скачать книгу бесплатно
“No, you’re fine.” He smiled at her. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
With the same momentum that he’d put forward in bringing her inside, he took her back outside, and before she could even catch her breath, she was ensconced in the rich leather passenger seat of a sleek silver sports car.
“This place is a little hole-in-the-wall, but it’s become so popular you have to make reservations even on a weeknight,” he said as they pulled out onto the highway.
“You mentioned it was a steak house. I’m definitely a steak-and-potatoes kind of girl,” she replied.
“Good. Then we should get along just fine.”
“I never asked you this morning what the horse’s name is.” She wanted to keep the conversation focused on the reason she was there.
“She-Devil,” he replied.
Greta shook her head. “That will never do. Does she respond to that name?”
“She doesn’t respond to anything.”
“Then we have to find her a new name, something that doesn’t have such a negative connotation.”
He slid her an amused glance. “I suppose you want to call her Sugar.”
“That’s perfect,” she replied. “And by the time I get finished with her, she’ll be as sweet as sugar.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
“I know what I’m good at,” she replied.
Again he flashed her a grin. “I like confidence in a woman.”
They passed a strip mall and he turned into the parking lot. At the end of the line of businesses was a restaurant named Cattle Call.
“Like I said, it’s a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, but the steaks are out of this world,” he said and angled into an empty parking space at the side of the building.
“I like hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurants,” she replied. “Besides, it’s the quality of the food that counts.”
They got out of the car and entered the crowded restaurant, where the hostess greeted Tyler by name and led them to a two-top table in the back that was a little more secluded than the other tables.
The scent of grilled meat filled the air, and while the place was full of people, the level of noise was relatively low and made conversation between them easy.
The hostess handed them each a menu and then with a bright smile told them their waitress would be with them soon and left the table.
“It smells delicious in here,” Greta said as her stomach rumbled with hunger. She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast that morning. “You must be a regular since the hostess knew who you were by name.”
“I eat here two or three times a week. It’s on my way home from work, so I usually pop in for dinner.” He didn’t bother picking up the menu.
Greta opened hers and peered at the offerings. It took her only a minute to make up her mind. The waitress, a pleasantly plump woman with a name tag that read Brenda, greeted them and took their drink and dinner orders.
“A friend of mine stopped by today and told me there have been some rough times at your place lately,” Tyler said once the waitress was gone.
“We’ve had some issues,” she replied, unsure what he’d heard and how much to tell him.
“My friend told me a lot of the issues seem to revolve around you.” He held her gaze intently.
Greta sighed. She’d been raised to keep family matters in the family and not involve outsiders unless necessary. Certainly Mark, as her fiancé, had known some of the problems that had occurred. “Mark didn’t ever mention anything about it to you?”
“Mark only speaks to me when it serves his purpose and that’s usually when he needs money,” Tyler said drily.
The waitress returned with their drink orders, a glass of wine for Greta and a scotch and soda for Tyler. When she’d left once again, Greta decided to tell Tyler everything. She wanted him to trust in her, and who knew what kind of rumors his friend had told him? Besides, she needed to talk about it with somebody other than a family member, to vent some of the fear and uncertainty that she’d been living with for what seemed like forever.
“It all started soon after Mark and I got engaged in June. My mother was attacked in her bedroom and the doctors had to put her into a medically induced coma. Everyone thought it was some kind of a botched robbery attempt. Soon after that I received in the mail a copy of Mark’s and my official engagement picture that ran in the paper. My face was x-ed out in the photo. I thought it was probably from one of Mark’s old girlfriends, but it still made me feel a bit uneasy.”
“I can imagine that would be unsettling,” Tyler replied.
She nodded. “At the same time, odd things were happening around the ranch—a fire was set in one of the outbuildings, tires were slashed on some of the farm vehicles and fencing kept getting torn down.”
She stopped talking as the waitress arrived with their meals. She continued once the waitress had left, feeling as if she’d held everything in too tight for too long and it was a relief to talk to somebody who had no horse in the race, so to speak.
“Thankfully, my mother came out of the coma and returned home, and she and I continued with the wedding planning.” Greta frowned and took a sip of her wine. “Although my mother seemed happy, something was different between us. She was different with me, but I thought it had something to do with the head injury she’d sustained. Then one day when I was here in Oklahoma City, my brother Daniel called me and asked what I was doing hanging around the ranch. I told him that I was here and it was impossible that he’d seen me there, but he insisted he’d seen me. That’s when I think most of my family started to worry about me.”
She laughed self-consciously. “I’m doing way too much talking and not enough eating. Let’s eat while it’s hot.”
“You have to talk and eat. I feel like you’re forcing me to walk out in the middle of an intriguing movie.” He picked up his fork and steak knife and she did the same.
The steak cut like butter and melted in her mouth, but her head was filled with what she hadn’t yet shared with Tyler. The rest of what she had to tell him, she hadn’t really processed completely herself.
She ate several bites of the steak and baked potato and then continued talking. “Then my DNA was found at several crime scenes around the ranch, including where Kurt was murdered. As you know, I was arrested and you got me out of jail. As soon as I returned home, my mother told everyone that it was me who had attacked her, but it wasn’t me. She said the woman looked like me but she looked crazy and wild. And that’s when my father made his big confession...” Her voice trailed off.
Tyler leaned forward. He held a piece of steak on his fork suspended between his plate and his mouth. “His big confession?”
She nodded. “He told us that after giving birth to all her boys, my mother had finally given birth to the girl she’d always wanted. But the baby only lived for a day and then died. He’d learned from a nurse that a young woman had just given birth to twins at her home because she couldn’t afford the hospital bills. Believing that losing her daughter would send my mother over the edge forever, he met with the other mother and arranged to buy one of her twins for fifty thousand dollars. That’s how I became a part of the Colton family.”
Tyler gazed at her with vague surprise. “It must have been a shock to learn about the circumstances of your birth at your age.”
“A shock not just for me but for the entire family.” She took another drink of her wine and tried to stanch a chill that threatened to invade her. “I know now that I have a twin sister and I think she’s found me. I don’t believe she’s looking for a happy reunion. I think maybe she wants to kill me.”
Chapter 4 (#ulink_4f35ba42-9ef2-5925-acde-02b6d111e67b)
Tyler stared at her, stunned by what she’d just told him. A dead baby, another one bought to replace it? And an evil twin sister to boot? It sounded like something out of a bad B-rated movie. “What makes you think she wants to kill you?”
“If she wanted a real happy reunion, she would have just knocked on the front door and introduced herself. Instead it was her DNA found at Kurt’s murder scene. It was her DNA found all around the ranch where bad things have happened.”
“What would be her motive to kill you?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never met her. I don’t know anything about her. I just think she must be crazy. I believe the only reason why she hasn’t managed to hurt me so far is because for the last couple of months I’ve been on the move between the ranch and Oklahoma City for the wedding plans.”
Tyler digested everything she had told him. Was she really in danger? “Did you tell anyone outside your immediate family that you were going to be staying at my place?”
“No, I didn’t even tell my immediate family exactly where I was going. I just told them I had a job in Oklahoma City. Thankfully, nobody asked me to be more specific. They’re used to me being gone and not knowing exactly where I am, especially when I’m working.”
“Then you will be safe at my place,” Tyler replied. Any concerns he had entertained throughout the afternoon about Greta due to the conversation with Derek had been laid to rest.
He gazed at the woman across from him as she focused on her food. She appeared more relaxed than she had when she’d first arrived. She also looked lovely with her slightly wavy dark hair falling to her shoulders and her hazel-green eyes emphasized by long, lush eyelashes.
“It must have been a bit traumatic at twenty-six years old to learn that you weren’t a biological child,” he said, trying to read where she was at emotionally with everything that had happened to her.
She looked up at him and smiled. “More than a little traumatic, but the family rallied around me and insisted that I was every bit as much a Colton as any of them.”
“Did you expect anything else from them?”
“Not really. But it’s funny—when I heard that I had a twin sister, I was surprised and yet I somehow wasn’t surprised. Since the time I was little, I always felt that something was missing, that a piece of me was absent. When I found out that I had a twin sister, that missing piece suddenly filled in.” She laughed. “I know I sound crazy.”
“On the contrary, I believe in the twin connection. I’ve seen too many news stories about separated twins who find each other and finally feel whole for the first time in their lives.”
“Knowing about her has explained the empty feeling I’ve always had, but I’m not eager to meet her if she really is responsible for Kurt’s death and my mother’s injuries.” Her eyes darkened.
An unexpected protectiveness surged up inside Tyler. He’d had no idea what Greta had been dealing with over the past couple of months, and he wished he’d been by her side to ease some of the pain she must have suffered through everything.
He definitely had a feeling she’d downplayed just how difficult the past few months had been for her. First all the incidents on the ranch, then her arrest for a murder she didn’t commit. The finding of her DNA all over the place... She’d been through hell, and apparently, it wasn’t over yet if what she’d said about her twin’s intentions were really true.
Still, he’d satisfied his curiosity and desire to make love to her. But he was vaguely surprised that even after all she’d just told him he still wanted more.
One thing was certain. His brother wouldn’t have been a source of comfort for her. Mark was too self-absorbed to understand or empathize with other people’s feelings.
“What about your real mother? What do you know about her?” he asked.
“Just her name, Tamara Stewart.”
“Do you have any interest in finding her? In getting to know her?”
She looked at him ruefully. “She sold me for fifty thousand dollars when I was two days old. She’s not somebody I have any desire to know,” Greta said. “Although I suppose I wouldn’t mind asking her some questions about my twin to try to find out why she seems to hate me.” She took a sip of her wine. “Besides, they aren’t my family and they never could be. The Coltons are my family.”
“Tell me about them,” he said, hoping to pull some light back into her eyes, which had grown so dark.
“Growing up with five brothers wasn’t easy,” she said. “They teased me unmercifully. I don’t think there’s an outbuilding on the property that I wasn’t locked into or tied up in.” A twinkle of memories sparked in her eyes. “The bottom line is they were my heroes and I wanted to spend all my time with them, proving that whatever they could do, I could do just as well.”
He smiled at the vision of her as a young girl, tagging after her big brothers to prove herself as tough as they were. “Other than Ryan, who I know is a detective, do they all work on the ranch now?”
“My oldest brother, Jack, is the manager. Brett also works on the ranch. Eric is a trauma surgeon. Daniel is actually a half brother, but he’s a whole brother in my heart. He’s enjoying a lot of success with a horse-breeding program he started. So other than Eric and Ryan, the ranch is definitely a family affair.”
“But you’re close to all of them.”
“We’ve had our ups and downs through the years, but yes, we’re all very close.”
After they had finished their meal and the waitress had removed their plates, they lingered over coffee. “I wish Mark and I were closer, but we were never really close even before our parents’ deaths.”
“I think part of what made all of us so close was that our mother wasn’t around very much when we were growing up. She spent most of our childhoods away from the ranch, and when she was at home, she was always in bed with a headache and we were allowed only minimal contact with her.”
“That must have made it hard on your father,” Tyler observed, fascinated by each tidbit of information he learned about her and her family.
She smiled, a warm, open gesture that pooled heat in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to lean across the table and capture her kissable lips with his, breathe in that warmth that her smile exuded. He tamped down the impulse.
“I don’t know how he did it, but my father managed to run a hugely successful cattle operation and at the same time was always there when any of us needed him. Of course, we had a variety of nannies to help out, and our housekeeper, Edith, was like a second mother, but the glue that held us all together was definitely my father.”
A wistfulness welled up in Tyler. There had been many days over the past ten years that he missed his father. Daniel Stanton had been not only loving but a friend and mentor, as well.
“Shall we head back to the ranch?” he asked, unwilling to dwell on the tragedy that had occurred years ago.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” she agreed and took the last sip from her coffee cup.
He paid the tab and then they got back into his car for the short drive home. The scent of her filled the air, a scent of freshness combined with a hint of vanilla and orange. It was so different from the expensive, heavy perfumes other women he’d dated had worn. He found it incredibly evocative.
“We haven’t really talked about the conditions of me working for you,” she said.
He was thinking about how to get her back into his bed that night and she was obviously thinking about work. He tried to adjust his thoughts. “I figured room and board and whatever fee you normally charge.”
She told him her usual fee. “But that’s negotiable depending on my success with Sugar.”
He grinned at her use of the new name. “Aren’t you always successful?”
“I have to admit there have been a couple of unbreakable horses in my past. They were just too damaged to ever trust human beings again. Thankfully, those are few and far between. I have a feeling given a little time, Sugar and I are going to become great friends and then we’ll make sure you’re her friend, too.”
By that time they were back at his house. “Why don’t you unpack and get settled in, and then when you’re done, we’ll finish the night off with a glass of wine in the living room,” he suggested.
“Sounds like a plan,” she agreed. She disappeared into the guest bedroom and Tyler went into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table, his thoughts on Greta and everything he’d learned over dinner.
It sounded as if she and her family had been through the wringer over the past couple of months and yet she appeared to have weathered everything very well.
Beneath the cheerful attitude she displayed, did a well of emotion exist that she hadn’t tapped into? Time would tell. He was only grateful that she’d apparently forgiven him for the lie that had not only got her out of prison but also broken her engagement to his brother.
Although he hadn’t spoken to Mark since providing the alibi, he had seen him twice at popular restaurants, each time with a different woman on his arm. He didn’t appear to be too upset over the loss of Greta. Greta might not know it, but he’d actually done her a favor. She would have never been happy married to Mark.
It was nine thirty when he and Greta carried glasses of wine into the living room for a nightcap. “I’m assuming you’ll be returning to work tomorrow?” she asked when they were settled on the sofa.
“That’s the plan,” he replied. “And I’m assuming your work with She-Sugar won’t require me at first.”
“Nice save,” she replied at his stumble over the horse’s new name. “And no, for the first week or two, depending on Sugar, it will be just me and her working out together.”
He took a sip of his wine and gazed at her. What were the odds of having her in his bed that night? It was impossible for him to sit next to her, with her heavenly scent surrounding him, and not want her again.
He couldn’t help but remember the silkiness of her skin, the fire of her kisses as they’d made love the night before. She’d been an eager participant, giving as well as receiving. She’d been everything he’d dreamed of and more...and he definitely wanted more.
“Earth to Tyler.” Her voice interrupted his thoughts. “You looked like you drifted off there for a minute.”
“Sorry. I did,” he replied and focused on the sweet curve of her lips. “I was just wondering if you’d want a repeat of last night.”
Her cheeks immediately flushed with color and her eyes widened. She took a sip of her wine and then carefully placed the glass on the coffee table and looked at him. “What, exactly, do you want with me, Tyler?”
She’d asked him the question before, but he hadn’t given her a real clear answer, because he hadn’t had one. He still didn’t have one.
