Last Chance Reunion

“What does any of this have to do with last night?”

Colt reached the sink and spun back around. “Now you’re doing it. That was a question not an answer. But I never believed my father could murder anyone. Especially not my mother. He loved her. I know he did.”

Nodding, Lacie seemed to agree. “I remember you saying that back then. All this time and you still think the same? Both your parents are gone now. What difference could it possibly make at this point?”

Limping over to the table, he stood beside her. “I have to know for sure. You can see that, can’t you?”

He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, gazed earnestly into her eyes and pleaded his case. “Help me, Lace. Together you and I can find the truth. I know we can.”

“Ah.” It hit her then—at last. “You were inside the sheriff’s office last night looking for old case files. Your father’s murder case.” She was shocked. “How in the world did you manage to break in?”

“Uh...I didn’t exactly break in.”

“But then how—” Amazed she hadn’t thought of it sooner, the answer came instantly. “Louanna. Our night dispatcher let you in. Why? Did you offer her a bribe?”

He backed up, ran a hand through his shaggy hair and ended up making it messier than ever. “She’s a second cousin. My aunt asked her do it for me. Seems everyone in town owes my aunt June for one thing or another.”

His expression changed suddenly—darkened. “You won’t mention that I told you? And you won’t turn her in to your stepfather? Louanna needs her job. I didn’t get a chance to find the files before you arrived.”

Lacie popped up out of her chair. “I won’t do anything to endanger Louanna’s job. Besides, nothing was taken or destroyed. Why can’t you talk to the sheriff about the old murder case? He was there and participated in the first investigation. He should...”

She lost her train of thought as she remembered finding Colt in tears behind the school one afternoon right after his mother died. Her heart had gone out to him then and there. Come to think of it, she may never have gotten her heart back. Not to this very minute.

But she couldn’t let him know that. They were not those same two kids. Far from it.

Colt took her by the elbow. “Can you really picture the sheriff helping me? You know he’s never been too crazy about the Chance family.” Touching her was making him crazy as the electricity between them zinged through his veins.

“True,” she said and suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I do remember my stepfather never liked it when you were hanging around. And he hated when I went to the Bar-C.”

She glanced down to where his hand was holding her arm. Trying to pull free, she drew in a breath. “I won’t say anything to the sheriff.”

At this point he almost didn’t care. All he cared about, all he’d ever cared about, was being with her.

But she went on to explain, “I make it a habit not to speak to him unless I’m forced to. We aren’t exactly a close-knit family. What would you need me to do?”

Hearing that should have relaxed him. “I knew I could count on you.” But there was no relaxing when her eyes grew wide and she licked her bottom lip.

A war was going on inside him. He needed to kiss her more than he needed to breathe. But he didn’t want to scare her off. He needed her help.

Sidestepping closer to her, he backed her against the kitchen counter. “Be my partner in the investigation,” he murmured against her lips.

Tightening both hands on her shoulders, Colt couldn’t help himself. He pulled her against his chest and leaned in even closer. “Be my everything—for now.”

He whispered a kiss over her lips. Instead of pulling away, she pressed against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. A dark lust roared in him. And when she moaned, he deepened the kiss.

Shuddering with need, his erection grew hard against her belly. He cupped her bottom with both hands and growled, deep and low in his chest. He couldn’t catch his breath. Had stopped thinking minutes ago.

“Wait a moment.” Suddenly she lifted her head and pushed at his shoulders.

He was too far gone to understand the change in temperature between them. Dipping his own head, he went back for another taste of those sweet lips.

“Whoa,” she said past a raspy voice and stepped out of his reach. “I... I’ll help you with your investigation because now I’m curious, too. But as far as—” she waved a hand between them “—anything else...it’s a no go. I don’t know who you are anymore. And you don’t know me. This isn’t happening. Not now. Maybe not ever.”

* * *

Much later that day, while Lacie finished up her paperwork, she found herself still mulling over everything she’d said to Colt. At that moment, kissing him, she’d wanted exactly what he wanted. The need had been racing headlong through every cell in her body. But she’d put a stop to things between them before they went too far. And she knew why.

She’d been scared. Afraid of getting too close. The two of them had changed. Maybe they could be friends again, and work together for answers, but any more than that and her heart wouldn’t stand it.

After he healed and did a little investigating, he would be going back to his previous life. He’d always hated the small-town ways of Chance, Texas. His talk about leaving had given her the backbone to leave town herself at the age of eighteen. But she’d tried the big city and found it wasn’t for her. She wanted to stay in Chance.

She’d get her questions answered—and now Colt’s questions, too—but after that she would be making a permanent home here. Colt would be long gone.

Her shift now over, Lacie filed her forms and stretched her cramped limbs. No one was left in the station but her and Louanna. Deputy Robert Lopez, the man who’d been the sheriff’s assistant for as long as she could remember, was in his cruiser, spending his shift making passes through town and waiting for any calls.

This might be a good time for her to do a little digging for Colt. Earlier today she’d asked the day dispatcher where the old case files were stored. Apparently, when the new station had been built, the old files were either destroyed or put in storage boxes and stashed in a closet. They’d all be put on the computer someday—when the county could afford the help. But as of now, they were just catching dust.

Heading down the darkened hall and turning on lights as she went, Lacie wondered what she would find in the Chance murder file. She remembered the day of the murder, though she’d been quite young. But she remembered it vividly because things in her own home had changed forever that day, too.

Flipping on the overhead light in the oversize closet, Lacie glanced around at dozens of cardboard boxes. They didn’t seem to be in any order. No wonder Colt hadn’t had the time to find the file last night. It might take weeks to sort through all this stuff.

She’d been at it for almost an hour when she heard a noise behind her back. Jumping up, she swung around, expecting to see Louanna.

“What are you doing, Deputy?” The sheriff’s deep voice startled her.

“Oh, nothing, sir.” She folded her hands together behind her back and stood at attention to stem her shakes.

“Your shift is over. And I don’t remember assigning you or anyone else to a cold case. Why are you in here?”

The sheriff’s face had developed soft edges and craggy lines over the years. His eyebrows grew together over his nose to the point where you couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. Lacie remembered a time when he’d been handsome. Her mother’s idea of the man of her dreams.

To Lacie, he’d been anything but a dream back then. Today she wasn’t sure what he was—beyond being her boss.

“I heard this closet was a mess,” she began as the words just spilled out of her mouth. “I thought I’d spend some of my free time straightening out the boxes and making them ready for entering on a computer someday.”

“Uh-huh.” The sheriff glanced around the room and then let his dark gaze land on her face. “You know I only hired you because of your mother. Why don’t you spend your free time going to visit her?”

The nursing home where her mother was a patient was a good two hours away. “She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know anyone anymore. Even if she did, I doubt she would want to see me. They take good care of her. You shouldn’t worry.”

“I know what kind of care my wife receives. I do visit her. That’s not the point.”

Lacie wondered what the point was. And why the sheriff had chosen tonight to return to the station at this late hour.

“Go home, Deputy.” He swung his arm toward the closet door as though waiting for her to leave ahead of him. “I got a call saying lights were on in the station when no one but the dispatcher was supposedly on duty. I didn’t hire you to help in the storage closet. There’s nothing here of interest. This stuff is ancient history.”

She scooted out the door and waited for him to follow. “I was trying to be helpful.”

“Just do your job. That’s enough.” He turned off the lights as they left together. “And go visit your mother.”

Giving up, Lacie turned to leave, but her stepfather caught hold of her arm before she went very far. “You heard about that Chance boy being back in town? The one you used to be so crazy about in high school?”

“Yes, I know Colt’s living on the Bar-C.”

“Well, stay away from him. I didn’t like him when he was kid and I doubt he’s changed much. According to the record, he lost his job over a major screwup. His mistake. And it wouldn’t do your career any good to associate with someone like that.”

Her stepfather was checking up on Colt? Weird.

“Do you read me, girl?”

Angry now, and more curious than ever, Lacie pulled her arm free and fisted her hands. “I heard you, Sheriff.”

She stormed down the hall and outside to the parking lot, a sense of unease riding high in her chest as she headed for home. Nothing would stop her from helping Colt Chance find his answers.

Nothing and no one.

Chapter 4

Colt heard a vehicle approaching as he stepped out of the shower. Lacie wasn’t supposed to arrive until later this afternoon after her shift. This visitor could be one of his brothers, he supposed, but they were supposedly either working or out of town. And if something bad had happened to his family, they would’ve called first.

No good reason he could think of for anyone to drive clear out to this remote part of the ranch.

A chill ruffled the hair on his arms while he quickly dressed and stepped into his boots. Something felt wrong about a visitor coming so early.

Running a hand through his wet hair, Colt headed for the door just as someone knocked. He took a quick glance out the front window and saw the sheriff’s SUV. What the hell?

“Hello, Chance,” the sheriff growled as Colt swung open the door. “Heard you were living out here.”

Colt set his jaw, wondering if Lacie had lied to him after all. But after a moment’s consideration, he refused to believe she could be capable of that kind of betrayal.

“Nothing to say?”

Colt had plenty to say but he was trying to hold his tongue. “You drove way out here for some reason. What do you want, Sheriff?” He stood squarely in his doorway, not budging an inch. No way would he invite the bastard inside.

“Just checking up. I understood you were seriously injured awhile back and that’s why you’ve come home to the Bar-C. You planning on staying in Chance for good?”

The anger surged from his gut to his throat, but Colt knew better than to let it show. “None of your business.” He stepped back and took hold of the door, ready to slam it in the old man’s face. “Now if that’s all, I’m busy.”

“Hold on there. I have a couple of things to say.” The sheriff casually laid a hand against the gun at his hip and squared his shoulders. “I’d hoped you’d changed since you left town. But it looks like you’re the same as always. Trying to get your own way, and everyone else be damned. Wanted you to know things are different in Chance now.”

“Oh?” The old man didn’t scare Colt but whatever he had to say might be interesting. “How so?”

“For one thing, my daughter is now a deputy sheriff for Chance County. She’s the law. You’d be smart to leave her alone.”

“You mean your stepdaughter, Lacie? We were good friends once upon a time.”

“I do remember you dogging around her when you two were in high school.” Though he was shorter by a couple of inches, the sheriff looked down his nose at Colt as though he was eyeing a bug. “She’s changed. Grown up. Stay away from her.”

“Who I see and don’t see is also none of your business.” Colt tried to close the door again but the other man put his foot out to stop him.

“Listen, Chance, you were good for nothing back in the day. Asking questions about things that had nothing to do with you. I would’ve hoped that as an adult you’d grown smarter than that.” The sheriff raked a pointed gaze down to Colt’s injured leg. “But maybe not.”

“I still have plenty of questions, old man.” The pent-up bitterness got the better of him. “For one thing, I still don’t believe that my father murdered my mother. You know I never have. And I intend to make a formal request to reopen the case.”

The sheriff’s dark brown eyes grew black as he glared at Colt. “See there? That’s what I’m talking about. The case is closed. Has been for nearly twenty years. Everyone involved is dead now.”

“I’m not dead. And neither are you. That’s reason enough to review the case.”

Taking a threatening step closer, the sheriff narrowed his eyes. “There’s dead and then there’s dead. You ever heard the old saying about curiosity killing the cat, boy?”

“That is the worst possible old cliché to use on me, Sheriff. If you want to issue a threat, say so.”

Sheriff McCord drew himself up and stepped back. “Not at all. Just letting you know how we take care of legal questions in Chance County these days. Trying to save you the wasted effort.”

With the sheriff’s foot out of the doorway, Colt stepped back, too. “I’d say your trip here today was the wasted effort. And we’ll just have to see how the legal system is handled in Chance County these days, won’t we?”

As the door slammed in the sheriff’s face, Colt paced toward the kitchen, determined to stem his anger and direct the energy toward solving the crime. It was time to draw up an action plan. The sheriff was hiding something. And now Colt felt more curious than ever.

* * *

“I think the first thing we’ll need is a list of people who might have had a motive.” Lacie jotted a note on the yellow pad sitting on the table in front of her.

Colt’s anger had almost settled into resoluteness six hours after the sheriff’s visit. He and Lacie had joked about the sheriff’s nasty warning and about her own confrontation with her stepfather. Colt knew he would find his answers—all of them—no matter what or who stood in the way.

But when he glanced over at Lacie across the table, he couldn’t help wondering if she was the one big question that would never adequately be answered. Why had she left town so suddenly right after high school?

She looked delicious today, dressed in her casual jeans and T-shirt. He could almost gobble her up like an ice cream sundae. She made his mouth water. The auburn hair he remembered as being soft and silky was still as big a temptation as ever, even though it was cut shorter. His fingers itched to touch. To glide through that sensuous silk.

But he sat on his hands. While they worked together on this cold case, he wanted the two of them to grow to be friends again. At some point, he hoped they’d be close enough that she wouldn’t mind if he asked the most difficult personal questions.

But he would have to work up the nerve first. When she’d disappeared without saying a word to him, she’d broken his heart. He’d been positive the reason must have had something to do with him.

He planned on making sure they became friends again. But then did he have the guts to chance having his heart handed to him all over again?

“Colt? What do you think? Since we can’t get to the old case file yet, should we work on finding other suspects?”

“Yeah, we should. Neither you nor I were old enough at the time to remember my parents’ contemporaries. We need to check with people who were around at the time.”

“Do you remember the names of any of your parents’ friends?” Lacie turned her beautiful hazel eyes in his direction and the sympathy in them worked to calm him down.

“Not really.” He turned his head away when her expression suddenly became more sensual than sympathetic.

He couldn’t keep his hands to himself while she looked at him like that. “But we should go see my aunt June. She wasn’t living in Chance when the murder happened, but she hadn’t been out of town for long. And she was my father’s sister—only a couple of years older. She’ll remember who was who.”

“Good idea. Can we go to your aunt’s house now?”

Lacie’s gaze seemed so earnest and hopeful he nearly reached out to pull her close. But he checked himself and folded his arms over his chest instead. She’d pushed him away the last time he’d tried getting close, saying it was too soon.

Maybe she’d been right, but it didn’t feel too soon to him. He vividly remembered their past and the way she’d felt in his arms back then. Time and another opportunity were all he needed to make her remember, too.

He stood, telling himself to have patience.

“Now that you’re on your feet, let’s go.” She smiled, grabbed their notes and headed for the door.

A little unsteady, he braced himself and followed. He’d worked for hours this morning on strengthening his leg muscles, but it seemed he still couldn’t keep up with her. Damned spectacular woman.

* * *

Lacie sat quietly as Colt drove them into town to visit his aunt. She’d volunteered to drive because of his injuries, but he would have no part of that. Darned stubborn man.

“You sure you don’t want to duck down while we head through town?” He kept his eyes trained out the window, but his tone was full of concern.

“I already told you I don’t care if anyone sees us together. We’re not doing anything wrong.” Folding her arms across her chest, she lifted her chin. “If the sheriff thinks he can fire me for simply seeing you, let him try.”

“Stubborn.” Colt’s voice might be hard but the grin on his face told another story.

Funny, she’d just been thinking the same thing about him. Maybe they had more in common than she’d thought. Turning to look out the window, she found herself grinning like an idiot the very way he had.

A few minutes later Colt’s aunt June let them into her two-story clapboard house and led the way into a gigantic old-fashioned kitchen.

“I’m so glad to see y’all,” June said and pointed to chairs around a huge table. “Have a seat. I’ve been meaning to come out to your mother’s old office and check on you, Colt. But it looks like you’re doing fine.”

“Not exactly fine,” Colt began as he sat in one of the chairs. “But better every day. You remember Lacie McCord?”

“Of course. I remember that you and Lacie went to school together. And these days I keep running into Lacie around town now that she’s a deputy. Nice to see you again, sweetheart. Are you two hungry?”

“No, thanks,” Lacie answered.

“Yeah, we could eat,” Colt said at the same time. “Something smells good.”

“That’s rude.” Lacie elbowed him in the side.

June laughed and shook her head. “Nonsense. I have a brisket sitting on the counter that’s done and resting. I was going to slice and freeze it, but I’d rather serve meat right after it’s been cooked. Give me a few minutes.”

“Can I help?” Lacie asked.

“Set the table, please. Silverware is over on the other counter with the napkins.”

Spinning, Lacie set to work. “Can I get you something to drink, Colt?”

He grimaced and drew a breath. “Just a glass of water. We can talk while you work, can’t we, Aunt June?”

Lacie had a feeling Colt wasn’t thrilled about sitting while the two females worked around him. He rubbed absently at his thigh and made a face.

“Sure,” June answered as she opened a bag of lettuce greens. “What’s up?”

“We’ve decided to review my mother’s murder case. We...”

“Not for one minute did I ever believe my brother could’ve killed Ellen.” June interrupted him on a strong note. “Maybe he was tough but never mean. And he loved her.”

She hesitated and took a slow, deep breath. “Oh, how Jake loved that woman. More than his own life. They fit together like they were made for one another. I was always jealous of their kind of love. Wished I could’ve found someone who loved me like that.”

Jealousy was known to be one of many good motives for murder, Lacie speculated silently. But then she looked at the unshed tears in the older woman’s eyes and thought June wouldn’t be capable of killing anyone.

A little later as they sat at the table eating, Colt asked his aunt quietly, “Would you help us make a list of people who were in my parents’ same circle? People who might know something about the murder?”

June set down her fork and gazed into the distance. “It’s been so long ago. And I was living in Boston when it happened. I’m not sure I can help.”

Lacie reached out and touched her shoulder. “Anything you can remember could help. Ellen must’ve had friends. People her same age.”

June turned to her with a sad smile. “She was fairly close to her sister. But that won’t help you, since Marla’s been dead for years, too.”

Oh, yes. Lacie remembered that Marla was the aunt who’d kidnapped Colt’s little sister after the murder and then overdosed in California.

“And I do believe Ellen and your mother were friends, dear.”

“My mother...” Lacie wasn’t sure what to say. “She can’t help us.”

June nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard. I’m very sorry.” She patted Lacie’s hand and then turned to Colt. “Your father and Austin McCord always seemed to be buddies. It was a shame Austin had to be the one to arrest Jake. I know it must’ve killed him.”

Colt’s expression turned hard. “Nope. He’s not dead. Sheriff McCord is still alive and as mean as ever, unfortunately. And still causing trouble.”

“Trouble?”

Lacie jumped in. “It’s nothing, June. My stepfather doesn’t believe we should be opening up the old case. That’s all.”

“I can understand his point.” June shrugged. “At the time of Ellen’s death rumors and innuendos flew everywhere. Each citizen in Chance took some kind of position on who could have done it. It wasn’t particularly pleasant here that year. I was glad to be needed elsewhere.”

“We needed you here.” Colt’s voice carried a tone Lacie had never heard before—somewhere between a whine and anger.

June’s face turned ghostly pale. “I...I know that now, son. I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking clearly back then. My brother had been accused of murder. And I...I...

“But I did come home when your brothers begged for help after your sister disappeared. And I stayed.” She tilted her head as though to clear it. “I don’t understand something. You were the one son who seemed to be getting along so well then. No trouble in school, no major breakdowns. You were the steady son. It surprises me to hear you sounding bitter.”

Colt stood and ran a palm down his jean-covered thigh. “I’m not bitter. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. Didn’t matter then either. This town and most of the people in it are not worth bothering about. I wouldn’t be in Texas at all if it weren’t for being injured.”

Lacie’s heart turned over and sighed. He still hated it here—after all these years. She’d so hoped things would change.

She and June both got up from the table to join Colt. The older woman clasped her hands together, looking flustered. Lacie wasn’t sure what she should do. The atmosphere had grown tense.

“If everyone’s done eating,” Colt began, turning his back and reaching for the plates, “I’ll do the dishes.”