Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2)(120)

Dell turned reluctantly toward Bobby Tom. “Sorry, B.T., I’m afraid I’m going to have to put you back in the cell.”

Bobby Tom held out his hands, and his voice was low with warning. “Don’t come any nearer, Dell. I’m not going back in that cell until I’ve had a chance to talk to Gracie. I don’t want to hit you, but I will if I have to.”

Dell studied Bobby Tom for a moment, then turn to glare at Jimbo. “What’s the harm in giving him an hour or so to take care of his love life, especially since you been playing fast and loose with his civil rights ever since you arrested him?”

Jimbo curled his lip, and his shaggy brows met in the middle. “Lock him up, goddammit, or you’re fired!”

None of the Bradys had ever liked being pushed around, and Dell was no exception. “You can’t fire me; Luther won’t let you! If you want him in there so bad, you lock him up yourself!”

Jimbo went apoplectic. With a roar of rage, he lunged forward. Bobby Tom grabbed a chair from behind the nearest desk and fired it across the tile floor, where it caught Jimbo in the knees and sent him sprawling.

Bobby Tom raced to the door before the police chief could get back up, calling out to Rose as he ran. “I need a car!”

She snatched up a ring of keys from her desk and threw them at him. “Take Jimbo’s. It’ll be right by the door.”

He ran outside and jumped into the nearest vehicle, the police chief’s shining white squad car. Tires squealing, he peeled out of the parking lot and set off down Main Street. It only took him a few seconds to find the controls that activated the siren and the flashing red lights.

Back inside the police station, Rose Collins grabbed for her telephone to spread the news that Bobby Tom Denton had just broken out of jail.

HEAVEN, TEXAS

A PLACE IN THE HEART

The colorful banner that had been hung at the city limits grew smaller in Gracie’s rearview mirror until she could no longer see it. She reached for one of the tissues crumpled in her lap, and as she blew her nose, she wondered if she was going to cry all the way to San Antonio. Last night she’d been dry-eyed and stricken while Ray had taken her back to her apartment to pack her belongings and then driven her to the motel where she’d spent the night. But she hadn’t slept. Instead, she’d lain in bed and replayed Bobby Tom’s damning words over and over again.

We both know I was just trying to do you a favor…why the hell would I marry you?…don’t ever let me see your face again!

What had she expected? She had humiliated him in front of everyone who was important to him, and he had struck back viciously.

She pushed a tissue beneath her sunglasses and blotted her swollen eyes. The new owner of Shady Acres was going to send someone to pick her up at the airport in Columbus and drive her to New Grundy. Shady Acres was where she belonged, and by this time tomorrow morning, she’d make certain she was so busy that she wouldn’t have time to brood.

She’d known this had to end, but she had never imagined it ending this badly. She had wanted him to remember her fondly as the one woman who had never taken anything from him, but last night had destroyed any possibility of that happening. Not only had she taken his money, but without intending to, she’d ended up taking something much more important to him, his reputation. She tried to find comfort in knowing it was his own arrogance that had ultimately brought that about, but she still loved him, and she would never take pleasure in seeing him hurt.

She heard a siren behind her, and as she looked into her rearview mirror saw the flashing light of a police car fast approaching on the two-lane highway. A glance at the speedometer reassured her that she was driving well within the speed limit, and she edged over to the right to let the car pass. It drew closer, but instead of moving to the left, it came up behind her.

The siren made a rude sound, ordering her to pull over. Disturbed, she looked more closely into the mirror and couldn’t believe what she saw. The man behind the wheel was Bobby Tom! She pulled off her sunglasses. So far, she’d held herself together by the strength of her will, but she couldn’t endure another confrontation with him. Setting her jaw with determination, she sped up, only to have him do the same.

A battered pickup truck loomed in front of her. Her knuckles turned white on the steering wheel as she swung into the left lane to pass. The speedometer crept to sixty, and Bobby Tom stayed right with her.

How could he do this? What kind of town would let one of its private citizens take a police car to chase down an innocent person? The needle crept to sixty-five. She hated driving fast, and she was perspiring. He hit the siren again, further rattling her. She gave a hiss of alarm as he came up so close behind her she was afraid he was going to bump into her. Dear God, he intended to run her right off the road!

She didn’t have a choice. He was a born daredevil, and while he might be perfectly comfortable playing bumper tag at seventy miles an hour, she certainly wasn’t. Anger consumed her as she lifted her foot off the accelerator and gradually slowed to pull over to the side of the road. As soon as she stopped the car, she threw the door open.

He got out of the squad car before she’d taken more than four or five steps, and she faltered in her tracks. What had happened to him? One of his eyes was swollen shut and the other looked wild. His clothes were ripped and his ever-present Stetson was missing, while the ugly gash crusting near his temple made him look primitive and dangerous. She remembered what she’d done to him, and, for the first time since they’d met, she was afraid of him.