The Specialist. Dani Sinclair

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.”