I hear Jake’s making out good hauling cargo, but I doubt Brent’s making enough sitting on his butt to buy a thirty-thousand-dollar truck.”

* * * *

In the second half, the Hamilton Broncos rallied and tied up the game. Mandy returned to sit between Zack and Tracy during the last quarter. Her excitement was contagious as she bounced up and down. Was it solely due to the game–or the sugar she’d no doubt consumed?

While the Broncos had the ball, she looked up at Tracy and asked, “Do you like to ride?”

Tracy smiled and looked into the girl’s bright upturned face. Her pigtails were askew and wisps of uneven dark hair fell around her heart-shaped face. Tracy’s fingers itched to fix the wayward hair, but she wouldn’t dare. It wasn’t her place. “Yeah. I don’t have a horse of my own anymore, but I can use one from the stable. Dylan and Charli have a lot of horses.”

“Daddy has lots, too. He just bought a bunch of mares that he wants to have babies. We also have lots of cows. Do you have any cows?”

“Like the horses, they belong to my brother and his wife, but I live on a ranch.”

“Oh, that’s right. Miz Charli and Mr. Dylan have the cows. Anyway, we have big ugly cows. San–Sana Ger–Gert–”

“Santa Gertrudis,” Zack supplied and shook his head. He gazed upon his daughter with an emotion shining in his eyes that couldn’t be called anything but love and pride. “And they are not ugly.”

“Yeah, they are. But Daddy said that he wants to make the CW into a cattle ranch again. And not just raise horses like Pappy and Uncle Paul did.” Mandy prattled on while Tracy regarded Zack with a sideways glance. “He and Uncle Lance–well, he’s not really my uncle, he’s my cousin, I guess. Uncle Paul’s son. Anyway, Daddy said they want to get on the ball because Mr. Dylan and Miz Charli are gonna corner the market.”