I Gave You My Heart, but You Sold It Online Read online

  “What?” Buddy called over the noise from the thrumming water.

  “Nothing,” Debbie Sue yelled. “I just said she’s cute.”

  She shouldn’t debate this subject with Buddy. He would only accuse her of being jealous, and since that was partially true, she had no defense.

  She pushed herself to a sitting position and reached for the purse she had thrown on the bed. Keeping one eye on the bathroom door, she pulled out a packet of newly developed snapshots. She thumbed through them, looking for the one she needed.

  Bingo. There it was. The picture of Buddy solo. All six feet and two inches of the most gorgeous man in Texas. Broad shoulders, narrow hips. Black hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and a thick black mustache. She had asked him to “pose sexy” and he had smiled for the camera as if it were his lover. Seduction oozed from the three-by-five print. Now, that picture was the one that was a knockout.

  Her conscience tweaked her. Buddy would never go along with the plan she had hatched. There were two good reasons why. Number one, he would view having his picture blasted over the Internet without his knowing it as an extreme invasion of his privacy. Number two, he was a Texas Department of Safety trooper, with the goal of becoming a Texas Ranger. Having his picture on a dating Web site for millions of women, or men, to ogle was not something the average Texas Ranger would do.

  On the other hand, if having it there meant catching a criminal, wouldn’t that justify it? After all, this was kind of like working undercover, wasn’t it? How could he get mad at that?

  She could still hear the shower. She opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a piece of notepaper and a pen. Keeping one eye on the bathroom door, she began to write:

  West Texas Gentleman Looking for Someone to Spoil.

  I’m a lonely man hoping to meet a woman to spend time and money on. Prefer someone in her late twenties. Dark hair is a real turn-on. This woman should be willing to accompany me to fine restaurants and exclusive weekend retreats. Be prepared to experience the good things money can buy. Please respond with photo and suggest a place we can meet.

  Debbie Sue proofread the profile before folding the page and slipping it back into her purse. First thing tomorrow morning she would post the snapshot and the information on the same Internet dating site Quint had used when he met the mystery woman, and in a day or two the picture of her own sweet Buddy would be cast as the lure. She didn’t doubt for a minute the mystery woman would bite. The ad was enticing enough, but beyond that, who could resist Buddy?

  Just then he walked into the bedroom towel-drying his hair and smelling of musky body wash. He was wearing nothing but a smile and a hard-on. Debbie Sue gave him a leer. This was the perfect moment to test the bait.

  seventeen

  Debbie Sue arrived at the Styling Station the next morning excited. When she entered, Edwina was on the phone and gave her a nod and gestured a kiss. Debbie Sue waved the snapshot of Buddy in the air. “Hurry up,” she stage-whispered. “I got Buddy’s picture back.”

  Edwina nodded as she spoke into the receiver. “Okay, sugar britches, you take care of yourself. We’ll see you tomorrow night.” She hung up and motioned to Debbie Sue. “Let me see that.”

  “Who was on the phone?” Debbie Sue asked, handing Edwina the picture.

  “Maudeen. She wanted to let us know the guest list for the toy party is getting out of hand. She’s invited more than thirty people. She’s hurrying around getting refreshments together. I told her we’d contribute to them. Our fridge is full of Cokes and 7-Up. Bless her heart, I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that many will come, but she’s excited all the same.”

  “I’ve invited a few of my customers,” Debbie Sue said. “Maybe they’ll show up and Maudeen won’t be disappointed. It’d be too bad if she doesn’t win that trip to Branson.”

  Edwina studied the snapshot of Buddy. “Hmm-hmm. That Buddy is one good-looking man. I may answer that ad myself.”

  “Oh no you don’t.” Debbie Sue grabbed the picture from her friend’s grasp. “You didn’t tell Vic about this, did you? I know how you are with Vic and your oath to never lie to him.”

  “Nope, haven’t said a word. If he doesn’t ask me, then I can’t lie.”

  “I need the computer,” Debbie Sue said, urging Edwina up. She took a seat and adjusted the screen to her height. “I’ve got six sites in mind. We could have replies as early as tomorrow. I’m gonna be busy here for a while. Cover for me, okay?”

  “No problem. What are you going to say?”

  Debbie Sue dug the ad she had written from her purse and gave it to Edwina, then busied herself with logging onto the Internet.

  Edwina giggled. “Sounds good to me, but you didn’t really need to go to this length. With that picture of Buddy, all you had to say was ‘Write me, I’m horny.’”

  Debbie Sue giggled, too. “I know. But I wanted to be sure we draw her out.”

  “If she’s out there and up to her old tricks, this’ll work.”

  “Yeah. If she’s out there.”

  DEEP IN THOUGHT, Allison braced her elbows on the dress shop’s jewelry-and-accessory display case, studying a necklace-and-earring set that had just arrived, but her mind was on another subject. Relationships. When it came to relationships, she was worse than a virus. The surgeon general should declare a warning label be plastered across her forehead. In less than a week she had managed to meet and dispose of two men. Two fabulous men. One in particular. No wonder she was still single.

  She didn’t want to believe Tag would choose to never see her again. During their phone conversation a few days ago, he had opened his heart. Her own heart wanted to accept the idea that they had forged a bond, but her head wasn’t buying it.

  Forcing herself away from the display case, she mentally searched for a project that would keep her mind occupied as well as her hands, but her mind wasn’t cooperating. Maybe she should make an appointment to visit the Styling Station. A hairdo and some of Debbie Sue’s and Edwina’s zaniness would lift her spirits.

  The buzzer at the back door sounded, signaling that the door had opened. A few seconds later, Jill came in from the stockroom. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”

  “Jill, sweetheart. What are you doing here and how did you get here?”

  “Kay’s mom’s waiting in the car. I need some lunch money.”

  “Oh, I forgot to leave it this morning. Sorry.” Allison walked to the office off the stockroom. As she lifted her purse out of a filing-cabinet drawer and dug out a five-dollar bill, she could feel Jill’s eyes watching her. She handed over the money, but avoided her daughter’s penetrating look.

  “Mom? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, hon. Now run along to school.” She looped her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “You have a good day.”

  “You seem sad,” Jill said.

  “I’ve just got a lot on my mind. Nothing to worry about.”

  Jill started out the back door, then stopped. “You know something, Mom? When I’ve had a fight with a friend, I don’t wait for them to call me. If they’re important to me I call them first.”

  She disappeared, leaving Allison standing in the office in wonder. It must be part of the maturing process to go from little girl, to mature woman, back to little girl, all in the span of a few minutes, she thought.

  Well, she shouldn’t let the wisdom of her child go to waste. She fumbled through her purse until she came up with the two pieces of paper with the phone numbers on them. She still couldn’t tell which number belonged to whom, so she closed her eyes and selected one. She keyed in the number, took a deep breath, and waited. After several rings a familiar male voice with a distinctive Texas drawl answered. “Howdy. This is Quint Matthews—”

  She disconnected. Okay, no automated machine recording, no monotone voice. At least she now knew for sure which of the two numbers was Tag’s.

  Returning Quint’s number to her pocket, she held the other number to her heart a
nd took an even deeper breath. For the second time in as many days, she keyed in the number.

  TAG REPLAYED ALLISON’S message for the fourth time. Her soft voice, with a hint of a West Texas drawl, came on again. “Tag, this is Allison. I’m sorry I acted presumptuously. It was thoughtless of me to take your friendship with Quint for granted. Perhaps when his business is finished and he’s returned home, you and I can work on being friends. I’d like that chance.”

  He felt like an ass and he didn’t like it. In the first place, he shouldn’t have gone to Allison’s house and put her on the spot. He and Quint went back a long way. By showing up on her doorstep, he had betrayed a friendship that meant something to him. Any friendship was special, but one honed over time was especially so.

  In the second place, he had been rude to Allison. Instead of giving her a chance to talk, he had followed his old pattern—go on the defensive, bluster up, act tough, locate the nearest exit, and split. Taking that route usually brought him a wave of relief at being able to breathe the sweet air of freedom again.

  When he left Allison’s home, there had been no air. It had been completely knocked out of him.

  He pushed replay and listened again until he heard the click indicating the end of the message.

  He sighed. Quint’s behavior with women followed a pattern. He would soon leave the area and the woman. His leaving would be the signal that the field was open. Tag would just have to cool it and bide his time. He only hoped Allison didn’t succumb to the Superstud’s charms before then.

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING Debbie Sue left her house later than usual. Buddy departed for a seminar in El Paso and she’d had to give him a proper send-off. After all, he would be gone until late tomorrow night.

  She was in a hurry. So much was going on. The publicity she and Edwina had reaped as detectives had boosted the salon’s business, so Friday was always a busy day in the beauty shop, then there was Maudeen’s party to prepare for at the end of the day.

  And there were more Internet dating sites to join. Because she had been so much busier in the salon, she had succeeded in joining only two instead of the six she had planned on. Still, she had a gut feeling—one of those female-intuition things—that the thief of Quint’s identity and his heart would answer. And it could be as early as today.

  Solving the mystery this soon meant a loss of hours the Domestic Equalizers could bill to Quint, thus a loss of earnings, but sometimes friendship had to take precedence over money. She knew Quint well. Seeing that he was involved in this affair on a deeper level than his credit score made her hell-bent on finding who had screwed him over, and soon.

  Pulling into her parking space, she wasn’t surprised to see Edwina’s Mustang already there. When Vic was out of town, Edwina was always up and into something at the crack of dawn. She liked to say that Vic’s absences were the only time she got anything done, but Debbie Sue knew that Edwina flat-out missed his huge body lying next to hers, so she just didn’t stay in bed.

  Debbie Sue had no sooner walked through the door than an excited Edwina besieged her. “Damn, girl, I thought you’d never get here. Come look at this.” She lifted a stack of pages from the payout counter. “Of the two lonely hearts clubs you joined, these are the replies that have come in.”

  Debbie Sue carried her purse and her lunch to the storeroom, speaking as she went. “Ed, don’t call them lonely hearts clubs. That sounds so sad. They’re Internet dating sites.”

  “And if not a lonely heart, what would prompt somebody to join such a site?”

  “Well, not a lonely heart,” Debbie Sue said, returning to the front room and looking over Edwina’s shoulder at the computer screen. “Maybe a lonely—maybe, or it could be—oh, hell, you’re right. Tilt that screen up a little, Miss Know-It-All, so I can see.” Edwina complied. “Damn,” Debbie Sue said. “Fifty-two replies on the first day? I figured we’d get action, but this is unreal.”

  “That’s not the best part. This is what I really wanted you to see.” Edwina highlighted a line in a particular ad. “Here ya go, read this.”

  Debbie Sue began reading, her mouth moving with each word. Suddenly her spine went rigid. “What? Kathy Bozo? That good-for-nothing, lying, scheming, piece-o’-shit tramp?”

  Kathy Boczkowski was the woman with whom Buddy had had a fling when Debbie Sue and he had been divorced. The very thought still made Debbie Sue’s mouth water with venomous spit. The black-haired witch was living and teaching in Austin, the e-mail said. It also said, Happy to see you finally came to your senses about remarrying Debbie Sue.

  Debbie Sue slapped the desktop with the palm of her hand. “Why, the nerve of her. I never did get to even the score on the lie she told me about her and Buddy being engaged. About fifteen minutes alone with her in the parking lot and I’d make that silly Yankee see stars over Texas she’s never seen before.”

  Edwina looked up at her with a solemn expression. “I just hate it when you clam up and refuse to show your feelings. Mark my words, keeping everything inside is gonna make you sick someday.”

  Debbie Sue scowled. “You’d be the same damn way if someone like her made a play for Vic. You’d be worse.” She urged Edwina from her seat at the computer. “Get up, Ed. I’m answering this one personally.”

  “C’mon, now, let it be,” Edwina said, turning the desk chair over to Debbie Sue. “We’ve got a lot of ads to look at. Besides, you won him, didn’t you?”

  “It wasn’t a contest, Ed. She looks down on me like I’m not good enough for Buddy. I have to answer her. If I don’t, she’ll always believe he didn’t want me or that he and I didn’t make it.”

  As Edwina stood behind her and watched, Debbie Sue’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Minutes later, she finished. “Okay, read it. Make sure I haven’t spelled anything wrong. The woman’s a damn schoolteacher. I don’t want her finding a mistake in my spelling. She always treated me like I was one of her slower students.”

  Edwina bent forward and began reading aloud.

  Dear Kathy Bozo,

  My partner Edwina and I run a successful detective agency in Salt Lick. We were written up in a little magazine called Texas Monthly. Maybe you’ve heard of it. We posted my HUSBAND’S picture trying to ferret out a low-life a-hole and who do you think answered first? It just goes to show you, you overeducated turd, you can fool some of the people all the time, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but there are some people you will never fool. And I’m one of them!

  Yours truly,

  MRS. JAMES RUSSELL OVERSTREET

  Edwina returned to her full height and planted a fist on her hip. “I think you should tone it down.”

  “What? She tried to steal Buddy.”

  “I wonder about calling her names in writing. She could sue you.”

  “For what?…Okay, what can I call her?”

  “Hmm. Let me see. I don’t think you—”

  Before Edwina could finish, Debbie Sue struck enter.

  Edwina gasped. “It’s comforting to know you find my opinion so valuable. Before you sent the thing off into cyberspace, I started to say I don’t think you should be so civilized.”

  They broke into laughter.

  “After this, Ed, I’m tempted to not charge Quint a penny. How often do you get the opportunity to tell off someone who deserves it? That’s worth a heck of a lot more than money.”

  What a great way to start the day, Debbie Sue thought as she left the computer and began preparing her workstation. An old foe put down, a substantial pile of suspects for Quint’s mystery woman, and laughter with a friend. Add the early-morning episode in bed with Buddy, and Debbie Sue had a clear picture of what heaven was going to be.

  “Well, I want to charge him,” Edwina said.

  ALLISON MOPED AROUND the kitchen going from the coffeepot to the sink in robot fashion. She had called Tag and apologized, had hoped for a return call, but had heard nothing.

  Her mom sat at the table watching her. Finally she broke th
e silence. “Allison, I hate to see you so blue. There’s lots of reasons he didn’t call back. He’s got a busy restaurant to run. Owning your own business takes a lot of your time. You know that. Besides, it isn’t like you to be so negative.”

  Allison carried her coffee to the table and took a chair opposite her mother. She dumped artificial sweetener and cream into the mug and stirred, watching the cream blend. “I’m not negative, Mom. I’m actually quite positive. I’m positive I made a huge mistake and I’m really positive I’ll never hear from him again. See? Positive.”

  Her mother sighed. “Did you remember that this is the weekend Frank is taking Jill and me to Abilene to the cutting-horse show? Why don’t you go with us? We’re leaving this afternoon when Jill gets out of school.”

  “I didn’t forget. That’s sweet of you to invite me, Mom, but if I go, who’ll open the store tomorrow?”

  “Just put a sign on the door. You’re allowed a day off.”

  Allison shook her head. “Y’all go and have a great time. I’m looking forward to having the house to myself.”

  “Well, this is Friday night. Promise me you’ll get out and do something. Something fun.”

  “I can’t. I called Edwina yesterday to set time for a haircut and she invited me to a party at the beauty salon. She and Debbie Sue really want me to be there, so after Edwina trims my hair, I’m going to stay for it. Actually, she asked me to bring some cookies, but I told her I didn’t have time to bake.”

  “What kind of a party is it?”

  “Oh, it’s one of those hostess things where they sell stuff and the party giver gets prizes. I think it’s toys. One of the Styling Station’s customers from Peaceful Oasis is having it. I don’t know any kids to buy toys for, but I told them I’d be there. I can always get something and give it as a gift or give it to the church for their Santa drive. Christmas isn’t that far off.”