Taming A Texas Heartbreaker (Bad Boy Ranch Book 4) Read online

  “I was looking for information on Sam Sweeney. Do you remember him? He worked as a ranch hand out at the Double Diamond ranch the summer that I was there.”

  She shook her head. “I was at camp and missed that fun summer.”

  “You didn’t miss anything by not meeting Sam. He was a cruel jerk who liked pulling pranks on all the boys. He put vinegar in Cru’s canteen, loosened Sawyer’s saddle so it slipped while he was riding and almost threw him off, and gave me a unbroken horse to ride when I hadn’t ridden a horse in my life until I came to the Double Diamond.”

  “That’s not a prank. You could’ve been killed. Why didn’t you tell Chester and Lucas?”

  “Because we were all new to the ranch and didn’t know Chester and Lucas very well. We thought it was some kind of initiation we needed to get through. But the day I got thrown from the horse, Lucas was watching from the kitchen window. He tore out of the house about the same time as Chester came out of the barn. Sam tried to act like it hadn’t been his idea, but Holden stepped up and told the truth. Then the other boys told about the things that had been happening to them. Sam just laughed and called them harmless pranks. I’ve never seen Lucas and Chester so mad.” He smiled at the memory. “Lucas had to be a good twenty years older than Sam and he punched him so hard that he knocked him on his ass. Chester told him he’d fill him full of holes if he ever came back to the ranch. I didn’t know it then, but I soon figured out that you don’t mess with Lucas and Chester’s boys.”

  Reba smiled. “I think the entire town has figured that out. So why are you looking for him?”

  “His daughter showed up here today while you were in town. She’s looking for information on him. His last known whereabouts was the Double Diamond.”

  Reba’s eyes widened. “But that summer was fifteen years ago.”

  “Exactly. Which is why I started searching.”

  “And did you find anything?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Maybe he moved to Alaska and is living off the grid.”

  “Maybe.”

  She studied him for a moment. “But you don’t think so. Do you think something bad happened to him?”

  Surprisingly, she had voiced his exact concerns. But hearing them out loud made him realize how ridiculous they were. This wasn’t one of his novels. This was real life. And in real life, there were usually simple explanations for things that happened. He had just let his overactive brain get carried away.

  “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation. My writer’s curiosity just got the better of me.”

  “Still, I feel sorry for his daughter.”

  Val did too. “Maybe I’ll hook Maisy up with my friend Linc. As a Texas Ranger, he might be able to help her out.”

  “Linc is a Double Diamond boy too, isn’t he? I’ve heard Cru and Logan mention him. He’s a Texas Ranger now? That’s a stretch from troubled teen to ranger.”

  “Not really. Linc got sent to the ranch for starting fights at school, but he never started any fights with us. He was more the peacekeeper.”

  She rearranged the flowers in the vase before straightening the salt and peppershakers. She was like a busy little bee who had to keep moving. “Why did you get sent to the ranch?”

  He continued eating and told the lie he’d been telling for the last fifteen years. “I broke into my high school, turned on a fire hose, and flooded the entire library.”

  He had gotten a lot of reactions over the year when he told people the story. His principal had ranted and raved. His parents had been thoroughly disappointed. The Double Diamond boys had been impressed. But no one had ever laughed before.

  Reba had a great laugh. It was like her body—full and lush. She laughed like a woman who knew who she was and made no excuses for it. The joyous, unpretentious sound made him smile.

  “Just what is so funny?”

  “That bull crap story.” She wiped at the tears in the corners of her eyes. “No one who loves books like you do would ever flood a library.” She held up her hands. “But if you don’t want to tell me the real truth that’s fine. We all have our little secrets.”

  He was flabbergasted that she knew the truth when everyone else had believed the lie. Even his sister. He had been right about her eyes. They did see too much. He pushed the tray away and rested his arms on the table. “And what’s yours?”

  “Oh, no.” She shook her head and her hair tumbled from the knot on her head. He got a glimpse of breathtaking glory before she twisted it back into a bun and clipped it. “If you don’t tell me yours, I’m not going to tell you mine.”

  He hesitated for only a second before he spoke. “I didn’t flood the library. I only confessed to keep from getting bullied every day at school.” When her eyes widened, he wished he hadn’t revealed the truth. But it was too late now. “Yes, I was a terrified kid who was bullied. So terrified that he was willing to confess to a crime he didn’t commit and spend an entire summer at a boys’ ranch.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Go ahead and laugh. It was stupidity at its finest.”

  She tipped her head. “It was pretty stupid, but we all do stupid things as kids. We even do them as adults. And fear is a great motivator. So did you stop getting bullied?”

  “Yes. I had something to hold over their heads.”

  She smiled. “So maybe it wasn’t so stupid.”

  “Not in the long run. Staying at the Double Diamond was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I made some great friends and learned some life lessons.”

  “What was the biggest life lesson you learned?”

  He thought for only a moment before he spoke. “You don’t have to accept who you are. You can change. Now what’s your secret?”

  “You know that summer camp I told you about?” She hesitated and her cheeks flushed a becoming pink. Which made him wonder if she was about to admit to losing her virginity or having a lesbian interlude. Instead, she said something else entirely. “It was a fat camp.”

  He almost dropped the glass of water he’d just picked up. He set it back down on the tray. “Fat camp? You went to fat camp?”

  She fiddled with a daisy. “That’s not even the big secret. The big secret is that I told everyone my mom made me go, but actually, I begged to go. I was hoping it would make me a skinny girl.” She held out her hands. “As you can tell, it didn’t work.”

  He was speechless. Not only because she’d been a fat kid too, but also because she still thought she was. “You’re not fat, Reba. You’re—”

  She held up a hand. “Please don’t tell me I’m pleasantly plump or I’ll deck you like I did Cal Ripley.”

  The thought of someone saying something so cruel to Reba pissed him off. “Sounds like you had to deal with your own bullies. He got off easy. You should’ve kicked him in the balls. And I wasn’t going to call you pleasantly plump. I was going to say you’re voluptuous.”

  Her eyebrow lifted beneath one wayward curl. “And you think that’s better than pleasantly plump?”

  “Of course it is. It means curvy and—”

  She cut him off. “I’m not stupid, Valentine. I know what it means. I also know that the word derives from a Latin root meaning delightful or pleasurable. And that’s exactly how men view voluptuous women’s bodies. As something made for their pleasure.” She uncrossed her arms and waved a hand, fluttering the petals of the flowers in the vase. “They view a curvy body as some amusement park that they entertain themselves with for a short time before they move on to a skinny woman who they don’t mind taking to dinner or a movie. A skinny woman that they’re proud to be seen with instead of ashamed.” She got up. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather you thought I was fat.” Before he could say a word, she turned and headed for the door. “Just leave the tray. I’ll get it in the morning when I bring breakfast.”

  He tossed down his napkin, but before he could get to his feet, the door slammed closed behind her.

  He sat back down and blew out
his breath. It looked like Reba was carrying around as many scars from the past as he was. What a pair they made. They were more alike than he’d thought. He’d been bullied about his weight while she’d been sexualized. Which was a form of bullying. No wonder she had gotten so upset at him for kissing her. And she hadn’t just been mad at him, she’d also been mad at herself for “falling into that trap again.” Is that how she now viewed sex? A trap that men set for her?

  A knock startled him out of his thoughts. He quickly got up and walked to the door, hoping it was Reba so he could apologize. Not just for his actions, but for the actions of all the men who had stupidly made her feel like a sex object rather than a person. But it wasn’t Reba standing at the door. It was Aunt Gertie. And she looked madder than a wet hen. Her face was all scrunched up like a shriveled apple that had been left out in the sun too long and she bobbed a bent finger at him.

  “I knew that one of you Double Diamond boys would get in trouble with the law eventually. Sheriff Willaby is here lookin’ for you.”

  “The sheriff?”

  “Isn’t that what I just said? He’s waitin’ on the porch because I refuse to have that horse’s behind in my house.” She shook her head. “How he ever got voted in as sheriff is beyond me—although probably because nobody else wanted the job.” Her eyes narrowed on something behind Val. “What’s that tray—”

  He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. “I better go see what the sheriff wants.”

  Aunt Gertie gave him one more squinty-eyed look before she turned her walker around and shuffled back down the hallway toward the lobby.

  When Val got to the porch, he found the sheriff’s deputy who had followed him and the other Double Diamond boys around every time they came to Simple. Back then he’d been a skinny young man who had been scared of his own shadow. Val had actually felt sorry for him for being given the job of keeping an eye on a bunch of delinquent kids. Now, he was a short, big-bellied man who seemed to have acquired too much confidence with his new title of sheriff. When Val stepped out on the porch, he gave him a thorough onceover followed with a smirk.

  “So the little fat delinquent has become a big-shot author. How much weight did you lose, boy? A hundred pounds?”

  Val felt his neck muscles tighten, but he had become an expert at keeping a cool, calm veneer in place. He glanced at the sheriff’s balding head. “Looks like we both lost something.”

  A stifled snort of laughter had Val turning. A female deputy sat in one of the many rocking chairs on the porch. With the tan cowboy hat she wore, Val couldn’t see her face. Luckily, neither could Sheriff Willaby.

  “Is something funny, Deputy Meriwether?” Sheriff Willaby asked.

  “No, sir. I just had a frog in my throat.” She lifted her head and the porch light spilled over her face. Val was momentarily struck speechless. He had met—and dated—a lot of beautiful women, but none as stunning as Deputy Meriwether. She flashed a set of perfectly even, white teeth as she rose to her feet and held out a hand. “Deputy Dixie Leigh Meriwether. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sterling. I’m more of a romance girl myself, but my daddy loves your books. And I would sure appreciate you signing a copy for—”

  The sheriff cut her off. “This ain’t a social call, deputy. And like I told you before, a deputy’s job is to be seen not heard.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll just wait for you in the car.” She winked one sea green eye at Val before she gracefully walked down the steps of the porch.

  When she was gone, Val turned to the sheriff. “Get to the point of your visit, sheriff.”

  “Maybe I just came by to see the big celebrity everyone in town has been talking about. And if they’re not talking about you, they’re talking about how wonderful it is that a big city lawyer has opened up shop here in Simple and is helping folks with their legal needs. Or what fine upstanding men the Gardener sisters married.” Sheriff Willaby snorted. “No one seems to remember all the trouble you six juvenile delinquents caused while you were here.”

  Since the Double Diamond boys hadn’t exactly been angels, Val couldn’t argue the point. “Kids will be kids. So now that you’ve seen me, I need to get back to my writing.” He started to turn, but Sheriff Willaby stopped him.

  “Do you remember Sam Sweeney?”

  He hesitated for only a second before turning back around. “Sam Sweeney? The name does sound familiar.”

  “He worked at the Double Diamond ranch for a short time, including the time you and the other boys were there.”

  “Ahh, yes, I remember him. He left only a couple weeks after I got there.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “You’ll need to talk with Chester and Lucas about that. I wasn’t responsible for the ranch hands.” He smiled. “I was just a fat delinquent.”

  The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t remember you being the smartass of the bunch. It was Cru Cassidy and Sawyer Dawson who were the mouthy punks.”

  “I guess they rubbed off on me. Now if you’ll excuse—”

  Sheriff Willaby cut him off. “Sam’s daughter showed up at my office today.” So that was the appointment Maisy had been talking about. “Seems she’s looking for her daddy. She said the last place she could find any proof of him being was the Double Diamond ranch. Said that Chester and Lucas told her Sam had up and quit. Which seemed strange to me. I can’t see a drifter like Sam quitting a paying job when ranch work wasn’t easy to come by.”

  Val shrugged. “Maybe he just didn’t like working with a bunch of troubled teenagers.”

  “Or maybe he didn’t quit at all. Maybe one of those troubled teenagers didn’t like working with him.”

  It was one thing to try and bully him. It was another to try and bully his friends. He took a step closer. “Exactly what are you saying, Sheriff Willaby?”

  The sheriff started to take a step back, but then checked himself. He did, however, undo the safety on his gun and rest his hand on the butt. “All I’m saying is that I find it a bit suspicious that Sam Sweeney hasn’t been heard from in fifteen years and the last anyone saw or talked to him was when he worked at a boys’ ranch owned by two gun-toting old cowboys and six criminal teenagers.”

  He put his tan cowboy hat on and pointed a finger. “And I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t care how much the town has forgotten about everything the Double Diamond boys did. I haven’t.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Good morning.”

  Reba froze in mid-whisk and turned to see Valentine standing in the doorway. This morning, he wore faded blue jeans and an old plaid western shirt without a speck of black in it. His hair was damp as if he had just taken a shower and he had on the tortoiseshell glasses she’d seen him wearing the morning she’d interrupted his writing. They gave him a sexy, nerdy look that made her feel a little lightheaded.

  Or maybe it was embarrassment that made her feel lightheaded. The last thing she wanted to do was face Valentine this morning. She was completely humiliated about the way she had lost her temper last night and gone after him like he was one of the many men who had disappointed her in her life. He’d done nothing to deserve it. All he’d done was tried to make her feel better about going to fat camp.

  She shouldn’t have trusted him with her secret. Not even Evie knew she had been the one who wanted to go because she had craved a skinny body like Evie’s and a boyfriend who looked at her as something other than a romp in the bed of his pickup.

  Valentine hadn’t seemed all that surprised by her big secret reveal. He’d acted like he understood. Which was ludicrous. A man with zero body fat couldn’t understand how a fat girl felt. And maybe that was why she had gone off on him like a bottle rocket on the Fourth of July. Maybe if he had been overweight and called her voluptuous, she wouldn’t have gotten so mad. But he wasn’t overweight. He was perfect. And she didn’t want pity from a perfect guy.

  “Good morning.” She turned back around and continued to whisk the eggs for the egg casserole she
was making for breakfast. “You’re up early.”

  “I need to head out to the Double Diamond this morning and I wanted to catch you before you made me breakfast.”

  She stopped beating and turned around. “Is everything okay? Lucas and Chester aren’t ill, are they?”

  “They’re fine.” He moved into the kitchen. Why did the room suddenly feel much smaller? “I just wanted to give them a heads up in case the sheriff shows up there like he did here last night.”

  Reba stared at him in confusion. “The sheriff was here last night?”

  “I thought your aunt would’ve told you. He and his deputy showed up here after you left my room last night.”

  If she hadn’t been so shocked about the sheriff being there, she might’ve blushed again at the mention of last night. But the law coming to the boardinghouse took precedence over her humiliation. “What was he doing here?”

  Val glanced at the coffee machine. “Do you mind if I get a cup of coffee? I’m feeling a little fuzzy this early in the morning.”

  “Of course.” She took two mugs out of the cupboard and filled them before handing one to him. “What did Sheriff Willaby want?”

  “To ask if I knew where Sam Sweeney went after he left here. Although I think his being here had less to do with Sam and more to do with harassing a Double Diamond boy. We gave him a lot of guff when he was a deputy, and I think he was secretly hoping we’d all end up in prison. Instead, we became successful and it pisses him off.” He blew on his coffee. There was something about his soft lips puckering that made her knees suddenly weak.

  She pulled her gaze away and focused on cooling her own coffee. “Willaby has always been a petty fool. And now that he’s the county sheriff, it’s gotten even worse. He thinks the badge makes the man, not the other way around. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.” When there was a long stretch of silence, she glanced over to see Valentine studying her as if trying to figure out a complicated puzzle.

  “What man do you trust?” he asked.