The Specialist

“This isn’t my decision to make, Kendra. Excuse me while I make a phone call.”

Kendra wondered if he was angry or just annoyed. He pushed a series of buttons and stepped into the hall. His voice drifted to where she sat.

“Hey, beautiful, how are you this morning? No, nothing like that, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel our date this afternoon.”

The back door swung open with a crash that sent Kendra whirling. A little girl rushed inside, giggling in glee. An older man dressed in dusty work clothes, and a woman with golden brown hair and dark brown eyes followed on her heels.

“Rosa! Rosa!”

The child stopped calling and came to an immediate halt at the sight of Kendra sitting at the table all alone.

Rosa bustled forward saying something in rapid Spanish. The little girl responded, never once taking her pretty brown eyes from Kendra. The gnarled ranch hand and his companion came to a stop as well, but they didn’t seem surprised to see her sitting there.

“Ma’am.”

Kendra offered an uncertain smile.

“Who are you?” the child asked abruptly.

“I’m Kendra. Who are you?”

“I’m Elena. My daddy works here. That’s my mommy.”

Abby and Jake Cantrell’s little girl, Kendra realized.

“I’m Abby Cantrell,” The woman greeted her, while her dark brown eyes assessed Kendra candidly. “This patient man is Slim Dillon.”

“Hi.”

“I’m going riding,” the child announced. “Do you want to come and watch?”

“Uh,” she looked helplessly at the child’s mother, but it was the man called Slim, towering beside her, who answered.

“Can if you want. We got a training ring set up outside. She tends to show off for visitors, but that’s okay.”

“Well—”

Abby smiled. “You’d be welcome to join us. It looks like you’ve been abandoned.”

“Rafe’s on the telephone.”

“Lydia, no doubt,” she said.

The tall man harrumphed and turned to Rosa who got caught patting her hair in a purely feminine action. Kendra wanted to smile when she saw the way Slim’s features and his voice softened as he addressed her.

Abby shared a knowing smile with her and Kendra wondered if Mitchell Forbes knew he had a budding romance going on right here in his kitchen. Obviously Abby knew and approved.

Rosa beamed at the foreman and the two shared a low-voiced spate of dialogue.

“Do join us, Kendra,” Abby urged. “It will give us a chance to become acquainted while you’re waiting to talk with Mitchell.”

“Does everyone know why I’m here?”

“No secrets on the Smokin’ Barrel, girl,” Slim announced turning back to them. “You ready to ride, little one?”

“Yep! Come on, Kendra! Slim says I can take Sugar Cube out for a walk today.”

“Uh, maybe I’d better not leave until I see Ms. Archer.”

“Penny will find you when she’s ready,” Abby assured her.

Casting a look through the empty doorway where Rafe had disappeared, Kendra reluctantly stood. “Well then, thank you for inviting me.” Maybe the grilling could work both ways. She’d like to hear Abby’s opinion of the disturbingly impossible Rafael Alvarez—and the unknown woman he was breaking a date with.

“SO WHAT’S your take on the Kincade woman, Rafe?” Mitchell demanded, looking around the conference table at the assembled members of Texas Confidential.

“She’s got spunk. And I suspect she could give stubborn lessons to a mule. We need some factual information on her.”

“Do you think she’d go through with her threat?” Jake asked skimming a hand over his short, dark hair.

“Maybe. I’m more concerned that she might do something foolish if she’s left on her own. I don’t think she’s faking her hated for Stephen Rialto, though I’d be a lot more comfortable if I knew why.”

“Maybe he had her boyfriend or a lover killed,” Cody suggested.

Mitchell frowned. “She wouldn’t explain?”

“I seem to make her nervous,” Rafe admitted with a shrug.

There was a discreet shuffling of feet and a couple of not-so-hidden smirks.

“Imagine that,” Penny murmured.

“Charm’s starting to fail you in your old age?” Brady asked with a grin.

Rafe faced his fellow agents with a self-deprecating smile. “I prefer to think that my charms simply overwhelm the poor woman.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Oh, brother.”

Mitchell put a stop to the teasing. “We have to decide how to handle her. If she knows as much as she implies about our operation she could be a problem.”

“On the other hand, if she’s as good with a computer as she claims, she could be an asset,” Brady put in.

“Or she could be someone whose job it is to infiltrate us,” Penny pointed out.

Jake frowned. “She’s with my wife and daughter.” And there was still a touch of almost awed pride in those words. “Abby may be able to learn something from her.”

Mitchell turned the silver lighter over and over in his fingers. He turned to Penny. “Find out if we can get any information out of Washington, D.C. yet,” he ordered. “In the meantime, we’ll string her along. We’ll keep her here until we have more information. It’s possible we can use her.”

“There’s a problem with that,” Rafe said. “Even if she’s as good with a computer as she claims, there’s no way I can bring her along as my assistant. You know the sort of people Rialto surrounds himself with. Young, attractive—”

“Oh, listen to that ego,” Cody teased.

“No,” Mitchell said thoughtfully, tapping a thumbnail against the lighter. “In this case, Rafe’s right. In the past five years Rialto has only hired female staff with a certain ‘look.’ Ms. Kincade doesn’t fit.”

“Exactly,” Rafe agreed.

Mitchell set the lighter on the table. “So fix it.”

“What?”

The other agents began to snicker.

“Do what’s necessary to make her fit in. Clothes, hair, whatever.”

“Me? Why me? Penny—”

“Hey, I have enough to do around here. Glamorous women are your department, Rafe,” she said archly.

“You know they are merely substitutes while I wait for you, darlin’.”

“Well while you’re waiting,” Mitchell growled around the end of his unlit cigar, “take care of Kendra Kincade.”

“Now wait a minute, how am I supposed to do that?”

The others began gathering their stuff in preparation for the end of the meeting.

“This isn’t funny, guys.” They ignored him with wide smirks. He rounded on Penny. “I’m at least going to need a feminine point of view here.”

“Not mine,” she said firmly. “Why not ask the widow, Lydia?”

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. “Now there’s a lady who knows how to fill out a dress.”

Penny snorted. “Bear in mind that Lydia’s favorite shade of yellow definitely won’t suit Kendra’s coloring,” she pointed out coolly. “Also, Kendra doesn’t have Lydia’s abundantly obvious charms.”

Jake nudged Brady and muttered, “This could get interesting.”

Mitchell surveyed them in silence. Rafe knew when he was licked. With an exaggerated sigh, he acquiesced. “All right. I’ll see what I can do. When should I start?”

“Right after I meet with Ms. Kincade,” Mitchell said. “Forgo your outside duties so you can stay near the phone lines. Our information says Rialto’s appointment secretary is supposed to call the candidates today or tomorrow to set up interviews. Penny will continue to pose as your assistant, but they might ask to speak to you. I want you around if that happens.”

“Does this mean I get to hang out down here and chase Penny around the conference table?”

Penny fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Be still my foolish heart.”

“What about the roundup?” Cody interrupted.

“Slim’s hired plenty of extra help,” Mitchell promised.

“In that case,” Cody said, “maybe I’ll give you a hand after all, Rafe.”

“You will report to Slim and find out if he needs someone to ride herd on any of the new men,” Mitchell said sternly.

Cody’s lips tightened at the rebuke, but he remained silent as the meeting broke up.

An hour later, Rafe was invited to join Kendra, Mitchell and Penny in the library upstairs.

“Kendra has tentatively convinced me that she may be an asset as your assistant, Rafe.” Mitchell informed him as if it were the first time they’d spoken on this issue. “She has some rather impressive computer knowledge. That being the case, you need to prepare her for the assignment.”

“Prepare me?” Kendra queried.

Rafe noted the way Kendra bit down on her lip. She wasn’t pretty, he told himself, yet there was something naively appealing about her.

“Yes sir.”

“Rafe will drive you over to Chet’s to gather your belongings. I’ll see you at dinner this evening.”

It was clear dismissal. Kendra rose from her seat. “You won’t be sorry.”

Mitchell’s smile didn’t reach his watchful eyes. Rafe was relieved to see the older man had as many reservations as he did about this woman.

There was no chance to ask Mitchell if he’d discovered anything about Kendra during their talk. Rafe led her outside to the ranch’s battered pickup truck. The drive to Chet’s was almost silent. None of Rafe’s conversational topics drew her out. Kendra watched the scenery and answered in monosyllables.

“You know, if you’re having second thoughts, it isn’t too late to change your mind,” he finally told her.

Kendra twisted on the seat to stare at him. “I’m not.”

“You’re awfully quiet for someone who just got what she claims to want.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“For starters, I’d like to know more about these people he had killed that you cared about. Were they friends, lovers, relatives, what?”

“What difference does it make? Rialto is slime and I want him to pay for his crimes.”

Color climbed her neck. She turned mutely back to the window. The sun sent prisms of color bouncing around the cab of his truck from the crystal earrings she wore. What was she hiding? He turned the truck into the drive leading to their neighbor’s dude ranch, determined to learn what was behind her animosity.

Penny had called ahead, so Chet’s staff knew they were coming. Apparently, so did Chet’s sister. Lydia flew out of the house, a welcome smile on her lips.

“Rafe! First you cancel our date and then Chet tells me you’re stealing one of our customers away!” As soon as he stepped from the truck she slid her arm through his, beaming up at him, her generous breasts pushing against his arm.

“Mitchell is a friend of Kendra’s parents. When he ran into her this morning he invited her to spend a few days with us.” The prepared lie rolled off Rafe’s tongue with practiced ease.

“It was really too naughty of you taking Settled Sue like that. Chet was most unhappy.”

“I’ll apologize when I see him,” Kendra said. She held Lydia’s gaze for several seconds before turning and disappearing inside the house.

Rafe had seen disapproval in those expressive eyes of hers, but he wasn’t sure if the look was for what Lydia had said, his lie about her visit with Mitchell, or the way Lydia clung so sweetly to him.

“Are we still on for tomorrow night?” Lydia asked.

“Uh…”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to cancel tomorrow as well.”

Looking into her anxious eyes, he didn’t have the heart to sever another date. He liked Lydia, and he knew this week was especially hard for her. She was coming up on the anniversary of her husband’s death.

“I plan to pick you up—”

“No, I’ll pick you up. I want you to ride in my new convertible. I take delivery tomorrow afternoon. Is five o’clock too early?”

“That will be fine.” He disengaged himself gently. “But right now I’d better go in and give Kendra a hand with her luggage.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Kendra said, striding onto the front porch, a computer bag over one shoulder, pulling a wheeled a suitcase behind her. “I’m not a heavy packer.”

“And it appears you never got around to unpacking.”

Kendra didn’t respond. She seemed surprised when he took the heavy case from her and lifted it easily into the back of the pickup truck.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Rafe?” Lydia asked anxiously.

Rafe nodded and Lydia visibly relaxed.

“Goodbye, Kendra. I hope you and Mitchell have a nice visit.”

“Thank you. And please thank your brother for me.”

Lydia’s smile widened until her dimples showed. “Oh, I will. Bye, Rafe.”

“I know it’s none of my business,” Kendra said as he turned the truck onto the main road, “but are you and Lydia…”

“Good friends.”

Kendra stared out the window. “Does she know that?”

Rafe relaxed. “Now darlin’, you wouldn’t be jealous, would you?”

Red scorched her cheeks. “Of course not. I was wondering because of the way she hung on you.”

“She normally isn’t like that. Her husband was killed during a holdup near their home a year ago this week.”

“Oh.”

“Lydia moved back here to lend her brother a hand.”

Kendra relaxed. “Chet seems nice.”

“So is Lydia.” Rafe liked the hard-working Chet. Once Lydia made it clear she wasn’t looking for anything permanent, Rafe had allowed himself to be attracted to the tall, curvy, vivacious woman.

“May I ask you a question?”

“Ask away.”

“Is there really a problem with rustlers in this day and age?”

The question surprised him, but he gave her a serious answer. “Yep. We’ve lost several head in the last few months. Why?”

“I was thinking back to last night. When I was out riding, I noticed a closed truck driving along this road.”

Rafe nearly ran off the road, swiveling his head to look at her. “You didn’t mention this before.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it earlier.”

“Did you get a look at the truck? A license plate? See the driver?”

“No, nothing like that. I noticed the truck because it seemed like an odd time to be out and about. I thought maybe it was a vegetable farmer on his way to town with produce or something.”

Rafe shook his head, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. “Not on this road. What color was the truck? And what direction was it traveling”

“White I think. It was going east. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. You think it belonged to the rustlers?”

“I’d say it’s a pretty good chance.”

“Don’t they use horses?”

“Sure, but they need a truck to carry the animals away once they herd them. If you think of anything about that truck that might help us identify it, let one of us know. We’d really like to catch these guys.”

“I’m sorry. If I’d known it was important I’d have paid more attention.”

They lapsed into silence until they reached the Smoking Barrel.

“Are you up to a challenge?” Rafe asked as he hauled her suitcase from the back of the truck. She clung to the computer case, he noticed.

“What sort of a challenge?”

He set the suitcase in the hall near the stairs. “For starters, I need to see how well you can handle yourself in difficult situations.”

“I thought I was doing that rather well.”

Rafe tipped his head in rueful acknowledgement. “We have about an hour before dinner. Are you game to show me what you can do?”

“That depends on the game.”

“Let me take your cases upstairs and I’ll meet you in the basement.”

“The basement.”

Deliberately, Rafe stepped into her personal space and lowered his voice. “It’s where I take all my women.”

For an instant, her eyes opened wide behind the lenses of her ugly glasses. Then they narrowed while her lips pursed in annoyance. She shoved surprisingly hard at his chest. “Must make it hard to get a second date.”

Rafe stepped back with a bark of laughter. “You might be on to something there. However, in this case, the basement is the only appropriate place for what I have in mind.”

“Sorting laundry?”

“I’ll show you.”

Kendra watched him carry her cases upstairs. He was up to something and she had to go along. Mitchell Forbes had made that entirely clear this morning. Anything—even putting up with Rafe’s teasing—was worth obtaining her goal.

She followed him to the rear of the finished basement, surprised to find a small gym set up.

“You want me to work out?” She demanded, coming to an abrupt halt. “Sorry, I work on computers, I don’t lift them.”

Rafe chuckled again. The sound rippled right down her spine, inviting the listener to share his amusement.

“We’ll get to that part later. Take off your boots and step on the mats.” He was already removing his own boots.

“Planning to get kinky?” Her heart began pumping a little faster.

“Maybe later,” he said suggestively. Then he surged to his feet. He was a large, vital man. The basement abruptly felt isolated, locking the two of them away from the rest of the world. Rosa was just up the steps in the kitchen, but that seemed a long way off all of a sudden.

Kendra tugged off her own boots, wincing at the blister forming on the back of her left heel. She should have worn the boots more often to break them in.

“Still have your knife?”

She nodded tightly.

“I want you to come at me with it.”

“What?”

All traces of the humorous teasing had disappeared. “We’re going into a hostile environment, Kendra. I want to see just how well prepared you are to take care of yourself.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Prove it.”

Her heart pounded faster. “I might hurt you.”

“I’ll take that chance.”

It was the dismissive way he said the words. She set her jaw, stepped on the mat and started toward him reaching for her knife. His arm snaked out without warning. It happened so fast, the action was a blur. Rafe held her wrist in his grip, applying just enough pressure to make her fingers go numb.

“Lesson number one,” he said as he took the knife away as easily as if she were a child. “Never get close enough to let your assailant take your weapon away.”

“You weren’t able to take it away from me before.”

“No, I didn’t choose to take it away from you before.”

Angrily, she brought up her knee. Rafe deflected the action before he threw her lightly to the padded mat on the floor. He followed her down, pinning her there.

A wave of sensations swamped her while a spicy light masculine scent filled her head. Accompanying the annoying surge of awareness was humiliation at how easily he had defeated her.

His eyes were darkly kind, but it was his mouth, much too close to hers, that held her complete attention. Every hormone in her body leaped to unexpected life. What would it be like to be kissed by Rafe?

“Never had any judo or martial arts training?”

His breath whispered across her cheek, reminding her of the last time he’d pinned her like this. Then his hand had cupped her breast. Now her nipples rose in memory and she knew that he was as aware of that fact as she was.

“No formal training,” she agreed totally flustered as she tried to shove him off without success.

Rafe smiled, a wickedly slow, superior sort of smile. Instantly, her temper flashed.

“But I’m a real fast learner.”

And she kicked him in the shin right before she socked him in the jaw.

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