Wedlocked?! (6 page)

“How do you like working with Annie?” his mother asked, breaking into his grim thoughts.

“She's competent enough,” he replied cautiously.

Lily sipped her coffee. “She's pretty.”

“I hadn't noticed.”

For the first time in way too long, his mother laughed out loud. As Cole's cheeks flamed, she patted his hand. “Perhaps you've been working too hard,” she suggested with mischief in her eyes.

“Annie Jones isn't my type,” he grumbled.

“Since when?” she asked.

Would she remember Annie's name after all these years? “Since I've been working on an important case,” he reminded her, growing more uncomfortable.

She looked at him with a thoughtful expression. “I guess I can't complain about that.”

“Seen Maria lately?” Cole asked to change the subject. The ruse worked almost too well. Her smile faded.

“I'm worried about that girl,” she said.

It was Cole's turn to laugh, even if it was without humor. “What else is new?”

 

The only good thing that had come out of her trip to the ranch that morning had been Cole's apology,
Annie fumed as she drove back to San Antonio. When she talked to Flynn, he had seemed even more nervous than before. Maybe she was wasting her time looking for Lockhart—she'd sure as heck wasted a couple of hours today.

Someone
had been intimately involved with Sophia before her murder, though. Ryan's divorce attorney, Parker, had told Annie that he suspected Sophia of being in contact with someone at the ranch who was passing on information about Ryan's activities and his affair with Lily to help Sophia wring a bigger settlement from him.

A family member? Parker hadn't thought so, and neither did Annie. An embittered employee or one susceptible to a bribe was more likely, or one who liked sharing Sophia's bed.

The more Annie found out about the kind of person Ryan's second wife had been, the more she suspected that Lily wasn't the only one with a reason to kill her.

The next day, after Annie got back from Austin where she'd been talking to hotel employees, she finally got a break.

There was a message from Lily on her machine at home. Rosita had overheard one of the maids, who'd apparently been involved with and then dumped by Lockhart, mention that he'd gone to work at a dude ranch in the Hill Country. Before he'd left the Double Crown, he bragged about a lady
friend who was in line for a big payoff of some kind. A divorce settlement?

Elated, Annie flipped open the
Yellow Pages
and started making calls. On her third try, she got lucky. The front desk confirmed that Lockhart was employed at a small family guest ranch called the Circle A. Now all she had to do was devise a cover story and drive there to check him out.

After she finished her second call to the ranch, disguising her voice, there was a knock on her door. She was in no mood for company; the information she had gotten about accommodations at the dude ranch only complicated the situation. She needed a whole new game plan.

Reluctantly she opened the door to find Cole on her front step holding two white paper sacks. He looked tired, as if the case against his mother was beginning to extract a toll. In place of his usual suit and tie, he was wearing jeans and a blue plaid Western shirt with pearl snaps. On his feet were scuffed cowboy boots. The casual attire made him appear less intimidating and even more attractive than usual.

“I brought Chinese this time,” he said, extending the sacks like a peace offering. Instead of his rented Lexus, a blue pickup with the Double Crown logo on the side was parked at the curb.

Annie didn't have the energy to argue. She opened the door wider and gestured for him to come in.

“Been out busting horses and roping dogies?” she teased as she shut the door, trying to ignore the elemental feminine response that sizzled along her nerve endings. What was it about a cowboy, even a pretend one, that made a woman's heart beat faster?

For a moment Cole looked puzzled by her comment. Then he glanced down at himself and his frown cleared. “I had to get some of Mom's stuff out of storage to take to the ranch. I figured you might not have bothered to eat, so here I am.”

Annie considered pointing out that she didn't like uninvited company, but she decided not to antagonize him when he'd brought food. “I was going to fix myself an omelette,” she said. It wasn't really a lie; she would have thought of eating eventually. “But you might as well stay. Actually, there are a couple of things I need to run by you.”

Cole put the bags on the table, so she grabbed plates and forks from the kitchen. While he opened the cartons, releasing their wonderful aromas, she took a bottle of pear wine from the refrigerator and filled two glasses.

“What did you want to tell me?” Cole asked as they heaped their plates with almond chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, egg rolls and fried rice.

“I went to Austin today. No one I talked to at the hotel can remember seeing your mother wearing that ruby bracelet that was found in Sophia's suite, nor can they place her anywhere near there, as you know. Lily's room was on a different floor. I showed
around a picture of Lockhart that your mother loaned me, hoping to find someone who remembered him, but I struck out. I guess that would have been too easy. Of course that doesn't mean he or someone else couldn't have slipped in and out. The hotel was busy that evening. I don't think the police searched very hard once they linked Lily with the bracelet. Unfortunately that can happen.”

Cole tipped his head to one side and gave Annie a challenging look. “Still think she might be guilty?”

Slowly she shook her head. “There are too many loopholes for me to assume that. Someone could have found the bracelet and either left it there deliberately or dropped it during the struggle. I'd like to tell her myself that I believe her, though.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed. “She'll appreciate hearing it. I'd like to go into court with something stronger than just the gaps in the state's case, so where do we go from here?”

“Actually I've located Lockhart's whereabouts,” she said smugly, taking a bite of egg roll.

“No kidding! Are you going to talk to him?” When she didn't immediately answer, Cole's grin was replaced with an expression of anxiety. “What's wrong? He's not dead, is he?”

“Oh, no,” Annie replied hastily. “At least, not as of a few hours ago. Thanks to a tip from Rosita that your mother passed on to me, I found the guest ranch where he works. Of course I can't just con
front him. If he's got something to hide, he'll clam up and disappear again.” She stabbed a piece of almond chicken with her fork.

Naturally, Cole was using the chopsticks that had come with the dinner. Now he set them carefully on the edge of his plate and sat back in his chair. Being the recipient of his full attention was unnerving. “What are you telling me?” he asked softly.

“I'm going to visit the ranch,” she said. “I need to search his room. Maybe I can find something incriminating.”

For a moment, Cole merely stared as a flush ran up his lean cheeks. “Are you nuts?” he demanded. “We know Lockhart's got a temper. He may already have killed one woman. He could do it again. Even if he's not guilty, he might not like you pawing through his stuff.”

“Give me a little credit,” Annie retorted. “He's not going to catch me. Besides, I won't be going alone.”

Cole shoved back his chair and got to his feet. “You're taking backup?” he asked, pacing.

“I guess you could say that.” Annie wasn't sure why she didn't shut up right there. “The Circle A is a small, family-owned guest ranch.” She felt some stupid compulsion to explain. “They're booked solid for weeks except for one cancellation, and they don't allow unmarried couples to room together.”

The expression on Cole's face was almost comical. “Say again?”

Rolling her eyes, Annie repeated what she'd been told on the phone earlier. “They accept families and married couples in their guest cabins. Singles are welcome to stay in one of the bunkhouse dorms. Unfortunately, the women's dorm is full.”

“The women's dorm?” Cole echoed. “Are you pulling my leg?”

How she wished she were. Under other circumstances, the situation might be humorous. “Unfortunately, I'm just repeating what a sweet-voiced older woman told me on the phone. And the only vacancy is the honeymoon suite.”

Cole's expression turned dark and forbidding. “Get to the part about not going alone.”

She shrugged. “I'm planning to ask another investigator to pose as my husband.”

Cole muttered something she didn't understand, which from his expression was probably for the best. “How well do you know this other investigator?”

She shrugged. “He's a business acquaintance. We've worked together on a couple of cases.”

“And you're willing to share a room with him? Isn't that carrying ‘under cover' a little too far?” Cole demanded. His hands were bunched at his sides. If Annie didn't know better, she might think he was jealous.

Instead of asking, she retorted, “It's that way or no way.” Looking up into his brooding face, she
remembered with dismay how attractive she'd always found him to be when he was in a temper. Hastily she scrambled to her feet so she didn't feel quite so intimidated by his greater height.

“So you barely know this other guy?” he asked. “The one you don't mind staying with?”

It was Annie's turn to blush. “I resent your implication. This is business.” Why was she explaining herself to Cole? “Besides,” she added belatedly, “I have no choice.”

“You don't need him,” Cole said stubbornly.

“Yes, I do.” Annie threw up her hands. “I already explained—”

“I'll go with you.”

Share a room with
Cole?
He had to be crazy. “No way.”

“Why not?” he asked. “You need a husband for a couple of days, right? I'm volunteering.” His smile was devoid of humor. “At least you know I don't snore.”

“It's out of the question.” To be trapped together in the honeymoon suite? She refused to consider it. Frantically she cast around for a plausible excuse that wouldn't reveal her panic. “Robert's a trained investigator,” she said. “You don't know how to use a gun.”

He gave a shout of laughter. “Honey, I grew up in Texas. Think again.”

“There's no way it would work,” she insisted. Considering the begrudging attraction she still felt
toward him, being in such close quarters together would be inviting trouble. She turned away. “No.”

He grabbed her arm and spun her back around. “Yes,” he said, looking determined. “If you're taking on a man like Lockhart, I want to be there.” She shook her head and his hand tightened. “Don't fight me on this, Annie. You won't win.”

The sudden inexplicable desire to give in, to melt against his strength and feel his arms around her, was far from her usual reaction to a bossy man, and she resented her own weakness. God help her, she would never be able to maintain her cool if he guessed her feelings. She struggled against his hold. “After all we've been through, I can't believe you'd think I'd even consider taking you with me.”

“Why not?” he demanded. “You're apparently willing to go with some guy you hardly know.”

“That's different,” she cried. “Robert and I never—”

“Never slept together?” he cut in. “Is that what this is about? You think if we share a room I'll just naturally assume—”

It was Annie's turn to interrupt. “Of course not.” She squeezed her eyes shut. He was so close that she could feel the heat radiating from his big body, smell his cologne and the underlying male scent she'd once loved.
Loved!

“Then what is it?” he asked, voice softening. “Tell me.”

She stared up at him, struggling for an answer he
would accept. Then something changed between them, the very air becoming charged with awareness. His gaze shifted to her mouth. His eyes narrowed.

“I think it's time we got something out of the way,” he murmured, eyes darkening from blue to nearly black. “Maybe then we can move on without any distractions.”

As soon as Annie realized what he had in mind, she froze. She wanted this, had wanted it since she'd first seen Cole again in that restaurant.

When he dipped his head, she lifted hers and met him halfway. The kiss was anything but tentative. Vaguely aware that his hands had shifted to her back, pressing her closer, Annie twined her arms around his neck and gave herself up to the sheer needy hunger bubbling through her.

The kiss was hot and wet and, oh, so welcome. Her mouth fused with his as heat exploded between them, and she would have sworn, had she been able to form words, that they shared a heartbeat. For a moment stolen out of time, Cole was the only thing in Annie's universe.

C
ole would have gone on kissing Annie until the building fell down around him, if he hadn't eventually realized through the red haze threatening to envelop him that she was trying to push him away. He'd never forced a woman and he never would, no matter how sweet she tasted. No matter how convinced he was that she wanted the kiss as much as he did.

Head swimming, heart thudding in his ears like a drum, he managed to snag the shreds of his control and lift his mouth from hers. He'd meant to show them both it was time to quit letting the past get between them. All he'd shown
himself
was that his attraction for Annie was very much in the present, and that sooner or later he was going to have to deal with it.

Annie's chest heaved as though she couldn't get enough air. Her lips were swollen and wet, her eyes clouded. All Cole wanted was to bury himself deep inside her while the little cries he remembered so well echoed in his ears.

“This was a mistake,” she said, her words like a dash of cold water.

He wanted to tell her that no mistake had ever felt so right, and to ask if she always made them with so much enthusiasm. She'd been a full partner in that kiss.

“A mistake?” He didn't bother to keep the disbelief out of his voice. Damn it, she was retreating again. He dragged in a breath and rubbed a hand over his face, trying to collect his scattered thoughts. It hurt like hell that she hadn't been as affected—make that
stunned
—by the kiss as he had. “Yeah, I guess you're right.” What else could he say when she was looking at him with such obvious regret, as though she'd just realized she'd been kissing a frog and not Prince Charming?

Annie's head was reeling, her lungs still struggling for oxygen. Her lips tingled and her arms felt suddenly empty. Her body burned where she'd plastered it against Cole's. Her overwhelming response to him brought with it a sense of panic. What if she hadn't put on the brakes, and he'd ended up prying her off him like a lovesick groupie? The image made her shudder with humiliation. How many times did the man have to walk away for her to get the picture?

He might like kissing her, but he didn't really want her. Not then and not now.

“We need to forget this ever happened,” she said,
her knees giving out. She sank into a chair without looking at him.

“Shouldn't be too hard.” His voice was steady, emotionless, making her wonder if he'd been affected at all. “It was only a kiss. I just figured we needed to get past it.”

His male logic made her want to scream. “Yeah, whatever,” she managed. Brilliant. Did she want him to see how deeply he could still affect her, to know she felt as though she'd been ripped apart and shoved back together in a totally haphazard way?

Annie struggled to find her footing. She even managed to flash him a rueful smile, though it felt so brittle she was afraid her whole face might shatter.

“So where were we?” she asked, taking what tiny, perverse satisfaction she could in his frown. Had he thought she'd make a scene? Slobber all over him like some pathetic Saint Bernard?

“I was objecting to your plan to take some P.I. you barely know with you to check out Lockhart.”

“And I was trying to figure out what your problem is,” Annie countered. Perhaps she should have been impressed by Cole's ability to switch back to work mode so effortlessly, but instead his dogged stubbornness just irritated her. “Lockhart's the best lead we have right now. If I have to pretend I'm married in order to get close enough to investigate the slimeball, that's what I'm going to do.”

Cole folded his arms across his chest. “Fine, but I'm playing the part of your temporary husband.”

“Why?” Annie huffed. He'd just proven he didn't care enough about her to be jealous, so what was his objection? “If you still don't think I can do the job—” she began hotly.

Cole held up a hand. “I already told you that I respect your abilities.” He spun away, looked out the window. The set of his shoulders, rigid beneath his casual shirt, radiated tension. “She's my mother,” he said softly. “I can't sit on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs while you save her. I need to take an active part in this investigation.”

“The state's case is a joke,” Annie argued. “I know you're worried, but there's plenty of room for reasonable doubt. You'll do your part in the courtroom.”

“That's not good enough. I can't take any chances,” he argued.

“It's not a matter of taking chances,” Annie said. “It's me doing my job and you doing yours.”

Cole's hand went to the back of his neck. Annie would have liked to ease some of that tension from his muscles, but he wouldn't appreciate her gesture. And she didn't dare touch him. “There's more to this than just doing my job,” he said over his shoulder. “My relationship with Mom has been strained lately. If this goes wrong, I need to know I've done everything I could. I need for
her
to know that.”

Annie tried her best to reassure him. “I'm sure
she does. You dropped everything back in Denver when you came here to defend her. That says a lot.”

Cole remained silent.

“I remember how you used to talk about her in such a loving way,” Annie continued. “You were so close. What's happened to change that? Surely not her relationship with Ryan? You wouldn't begrudge her that happiness, would you?”

With a sigh he turned to face her, his gaze intense. “Of course not. It isn't Ryan who's the problem, it's my father—or at least the man I thought was my father.”

Annie was puzzled. Cole had always claimed that his parents' marriage had been a happy one. “What are you saying?”

Cole sat down across from her, his hands clasped loosely between his bent knees. “Mom was pregnant when she and my—when she and Chester got married.”

“Lots of people start out that way,” Annie said, and then the gist of what he meant dawned on her. “She was pregnant by someone else? Is
Ryan
your real father?” It made sense. Ryan had told Annie that he and Lily were in love before she broke up with him and married Chester Cassidy.

“I wish it were Ryan,” Cole replied. “Maybe that would be easier to accept.”

Sluggo chose that moment to jump up on Annie's lap. Absently she stroked his fur. “You don't have to tell me who it was,” she said to Cole, sensing
his reluctance. His parentage was really none of her business, and she wasn't sure how it tied in with her trip to the guest ranch, anyway.

“I
want
to tell you.” He managed a fleeting grin that left his face even more bleak when it faded. “Mom hasn't told anyone except Ryan and me. We don't want my sisters to have to deal with it until this other business is resolved.”

It was plain to see he was still having trouble accepting the news. What would it be like to find out after all this time that the man who'd raised you wasn't who you thought he was? She pictured her own father, so proud of her when she had joined the force and so devastated when she'd been painted as a dirty cop. Still, he'd stuck by her—the only one who had.

Perhaps she should stop Cole from saying any more, but she was curious. Although she'd never met the man who raised him, Cole had mentioned him often. They'd been close. “It must have been difficult for you,” she murmured. “Is your biological father still alive? Have you met him?”

“He died a while back, but I knew who he was. It was Cameron Fortune, Ryan's brother.”

Annie's face must have shown her shock. When he was alive, Cameron Fortune had earned himself a reputation as a playboy and a womanizer whose exploits, even during his marriage, were often featured in cheap exposés and gossip rags. “How did
your mother ever get hooked up with a man like him?” she blurted without thinking.

Cole didn't appear offended by her outburst as he stretched out his long legs and crossed his booted feet at the ankles. “I certainly don't blame her for what happened,” he said, “but I don't know if she believes that. She didn't try to make excuses for her behavior, but Ryan told me a little more later. It seems that when he and his brother were growing up, Cameron always enjoyed tormenting Ryan. It would have been in character for Cameron to go after Lily once he found out that Ryan cared about her.”

Cole's face reflected his mixed emotions. How difficult this must be for him. “Mom worked for Rosita in the kitchen. She didn't realize until it was too late that Cameron was only using her, playing on her insecurities to drive a wedge between her and Ryan. Once my father got what he wanted, he dropped her.”

“What an awful man,” Annie exclaimed, forgetting for a moment his relationship to Cole. “I guess I can understand why Ryan didn't want her either, after that.”

“Ryan didn't know about Cameron,” Cole said, surprising her. “Mom never told him. From what I've heard, I'm surprised Cameron didn't brag about it. I guess it was enough for him just to see he'd ruined things between them.” Cole shifted, resting his arm along the top of the couch. “When Mom
found out she was pregnant with me, Cameron just laughed, but Chester offered to marry her. She was scared and alone. Chester was a longtime friend and they'd dated a few times. He'd always loved her from afar, and she was grateful to him.” A muscle jumped in Cole's cheek and his smile was bitter. “Chester couldn't have treated me any better if I had been his son. He was good to both of us. But I wish Mom had told me the truth a long time ago.”

“Did she say why she kept it a secret for so long?” Annie asked.

He shrugged. “Maybe she thought I'd figure it out. Maria used to tell me I had the same birthmark the Fortunes were all supposed to have, but I never paid much attention to her. I sure didn't ask Mom about it.”

Annie remembered remarking on the odd-shaped mark once, but he had shrugged off her interest. “Maybe you realized that questions would be unwelcome,” she suggested. “Sometimes children do.”

Cole seemed to consider her comment. “Maybe on a subconscious level,” he conceded. “The mark was on my back, so I didn't stare at it in a mirror all the time. After a while I forgot it was there.”

“Don't expect yourself to accept this all at once,” Annie told him. “Finding out you're literally not who you thought you were takes some time to deal with.”

“How come you're so smart?” he asked with a wry grin.

She shrugged. “It's just common sense.” She wished getting him to accept her going to the Circle A without him would be as easy. After that kiss, sharing a room could be a big mistake, but how could she say no after what he'd just told her?

“We leave the day after tomorrow for the guest ranch,” she decided abruptly. “But first we need some rules.”

Cole glanced at his watch and got to his feet. “It's late. I still have to unload the truck, and I've got some things to take care of tomorrow if I'm going to be gone from the office. We can work out the logistics on our way to the ranch.” Now that he had what he wanted, he was all business. “What time is check-in?”

“Any time after one,” Annie replied. Everything was moving too fast, and now she was sorry that she'd given in so easily.

“Great.” He headed for the door. “I might as well pick you up. Here or your office?” he asked.

Annie trailed after him, tempted to ask if he was actually going to let her decide something. “I was going to take my car,” she said.

Cole chuckled. “That little toy? Where would I sit?”

She wanted to tell him he could sit anywhere he wanted as long as it was here in San Antonio. “That wasn't a problem until you invited yourself,” she
pointed out instead. “Well, we might as well use your gas. We'll meet at my office.”

Cole suggested a time and she agreed. “Got someone to feed your cat?” he asked, surprising her with his sudden concern.

“The neighbor will come over.” She tucked her hands into her hip pockets. “There are a few things I want you to understand about this arrangement,” she said insistently.

His gaze sharpened. “Don't worry. I know the difference between what's real and what's make-believe.”

While Annie was trying to figure out a response to that, he opened the door and went down the steps. Moments later he was gone, leaving a trail of unanswered questions behind as the taillights of his pickup disappeared in the distance. If only the taste of him on her mouth would fade as quickly.

 

“I thought you told me we were renting a cabin,” Cole grumbled to Annie as soon as their hostess, Mrs. Appleberry, finished pointing out the amenities, handed him a printed meal schedule and an activities brochure, then left with a last bright-eyed smile. Unless one counted the bathroom, this was just one good-size room with one very big bed. He'd pictured something more elaborate, with a separate sitting room and an extra couch or even a hide-abed.

“I said it was the honeymoon suite,” Annie re
plied, her voice laced with annoyance. “Maybe they figure newlyweds don't need a lot of space.” Perhaps she was just as uncomfortable with the setup as he was.

Cole shot her a look, but he didn't dare say anything more. On the silent ride up to the guest ranch, he'd suspected she was having second thoughts about bringing him along, so he'd kept his mouth shut while she made notes on a pad and stared out the window. She'd been chewing on a strand of her hair, something she used to do when she was provoked. For a couple of reasons, he wasn't about to give her an excuse to cancel their little expedition.

“We're both adults,” he said now as he tossed his bag on the bed. “I'm sure we can manage.”

Annie noticed with a feeling of impending disaster that there didn't appear to be anywhere else in the room comfortable enough to sleep. The interior walls were made from peeled logs, as were the small table and chairs by the window. A wooden love seat with a skimpy calico cushion was placed by a sheepskin in front of the stone fireplace, but she couldn't imagine trying to sleep on it. There was a modern-looking whirlpool bath in the surprisingly luxurious bathroom, or the braided rug by the door. Neither held the appeal of the king-size mattress covered by a fluffy wedding-ring quilt, a ruffled skirt and a heap of pillows.