Page 4 of Dead Man's Hand

“And still something was missing,” Bella said.

She nodded. “Once I found out that I had a twin who my mother called DJ for Del Junior, I knew I had to find him.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Even if he can’t be found by the wedding, we will find him. Buck won’t stop looking for him.”

“Neither will the Colt brothers. They were shocked to find they had a half sister. Imagine their reaction to meeting a half brother. If he is anything like you, we are going to love him. We’ll love him anyway,” she said with a laugh and took a sip of her eggnog. “So, is it going to be Ansley or DelRae? Or are you going to answer to both?”

“I have no sentimental ties to the Ansley name or the Brookshire name. I love DelRae, I’m just not sure I’ll ever remember to answer to it.”

“I can understand that you might want to ditch your first name and last with both Maribelle and Harrison Brookshire headed for prison. But you also can’t erase your past,” Bella said. “You know my father almost went to prison at one point.” She shook her head. “A long story for another time,” she said, awkwardly getting to her feet. “I have some last-minute Christmas shopping to do, but I wanted to check on you.”

She rose to show her out. She couldn’t believe how close she’d gotten to her new family and in record time. She hoped the same would be true for her twin when he was found.

At the door, Bella turned to take her hand and squeeze it. “Don’t give up hope. There’s still time.”

All she could do was nod and smile her thanks even as she felt sick with worry that time was running out. Worse, the news might not be good. Her twin might not have survived. Or he might want nothing to do with her and the rest of the family.

BUCKCRAWFORDDISCONNECTEDand leaned back, feeling more positive than he had in weeks. “I think I might have found a lead,” he said, leaving his office to walk out into the main reception area of Colt Brothers Investigation.

James looked up from his father’s old desk expectantly. The brothers had all done their best to find Ansley’s twin brother before hitting a brick wall and being forced to move on to other clients. Buck was determined to continue looking for the missing twin right up until the wedding.

“It’s an old friend of Judy Ramsey’s who moved away after her house burned down.” Buck remembered the vacant lot next to Judy’s house. “Luella Lindley lived there and knew Judy during the time frame when Ansley and her brother were born. I’m hoping she’s going to be able to help.”

“For Ansley’s sake, I hope so.” He smiled. “Yours, too, since I know how badly you want to marry my sister. But what if you don’t find him? Would you postpone the wedding?”

Buck shook his head. “I hope not, but Ansley has her heart set on her twin giving her away. Not that I blame her. I can’t imagine what it’s like to find out you have a twin brother you never knew existed. I’d want to find him, too.”

“Let’s hope she gets her happy ending. I just worry. Ansley lucked out. Even though the Brookshires weren’t the family she’d hoped for, she had what most people would consider a good life. Then she got all of us.” He grinned. “But it could have turned out a lot worse for her brother.”

Admittedly, Buck worried about that as well. Ansley needed a happy ending and that meant finding her twin. Hopefully before the wedding. He didn’t want to think about postponing the wedding. He wanted Ansley for his wife now. The waiting was killing him. He was anxious to start their lives together.

But until Del Jr. was found, dead or alive, he knew Ansley would be heartbroken. That was something Buck couldn’t stand. He’d do anything to make her happy.

Buck couldn’t help but think about all that Ansley had gone through to find her birth mother. It had been dangerous. People had died, others had gone to prison. Both Buck and Ansley were lucky to be alive. He really hoped that wouldn’t be the case finding her twin.

“Let’s hope Luella Lindley has the answers we need,” he told James. “I’m driving down to Casper, Wyoming, to talk to her in person. Don’t mention this to Ansley. I don’t want to get her hopes up.”

Buck knew it was more than that. He didn’t want to give her bad news with their wedding and first Christmas together just over a week away.

“CANYOUTURNthat off?” DJ asked after he and Keira were headed north away from the busiest airport in the state, Yellowstone International just outside of Bozeman, Montana. He wanted to put all this progress in the rearview mirror as they headed toward the mountains.

She reached over and turned off the radio and the Christmas music. DJ realized he’d lost track of not just weeks, but months. How could it already be this close to Christmas? It wasn’t as if he celebrated the holiday. He had no warm and fuzzy family holiday memories. In fact, he was always glad once the season was over—not that it wasn’t a good time financially for him and Sadie. The kind of people they dealt with were more reckless with their money this time of year, some out of Christmas cheer, most out of greed or desperation.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he said once they were on the open highway.

Keira’s hands gripped the wheel seemingly tighter, her eyes galvanized on the road ahead as she chewed nervously at her lower lip. “I don’t want you to get mad.” Too late for that. “It was a mistake. He didn’t know.”

DJ swore. Of course Luca knew. No one gambled without knowing they might lose—and they might lose big if they didn’t stop. “How much?”

“Seventy-five large originally,” she said without looking at him. “I didn’t know that he’d borrowed more to keep up with the interest payments.”

He never lost his temper. It was bad for business. But right now...

“I wouldn’t have called you, but...”

But there was no one else.

She concentrated on the road.

He chose his words carefully, determined not to take his frustration and anger out on her. “When you’re involved with these kinds of people you don’t go to another one and borrow more. That’s a good way to end up in a ditch dead. Or in your case sold to the highest bidder. Who are these men your husband got involved with?”

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