Deep in a Texan's Heart

Sam glanced across the room at the female members, clustered together, their husbands, mostly younger members. Why did they want to be part of the club? A streak of stubbornness? To ruin the club for the men? To take it over and turn it into their own club? He couldn’t figure the logic, but they were not going away. Between their husbands, boyfriends and friends, they had solid backing, not only gaining membership but easily voting in the child-care center. Once they got the center, the club would become a whole different type of organization.

His gaze rested on Shannon. She was Lila’s close friend and the one who had talked Lila into helping plan the child center. He liked Shannon; she was a no-nonsense person and a fine rancher. Of all the women who had joined, Shannon probably had the most right to be there because she was a rancher and toiled like the men on her ranch. She ran the place and fit in with other cattle ranchers. A stranger would never guess, because when she left the ranch, she looked all woman.

Lila would help with the center. If she lived here, she would want to join. Beau had definite ideas, but he hadn’t been able to control Lila or raise her to live the way her family did. There were probably some stormy conversations at the Hacket house.

Sam tried to stop thinking about Lila except to acknowledge she was taking over too much of his thoughts.

Once again, he tried to pull his attention back to Gil, who stood relaxed, his black hair combed back and one hand holding a small card that he occasionally glanced at.

In his quiet, efficient manner, Gil had covered the business of the day and Sam had barely heard a word.

“I know some of you opposed the new child-care center, but it’s been voted in and work has started. During the renovations, we’ll have noise and interruptions, but we’ve had that before. the child-care center is going to be reality in the near future. We want a state-of-the-art center.”

Annoyed, Sam thought it would partially be thanks to Lila’s input. In fairness, the billiard room would be renovated into a center for kids whether Lila helped or not. The founders of the exclusive men’s club would be stunned by this latest turn of events. He thought of Tex Langley, the founding father, who might not have even wanted the club if he had known how it would be changed.

As far as Sam was concerned, the club would never be the same. He attempted again to pay attention to Gil, who seemed to remain impartial, although Gil had Cade to raise by himself, so probably, he was happy to see the center open.

“Another reminder, next month Zach Lassiter will be inducted,” Gil said.

Zach was another newcomer and Sam knew nothing about his past except that he had been successful with investments and he had shared an office with Alex Santiago.

Startled, Sam realized he was thinking in the past tense about Alex. What had happened to the man? It was a disturbing mystery that seemed to puzzle everyone in town.

“One last thing before we close our meeting today,” Gil said in a loud voice that quieted everyone. “We all know we have a missing member, one of our newest members, Alex Santiago. Nathan has something to share with us,” Gil said, turning to face Nathan Battle, who rose.

Tall, with a commanding presence, Nathan made a good sheriff. He was a law-enforcement officer the town could be proud of. The men of his family had been members of the Texas Cattleman’s Club for generations and Nathan had broken away from his ranching background to become a lawman. He’d become an asset for Royal.

“This will be brief. We’ve turned up something. My office hasn’t gone public with the news yet and we don’t intend to make an official announcement at this time, but I’ll tell you now—Alex’s truck has been found about fifty miles from town.”

There was a low rumble of remarks, with surprised looks on a few members’ faces.

As soon as Nathan began to speak again, silence fell over the room.

“The truck was hidden in bushes. That may indicate foul play. At this point, we’re not ruling anything out. From all indications, there’s a possibility that Alex was abducted.”

Another shocked ripple of noise erupted.

“Nathan, when will you go public with this? Are we to keep quiet about it?” Dave Firestone asked.

“We’ve been investigating and trying to find out what we can before moving the truck, but several people already know about our discovery. I’m not trying to keep our news secret from the town, but I’ve asked to keep it out of the media at least the rest of today. Alex was a friend and one of our members and I know there’s high interest in his disappearance. At this point, that’s all.”

Nathan returned to his seat and Gil finished the business at hand before closing the meeting.

Shocked by the news, Sam thought about Alex Santiago, a venture capitalist and new to Royal. He’d grown up elsewhere, without Texas roots that went back generations the way so many of the other members’ did. Newly engaged to Cara Windsor, Alex had just recently disappeared. Word got out slowly at first and then swept over the town. Sam glanced across the room at another member, Chance McDaniel, who used to go out with Cara. Chance sat stony-faced, staring straight ahead, a slight frown on his brow beneath his blond hair.

How bitter was Chance over Cara getting engaged to Alex? Sam had wondered about that since people began to openly question what could have happened to Alex.

Jumping to conclusions wasn’t good, but it was impossible to avoid suspecting Chance, who would have a motive for getting Alex out of the way.

At the same time, Sam liked Chance and would hate to see his suspicions bear fruit. He hoped Chance wasn’t involved. Finding Alex’s truck abandoned and hidden was not good news.

After the meeting when Sam was leaving, he stopped in the doorway of the future billiard room. The place was dim inside with muted sounds from the club, the old billiard tables standing empty. Life was changing. Was he as backward in his thinking as Lila had accused him of being? He shook his head. He couldn’t imagine little kids all over the place or that their presence would be great for the club. The TCC could have built a separate building on their property or bought some land near the club and built a separate center and everyone would have been happy. Or at least that’s how he and several other members viewed it, but their idea had been killed before it ever got started.

Yesterday he’d had a business lunch and he was glad he could bring a client to the club just the way it was. Time would tell whether the child center was an asset or a liability. Turning to leave, he spotted something on a chair by the door. He walked over to pick up a small stack of papers with a long mailing tube. Shannon’s name was on the mailing tube, so she had probably left everything while she attended the meeting.

As he turned to go, Lila entered and stopped. “I left some of my things in here and I came back to get them.”

“I just found them. I thought they were Shannon’s.” He handed Lila the stack of papers and the mailing tube. His hands brushed hers only lightly, yet the touch was electric.

“Did the meeting just get out?” she asked.

“It’s been a few minutes. I stopped in to look over the new billiard room.”

“I’m sure you’d prefer no changes to this room, just as you prefer no changes to the original billiard room.”

“You’re wrong there. The room is antiquated and we’ll have a new billiard room. I have nothing against little children. You don’t know me half as well as you think you do. But now we can begin to remedy that. I’d like to hear all about this California job you have and why California is so much greater than Texas.”

“One more big difference between us. I’ll be happy to tell you why California is so great—one thing is I can be independent and on my own. That’s a little difficult to do here in Royal with my dad constantly present everywhere I go.”

“If that’s the problem, I can take you someplace where we can enjoy the shade and your dad won’t be anywhere around. We can discuss that in the bar or outside on the patio where the mist makers are keeping everyone cool. It’s late in the afternoon and it’s nice outside if you’re in the right place. Come have a drink with me and then I’ll take you to dinner. Or even more private, I can take you to my place and I’ll guarantee no one will disturb you.”

“Except you, Sam. You’re disturbing enough,” she said, and his insides tightened and heated. Her eyes sparkled and eagerness made him smile.

“Darlin’, you take my breath away. You look great, Lila,” he said, gazing into thickly lashed green eyes that he could look at endlessly.

“Thank you, Sam.”

“C’mon. Let’s get that drink. What are we waiting for?”

He could tell the moment the wall came up between them. Her expression changed only slightly, but the sparkle left her eyes and she looked as if she were on the other side of a glass wall. She shook her head.

“That’s a tempting offer, Sam, but I need to head home.”

As she started to move away, he touched her arm lightly. “I promise. Stay and you’ll have more fun. I can take you home later if you want and bring you back tomorrow to get your car.”

“Sorry, Sam. Thank you, but I need to get home. I’ve promised to make suggestions regarding the center for Shannon. I’ll see you around,” she said briskly. He dropped his hand as she gathered her things and left the room.

Puzzled, he watched her walk away. Why was she avoiding him? There were moments she had been responsive and then she had closed off as if he were a stranger. What was bothering her and what had changed between them since that weekend they had been together? Switching off the lights in the billiard room, he stepped into the hall and slowly followed, still watching her walk away.

They had a big difference in their attitudes about the club and the child center, but he didn’t think that was what was holding her back.

At a loss, he watched her go out through the front doors. Was it something he had done? Was it because she was scared to be attracted to someone from Royal and get involved when she lived in California? Not for one second did he think she had to go home to study child-care centers for Shannon. There was something else that had caused the rift.

He couldn’t think of a reason. One more puzzle in his life, only this one was personal. While he wanted to get to know her better, she had made it obvious she wasn’t going to let him. The only reason he persisted was that she still responded to him some of the time.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.