Lawman's Redemption

“Every deputy in the state of Oklahoma needs a raise.”

“Not a job you’ll get rich doing, huh?”

“Not if you’re honest.”

“And you are.” She said it matter-of-factly, as if there could be no doubt.

“As the day is long.” Coming a few feet closer, he gestured toward the camera. “Isn’t it too dark to be taking pictures?”

“Not if you know what you’re doing. For a time I worked as a photographer—did portraits, weddings, publicity photos. That’s how I met Max. I did a portrait of his sister’s kids, and we became friends—sort of—and she introduced us.”

It appeared most of her friends in California had been sort-of friends, since at lunch, she said Max had gotten them all in the divorce. That couldn’t have been fun. “Then you married the big Hollywood producer and…took up a life of leisure?”

“And photography became a hobby that interfered with my obligations as Mrs. Max Parker.” She leaned back against the bank building and gazed at the courthouse. “It’s impressive, isn’t it? Looks as if it’s been there forever.”

He moved to stand a few feet from her and studied the building where he worked. It was built of native stone and stood three stories tall, with arched windows spaced equidistantly on all four sides. Carved into the stone above the main entrance was the date it was built. Eighty-two years old, he calculated, and still looking as solid as when it was new.

“What brought you to Buffalo Plains?”

With the heat seeping from the bank’s stone facade into his back, Brady slowly turned his head to look at her. “How is it Neely’s the lawyer when you’re the one full of questions?”

She laughed. “Neely’s the lawyer because she’s the smart one.”

“Uh-huh.” He’d heard that before. “And what are you?”

For a long time she continued to gaze at the courthouse, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t seeing the building. After a while, she shook her head, making her braid swing, then laughed again, though far less convincingly this time. “I’m the screwup. The dumb one, the ditzy one, the one who doesn’t know the meaning of the word commitment.”

His jaw tightening, Brady looked away. His impulse was to disagree with her, to insist that her family didn’t see her in those terms, but he wasn’t sure he would be telling the truth.

Her eyes too bright, she bumped his arm with her shoulder. “Made you uncomfortable, didn’t I?”

“No. I was just thinking that a better label for you is probably the misunderstood one.” And he knew how it felt to be misunderstood.

Without giving her time to respond, he went on. “After the divorce, I wanted to be anywhere but Texas. First I headed out to New Mexico, then into Colorado, and about six years ago I wound up in Buffalo Plains. I got a job, I liked it and was good at it, and I stayed. It only took me eight years to find a place I could stay.”

“Sheesh, I hope I have better luck.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not staying in Beverly Hills. I’m going to sell the house and find someplace where I can belong. What do I need with ten acres of lawn and gardens, seven bedrooms, a dining room that seats thirty, a screening room that seats fifty and two guest houses?”

“That’s not a house. It’s a mansion.”

She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “I never liked it anyway. Max picked it out, and his interior designer decorated it. All I got to do was live in it.”

“If you didn’t like it, why didn’t you let him have it in the divorce?” He’d been more than happy to walk away from the house he’d built for Sandra. If he’d kept it after the divorce, he would have burned it to the ground, then left the rubble there so he would never forget.

By then the sun had set enough that the streetlights were on. In their artificial glow, he could make out the sheepish expression on her face. “The bimbo wanted it, and I— She’d already taken my husband. There was no way I was going to let her have my house, too.”

“Does the bimbo have a name?” He hadn’t set foot in a movie theater in longer than he could remember, but his satellite system delivered more channels of movies than a reasonable person could watch. Since he spent the bulk of his free time alone, he watched a lot.

“Lilah Grant.”

He gave a low whistle.

“I see you’re familiar with her,” Hallie said, her voice so dry it could suck the humidity out of the air. “She wears a size two—which also happens to be her IQ, by the way—and she’s got less acting talent than that post over there, but she never met a nude scene she didn’t love. And, no, they’re not real. Those are the best triple-D breasts money can buy.”

Earlier he hadn’t been able to imagine the woman a man would pick over Hallie. Even knowing, he couldn’t see it. The starving waif look had never appealed to him, not even with the big boobs. He liked women who looked like women, who had curves where they should, who had a little softness to them.

“So did you know when you married him that he was an idiot, or did you find that out later?”

Pushing away from the wall, she disconnected the camera from the tripod, returned it to its bag, then expertly folded the tripod and slid it through a loop on the bag. When she was done, she faced him. “You’re a nice man, Brady.”

Her words struck that place deep inside him that was always frozen and hard, and made his muscles clench and tighten. “No, Hallie,” he said quietly. “I’m not.”

She shrugged as if his disagreement meant nothing. “You see yourself your way, and I’ll see you my way.” Then… “I guess I’ll head back to the motel.”

She’d gone a few yards before he could bring himself to move. “Hey, where’s your car?”

“Back at the motel. I walked.”

“Let me give you a ride.”

She turned around, her head tilted to one side. “I understand Buffalo Plains is about as safe as a town can get.”

“It is, but there’s no reason to tempt fate.” Which was exactly what he was doing. If he took her back to the motel, would he insist on seeing her to her door? Would he stop there?

He honestly didn’t know.

After a moment’s consideration, she nodded and returned to him. He automatically reached for the camera bag and was surprised by its weight. “What have you got in here?”

“Just the essentials. I’d be happy to take it back if you can’t handle it.”

He scowled at her. “Don’t forget—I’m the one with the gun and the handcuffs.”

“Yeah, and I’m the one whose favorite sister is married to your boss.”

And he kept managing to forget that.

He directed her to his truck around the corner, then put her bag in the back seat. “Have you had dinner?” he asked when he settled in the driver’s seat.

“I had a chili dog at the drive-in across the street from the motel.”

“You like to live dangerously, don’t you?”

“I’ve been doing that ever since I set foot in this town,” she said quietly.

They drove the nine blocks to the motel in silence. How many times had he gone to a motel with a woman he hardly knew? And yet it felt strange this time. Maybe because he already knew to pull around back and park next to the Mercedes.

Or maybe because this time he wanted like hell to go inside with her…but not as much as he wanted to say good-night in the parking lot.

He shut off the engine, and for the space of a few heartbeats, they both sat there. Brady was looking at the window of the room in front of them, and he could tell by nothing more than feeling that she was looking elsewhere, too.

As the cool air inside the SUV was replaced with warmer, damper air, she opened the door. He did the same. She led the way up the stairs, and he followed…but only as far as the top landing. She had covered half the twenty-foot distance to her room before realizing that he’d stopped. Turning back, she smiled uneasily. “Would you like to come in?”

“Very much.”

“But you’re not going to.”

He shook his head.

“Why not?”

Because it would be wrong—more so than the first time, not as much as the second, but still wrong. Because, in spite of her assurances, he wasn’t sure what her expectations were. Hell, he wasn’t sure what his expectations were. Because they were a great match for a one-night stand, but neither of them brought much hope to the success of anything more.

And because he liked her, honestly liked her, and though he didn’t know what he wanted from her, he did know one thing for sure—he didn’t want to hurt her. She’d gotten enough of that for a lifetime.

She smiled faintly. “It’s okay. You don’t have to answer that. I’ve got plenty of answers to choose from.” Coming back, she held out her hand, and he gave her the camera bag. “Thank you for the ride home.”

He nodded, then watched until she’d unlocked her room. “Hallie?”

She glanced at him.

“I’d like to see your pictures sometime.”

“Sure.” Once again she started to go inside, and once again he stopped her.

“You want to have lunch tomorrow?”

“Sure. Should I meet you at the courthouse?”

“That would be good. Around noon?”

“Okay. Good night.” She went inside and closed the door. Even from that distance, he heard the lock click.

As he started down the stairs, he swore silently. He couldn’t believe he’d found himself twenty-five feet from a bed and a beautiful and willing woman, and he was walking away. Sure, it was the safe choice, but how much was he going to hate himself a few hours from now, when he was alone in bed and unable to sleep?

Not as much as if he’d taken advantage of her again.

Hallie Madison was the most wrong person for him in all of Oklahoma. She was vulnerable and lonely and needed more than he’d ever been able to give.

But he wasn’t going to hurt her. He swore to God he wouldn’t.

He just wished he could be as sure that he wasn’t going to get hurt, either.

Hallie loved old furniture—not antiques, necessarily. Just old. Pieces that people had lived with, that showed the marks and scars of use. Anticipating lunch with Brady far more than was safe, she went downtown more than an hour early on Tuesday and spent the time wandering through antique stores on the block across from the courthouse. She’d bought a couple of pitchers in the first store—one glazed green and brown, the other beige and brown. Oklahoma-made, the elderly woman behind the counter had declared, at Frankoma Pottery over to Sapulpa.

Hallie didn’t care where they came from. She liked the lines, the colors, the weight in her hand.

Now, in the third store, she was eyeing an oak dining table. It was wide and long, big enough for six without the leaves, eight or ten with. It looked as solid in its own way as the courthouse did, as if it had already seated generations of hungry farmers and would continue to do so for generations to come. It could become her very own heirloom, passed down through the family for years to come.

Of course, first she would have to have a family, and the odds of that were somewhere between slim and none.

Still, it was a lovely piece, and came with eight equally sturdy ladder-back chairs, and it was such a tremendous change from the elegant and huge table in her dining room at home.

With a sigh, she drummed her fingers on the tabletop.

“Having trouble deciding?” The clerk slid into a chair opposite her. “What’s the drawback? The price? The size? Afraid it won’t fit in your dining room?”

“I don’t actually have a dining room yet. Well, I do, but I’m getting ready to sell that house and everything in it.”

“Someplace around here?”

Hallie shook her head. “In California. Beverly Hills.”

“Oh.” The woman gave her an appraising look, then laughed. “Don’t worry. The price is the same no matter where you come from—well, except maybe Texas. Then we might have to add a surcharge to cover your ego.”

With a laugh, Hallie extended her hand. “I’m Hallie Madison.”

“Stella Clark.” The woman leaned across to shake hands, then sat back again. “Are you just passing through?”

“Not exactly. I’ll be here a few weeks—until my sister comes back from her honeymoon.”

“Oh, you’re Reese’s new sister-in-law. We’re all so happy to see him married. You know, his daddy and mama just got married themselves the week before his wedding.”

“Yes, Neely mentioned that.” Reese’s mother had been the love of Del Barnett’s life, but she’d never stayed around long, and every time she left him, she’d left their son behind, too. Initially, Reese had been disinclined to welcome her into the family—and considering the way she’d abandoned him, who could blame him? But he’d come around before the wedding. Almost getting killed could make a person rethink the grudges he was holding.

“So,” Stella said. “No ring on your finger. Does that mean you’re single, or are you just too liberated to wear one?”

“I’m…single.” Hallie smiled to cover her guilt. It wasn’t exactly a lie. As Brady had pointed out Saturday night, the difference between single and divorced wasn’t enough to count—at least, not always.

“Well, now, we have a fair number of single men in town—some really fine-looking ones. Let me think…”

“I appreciate it,” Hallie said quickly, “but I’m not going to be here long, and I’m really not interested in a relationship.” Except for the one she had going with Brady…sort of.

Rubbing her finger along the grain of the table, she asked, “I don’t suppose you know of any houses for rent around here, do you? Just for a month or two?”

“You staying at your sister’s apartment?”

“No, the motel. I didn’t want…” She shrugged.

Stella grinned. “After my husband died, I lived with my daughter and her husband for a while. Believe me, I understand. A body’s got to have her own space sometimes, and the right to change it even if she doesn’t. Let me see.” Pursing her lips, she tapped one finger against them for a moment. “Of course, there’s the apartments where your sister lives—”

“No vacancies.” Hallie had called that morning, when she’d decided she didn’t want to spend three weeks in a room where she couldn’t walk barefooted for fear of sticking to the carpet.

“Yeah, there usually aren’t. You know, Marlene Tucker’s mother-in-law passed on a few weeks ago. Doctor said she died of heart failure. Well, of course she did! She was a hundred and one years old! Her poor old heart just wore out. Let me call Marlene and see what they’re planning to do with her house.”

While she went to the desk in the back of the shop, Hallie began wandering around. She was looking at some serving platters that matched the pitchers she’d bought when a Greyhound bus pulled to a stop in front of the store and opened its door.

The driver got off first, followed by a passenger. Scowling as if angry with the world, the teenage girl stepped up onto the sidewalk and waited while the driver retrieved her bag from the luggage compartment—one dirty army surplus duffel bag. With a battered backpack slung over one shoulder and the duffel bag leaning against her, she took a long look around.

When she noticed Hallie in the shop window looking at her, she made an obscene gesture. Hallie was tempted to stick out her tongue, poke her thumbs in her ears and waggle her fingers at the girl, but she restrained herself. Barely.

“Lord, would you look at that?” Stella made a clucking sound.

“What about her?”

“That hair. Those clothes. All them earrings.” Then she chuckled. “I forgot I’m talking to Miss Beverly Hills. I bet you see weirdos like that all the time out there in California, don’t you?”

“There are some strange people out there.” She glanced again at the girl, who was walking away. Purple-haired, clothes that were one breath away from indecent, combat boots with a mini-skirt—that was nothing in Los Angeles.

It stood out in Buffalo Plains.

“I talked to Marlene, and she said they haven’t decided what to do with the house yet, but you’d be welcome to rent it for a while. Here’s her number. Give her a call anytime you want to go look at it.”

“Thanks, Stella. Do you happen to know where it is?”

“Oh, it’s easy to find. When you go out of town south on Main, the last street you’ll come to is Cedar, and the Tucker place is the first house on the left after that. It’s white, neat as a button—and, of course, the mailbox out front says Tucker.” With another grin, Stella planted her hands on her hips.

“So…what did you decide about that oak table?”

“Can you hold it for me?”

“Sure can.”

“Then I’ll take it. And these, too.” She picked up several platters, then followed Stella to the checkout counter. A few minutes later, she was walking out the door, her platters in a bag and a Sold sign planted in the middle of her table.

She took the bag to her car and locked it in the trunk, then checked her watch. She still had a few minutes before she was supposed to meet Brady. Time enough for a quick walk through one more store.

Then lunch. With Brady. A part of her felt almost as giddy as a teenager going on her first date, but this wasn’t a date. A date would have been dinner, picking her up at the motel, taking her back there—or to his house—when it was over.

This was just lunch. Between friends. Innocent.

Exactly what she wanted, she assured herself.

The little voice inside her head didn’t agree, whispering a childhood taunt.

Liar, liar, pants on fire….

After a morning on patrol, Brady parked in his reserved space behind the courthouse, entered through the back door, then went into the sheriff’s department and headed for his office. He was almost there when the dispatcher stopped him.

“Someone to see you, Brady.”

He glanced at the cramped space set aside for a lobby, where the dispatcher gestured, expecting to see Hallie, a few minutes early for their lunch. The only one there, though, was a teenage girl. Though there was something vaguely familiar about her, he was sure they’d never met. Purple hair was hard to forget.

So were enough holes in her ears to make the wind whistle through. There was a gold bar and chain through her right eyebrow, a stud through her nostril and another in her navel, around which a circle in what appeared to be a Celtic design was tattooed. He didn’t even want to think about where else she might be mutilated.

He backtracked a few steps in her direction. “Can I help you?” he asked brusquely.

She was sprawled on one of the molded plastic chairs, her long legs stretching halfway across the room. Her boots were clunky, black and scuffed, her skirt was too short and rode low on her hips, and her lace top had been too small a year ago. A pair of headphones dangled around her neck, she wore way too much makeup, and her expression was 100-percent whiny adolescent pout.

Her insolent gaze started at his feet and moved up. By the time it reached his face, she’d curled one lip in complete disdain. “You Brady Marshall?”

“Yes.”

“A cop. Jeez, what a loser.” She stood up, her thin body looking like a stick figure unfolding. She was about five foot ten—not a bad height for a young woman. Not a great one for a barely-a-teenager girl. “Well, there’s my stuff.” With a hand that bore rings on every finger, she pointed in the direction of a duffel bag. “Let’s get out of here.”

Clomping on the wood floor, she got as far as the door before realizing that he wasn’t following. “We-ell?”

“Who are you?”

She clomped back to stand in front of him and sneered.

“Don’t you recognize me? Why, I’m your own little girl, and I’ve come to stay with you.”

Behind the counter, a clipboard clattered to the floor, and over by the coffeemaker, someone muttered, “What the—” Brady didn’t look at either eavesdropper. He didn’t take his gaze from the girl.

He never thought of himself as a father, not even as having been a father for a few short months. Even though he’d paid child support without fail for the past fourteen years, it was testament only to how desperately he’d wanted out of the marriage. Sandra had wanted money, and he’d agreed to give it in exchange for a quick divorce and escape to go off and lick his wounds.

Even after she’d admitted to sleeping with any man who was willing.

Even after she’d taunted him with the fact that he wasn’t the father of her little girl.

Even after she’d stripped him of even the slightest hope that the baby whose birth he’d been awaiting so anxiously could possibly be his.

He studied her, trying to reconcile this tall, skinny, odd-looking child with the tiny, cuddly baby he’d fed, rocked to sleep and changed diapers for. That baby had smiled sweetly and cooed whenever she saw him, and she’d clung to his finger every time he’d held her.

This one…

This one was waiting for some sort of response from him. So was everyone else in the squad room.

He moved a few steps closer to her. “What’s your name?”

“Les Marshall.” Then she rolled her eyes as if he were making unreasonable demands. “Alessandra Leigh Marshall. Can we go now?”

See? Sandra had explained, still woozy from giving birth. Sandra, Alessandra. Her pretty little girl could be named after her and yet still have her own name. Wasn’t she clever?

Cleverer than he’d been.

He glanced around at the curious faces in the squad room. No one even tried to pretend that they weren’t openly listening, and he couldn’t blame them. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told Hallie he had deep, dark secrets. He’d worked with these people for more than six years, and this was the first any of them had heard of a marriage, a divorce or Texas.

Or a daughter.

“Tell me something,” he said, gesturing from her spiked purple hair all the way down to her combat boots. “Are you making a fashion statement, or do you just enjoy making your mother squirm?”

The question took her by surprise. She blinked, then sneered, “That’s none of your business.”

Which meant she was making her mother squirm. Brady couldn’t begin to imagine how intensely Sandra hated her daughter’s look. She was the vainest, trendiest, most appearance-conscious woman he’d ever known, and it must have killed her every time Les walked into her line of sight.

Aware that everyone was still watching, he gestured toward the door. “Let’s discuss this outside.”

He hustled her out the door into the courthouse lobby, then outside. On the east side of the building, the lawn stretched across half a block, with sidewalks leading to park benches and war memorials. In cooler weather, retired old men and other folks with time on their hands often filled the benches, but thanks to the day’s heat, they were the only ones there.

He stopped in the dappled shade of a large oak. There was a breeze blowing, but all it did was rustle the leaves. It didn’t provide any cooling. “So you’re Sandra Whitfield’s daughter.”

With a put-upon sigh, she ticked off names on her fingers. “Actually, Sandra Whitfield Marshall Davis Thompson Valdez Napier. For the moment.”

So Sandra had five marriages and four divorces behind her. Of course, she wasn’t looking for a husband, a family or any of the usual stuff. She wanted money, security, an easy life. She was a beautiful woman and thought nothing of trading on her beauty to fulfill her goals. Even if it did make her little more than a very-high-priced hooker.

“And you’re my father,” Les went on. “Like it or not.”

She sounded pretty sure of herself—almost as sure as Sandra had been that he wasn’t. She’d had no doubts, and she’d left none for him.

Obviously, Sandra had lied—either to him or to Les. The question was, which one?

“Where is your mother?”

Shoving her hands into her pockets, she shrugged and leaned back against the tree. “Right after she put me on the bus to come here, she headed south of the border for her annual summer spa treatment. She won’t be back for a week…or two or three—though she promised she’d get home before school starts again. Until then, you’re stuck with me.”