Legends and Lies (19 page)

“LET’S GO, JARED. Tucker has some new information on the car,” Billy said.

Jared pushed to his feet and followed the other man out of Tucker’s hauler. They went to one of the NASCAR trailers. An official waited for them.

“Everyone’s up there. We’re waiting on one other guy.”

“Who?”

“Rob Mandelay.”

“Who’s that?”

“Our catch can man,” Billy said as he climbed into the trailer conference room. There were five people already in the room. Tucker, Dave, Vinnie, a NASCAR representative and an official—Marvin.

“What’s going on?” Jared asked as he took a seat at the conference table.

“Dave had a confession from Mandelay that he messed with the carburetor,” Tucker said.

“Damn, I hate that I was right and it was one of my guys,” Billy said.

“Me, too.”

“We don’t know that anyone’s right, yet,” Marvin, the official said. “We need to talk to Mandelay and see what he says.”

Jared understood but he wasn’t too sure that this confession would clear Tucker. “Did he say why?”

“Something about proving his loyalty to me,” Dave said.

The door opened and Mandelay walked in, accompanied by a second official.

“What’s going on?” Rob asked, as he looked at all the faces around the table.

“We need to talk,” Marvin said.

Rob glanced at Dave and then at Tucker. Jared thought the other man was running through his options.

“About?”

“Don’t, Rob. We know you’re the one who messed with the carburetor,” Billy said.

“Because he said so,” Rob said, pointing to Dave.

“Hey, man, I’ve got nothing to gain from saying that it was sabotage,” Dave said. “Aldridge is my number one competition so if he stays out of the race I’m a shoe-in to win. But that’s not what NASCAR is about and it’s not what I’m about. Tell these men what you told me earlier.”

Jared found a new respect for Dave. Rob shrugged then pushed to his feet. “Yeah, I did it. I changed it out so that Aldridge would be fined and possibly suspended.”

“Did anyone ask you to do it?” Marvin asked.

Rob shook his head. “Not directly, but I thought if I could help Dave win the championship, he’d be more apt to hire me.”

“Did he hint that if you somehow sabotaged Tucker’s car he’d hire you?” Marvin asked.

“No. But we go way back and I know that loyalty is something that all the Jenners reward.”

“Not blind loyalty. You should have been true to your driver. That’s what we reward.”

Jared realized that Annie was the same way. That she was looking for loyalty to her, not blind, just steady. That she wanted a man she knew would stand by her side and not leave her stranded.

After the NASCAR officials put their heads together, they announced their decision. “Aldridge, your crew should work on readying your car for today’s race. Marvin will go with you for an inspection.”

“You’ll have to start in the back,” the NASCAR official added.

Jared knew that was because Tucker had no official qualifying time as he’d been disqualified. It didn’t matter. He was relieved that Tucker was starting.

There was an official announcement thirty minutes later that the race would be delayed an hour and that Aldridge would be racing today. No more was said officially. The press and media people were swarming around the pits and the garages trying to get more information on what had happened, but word had come down that they wouldn’t answer any questions until after the race.

Jared checked his voice mail and listened to the message from Annie. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. He knew he owed her an apology. He’d gotten angry and let their conversation get out of control. And last night had been too long and too lonely.

He walked through the garage area looking for that familiar dark-haired woman. But he didn’t see her at first. Then he found her, sitting in a chair outside of Dave’s hauler watching her cell phone like it was some kind of holy relic.

He walked over to her and cleared his throat, unsure what to say now that he was here with her.

She glanced up at him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he said. He always knew what to say, but right now he didn’t. “I—”

“Wait, before you say anything I want you to know that I’m sorry for the way I acted. Dave’s not better than Tucker and being a Jenner doesn’t make me better than anyone else.”

“Actually, I’m not sure about that. Dave has a lot of integrity. I hadn’t really let myself see that side of him until today.”

“I’m pretty sure he wasn’t showing you his best side,” Annie said. “But that doesn’t excuse what I said.”

“I think we both said things we regret,” he replied. “I know I did.”

Annie got to her feet. “Me, too. I…I don’t want to fight with you, Jared. I realized today that I use my family as a shield.”

“I have barriers, too.”

“Yes, but you were willing to lower them for me, but I was…I was afraid to trust that you were the real thing,” she said.

“What changed?” he asked, aching to draw her into his arms.

“Two things. The first is that I realized that I was trying so hard to keep you away because you are more important to me than anyone else.”

“You’re important to me, too, Annie. I’ve really tried to show you that,” he said, drawing her into his arms.

He hugged her close. “What was the other thing?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered into her ear. “More than I’d ever expected to. I always feared that love was the one thing that would be out of reach for me.”

“Not anymore,” she said, hugging him tightly to her. “You made me realize that home could be a person instead of a place.”

“You made me realize that home is something I can carry around with me. I found the home I’ve been searching for in you.”

They held each other for a long time. “I know you said to wait until Homestead to talk about our relationship, but… I want you in my life permanently.”

“I’d like that.”

The engines started firing up on pit road and the noise filled the air. “I have to go photograph the race.”

“I have some things to take care of, too,” he said, kissing her hard on the lips one more time.

As soon as she left, Jared went to find Alan Jenner. “I need to talk to Brandon. Do you know where he is?”

“Up in his owner’s suite.”

Jared had no jewelry and nothing prepared but he knew that today was the day he wanted to ask Annie to marry him and he couldn’t do it without her father’s permission.

TUCKER CAME FROM BEHIND to win the race and Annie and Dave both joined the other man in Victory lane. Annie took photos of her brother and saw the mark of the man he was.

“That was a tough race today,” Annie said. “I know you wanted to win for Daddy.”

“Yeah, I did. I’ve been dealing with some weird emotional stuff about living up to his legacy and today… Well, today I realized that the real legacy isn’t necessarily about the points I rack up and the races I win. I think Dad’s legacy is the way he conducted himself.”

“So you don’t care that if you win next weekend and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Championship is yours?” she asked.

“Oh, I care. In fact, Vinnie and I are going to be talking strategy from now until the race is over next week. I really like your man, Annie. I think you’ve got a keeper this time,” Dave said.

“Me, too,” Annie replied.

Dave left to go to his after-race party and Annie followed along. Her parents were waiting in the garage area with a good number of her relatives.

“What’s up?” she asked her mom as she joined the group. Everyone was standing in a loose circle and not really talking.

“Nothing. We all wanted to be down here together,” her mother said.

“What for?”

“Just to support Dave,” Alan said. “Where is he?”

“He was talking to some reporters a few minutes ago. Why?” Annie asked.

“I just need to talk to him,” Alan said.

Annie dropped back to take photos of her family. She got the majestic Sierra Estrella Mountains in the background and hoped she captured the energy of the moment. There was excitement in her family’s faces. And as her finger clicked on the shutter she realized that she’d been looking too hard in all the pictures she’d taken for some kind of truth. Some kind of proof from her family of what they’d meant to her.

“Annie, put that camera down and come over here,” her father said.

She snapped one more of him, grateful that he looked fitter than he had in months. She dropped the Nikon, letting it hang around her neck by the strap. She noticed that Tucker, Vinnie and Billy had joined her family. Then she saw Jared standing in the middle of the loose circle of her family.

“What’s up?”

“Ah…I need to ask you something,” he said.

She swallowed hard. “Okay.”

Jared got down on one knee in the middle of her family and friends and took her hand in his. “Will you marry me?”

Her eyes widened, and tears stung the back of them. “Yes.”

Her family cheered and Jared got to his feet, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her long and hard.

“Congratulations,” Dave said, clapping Jared on the back. “Welcome to the family.”

“Thanks,” Jared said.

Annie stared up into the eyes of the man she loved as someone broke out bottles of chilled champagne. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Believe it, Annie.”

“This is going to be complicated,” she said, thinking that Dave and Tucker were always going to be competing against each other, as were the other drivers on both of their teams.

“We can handle that,” Jared said. “What matters most is the love we’ve found together.”

ISBN: 978-1-4268-0521-9

LEGENDS AND LIES

Copyright © 2007 by Harlequin Books S.A.

Katherine Garbera is acknowledged as the author of this work.

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