Logan leaned over and said near her ear, "It"s okay, T.C., hot, sweaty monkey s.e.x between you and my big brother is exactly what you both need."
She jerked away and glared at him.
He shrugged as he opened his briefcase. "Now, you need to keep reminding him what he"s missing when he"s not with you."
Before she had the chance slug him, Jake and his lawyer entered the courtroom. Logan"s smile faded away, and he became the intimidating attorney she"d hired.
Judge Martha Delaney entered not long after Jake. When she wasn"t wearing the black robe of justice, Martha was the mild-mannered wife of the pastor of the Colton Baptist Churchwife of the same minister who had married Jake and Tracy and baptized Bobby. Jake"s lawyer had tried to claim Judge Delaney had a conflict of interest since Tracyand Logan when he chose to go to churchbelonged to her husband"s congregation. However, Logan didn"t fail to point out that Jake"s family belonged to the same church. Judge Delaney had also presided over Jake and Tracy"s first custody battle following their divorce, in which she"d proven to be impartial, so the claims were considered unfounded.
After the judge brought the court to order, she asked Jake"s lawyer to open the proceedings. The slick-looking middle-aged man stepped forward and flashed Tracy and Logan a predatory smile of perfect white teeth. His face was too orangey to be tanned by anything other than a spray bottle. The word shark fit Preston Tilley perfectly. "Your Honor, my client, Jacob Parker, is concerned about the welfare of his son and asks the court to grant full custody of him, along with child support."
"I"m going to cut to the chase and say I"ve read over the affidavit. For the record, why does your client consider Ms. Quinn an unfit mother?"
Tilley squared his shoulders. As he told the judge the standard line of bull that had been on the lips of gossipers for years, Tracy looked over at Jake. He was dressed in a white Western shirt and dress pants. He"d cut his dark hair and was clean-shaven.
Tilley glanced over at her and glowered at her in the way a self-righteous matron might a street tramp. "She has subjected my client"s son to possible dangers when she allowed her brother to live with her in a small two-bedroom apartment. My client"s not degrading the sacrifice Captain Dylan Quinn made for his country, but following his return, he had a doc.u.mented case of post-traumatic stress disorder. He became an alcoholic and often resorted to violence. Now, Ms. Quinn is romantically involved with Zachery Cartwright, who also has PTSD and has publicly admitted that he suffered from a drinking problem."
"Objection," Logan shook his head and stood. "Neither Captain Quinn or Sheriff Cartwright are here to verify or deny these claims."
"Granted." Judge Delaney leaned forward on a bench that dwarfed her pet.i.te frame. "Mr. Tilley, you have said nothing that would make me believe for a moment Ms. Quinn is an unfit mother. Has she neglected Bobby?"
"Ma"am, on Monday of this week, she allowed her son home alone with a babysitter after school while she met with Zachery Cartwright for a s.e.xual liaison. My client feels this is the type of behavior that is the most destructive to his son. Especially, since he already has problems with authority."
Tracy narrowed her eyes on Jake, not sure which made her angrierthat he knew about her and Zack, or that he would have the audacity to blame her for Bobby"s problems with authority.
"Your Honor." Logan made his way around the table. "Whether or not my client met with Sheriff Cartwright isn"t the concern of this court. Mr. Tilley has brought up Ms. Quinn"s dating history. I"d like to bring up Mr. Parker"s. He has actively dated several women, whom he"s brought to his home while Bobby was there for overnight stays." Logan paused and consulted his notes. Tracy glanced at Jake, who glared at her. "On July 16, Mr. Parker brought a Miss Jasmine Pritchett, a recently convicted Waco prost.i.tute, to his home while his son was under his care. Ms. Quinn has never brought any of the men she"s dated home, nor has Bobby ever met any of them, except Sheriff Cartwright."
"Is this true, Mr. Parker?" The judge turned her hard dark eyes on Jake.
Jake scowled at Logan.
"Answer the question, Mr. Parker."
"Yes, but I didn"t know she was a hooker."
Tracy raised a brow.
Logan smirked. "Interesting. When I spoke to Miss Pritchett, she related she told you her price before you brought her home from the bar. You told her she had to come to Colton with you because you had to pick your son up from your grandmother"s, who is ninety-one years old."
"Objection." Tilley stepped closer to the bench. "Hearsay."
Judge Delaney sat back in her chair and sighed. "Granted. Mr. Cartwright, please refrain" She stopped as the doors of the courtroom opened.
Tracy turned and gasped when Zack and Wyatt entered the courtroom. Both men were tall and handsome in their determined walks and set jaws. They removed their hats simultaneously, and Tracy suddenly felt like she was transported back a hundred years. Despite how handsome the Texas Ranger was, the sheriff outshined him.
"Sheriff Cartwright." Judge Delaney didn"t hide her displeasure at having her court disrupted. "Please explain this disruption."
"Your Honor," Zack said as he and Wyatt stopped beside Tracy"s table. "May we approach the bench?"
"This had better be good."
"I object to this," Tilley whined with his hands gesturing. "This is highly irregular, considering Ms. Quinn is having an illicit affair with the sheriff."
Zack shot Tilley through with a glare. The lawyer looked like a weasel. Zack walked to the judge"s bench. Martha leaned forward with impatience thinning her lips into a tight line, which did nothing to hide her mult.i.tude of wrinkles.
"Alright, Zack, what the heck is going on?"
Zack cleared his throat and spoke in a low tone. "I just wanted to make sure you know Jake Parker is our prime suspect in the rustling that"s been going on. We"re here to take him in for questioning."
Martha sat back with her eyes wide. Not much surprised her anymore, but obviously, this did. "Well, now, that certainly throws a wrench into the fan. Alright, Zack, Wyatt, do what you need to." As they stepped away, she said, "Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Tilley, approach the bench, please."
Zack ignored his brother"s questioning look and Tracy"s wide eyes as he headed toward Jake. While Martha informed the lawyers of what was going on, Zack and Wyatt stopped before Jake. His jaw was set and beads of sweat formed on his brow. Jake"s hazel eyes were two cold amber stones as he glowered up at Zack. "What the h.e.l.l is going on?"
Wyatt leaned forward with his hands on the table. "We"d like to ask you some questions regarding your whereabouts last Friday night into Sat.u.r.day morning. We"d also be interested in you telling us about just how you got that cut on your hand."
Jake shifted his eyes from Zack to Wyatt and a bead of sweat ran down the side of his temple. If he hadn"t known Jake since they were kids, Zack would have chocked it up to the custody case. Jake stood and glanced at the lawyer, who came to stand beside him.
Zack unlocked his back teeth. "You can come with us on your own, or we can take you in by force. The choice is yours."
Jake shrugged. "I have nothing to hide, but I want my lawyer there. Mr. Tilley?"
The way the lawyer"s eyes widened was almost comical, but he covered his surprise with puffing out his chest and nodding. "I agree. My client has nothing to hide."
Zack suppressed a chuckle, but Wyatt wasn"t as reserved as he snickered. "We"ll see about that. Let"s go."
As they turned to go, Tracy caught Zack"s attention. She was biting her lower lip, and her eyes were still wide with disbelief. Once Jake, Tilley, and Wyatt were out of the room, he stepped over to stand beside her.
"You think Jake stole your horses?"
Zack shrugged and twisted his hat in his hands. "It looks like it."
Logan stepped in behind Tracy and laughed. "Well, I have to say this is a first in four years of practicing law. Thanks, big brother, for upstaging me."
"Anytime." Zack matched his brother"s grin.
"So, what happens now?" Tracy glanced between the brothers.
"We ask for this ridiculous custody suit to be thrown out, for one thing." Logan gathered his notes. "And you have some fun. Hey, I"m doing a show tomorrow night at the Longhorn. Probably my last before I head off to Nashville. Why don"t you two show up, have fun, and do some dancing?"
Tracy locked gazes with Zack. He knew he shouldn"t, but he couldn"t stay away from her. "Okay. I"ll be tied up all day with the case, but tomorrow night sounds good."
She smiled and touched the hand holding his hat. Her fingers were soft and hot and reminded him of how she touched him in other places. "Would you like me to pick up Mandy this afternoon? I can bring her back to Oak Springs with me when I pick up Bobby. I think it"s a safe bet he won"t be going to Jake"s tonight."
He hesitated for a long moment, but his mother was playing bridge that night, and he hated dumping Mandy on Lance and Audrey. "I"ll call the school and let Mrs. Longoria know you"re picking her up."
Logan smirked as he closed his briefcase. He winked at Tracy and thumped Zack on the shoulder as he pa.s.sed by. Zack met her gaze, and he was well aware that they were suddenly alone, until Logan whistled the Wedding March as he went through the door.
She laughed, until the gales of mirth turned breathy. "He isn"t very subtle, is he?"
"Tracy." He sobered, caught for a moment in the spell she wove with her innocent eyes and inhaled breath. He broke the trance by looking away. "Don"t think any of this changes how I feel. I"ll never fall for you again."
Unable to bear watching the hopefulness in her pewter eyes turn to regret and hurt, he turned and plopped his hat on his head. As he hurried down the aisle to the door, his heart reminded him with each beat he was the biggest fool around.
Because he"d never stopped loving her.
"I have no idea what y"all are talking about. Last Friday night I was in Waco." Jake leaned back in the wooden chair.
Zack paced the floor of the conference room. He"d agreed to let Wyatt and Dawn question Jake. Wyatt suggested for sake of preventing a conflict of intereston more levels than just the fact Jake was the prime suspect in stealing Zack"s horsesthat could jeopardize the case.
"Who were you with?" Dawn asked and leaned over her arms on the table.
"I"ve told you four times. Angela Duran. I met her for dinner at her place and didn"t leave until seven the next morning. Call her. She"ll verify it. Dammit, I"m not the guy you"re lookin" for."
"How did you cut your hand?" Wyatt sat forward in his chair and leaned over the table to look Jake in the face.
Jake shifted in his seat and shrugged. With a chuckle sounding more forced than real, he said, "Angie is a bit of a klutz. She broke a wine gla.s.s, and I cut my hand picking up the pieces. I probably should"ve got st.i.tches, but I was havin" too much fun to care. Y"all know what"s it like when you"ve got a willin" woman around. Isn"t that right, Zack? Is Tracy still a wildcat in the sack?"
Zack jerked to a stop and took a step forward. Only years of discipline and Wyatt and Dawn"s warning looks stopped him from punching the smirk off Jake"s face.
With his hands fisted tightly, Zack turned away and stared at the wall.
"Do you know where your brother Brent was on Friday night?" Dawn asked.
"Nope. I"m not his keeper. But isn"t he next door? Why not ask him."
"Okay, folks, I think my client has answered all the questions he needs to. He can"t be the person you"re looking for." Preston Tilley sc.r.a.ped his chair against the floor as he stood. He"d remained rather quiet throughout the four hours of redundant questioning, which surprised Zack. Then again, Tilley was a divorce lawyer, not a criminal attorney.
With the warning for Jake not to leave the county, Wyatt and Dawn allowed him and Tilley to go. Zack turned and let out a breath. "He"s lying through his teeth."
"Brent told me and Kennedy the same thing when we questioned him. I"ll check out their alibis." Dawn headed for the door with Wyatt watching the gentle sway of her backside as she left.
Zack poured them both a cup of coffee from the stained, old Mr. Coffee in the corner. "So, what"s going on between you and Dawn?"
"Nothing." Wyatt sat down in the chair Jake had vacated and sipped his cup.
"Uh-huh." Zack sat across from him. "How come I believe you even less than I do Parker?"
Wyatt ran a hand through his reddish-brown hair. "She drives me crazy."
With a laugh, Zack set his mug down. "No kidding. What"s really going on?"
Wyatt took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. "When we were partners on the Dallas PD, we crossed a line that should never be crossed by a female and a male partner. Especially when that partner was a friend for almost thirty years," he added more to himself then to Zack.
"Let me guess, she wanted more than you were willing to give?"
Wyatt shook his head. "The other way around." He stood and picked up his mug. "It"s all water under the bridge."
"Until it floods my department. I"ve never seen Dawn so uptight in my life, and she"s been my friend since we shared the same bath water in her grandmother"s kitchen sink. She may have been your friend, but she"s always been like a sister to me. And I don"t like seeing her like this."
"I"ve tried to talk to her." Wyatt drank more coffee and turned toward the large framed map of Texas on the wall. "I"m not the one who ended it. She did. What else is there to say?"
Then Wyatt faced Zack again. "Enough about me and Deputy Dawn Madison. What the h.e.l.l is going on between you and my cousin?"
Zack took a gulp of coffee and shrugged. He wanted to say nothing was going on, but that wasn"t exactly true. He"d promised Tracy he"d treat her like a girlfriend. "Tracy and I are dating."
"That so?" Wyatt grinned and sat down again. "I seem to remember you swore you"d never speak to her again."
"True. But then Dylan came back from the war, and I couldn"t let him continue to beat himself up over something outside of his control." He stared into his coffee mug at the black brew. "I needed Tracy"s help since he"s her brother and he was living with her." He shrugged and drained the cup. "Who knows if anything will come of us dating?"
He couldn"t let anything come of it. He owed that to Lisa. She was dead because he couldn"t love her more than he"d loved a memory.
"Tracy"s a good woman, Zack. I know she hurt you, but I think you"d be wise to give her a second chance." He shook his head. "I know her life with that idiot Parker sure as h.e.l.l wasn"t a bed of roses. I"ll never understand what she saw in him, because he treated her like s.h.i.t. Tracy"s too good-natured for her own good."
What was with everyone? His friends and family were free with their opinions on his love life lately. He was about to tell Wyatt that whatever went on between him and Tracy was none of his d.a.m.n business, when Wyatt"s cell phone began playing Toby Keith"s Beer for My Horses.
Wyatt set his cup onto the table and pulled the phone from his belt. A moment pa.s.sed before he spoke, and as he listened, his forehead furrowed. "It"s okay, Ma, I"m finished for now. What"s going on?" It didn"t take Zack too long to realize the news wasn"t good. Wyatt"s tanned face lost most of its color and his voice was rough. "Yeah, Ma, I"ll be right over. Have you called Audrey?" He paused to listen. "No, I"ll stop by the CW, then come over. Love you, too. See you soon."
Zack waited for Wyatt to slip the iPhone into the holder on his belt. The stricken look on his face told Zack something terrible happened in his family.
Wyatt swallowed and looked at him. "That was my mother. She and Dad just got a call from an Army chaplain."
Zack was instantly on alert. Wyatt"s younger sister, who recently deployed to Afghanistan, was a registered nurse and Army major. "Rachel?"
Wyatt nodded. "Yeah. Ma didn"t know much, except Rachel was injured today and is being airlifted to Germany. I have to go. I need to stop by Lance and Audrey"s place to tell them." He paused at the door but didn"t look at Zack. "I hope my twin sister can forgive herself if our little sister dies over there."
As Wyatt left, Zack leaned back in his chair and silently sent a prayer to heaven for a fellow soldier and one of his friends.
Chapter 15.
"Zack." Tracy opened her door a little after one AM, instantly wishing she wasn"t wearing the rattiest t-shirt she owned as a nightshirt. "I wasn"t expecting you until morning."
He walked across the porch as if his shoes were made of concrete, and stepped into the entry, removing his hat. "Is Mandy sleeping?"
Tracy glanced up the stairs. "Yeah. I was headed upstairs myself when I saw your headlights in the driveway." He nodded and looked around. She got the impression he was trying not to look at her. She clasped her hands together in front of the old University of Texas t-shirt. "Want something to drink? I usually drink tea at night, but I can make coffee. You look like you could use some."
He met her gaze, and the ghosts haunting his eyes took her aback. "That would be good. How long has Mandy been asleep?"
Shrugging, Tracy led him down the dimly lit hall to the kitchen. "Oh, since about nine. She and Bobby played in the pool after supper and that tired them both out."