Deep in a Texan's Heart. Sara Orwig

a grin.

      “Go to your meeting and shake them up. I’m going home to the Double H,” Lila said, walking away before she ran into Sam again.

      Sam relaxed in the meeting room at the Texas Cattleman’s Club. He tried to focus on what was being said by Gil Addison, their president, but his thoughts kept slipping back to discovering that Lila intended to help plan the child-care center. The whole idea was repugnant to him. He looked around at the dark, rich wood, the mounted animal heads, trophies of past members and evidence of their shooting skills. The clubhouse was over one hundred years old, now, a monument to being built right and using the best materials.

      The club had been a male haven. Leadership, Justice, Peace—the basic founding motto of the members. In an earlier day the club’s members had banded together covertly on secret missions to save innocent lives. That wouldn’t happen now with all the changes. The club was relaxing, filled with the things he liked to do—swim, dine, play billiards, exercise, just talk with friends. It was the perfect place for business lunches or dinners. Now women had moved into it and changes were coming, but the biggest alteration was a child center. Children racing through the clubhouse and scampering over the grounds would change the ambiance and the noise level would rise like a balloon in the wind. A child-care center. Beau Hacket had been bitterly opposed and Sam, as well as his twin, had lined up with Beau. There was not one positive reason to take children into the Texas Cattleman’s Club, but they had been voted down.

      Sam glanced across the room at the female members, clustered together, their husbands, mostly younger members. Why did they want to be part of the club? A streak of stubbornness? To ruin the club for the men? To take it over and turn it into their own club? He couldn’t figure the logic, but they were not going away. Between their husbands, boyfriends and friends, they had solid backing, not only gaining membership but easily voting in the child-care center. Once they got the center, the club would become a whole different type of organization.

      His gaze rested on Shannon. She was Lila’s close friend and the one who had talked Lila into helping plan the child center. He liked Shannon; she was a no-nonsense person and a fine rancher. Of all the women who had joined, Shannon probably had the most right to be there because she was a rancher and toiled like the men on her ranch. She ran the place and fit in with other cattle ranchers. A stranger would never guess, because when she left the ranch, she looked all woman.

      Lila would help with the center. If she lived here, she would want to join. Beau had definite ideas, but he hadn’t been able to control Lila or raise her to live the way her family did. There were probably some stormy conversations at the Hacket house.

      Sam tried to stop thinking about Lila except to acknowledge she was taking over too much of his thoughts.

      Once again, he tried to pull his attention back to Gil, who stood relaxed, his black hair combed back and one hand holding a small card that he occasionally glanced at.

      In his quiet, efficient manner, Gil had covered the business of the day and Sam had barely heard a word.

      “I know some of you opposed the new child-care center, but it’s been voted in and work has started. During the renovations, we’ll have noise and interruptions, but we’ve had that before. the child-care center is going to be reality in the near future. We want a state-of-the-art center.”

      Annoyed, Sam thought it would partially be thanks to Lila’s input. In fairness, the billiard room would be renovated into a center for kids whether Lila helped or not. The founders of the exclusive men’s club would be stunned by this latest turn of events. He thought of Tex Langley, the founding father, who might not have even wanted the club if he had known how it would be changed.

      As far as Sam was concerned, the club would never be the same. He attempted again to pay attention to Gil, who seemed to remain impartial, although Gil had Cade to raise by himself, so probably, he was happy to see the center open.

      “Another reminder, next month Zach Lassiter will be inducted,” Gil said.

      Zach was another newcomer and Sam knew nothing about his past except that he had been successful with investments and he had shared an office with Alex Santiago.

      Startled, Sam realized he was thinking in the past tense about Alex. What had happened to the man? It was a disturbing mystery that seemed to puzzle everyone in town.

      “One last thing before we close our meeting today,” Gil said in a loud voice that quieted everyone. “We all know we have a missing member, one of our newest members, Alex Santiago. Nathan has something to share with us,” Gil said, turning to face Nathan Battle, who rose.

      Tall, with a commanding presence, Nathan made a good sheriff. He was a law-enforcement officer the town could be proud of. The men of his family had been members of the Texas Cattleman’s Club for generations and Nathan had broken away from his ranching background to become a lawman. He’d become an asset for Royal.

      “This will be brief. We’ve turned up something. My office hasn’t gone public with the news yet and we don’t intend to make an official announcement at this time, but I’ll tell you now—Alex’s truck has been found about fifty miles from town.”

      There was a low rumble of remarks, with surprised looks on a few members’ faces.

      As soon as Nathan began to speak again, silence fell over the room.

      “The truck was hidden in bushes. That may indicate foul play. At this point, we’re not ruling anything out. From all indications, there’s a possibility that Alex was abducted.”

      Another shocked ripple of noise erupted.

      “Nathan, when will you go public with this? Are we to keep quiet about it?” Dave Firestone asked.

      “We’ve been investigating and trying to find out what we can before moving the truck, but several people already know about our discovery. I’m not trying to keep our news secret from the town, but I’ve asked to keep it out of the media at least the rest of today. Alex was a friend and one of our members and I know there’s high interest in his disappearance. At this point, that’s all.”

      Nathan returned to his seat and Gil finished the business at hand before closing the meeting.

      Shocked by the news, Sam thought about Alex Santiago, a venture capitalist and new to Royal. He’d grown up elsewhere, without Texas roots that went back generations the way so many of the other members’ did. Newly engaged to Cara Windsor, Alex had just recently disappeared. Word got out slowly at first and then swept over the town. Sam glanced across the room at another member, Chance McDaniel, who used to go out with Cara. Chance sat stony-faced, staring straight ahead, a slight frown on his brow beneath his blond hair.

      How bitter was Chance over Cara getting engaged to Alex? Sam had wondered about that since people began to openly question what could have happened to Alex.

      Jumping to conclusions wasn’t good, but it was impossible to avoid suspecting Chance, who would have a motive for getting Alex out of the way.

      At the same time, Sam liked Chance and would hate to see his suspicions bear fruit. He hoped Chance wasn’t involved. Finding Alex’s truck abandoned and hidden was not good news.

      After the meeting when Sam was leaving, he stopped in the doorway of the future billiard room. The place was dim inside with muted sounds from the club, the old billiard tables standing empty. Life was changing. Was he as backward in his thinking as Lila had accused him of being? He shook his head. He couldn’t imagine little kids all over the place or that their presence would be great for the club. The TCC could have built a separate building on their property or bought some land near the club and built a separate center and everyone would have been happy. Or at least that’s how he and several other members viewed it, but their idea had been killed before it ever got started.

      Yesterday he’d had a business lunch and he was glad he could bring a client to the club just the way it was. Time would tell whether the child center was an asset or a liability. Turning to leave, he spotted something on a chair by the door. He walked over to pick up a small stack of papers with