SHELBY TRIED NOT to have too much of a spring in her step. Hard to keep her feet on the ground, though, when she was feeling so darn good. It was amazing what a night with Callen could do for a woman’s mood.
Two nights would likely make her downright giddy.
She couldn’t wait to find out. All she had to do was make it through this day and then she could get Callen back in her bed. This time with more than one condom.
Smiling at that thought, Shelby pulled into the driveway in front of her dad’s. Callen’s truck was there, causing her to wince a little. He’d probably let Buck or Rosy know that he wouldn’t be bringing back Sweet Caroline until this morning, but he would have needed some kind of explanation to go along with that.
The truth, maybe?
And if so, when had that truth telling happened? After Callen and she had made their way to her bed, she hadn’t noticed him texting or calling anyone, but then she’d slept like a rock. Yet another perk from great sex. Of course, she couldn’t give Callen total credit for that since rock sleep was her usual mode.
She parked her truck and was about to go inside for the dress fitting with Rosy, but then she saw Mateo and Judd. They were by the corral where there were no horses in sight, and she could tell they were talking because their breaths were fogging up the cold air.
A trickle of alarm went through her, and she hoped Mateo hadn’t got into trouble or something. Judd was all cop, and he didn’t usually interact with the kids unless there was a problem.
She didn’t exactly keep her footsteps light because she didn’t want to sneak up on them, but they didn’t pay any attention to her. As she got closer, she heard Judd dole out what was either a warning or a life lesson punctuated with some profanity.
“Sometimes shit just happens,” Judd said to the boy. “Shit you can’t prevent.”
Mateo looked at Judd in a way that made Shelby think he was seriously considering that. “How do you get past it?”
“You don’t.” Judd’s tone was his usual growl, but at least it didn’t seem to be scaring the boy. “You just step over it and keep going until you find a pile of shit that doesn’t stink as bad.”
She stopped, continued to listen and hoped she’d soon learn what had started this conversation.
“But my sister might not be able to do that,” Mateo said. “She might not be able to step over it.”
“Yeah, she will,” Judd assured him. “She’ll cope. You’ll cope. And you’ll sure as hell quit worrying about me shanking you. I don’t shank. When needed, I beat the shit out of people who mess with other people and do bad things.”
“Like my mother?” Mateo asked after a long pause.
“No. She’ll get what’s coming to her in jail. I don’t hit women because I have a dick. Men with real dicks don’t hit women. Remember that.”
It was good advice, but Shelby hoped the boy didn’t repeat the cusswords. Of course, since Mateo had been in juvie, he’d likely already heard them.
“Are we okay?” Judd asked.
Mateo nodded and headed into the barn. Judd turned, and she saw his usual stern expression was a little softer today. Then it wasn’t. He squared his shoulders as he came toward her.
Judd looked at her the way a cop would when examining a criminal suspect. “I covered for him,” he said.
That gave her a quick jolt of concern. “Mateo?”
He huffed. “Callen. He texted me last night to say he wouldn’t be coming back to get his truck. I told Buck that Callen had hooked up with some friends and wouldn’t be back until morning. Yeah, I know. It reeks of BS, and my guess is Buck didn’t buy it one bit.”
The concern was still there. Not for Mateo this time, but because Judd was right. Her father wouldn’t have bought that, and he wouldn’t be pleased that Callen had put Judd up to lying for him. Well, sort of lying. Callen had indeed hooked up, but it hadn’t been with friends.
She gave Judd’s arm a quick squeeze. “I’ll talk to Dad,” she promised.
Now, that took some of the shine off her still-lingering sexual buzz. Nothing like starting the morning with a confession to her father that she’d had sex.
Shelby turned to go inside, but she stopped. “Thanks for covering for Callen. And for talking to Mateo.”
Judd lifted his shoulder and made a sound that could have meant anything, but Shelby chose to believe it was a you’re welcome. He headed to his cabin, and Shelby went inside the house.
And the first thing she heard was giggling.
She followed the sound of the giggles to the family room and found Rosy standing on the coffee table, already in her wedding dress. Or rather a dress. It wasn’t the same one that Rosy had shown her about a week ago. That one had been a column of bubble gum– colored puffs that would have skimmed down Rosy’s body.
This one was the opposite of a column. Yards of pink billowed like a massive cotton-candy cloud, and on top of the billows were thousands—maybe millions—of sequins. Also pink. And also shedding. Another million or so of those sequins were all over the floor.
And on the seamstress, a frazzled-looking Alice Murdock.
Alice was kneeling on the floor and appeared to be adjusting the hem, which was probably a good thing considering the dress hung well past Rosy’s feet, past the coffee table as well and nearly touched the floor. Alice had her lips pinched over a line of red pearl-head straight pins, and Lucy was next to her holding an apple-sized stuffed thing with yet even more of them. There were pink sparkly sequins clinging to Alice’s gray hair and some on her lipstick in between the pin stash. It wasn’t a flattering look.
“Oh, you’re here,” Rosy said, motioning for Shelby to come closer. “I changed my mind and ordered a different dress. Don’t you just love it?”
Shelby loved it only because Rosy obviously did. However, she did see an immediate concern. “Will you be able to get down the aisle?” Shelby asked.
Rosy’s eyes widened a moment, indicating that she hadn’t considered it. The party room at the inn was going to be at maximum capacity with all the guests, so widening the aisle was out. Still, Shelby hated that she’d put the troubled look in Rosy’s eyes.
“I’m sure we can make it work,” Shelby told her, despite not being sure of that at all. However, she made a mental note to be sure that no small children or feeble guests sat on the aisle because it was possible that Rosy could knock them down in that dress.
“Your dress is here,” Lucy said, her voice as quiet as usual. She used the pincushion to motion toward the sofa where there were several boxes.
Shelby kept her “this is all good” look on her face even though she’d told Rosy that she would get her own dress. She’d done that figuring it would minimize her having to wear something more suited to Rosy’s sometimes-unconventional taste.
“Mine’s also there,” Lucy added, her pretty mouth curving into a near smile. “Miss Rosy asked me to be a bridesmaid, too.”
Shelby didn’t have to feign a “this is all good” look this time. Because it was. Rosy was a sweetheart for doing this, and what was even more wonderful was that Rosy would be genuinely thrilled to have the girl in the wedding party.
“The bridesmaid dresses have pockets,” Rosy told them. “I always cry at weddings, so I figured you’d want some place to carry a Kleenex or two.”
Alice mumbled something. What exactly, Shelby didn’t know, but Rosy appeared to be bilingual when it came to pin-impeded speech. “Alice said you both need to try on the dresses so she can see if they need to be altered,” Rosy translated. “It’ll be like a mini runway show.”
Shelby tried to gauge Lucy’s eyes to see if there was concern or excitement about that. Definitely excitement. That was good since it was a first.
“Why don’t you let me hold the pincushion for Miss Alice,” Shelby volunteered, taking it from Lucy, “and you can go ahead and try on the dress.”
Definitely excitement, and Shelby was so thankful that if she could have actually reached Rosy and got her arms around her, she would have given her a hug.
Lucy picked up one of the boxes as if it were a fragile Fabergé egg and headed up the stairs. The silence came as both Alice and Rosy watched her go, clearly waiting for her to be out of earshot. Shelby was waiting for that, too, so she could gush to Rosy about what a good thing this was.
But Shelby didn’t get a chance.
“You spent the night with Callen,” Rosy blurted out before Shelby could say anything.
Alice babbled something, and judging from Rosy’s nod, it was an agreement.
Well, crud. Shelby hadn’t expected to keep her night under wraps, but she hadn’t wanted it to be the topic of a group discussion.
“I tried to cover for Callen and you with your dad,” Rosy went on. “I said something like Callen was probably over at Nico’s or Kace’s and the night just got away from him. But Buck gave me that look that let me know that he knew what was what. He said he’d talk to Callen and you this morning.”
Oh joy. Shelby could hardly wait.
“Where is Dad, anyway?” Shelby asked, wondering if he was going to come in at any moment and contribute to this embarrassing situation.
“In town at the diner,” Rosy answered. “I asked him to go because I didn’t want him to see the dress.”
Alice mumbled something else.
“She said we were going to do this at my place,” Rosy translated, “but I didn’t have the floor space for it. Alice needed to be able to move around to adjust the hem.”
It was amazing that Rosy had got all of that from just a few mumbles.
“So, do you want to tell me about your night with Callen?” Rosy asked, giving Shelby a wink and a smile.
She’d rather get a quarter-sized zit in the middle of her forehead, but Shelby thankfully didn’t have to come up with an answer that didn’t sound so snarky. That was because Lucy came back down the stairs. Shelby had already prepped herself to say how much she loved the dress, but fudging or outright lying wasn’t necessary. It was, well, perfect.
There were no gobs of anything, including sequins. It was just a beautiful dress with sheer long sleeves that matched the deep red color of the dress itself. It hung without clinging, and Shelby figured it would look good on a person of any age.
“It’s beautiful,” Shelby said as Rosy blurted out a teary, gushy, “You’re a vision, Lucy. Simply a vision.”
Alice mumbled something, and since Rosy was so enraptured by Lucy, she didn’t translate it.
“Thank you,” Lucy said, but her voice no longer seemed so shy, and she made eye contact with Rosy while she continued to stand on the bottom step of the stairs. “I’ve never had a dress this pretty. Thank you,” she repeated, and this time, Shelby was reasonably sure that it included more than just her gratitude for the dress.
“I couldn’t get it zipped up all the way,” Lucy added a moment later. “That’s why I can’t do the runway show. My, uh, back is showing some.”
Shelby quickly put aside the pincushion and went to her to remedy that. “You really look amazing,” she told the girl, and she motioned for Lucy to turn so she could get to the zipper.
Lucy didn’t budge, and after a few long moments, she finally looked Shelby in the eyes. “I have scars,” Lucy whispered. “Please, I don’t want Miss Rosy and Miss Alice to see them.”
Oh. Well, that put a ball of heat in Shelby’s belly and thinned her breath some. Of course, she’d known that Lucy had been abused, but knowing she was about to see the proof of it made her feel a little ill. And angry. She made sure there was no anger in her voice when she spoke.
“Lucy and I are going in the powder room,” Shelby told Rosy and Alice. “The zipper’s stuck, and I’m going to put a little soap on it to get it working.”
Shelby didn’t wait for Alice to volunteer to fix it and not with soap but some seamstress skill that would get it done faster. She took Lucy’s hand, moving her off the bottom step, and then Shelby got behind her when they went into the powder room.
“Thank you,” Lucy repeated, still whispering.
Despite her thin breath, Shelby gathered as much air into her lungs as she could, and she looked at the girl’s back. Yes, scars. Some new. Some old. And too many to count.
“It’s okay,” Lucy said when Shelby’s hand hesitated on the zipper. “They don’t hurt anymore.”
Yes, they did. They would always hurt, and Shelby had to blink back tears as she covered the ugly marks by closing the zipper. Now the only thing visible was the beautiful red fabric.
Lucy stood on her toes, looking in the mirror, and she met Shelby’s eyes in the reflection. Shelby managed to blink back the tears, but she couldn’t stop herself from hugging the girl. She expected Lucy to go stiff or jerk back, but she just stood there, not actually participating in what was an overly emotional hug on Shelby’s part. But she didn’t stop it, either.
“I like you,” Lucy whispered. “You’re nice and you care.”
“I like you, too. And I do care. Not so sure about the nice part, though.”
“You’re nice,” Lucy repeated, and she lifted one hand to lay on Shelby’s back. “I need to tell you something, and I think it’s going to be hard for you to hear.”
Shelby squeezed her eyes, trying to steel herself up to hear details of those scars. Details that were going to break her heart. Still, she’d hear them. “I’m listening,” Shelby assured her.
Lucy took her time. “It’s about Mr. Buck. He’s sick. He doesn’t want you to know, but he passed out in the barn and hit his head. Mateo found him. Mr. Buck wants everybody to believe he’s okay, that he’s just a little under the weather, but he’s not. It’s a big kind of under the weather.”
Because Shelby had been waiting and bracing for more about Lucy’s abuse, it took her several long moments for the words to sink in. Now it was Shelby who jerked back from the girl so she could see if Lucy was serious.
She was.
Oh God. Her dad was sick?
Shelby suddenly felt sick, too, and she had to lean against the sink. She’d known about the anemia and had felt that something else was wrong. But her father had assured her everything was okay.
“Mr. Buck was bleeding after he fell,” Lucy went on. “And he made us all promise not to say anything about it to you or Miss Rosy. He made us all promise. All three of us.”
Shelby’s head whipped up. “Three?” she asked.
Lucy nodded. “Me, Mateo and Mr. Callen, of course. Mr. Callen knows how sick Mr. Buck is.”
* * *
CALLEN FIGURED THIS was his lucky day. When he rode Sweet Caroline back to Buck’s, he’d expected to face somewhat of a firing squad. Or at least some questions from Buck and/or Rosy. But no one was around, not even Mateo, when he led the horse into the barn and unsaddled her.
As parting shots to confirm her crotchety temperament, the mare flicked her long tail at him, aiming at his face, following it with an attempted head butt. But Callen had more luck when he managed to avoid both.
Callen continued to dodge and avoid as he brushed her down and made sure she had feed and water. Next time he got a wild hair to go visit Shelby, he’d drive there. Of course, he should be talking himself out of other visits. And buying condoms. But that wasn’t going to happen. That siren grin she’d given him that morning sealed the deal.
Yeah, he’d go back.
Callen found himself whistling as he walked out of the barn. Still no signs of anyone, which meant all he had to do was get in his truck and drive to the inn. Havana might question him about why he hadn’t come back to his room, but it was just as likely that she hadn’t been in her room, either. Callen hadn’t missed the heat stirring between her and Nico, and there was no way that Nico would pass that up.
He’d just made it to the back of the house when the door flew open. Shelby flew out right afterward, and her gaze shot around the yard before her attention settled on him.
There was fire in her eyes.
“You knew,” she said, marching down the steps toward him.
This definitely wasn’t sexy siren mode. She was pissed, maybe because she’d just had to go through a grand inquisition with whoever was inside.
She stormed toward him. “You knew about my dad. You knew he was sick, and you didn’t tell me.”
Oh, that. Well, Callen wasn’t whistling now. However, he did groan because he’d known that this would come back to bite him in the ass.
“That’s why you came back. That’s why you stayed,” she went on. Shelby didn’t remain still. She started to pace, several angry steps one direction before cutting back with even more angry steps.
“Buck made me promise not to tell anyone.” Callen groaned at his own words. They were the truth, but man, it sounded wussy saying them aloud.
“And you agreed to that?” she snapped.
He nodded, figuring that anything he said right now would sound bad except for “I’m sorry.” He said it, but she certainly didn’t seem to embrace the apology with heartfelt forgiveness.
“Shelby, are you all right?” Rosy called out. She was at the back door, and her entire body was surrounded by massive amounts of pink fabric.
“I’m fine,” Shelby answered, not snapping, and she kept her face turned away from Rosy. That meant however or whatever Shelby had found out, Rosy didn’t know. “Just finish the fitting. I just need to talk to Callen.”
“All right, but bring him in for cocoa when you’re done,” Rosy insisted.
Callen didn’t need to guess that there wouldn’t be cocoa in his immediate future. Nope. He’d be looking at plenty of groveling, and then kicking himself for agreeing to keep this a secret in the first place.
Shelby stopped pacing, glared at him, but then her glare morphed into a hard sigh and a very distressed expression. “What’s wrong with him? How bad is it?”
Despite his promise to Buck, the secrecy was going to end right now. “It’s a tumor on his lung.”
“Tumor,” she repeated. “Cancer?”
“Maybe. Buck doesn’t know, but he’s aware that’s a possibility.”
Shelby groaned, shoved her fingers through her hair. “And he wanted to keep it a secret until after the wedding. He wanted to give Rosy her big day.”
Callen nodded, and when he saw the tears shimmering in her eyes, he tried to pull her into his arms. She only batted away his hands.
“Buck promised me as soon as the wedding was over, he’d tell everyone and that he’d go in for the surgery.” Callen followed her when Shelby started pacing again. “And, yeah, I told him that idea sucked, that he needed the surgery and the treatment ASAP, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Why did he want you here?” she snapped.
Callen forced his chest to ease up so he could draw in a long breath. “To find a good family for Mateo and Lucy. He also wanted me to help out on the ranch.”
The look she gave him let him know that she wasn’t just going to buy that. Because she no longer trusted him. Callen couldn’t blame her for that.
“He didn’t ask Kace or Judd to keep a secret like this because they would have told him no,” Shelby spelled out.
Callen was certain that played into it. His brothers were part of Buck and Rosy’s daily lives. Part of Shelby’s, too. Plus, they were cops. Not exactly the best candidates to ask for what was essentially a lie. A lie because it was withholding the truth.
She paced some more. Cursed. Groaned. And lost the battle with a couple of those tears that slid down her cheeks. “Where is he?” she asked. “Is he actually at the diner like Rosy said?”
Callen had to hold up his hands. “I don’t know.”
Shelby did some deep breathing, too, and she whirled around and headed for her truck. No doubt she was on her way to the diner to have it out with Buck. He didn’t blame her for that, but Callen didn’t want her to have to do this alone. Nor did he want her behind the wheel right now.
“I’ll drive,” he insisted.
He figured she would argue about that or maybe spew some of that profanity at him. She didn’t. Shelby was beyond upset and furious, but somewhere underneath all that fury, she must have realized she wasn’t steady enough to make the drive into town. She jumped into the passenger’s seat, and Callen got them moving.
Almost immediately, Shelby’s phone rang, and she yanked it from her pocket. “It’s Rosy,” she said. “She’ll know something is wrong, but I can’t talk to her right now.”
“Do you want me to do it?” he asked, already dreading it if she said yes.
But Shelby shook her head. “She doesn’t need to hear this over the phone. Once we get to the diner, we’ll bring Dad back here and have it out. I want him to look Rosy and me straight in the eyes and try to justify why he would keep this from us. And, no, he’s not going to use the wedding as an excuse.”
Despite the thick emotion, Callen welcomed the air clearing. Once Rosy knew the truth, she would demand that Buck get the treatment he needed. Of course, she’d almost certainly be furious not just with Buck. Callen knew there’d be plenty enough anger to go around for him, too.
Anger that he damn well deserved.
When they reached the diner, Callen spotted Buck’s truck, but he instantly knew something was wrong. Both of the truck doors were open, and several people had huddled around and were looking inside.
What the hell was going on?
Shelby must have picked up on the bad vibe, too, because as soon as he’d come to a stop, she barreled out and rushed toward Buck’s truck. Callen was right behind her.
“What happened?” Shelby shouted as she ran.
Will Myers, who owned the grocery store, was one of the people by the driver’s side, and he looked up at Shelby. And even though Callen didn’t know Will that well, he could tell from the man’s face that something had indeed happened.
“I’m not sure,” Will said, his face pale and his eyes wide with concern. “Buck had some kind of dizzy spell or something.”
With Callen right next to her, Shelby pushed by Will and two others, and she made a sharp gasp when she saw the problem.
Buck was unconscious.