Authors: Kay Keppler
“It’s a week for firsts,” Tanner said. “And the job’s not much, but I think you might have fun with it. Jack sure will, and he’s a guy who needs more fun.”
“Well, Big Julie’s gone, so I gotta do something,” Baby said and picked up her purse. “And now’s as good a time as any to figure it out.” She grinned at them as she headed for the door.
Chapter 31
Tanner watched Hope while Baby’s heels clacked against the tile floor and the outer door opened and then clicked shut. Hope was scowling at him, her eyebrows furrowed across her forehead, her blue eyes, the color of ice, narrowed to slits. She crossed her arms over her chest.
Not good.
“Alone at last,” he tried.
Her mouth thinned.
“I missed you,” he tried again. “While I was gone.”
She crossed her legs.
“We have a date tonight, don’t we? I’ve been looking forward to seeing you. Is something wrong?”
She uncoiled from the chair, uncrossing her legs and unfolding her arms, and paced to the other end of the room.
“Is something wrong? Is something
wrong?
What
isn’t
wrong?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Tanner decided to go for innocence. “You mean the card game? Pumpkin—”
“Yes, the card game! The
cheating,
Tanner! And losing the ranch! Everything I worked for! Our lives are wrapped up in that ranch. And knowing that, even though I asked you not to, you stole it anyway!”
“You didn’t lose the ranch,” Tanner said. “You got the ranch back. I’m sorry I had to play like that. The FBI made me. It was that or twenty years in prison.”
Hope rolled her eyes. “The FBI made you? Well, that’s an original excuse, at least.”
“Even better, it’s true.” Tanner frowned. Didn’t she hear what he’d just said?
“You
cheated
, Tanner! I was there, remember? We played Big Julie, you cheated, what a surprise, poof! Ranch is gone.” She paused. “What do you mean, it was that or twenty years in prison? What
about
the FBI?”
“What do you mean, ‘I cheated, what a surprise?’” He felt a spurt of anger.
Hope backed down, resignation replacing most of the fury in her voice.
“You’re a con artist, Tanner. I googled you. You cheated twenty years ago, and you cheated last Saturday in the game with Big Julie. I don’t know who you hurt twenty years ago, but last Saturday you hurt me and my family, and we’re not coming back from that too well.”
Tanner shook his head in frustration. “I got twenty years’ probation for conning that million when I was a stupid kid,” he said, raking his hands through his hair. “That’s how you knew my name when we were introduced, right? It was big news at the time.”
Hope nodded.
“I’m
still
on probation for that stupid crime,” Tanner said. “I’ve got eight more months to go. I have to help the FBI with whatever gambling sting they put me on, and they put me on Big Julie. They’re trying to get him on a tax racket. I had to make sure he won, and then they arrested him. If I hadn’t helped them, I would have gone to prison for twenty years.”
Hope eyed him with hostility. “Poor Big Julie. Isn’t that entrapment, or something?”
“Poor
Big Julie?
What about me? Anyway, I’m sure Big Julie’s got good lawyers. Of course, I do, too, that’s why I’m not in jail, either.”
He watched with cautious optimism as Hope dropped into the sofa and put her head back against the cushions.
“Well. I guess that explains why you stole the ranch. You did what you had to do. But now the ranch is gone. My family’s uprooted. And—well, I haven’t changed my mind. I’m not seeing you anymore.”
Tanner’s heart plummeted. She understood about the probation, but she wouldn’t see him anyway? She didn’t love him at all? She didn’t even like him? Everything was truly over?
He couldn’t accept that. He didn’t believe for a minute that Hope didn’t feel something for him.
If she didn’t, she’d have ratted him out to Big Julie.
“Why won’t you see me? You have to know that I haven’t cheated in a card game in twenty years, until the game with Big Julie. Ask anybody. Ask Troy if I’ve let her down—well, except about the terrarium. Don’t ask her about the terrarium. I did let her down a little bit about that. But that’s the only thing.”
“What?” Hope asked, looking confused.
Tanner plunged on. He had to make her understand. “And your family isn’t uprooted, Hope. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Suzanne owns the ranch now.”
Hope frowned. “What are you talking about? I was there, remember?
Big Julie
owns it.”
“Big Julie
doesn’t
own it. I’ve been trying to tell you. Your mom owns it. Jack sent her a letter telling her. You didn’t get the letter?”
Hope remembered the letter from Mecklenburg and Sievers addressed to her mother that even now was lying in her bag. She picked up her bag and pulled out the letter, scrutinizing the return address.
She looked up. “This is just another of your tricks.”
“I don’t have any tricks. Call Jack if you don’t believe me.”
She fished her cell phone out of her bag, dialed, and was put through to Jack.
“Hope, you are a difficult person to reach. Did you get my letter?”
“I have a letter from Mecklenburg and Sievers, but it’s addressed to my mom and she’s not here. I want to confirm what’s in it. Can you tell me?”
“I don’t see why not. Your mother owns the ranch free and clear. Derek sold it to her for a dollar. I’m—”
Hope blinked. “Wait a second.
Derek
sold it to my mom for a dollar? That’s not possible.”
“Sure it is. I’ve got the paperwork right here. And believe me, a lawyer is never wrong about paperwork.”
“How did Derek get the ranch? Just two days ago it was Big Julie’s.”
“Well, after that it was Derek’s,” Jack said firmly. “The lead abatement report isn’t in yet, and we have some other conveyances to file, but I think everything should be wrapped up by tomorrow.”
“Lead abatement,” Hope said, remembering Bob. “Were those the guys who came out on Monday?”
“They were.”
“I’m glad I gave them coffee, then.”
Jack laughed. “Do you have any other questions?”
“Well, of course I do, Jack. How did Derek get the ranch?”
“It reverted to the original owner, according to federal forfeiture law, after Big Julie was arrested during the card game. That was Derek McNaughton. And Derek sold it to Suzanne, through me, for a dollar.”
“Why did he do that?”
“He realized that he hasn’t treated your family fairly for the last seventeen years, and to make up for not paying alimony, child support, and other court-ordered expenses, he decided to sell you the ranch. He’s doing the right thing here.”
“And yet, everything sounds so wrong. When did mom give you a dollar?”
“Actually, she gave me two dollars. One dollar went to Derek for the ranch and one went to me, to retain my services.”
Hope paused to think. Jack’s story was too glib and his voice was too smooth. She knew she was missing something. She just didn’t see what.
“So Jack, tell me. How did you get mixed up in this?”
Jack cleared his throat. “Maybe you want to talk to Tanner about that.”
“Maybe I want to talk to you. Are you the family lawyer, or not? We can fire you, you know.”
“Oh, no, don’t do that. You’re my most lucrative clients.”
Hope laughed. “Oh, good, we’ve retained a snotty lawyer. Send us a bill. If we have a two-million dollar ranch now, we can afford to pay it. I just want to know how we got here.”
Jack voice sounded amused. “Give it up, Hope. You want to find out what happened, talk to Tanner. I’m his lawyer, too. I can’t reveal any confidences.”
“I knew it! You guys did something.”
“The dollar that your mother gave me three days ago for legal fees is now earning me about ten cents an hour. Gotta go, Hope. My
pro bono
cases make me richer than you guys.”
“But Jack—”
“The letter says that Suzanne owns the ranch. Talk to Tanner. Heaven knows he’s been trying to talk to you.”
Hope closed the phone and dropped it into her purse before she turned back to Tanner, a puzzled look on her face.
“Mom owns the ranch,” she said, sounding stunned. “Evidently, we don’t have to move after all.”
“Told you,” he said, stepping closer. “Hope—”
“Stop right there,” she said, cutting him off. “Thank you for getting the ranch back. I don’t know how you did it, but I appreciate it. Very much. Don’t think that I don’t. But that doesn’t change anything, Tanner. You’re still who you are and I’m who I am and that’s oil and water. And I’m still mad at you.”
“You’re
still
mad?” Tanner looked incredulous. “What about?”
“Well, there’s the ranch. Okay, we got it back, but you
stole
it! By
cheating!
And you’ve always been a cheater. And cheaters never change. I learned that from the best. Look at Derek! You’re just like him. You take risks. You court danger. You come strolling in here, looking to get killed! Those Russians had
guns!
What were you
thinking?
”
Tanner started to feel optimistic again, even though Hope seemed to be just getting warmed up.
“And all that
just-a-minute-pumpkin
, and the
I’ll-be-right-with-you-sweetie
garbage!” Hope said, sounding exasperated. “Who do you think you’re talking to? You think I’m a
toy
for your convenience and I just keep smiling while you pull all the strings? You’re manipulative and a con artist and a crook and you don’t fool me for one minute! You’ll never stop flirting with Baby, and yes, I’m still mad at you!”
She did look really upset. Her eyes glistened and her chin trembled and he thought she was the bravest, smartest, most wonderful person he’d ever met.
He took a step closer and felt his heart swell and grow tender as he looked at her. He was helpless with desire and need and he realized as surely as he stood there in the suite that he felt something for Hope that he’d never felt for any other woman.
“Hope,” he said. “I love you.”
The churning anxiety, fear, rage, and hurt that Hope had been feeling for four long days and especially the last hour all shrieked to a halt, poised quivering to resume their mad rush through her heart but waiting for a signal to go.
“What?” Hope asked, wondering if she’d heard him right.
Tanner took another step closer.
“I love you. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I can’t help it. I want to be with you, I want to marry you. I’ll wait if you’re not sure. But I’m sure.”
Hope’s emotions still quivered on the brink.
What?
He
loved
her? He wanted to
marry
her? She wasn’t sure she could even
speak
to him again, and he was talking about
marriage?
This conversation was moving
way
too fast, and in a direction she hadn’t anticipated.
“I’m so sorry about the ranch, I’m sorry about everything. You’ve had a really rough couple of weeks, but I’ll make it up to you.”
Hope watched him take another step closer.
One more step and he’ll kiss you, and then you’ll forget everything that made you mad
.
Suddenly that didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
Tanner stepped closer and picked up her hand, lacing his fingers between hers. Her heart kicked up a notch.
“Are we square, Hope? Can I do something else to make everything right? Because this really is all for nothing if I’m not square with you.”
Hope rubbed her forehead. She felt unstrung. All her life—or at least since Derek left them—she’d made plans. She thought things through, made plans, and carried them out. She knew what she thought about things. Knew what would happen if she broke her rules.
Chaos. Heartbreak.
That’s what would happen if she lost her discipline.
Now, it turned out, she hadn’t known anything after all. She’d lost control of events, and yet the worst
hadn’t
happened. She’d gotten involved with a card player, and she was still in one piece. Tanner hadn’t ripped her off. Somehow, the ranch was theirs. Tanner had made that happen. She didn’t know how, but he had.
She felt her defenses crumbling. She remembered how just a few minutes ago she thought that if she survived being held hostage by the Russians she’d tell Tanner she wanted to take a risk with him.
What kind of risk was it? Getting involved with a card player seemed like a huge leap of faith to her, but Tanner hadn’t let his daughter down. Except evidently, about the terrarium—whatever that was about. But he’d raised Troy by himself and done a great job from what she could tell.