The Bluest Eyes in Texas

The bathroom light went off an instant before the door opened. When she approached the bed, the light through the curtains showed her feet, narrow and pale, with that silver chain wrapped around one ankle. It also showed a length of bare leg—she’d removed her jeans while she’d been up and had traded her shirt for a doll-sized tank top. It clung everywhere and ended well above the panties that hugged her hips. If he was interested in sex or in her, it would be torture to lie there in his bed the rest of the night while she lay in hers wearing so little.

But he wasn’t interested in sex or in her, he thought as he adjusted his erection to a more comfortable position. All he cared about was finding Mac and seeing that he paid for Sam’s and Ella’s murders.

Bailey slid into bed and tugged the covers high around her neck, gave a soft sigh and closed her eyes. He debated saying something—to let her know he wasn’t asleep, that he’d seen her—but decided against it. It would just embarrass her.

And then he wouldn’t get to see her like that again. His current lack of interest in sex aside, that would be cause for regret.

It was nearly noon when they stopped for lunch in a dusty New Mexico town. Esperanza was exactly how Bailey had imagined a small desert town to look—mostly shades of brown, not too prosperous, not too hospitable. The only green was on the occasional building or sign, and the only hint of friendliness was in…well, her. Neither the waitress nor the other customers in the diner showed any sign of welcome—or curiosity, for that matter.

“Esperanza,” she said thoughtfully as she removed the lettuce from her BLT and laid it aside. “That means ‘hope’ in Spanish, doesn’t it? Wonder how you say ‘lost hope’?”

“Why do you order a BLT if you don’t like lettuce?” Logan asked.

“Because if I asked for a BT, no one would know what I wanted. Do you speak Spanish?”

“Some.”

Which probably translated to fluently, she thought as she chewed a bite of crispy bacon and vine-ripened tomato.

“Do you?”

She shrugged. “I know the important phrases, like Where’s the bathroom? and I need chocolate. What other languages do you speak?”

“A little German, a little Korean, some Farsi.”

“What did you do in the Army?”

This time he shrugged. “How much farther?”

“Maybe twenty miles.”

“Twenty miles? Then why the hell did we stop here?”

“Because I thought we needed to discuss your plan.”

He squirted jalapeño ketchup over his burger, replaced the top half of the bun, then took a hungry bite. While he chewed, he looked everywhere except at her.

“You do have a plan, don’t you?”

He chased the food with a gulp of pop, then scowled at her. “My plan is to find out if Mac is in the area.”

“Which you can’t do by just showing up in town. This guy knows you. He’d disappear into the woodwork if he saw you snooping around where he’s hiding out.”

“If he’s hiding there.”

“Right. If. But we’ll never know if you go waltzing into town.”

His scowl deepened, but he didn’t admit that he hadn’t thought that far ahead. For months, Bailey knew, his search had been fruitless, going places Mac had been, talking to people Mac had seen, but long after the fact. Covertness hadn’t been an issue. Now it was. “So what do you suggest?” he asked grudgingly.

She smiled. “Simple. I’ll waltz into town.”

“And…?”

“Ask questions. Gather information. Find out whatever I can.”

“And you’ll be successful because…?”

“Mac doesn’t know me. I do this sort of thing for a living.” Just a little lie, she told herself. She did help locate missing people; she’d just never been out in the field before. “And I’m a woman.”

“And that gives you an edge?”

She filched a couple of his fries from his plate, dipped them in the spicy ketchup and enjoyed them before replying. “Men still have a lot of old-fashioned notions about women. They see them as weaker, more delicate, in need of their protection. They think we’re not as smart, not as capable, and they want to take care of us. I’m talking about most men, mind you. There are a few exceptions.”

Color rose into his cheeks, shading them dark bronze, but she thought it was from annoyance rather than embarrassment. “You didn’t need my help last night.”

“No, I didn’t,” she agreed. She’d handled the situation all by herself. On the one hand, it had been something of a triumph seeing all those self-defense classes pay off. On the other…maybe it was the wrong attitude for an independent career woman to have, but it would have been nice if Logan had cared enough to step in. Brady would have. Her other brother-in-law, Reese, definitely would have. Practically every man she knew would have considered it his duty to rescue her from Billy’s unwelcome attentions. But not Logan. He wouldn’t have cared if the jerk had thrown her over his shoulder and carried her out of the bar.

It made her think a little less of him.

“If you had needed help, I would have been there.”

That was an easy statement to make when the situation was over and done with. Maybe it was true, maybe not. Either way, it was good to know that he’d placed definite limits on their partnership. If she got into trouble with Mac or his brother, she wouldn’t make the mistake of counting on Logan to help her out.

Dismissing the subject, she turned to business. “The town we’re going to is Nomas. Legend says that a group of travelers were crossing the area a hundred and fifty years ago in the hottest July anyone could ever recall. After days of blistering heat, sand and wind, one of the travelers insisted he would go no más—no more—and it stuck, though somewhere along the way it became one word and the accent transferred to the first syllable. It’s about a half mile north of the border and has all the conveniences—motels, restaurants and bars. Mac’s brother has a ranch about five miles east of town that backs right up to the border. Whether he actually does any ranching is anyone’s guess.”

“Have you been there?”

“No. I checked it out on the Internet. Great little resource when you need information.” Of course, he didn’t look like a computer-friendly person. Come to think of it, he didn’t seem much of anything-friendly. He loved his car, but that was the only thing he showed any fondness for.

And Sam and Ella Jensen. He’d loved them, and blamed himself for their deaths. If nothing else, she could cut him some slack for that.

“Unless I find out that Mac’s not there, you’ll have to keep a low profile. That means staying out of sight at the motel. It also means—” she let her gaze drift out the plate glass window to the GTX parked out front before turning a big grin on him “—letting me drive your car.”

“When hell freezes over,” he muttered before taking the last bite of his burger. “Nobody drives that car but me.”

“I know.” And that would make it even sweeter when she slid behind the wheel. All that power…and all the satisfaction of knowing it was killing him…too sweet.

He stood and tossed a couple ones on the table, then picked up the check. “What’s going to be your excuse for asking questions about Mac? He’s not the sort of person who will take kindly to some nosy broad poking around.”

She stood, too, and studied her reflection in the window. “I haven’t decided yet.” Grabbing a handful of her shirt in back, she pulled it tight, then slid her free hand over her stomach. “Maybe I’ll be searching for the father of my baby.”

That brought a scowl that made the others look like mild grimaces, and he murmured something as he stalked off to the cash register near the door. Catching the words stupid and idiot, she decided not to ask him to repeat the rest.

It was hot and sunny, with a dry breeze out of the west. Bailey would have appreciated just a drop or two of humidity, even if it did make the heat more uncomfortable. Too much time in this environment, and she feared she might shrivel up and blow away in that wind.

“Seriously,” Logan said after putting a few miles between them and the diner. “You need a reason for asking about Mac. What is it going to be?”

“Seriously I don’t intend to ask about Mac to start. I intend to look around, meet some people and go from there. Who knows?” she added as she kicked off her sandals, then propped one bare foot out the window. “Maybe I’ll romance the information out of Hector.”

She expected some sort of response from Logan—Pete MacGregor’s brother’s name is Hector Escobar?—but he remained silent so long that she finally looked his way. His jaw was clenched tighter than usual, and he had the steering wheel in a grip better suited, she imagined, to her throat.

He shifted his gaze to her for only an instant before turning back to the road. “This isn’t a game,” he said, grinding out the words. “If you can’t get that through your head, you need to get the hell back to Memphis where you belong. Pete MacGregor is a cold-blooded killer, and I doubt his brother is much better.”

“I don’t know,” she said more carelessly than she felt. “You and Brady are brothers, but you’re nothing alike. Mac and Hector are only half brothers, and they didn’t grow up together. For all we know, Hector could be a God-fearing, churchgoing, law-abiding man.”

“Providing refuge for his fugitive brother? I doubt it.”

She didn’t have to doubt it—she had proof otherwise. Hector Escobar had an arrest record going back to his teen years and had spent time in prison on drug and assault convictions. In the pictures she’d seen of him—booking photos and prison shots—he was one scary-looking man. Big, tattooed, with wild hair, a wild beard and wild-eyed. But he hadn’t been arrested even once in five years. Maybe he’d grown up and gotten his temper under control. Or maybe he’d just gotten better at what he was doing.

But Logan didn’t need to know any of that. He might actually show concern for her safety, though he’d be more likely to use it as an excuse. He would ditch her, take care of Mac on his own, then disappear again without a thought for his promise to meet Lexy. Because she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, she was sticking to him until the day she delivered him to his family in Buffalo Plains.

“It’s not a game,” he repeated, still looking and sounding as if he might grind his molars down.

“I know that. You know, I’ve dealt with people like Hector before.” Another lie, unless via the computer counted as dealing with. “Don’t worry about it. I can take care of myself. Remember?”

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