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Ginny’s brow rose. “The last person who asked Cole Bishop about his family came down with a sudden case of broken nose and cracked ribs.”
“Oh, my.”
“My aunt Maureen says he’s got a closet full of skeletons.” Patsy lowered her voice. “She heard he killed a man.”
Lily’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t considered that he might be a cold-blooded killer. On the other hand, murder was a damn hard thing to hide. If he’d—
“I’m not saying it’s true. But that’s what she heard. That he killed a man in cold blood and never gave it another thought.”
“Forgive me, Patsy, but your aunt Maureen’s crazy as a bedbug.”
“She’s only been in the hospital that once.”
Ginny’s hands went to her hips. “It just ain’t natural, that’s all.” She gave Lily a probing look. “And even though it’s none of my business, I think you should get in that car of yours and keep on driving. Go on to Fort Worth. Get yourself a real job and find yourself a nice man. Girl like you doesn’t need to be messing with the likes of Cole Bishop.”
Lily was tempted to do just that. All this talk of unnatural acts had given her the willies. But the willies had never stopped her before. Besides, she knew a thing or two about small-town gossip. Most of what she’d heard this afternoon was probably hogwash. She’d feel a lot better, however, knowing which parts were true. Just what in hell was this job?
DYLAN CHECKED OUT a tall blond beauty as she walked down Crockett. He had his sunglasses on, so his perusal was private. As she crossed the street, he jerked his mind back to the business at hand. Sebastian was probably waiting for him downstairs.
He headed toward a huge wooden pushcart with the famous green awning. Perk at the Park, an outdoor coffee bar on the River Walk. Sure enough, there was Sebastian sitting in his usual spot under the brown umbrella. He looked like hell.
Dylan stopped at the pushcart and waited for Kelly Adams, the owner of Perk, to finish her last order. She looked pretty this afternoon, but then she always looked pretty. Maybe it was time for him to do something about his social life. Going out with Kelly would be fun. They’d known each other for a long time, and he felt comfortable with her. She was no Julie but—
He nipped that thought in the bud. Julie’s husband sat waiting for him, and the poor guy was nearly out of his mind with worry. Sebastian needed his friendship now. And his total concentration.
“What’ll it be, Dylan? The usual?”
He shook his head. “Iced coffee, if you’ve got some fresh.”
“Of course I do. Heavens.” She wiped her hands on her apron and turned to fetch his drink.
From the back, Dylan could see her jeans and the small T-shirt she wore. She really was attractive. Maybe, when he’d found Julie, when his life wasn’t so crazy…
“Here you go.” She handed him the tall plastic cup. “And do me a favor? Cheer up your buddy there, huh? He’s got me worried.”
“Me, too.” He handed her a five. “Thanks, Kelly.”
“Hey, your change.”
“Keep it,” he said over his shoulder.
Sebastian glanced up at him with worried eyes. His hair, usually meticulous, looked as if he hadn’t put a comb to it. His smile was a pitiful attempt.
“Hey, ya bastard.” Dylan used the old greeting, but it didn’t change Sebastian’s expression.
“Anything new?”
Dylan shook his head. “Have you slept at all?”
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t sleep through the night anymore. Not like I used to. I end up watching the damn weather channel all night. Go ahead, ask me about tomorrow’s high.”
“Man, you’ve got to do something. Have you seen a doctor? Maybe he can give you a sleeping pill.”
“Nope. I’ve thought of it, but it would be too tempting to get dependent on them. I’m not drinking much, either. I need to be clear about things. On my toes.”
“Well, I think a couple nights’ good sleep would go a long way.”
Sebastian looked at the river for a long moment. He sipped his coffee, then put the cup down. “I found a note from Julie last night.”
Dylan sat up straight, his heart lurching in his chest. “A note?”
“Don’t get too excited. It wasn’t a recent note. It was from Christmas. She’d written me a little thank-you for her gift and stuck it in my sock drawer. Except it got caught in the back, and I only saw it today because I yanked the damn drawer out by mistake.”
“What did it say?”
He leaned to his right and pulled his leather wallet out of his back pocket. With agonizing slowness, he opened the billfold and brought out a small piece of paper. He put his wallet back, then unfolded the paper. It was all Dylan could do not to rip it out of his hands.
It turned out, he didn’t need to. Sebastian handed him the note.
Her handwriting jolted him. He hadn’t realized how well he’d known the beautiful script. “Sebastian,” the note read. “I love you so. The locket is worth everything to me. I’ll never take it off. Never.”
Dylan folded the small piece of paper and handed it to his friend. “Son of a bitch.”
Sebastian turned to him, his gaze hard and cold. “You have no idea.”
“It’s not your fault. I know you want it to be, but it’s not.”
His friend’s laugh sent a chill down Dylan’s back. There was such self-hatred, such mockery in the hollow tone.
“I should have been with her.”
“You were at work.”
“It doesn’t matter. I should have been with her and I should have protected her. I wanted her to get a gun, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She said she’d probably end up shooting herself. I told her we’d go to the range so she could learn how to use a pistol, but then, I don’t know, I got busy. I got a new client… I never brought it up again.”
“Sebastian, you have to stop this. It’s going to drive you insane.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. Except Julie’s coming back. She is. Do you want to be here when she does? Or in the nuthouse?”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Remember when we were in Houston at that rodeo? The one where you got the wild bull—what the hell was his name?”
“Goliath?”
“Yeah. Goliath. And I told you to change your gloves?”
Sebastian nodded. “I didn’t listen.”
“And the gloves tore.”
“The rope ripped my hand to shreds.”
“Well, like I knew about the rope, I know about Julie.”
“You are one weird bastard, you know that, Garrett?”
Dylan nodded. “Why else would I hang out with you?”
Sebastian smiled. And for the first time since Julie’s disappearance, Dylan felt it was real. But it was gone all too soon, and the cloud of darkness resettled over his best friend.
“I want to go over everything again.” Dylan got a small notepad from his back pocket. “Step by step.”
“I’ve told you everything I know.”
“Then tell me again.”
Sebastian sighed. Closed his eyes. And started from the beginning.
CHAPTER FOUR
LILY SLOWED the car as she drove up Cole Bishop’s drive. The two-story ranch house reminded her of her cousin Ted’s in Waco. The wide front porch had room for a swing or a rocking chair, but it was bare. Painted white, the house itself seemed relatively new, a plain canvas with nothing to distinguish itself.
The lawn was the same. Rye grass, green even in this heat. No flower beds, no hedges. A big oak saved the view from being nondescript.
She wondered if she shouldn’t just write him a letter. It wasn’t easy to admit, but the conversation from the diner had her a little spooked.
Of course, her dilemma might be solved with a knock on the door. He probably wasn’t home. She hoped he wasn’t home.
As soon as she opened her car door, she could hear cattle lowing in the distance. It was a familiar sound, one she’d lived around her whole life. Some people would comment on the odor, but she didn’t mind it. Folks from cattle country were exposed early to the downside of ranching. It was only the city folk who balked.
She got out, shut the door behind her and opened her purse. After a fresh coat of lipstick, she ran a brush through her hair and popped a mint in her mouth.
As she turned toward the front door, something else familiar, a feeling, not a scent, hit her in the solar plexus. Ever since she’d joined the FBI she’d learned about the combination of fear and excitement that came with a new case. She felt in no personal danger. It wasn’t like some of her assignments in the Bureau. But there were high stakes, and she’d have to be alert and aware of everything. Cole Bishop was an unknown, and from the descriptions she’d heard in the diner, he could be anything from Wild Bill Hickok to Hannibal Lecter.
Well, she could be as macho as the next ex-FBI agent. After one last look at her car and safety, she headed toward the porch. No boards squeaked, another sign that they hadn’t been here long.
She rang the doorbell and waited, taking calming breaths as she did so. A moment later, the door swung open and Cole Bishop stood before her. It had to be him.
He was on a cell phone, and after giving her a quick once-over, he waved her inside. As she walked past him she was instantly aware of the man’s size. And something more. He wasn’t just tall, he was powerful. Her gaze went to his biceps, and even beneath his white shirt she could see his arms were thick and corded. Not like a bodybuilder’s, though. Like a man at the peak of physical perfection.
He didn’t smell half bad, either.
She walked into a sparse living room. Bare white walls, hardwood floor, a leather couch and matching club chairs. The coffee table didn’t even have a magazine on it. It was odd, as if Bishop rented the place.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
His voice startled her and she whirled around, wondering what she’d done wrong. But he wasn’t talking to her. Still on the phone, he paced across the floor in his cowboy boots, worn button-fly jeans, his white shirtsleeves rolled up past his elbows. Power. In the way he strode, in his posture, in the way his voice flowed deep and smooth as fine whiskey. She felt a little shiver as he eyed her before turning back to his conversation.
Ginny had said he was the best-looking man she’d ever seen in the flesh, and Lily concurred. Over six feet tall, he had to weigh almost two hundred pounds, all muscle. His tousled brown hair hung over his collar, and when he stepped in front of the window she could see streaks of sun-dyed blond. He had the face of a Marlboro Man, a real cowboy, tough and masculine from the inside out. Even his ocean-blue eyes had a hint of steel in them.
Her gaze moved to his chest and she wondered how he’d look without his shirt on. It took her a moment to realize he’d finished his conversation and put the phone down.
He narrowed his focus to her and only her. Unabashed and brazen as hell, he looked her over from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, taking a little extra time when he got to the chest area. Just as she opened her mouth to protest, he walked behind her.
She tried to swing around, but his hand on her arm stopped her still. Her natural instinct was to jerk away, to defend herself, but she held back. She didn’t want to blow this in the first five minutes. But if he didn’t let her go in about two seconds, she was going to make sure he understood what gelding was all about.
“How old are you?”
“Pardon me?”
“I said, how old are you?”
That’s when it dawned on her that he must have assumed she was here about the position. The job, whatever it might be. In that split second she decided to play along, at least for now. At least until she figured out if he was truly dangerous. “I’m thirty.”
“Bit old to start having children, isn’t it?”
Having children? “No, I don’t think so.” Her voice sounded normal, she felt sure. Well, almost normal.
“What about illnesses. You have any?”
“None.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“What about your hand?”
She touched her bandage. “A bite. Nothing serious. Just a frightened dog, that’s all.”
He came around in front of her again, and this time he studied her face. But not in the usual sense. His eyes narrowed as he examined her inch by inch, like a plastic surgeon looking for flaws. Heat warmed her cheeks, but she kept her expression neutral. The thing that frightened her most was that she wanted him to like what he saw.
“How about your teeth?”
This was getting ridiculous. “How about yours?”
“That’s not relevant.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m the one with the checkbook.”
“But—”
“But nothing. If I decide you’re the right one to have my child, then you can ask me questions. I’ll decide then if I want to answer you.”
