Tall, Dark and Texan

Nor did he particularly care.

He went back inside and marched down the hall to his bedroom. Shannon met him in the doorway with her arms full of linens and towels. She gave him a nod and a smile and eased past him.

All right, so maybe he did need to get some chores done. Laundry hadn’t been a priority for him. He changed into swim trunks, found a lone towel in the cabinet and took it. Without comment he left the condo, went downstairs and outside.

Chairs conveniently tucked beneath umbrellas clustered the beach in front of the high-rise building. He found an empty one, tossed the towel on it, then stalked to the water and waded in. He forced himself to keep going, despite the shock of the temperature to his warm body. At the moment, it was just what he needed—to cool off and to figure out what the hell he was going to do about his unwanted guest.

Meanwhile, Shannon was upstairs on the phone with Mandy.

“You made him angry?” his sister repeated worriedly.

“I worked hard at it and I believe my efforts were successful.”

“I suppose that’s better than the apathy he’s been going through.”

“It would help if I understood what was going on with him,” Shannon said. “You told me that he’d had some business setbacks, and yet the company seems to be growing.”

“Oh, I forgot you haven’t been here for the past few years. There was this huge investigation going on about the company. It started a couple of years ago. It seems that Dan’s partner, James Williams, was secretly taking microprocessor chips from the company, reporting them stolen, then helping to smuggle them out of the country so they could be sold to some Middle Eastern countries with whom the U.S. is no longer doing business of any kind.”

“Oh, my.”

“Yes. And when he finally got caught—thanks to Rafe’s sleuthing, by the way—James had set it up to look as if Dan was the one responsible for the thefts. He’d even arranged for the stuff to be picked up here on the ranch. Things really looked bad for Dan for a while. Since Rafe knew there was no way Dan could be involved, he just kept digging until he found out the truth. But it was really hard on Dan. He’d been friends with James for years. And of course he trusted him implicitly. So this has been really tough on him.”

“Well, that does explain a few things. He’s probably suffering from a form of burnout.”

“That’s what Rafe says. He says we should just leave him alone until he’s ready to face the daily grind again.”

“Does Rafe know I’m down here?”

“Oh, no. I mean, he knows you came in for an interview. In fact, I think you met him when you were in the office, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I remembered him from school. I had no idea the two of you had gotten married, though, until he happened to mention being related to Dan through marriage.”

Mandy laughed. “I think he’s still in shock, as well. I was so glad you called me, though. It was good to hear from you after all this time.”

“I’m glad I did, too. We had a lot to get caught up on.”

“Rafe’s going to kill me for encouraging you to go down there, but I don’t care. I feel so much better knowing that someone is with him. I guess it’s encouraging to know Dan cares enough to get angry. First at me yesterday and now you today.”

Shannon chuckled. “Well, I have a hunch that I’ll be able to keep him on edge for a while longer, at least until he orders me out of here in no uncertain terms.”

“Hang tough, Shannon. And thanks again for caring enough to check on him.”

“Oh, that’s never been my problem where Dan’s concerned. I guess I’ve had him on some kind of pedestal all these years. It’s good to be able to see him as a person with faults and frailties of his own.”

Mandy laughed. “Yeah. The trouble with putting someone on a pedestal is you have a much better view of his butt. And he can certainly be one at times.”

“Well, I’ve almost got the place straightened up now. He’s really not a messy person, at all. Once I finish this last load of clothes I intend to go soak up some sun. And harass your brother a little more.”

“Thanks for checking in this morning. I had my first good night’s sleep since he left. Believe me, you’ve been a real gift.”

“Dan definitely doesn’t see it that way. But we’ll worry about that later. ’Bye now.”

Shannon finished folding laundry, then changed back into her bathing suit. After slathering her skin with a heavy sunscreen, she grabbed a towel, a novel she’d brought with her and her sunglasses and went downstairs.

More people were on the beach now than when she’d been there earlier. She spotted an empty chair and settled into it. Not wanting to burn on her first outing, she opened the beach umbrella knowing that she would still be exposed to enough sun to get tan from the reflection off the water.

She read for a while, then closed the book and settled in for a short nap before the time came to start lunch. If nothing else, Dan had lucked out in the culinary department because she loved to cook. Unfortunately, she also loved to eat, which meant a constant battle to exercise off the pounds. The bane of being small-boned and short in stature was that every extra pound showed.

Shannon allowed the soft sound of the rhythmic waves washing up on shore to soothe her into a deep sleep.

* * *

Dan had forgotten how enjoyable it was to swim in the Gulf. Careful of the undertow, he found deeper troughs between the sandbars close to shore to really push himself. He hadn’t realized how out of shape he’d gotten these past weeks. It felt good to work his body.

Eventually he walked along the shore in knee-deep water and watched the surf fishermen pull in small sharks. He lost track of time until his stomach rumbled. He was actually hungry again.

It would be too much to hope for to find that his new unappointed, uninvited and unwelcome housekeeper had left. He was pleasantly tired after his workout this morning. A good meal and a nap would suit him just fine. She’d obviously been to the grocery store. So maybe she’d already prepared something for lunch. If not, he could always dig around in the refrigerator for sandwich material.

He was approaching the high-rise when he noticed three men talking to a woman seated in one of the chairs near where he’d left his towel. As he drew closer he discovered the woman was Shannon and whatever one of the men was saying had caused her to violently disagree. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but she was vehemently shaking her head no, which appeared clear enough to Dan.

Hah. Now maybe she’d find out what it was like to deal with someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

He took another look at the men. They didn’t look much like the usual beach-loving types. They wore bright, vacation-type shirts and shorts, but they were too pasty-colored to have spent much time in the sun. The true giveaway was the footwear—all three men wore black socks and lace-up shoes.

Dan wondered if he should interfere. Maybe this was some guy she’d been dating who didn’t want to give her up. Dan supposed that would be possible. If he weren’t in the middle of some kind of nervous breakdown, he’d probably have welcomed her into his wayward life.

In fact, he realized that despite the fact he’d just met her, Dan felt a little possessive where she was concerned. He didn’t like the idea that someone was pursuing her, particularly since it was obvious she wasn’t encouraging his attentions.

The man doing all the talking suddenly grabbed Shannon by her upper arm and jerked her to her feet, which forced Dan into taking action. Whatever the guy’s beef, there was no reason to manhandle her.

He picked up his pace and trotted toward them.

“Hold it,” he hollered as he drew close. “That’s no way to treat a lady!”

The other two men spun around and shifted so that they stood between him and the other two. “Stay out of this,” one of them said in a guttural voice. “It’s none of your business.”

Dan had never liked bullies. He didn’t really assess the situation before moving closer. He was more concerned with how she was handling all of this.

“Shannon?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

Her answer, sounding shaky, alarmed him. “Uh, not really. I don’t have any idea who these men are or what they want, I just—”

“Don’t give me that,” the man holding her arm said. “We told you we’re looking for Rick Taylor. We happen to know the two of you are pretty thick, so don’t try to deny it. You’ve led us on a long chase, lady, so don’t play games with me, ’cause I’m not in the mood.”

Dan attempted to step closer, but one of the men blocked his way. He shoved him aside and grabbed the man holding Shannon, forcing him to let her go. “Leave her alone,” he said, doubling his fists. He was more than ready to lay him out.

Dan couldn’t remember the last time his anger had overcome him. Only now, there was an object to his anger, somebody with whom he could face-off.

Shannon screamed a warning of sorts at the same time Dan felt a blinding pain in the back of the head. He stumbled and fell to his hands and knees, which increased his ire. What the hell was going on? Who did these goons think they were, assaulting people?

He attempted to stand when he was hit on the head again. This time, he went down for the count.

Five

The first thing Dan became aware of when he regained consciousness was a nauseating, rocking movement and the fact that his head felt as though it was on the verge of exploding.

The second thing he noticed was the sound of an engine droning somewhere nearby, and a soft, scented pillow for his head. From those pieces of information he managed to figure out that he was on a boat, going somewhere.

He tried to move his head and intense pain shot through him.

He groaned.

“Oh Dan, I’m so sorry to get you involved in this mess. Are you okay?”

Shannon. He would recognize that voice anywhere and at the moment it was only a few inches above him. He forced one eye open and saw her very worried face staring back at him.

She was crouched on the floor of the boat where he lay sprawled, holding his head against her breast.

What the hell had happened? Since she didn’t respond he decided he must have just thought the question. He licked his dry lips and forced his other eye to open. “Wha’s—” Was that his voice? He sounded drunk. He tried again. “Wha’ happened?”

“One of those men hit you on the head. Twice! They carried you between them to a car where another man was waiting. He looked surprised to see us and started asking them what was going on. He said something about just hiring out his boat and car to them and that he wasn’t going to be a part of any assault and kidnapping.

“While the man who seemed to be their leader talked to him in a low voice, the other two loaded you in the back of the car. By then I was determined to stay with you. I mean, they had no reason to hit you! They said they’d been looking for me. I don’t know what’s going on, but I didn’t want you disappearing on me.”

“How long have I been out?”

She thought about it for a moment and said, “It seems like forever, but I suppose it’s been about thirty minutes or so. Long enough for them to bring us to this boat, stow us down here and leave the marina. From the sounds I would guess we’re heading out into the Gulf.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he murmured. Anything louder and his head protested. “We’ve been kidnapped?”

She smoothed his hair away from his forehead, her eyes filled with shadows. “I’m afraid so.”

He closed his eyes. The irony of the situation was almost more than he could take. How many times in a lifetime could a man expect to be kidnapped and live to tell about it? He’d been kidnapped when he first found out his ranch was being used to smuggle microprocessor chips out of the country. He wondered if he had a sign tattooed on his forehead signaling his availability to would-be captors.

“Who are they?” he asked after several minutes of silence.

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen them before. They may be from St. Louis, since they were asking me about Rick.”

“Who’s Rick?”

She sighed. “Rick Taylor. I went out with him a few times, then broke up with him. He became a real pest after that, and I finally decided that it wasn’t worth staying there and trying to deal with him when I was also getting fed up with some of the problems at work.” She stroked his cheek and jaw. “So I decided to return to Texas and look for work in the Austin area. I can’t believe that I’m still having problems because of Rick Taylor!”

Dan reached up and gingerly touched the back of his head. His fingers came away covered with blood. “You’re having problems?” he repeated.

He had to admit that lying against her like this made his pain lessen, somewhat, and he knew that he would forever think of her whenever he smelled that particular floral scent.

“So tell me about this guy Rick,” he said, hoping to concentrate on something other than the throbbing pain in his head.

“Well, he was very good-looking, charming, seemed to have lots of money. He always maintained that he worked in investments, but that was a little too vague for me. After I was with him a few times, I began to be really uncomfortable. He made me nervous. I didn’t like some of the people he hung around with.”

“I can certainly understand that, if these are a few of his friends.”

“I’ve never seen these men before.”

“They seem to think you know where Rick is, which sounds as if he might be missing.”

“I haven’t spoken to Rick in almost three months, so I have no idea where he might be. As far as I know, he’s still in St. Louis.”

“Something tells me he isn’t or they wouldn’t have come looking for you.” Dan attempted to sit up and a sharper pain shot through his head like a bullet. And to think that he’d been complaining of having a headache when he woke up this morning. He’d had no idea what pain could be like.

Well, this was just great. Here they were being carried out to sea for who knew what purpose, wearing nothing but their swimsuits. He noticed that she wore her cover-up jacket over her suit, but since it was sheer enough to see through, it wasn’t going to give her much protection.

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