Lone Star Winter: The Winter Soldier. Diana Palmer

was all but gasping. “But, you don’t have to…!”

      “I know I don’t have to,” he said, eyes flashing. “You can’t be stuck out here without transportation, especially now.”

      She didn’t want to accept what she knew was charity, but the temptation to have her little red car fixed and running again was too much. She couldn’t afford an extra spark plug. “Thank you,” she said a little stiffly. It hurt her pride to know that he was aware of her financial situation.

      He searched her face quietly. “No need for thanks. I’ll take care of you. And the baby.”

      She stared at him while confusing sensations washed over her like a gentle electric current. She’d never felt such a surge of emotion, with anyone.

      “I don’t have any ulterior motives, Lisa,” he said, speaking her name for the first time. It sounded soft, mysterious, even beautiful in his deep, measured tones.

      “Then thanks, for seeing about my car,” she said gently. “And if you get sick, I’ll take care of you. All right?”

      His heart ran wild. He’d never had anybody offer to look after him. His wife hadn’t been compassionate. It hit him right in the gut that Lisa thought of him with such kindness. He searched for an answer and couldn’t find one.

      “I’m sure you never get sick,” she said quickly, a little intimidated by his scowl. “But just in case.”

      He nodded slowly.

      She smiled, reassured.

      He turned and went out the door, speechless for the first time in recent memory. He couldn’t have managed a single word to save his life.

      Lisa went onto the porch and watched him drive away with confused emotions. She shouldn’t let things intensify. She was a recent widow and he hadn’t been widowed all that long ago. People would gossip, if for no other reason than that Cy Parks was the town’s hermit. On the other hand, she was lonely and a little afraid. She remembered what Walt had told her about Manuel Lopez and the men who worked for him in the narcotics underworld. She knew what they did to people who sold them out. A shiver ran down her spine. They’d killed Walt and they might not stop until they wiped out his whole family—that was the reputation that Lopez had. She wasn’t going to put her baby at risk, regard less of what people thought. She touched her flat belly protectively.

      She smiled. “I’m going to take such wonderful care of you.”

      The smile remained when she thought how Cy would care about the baby, too. He wasn’t at all the sort of man he seemed on first acquaintance. But, then, who was? She went back inside to work in the kitchen, careful to make sure the doors were locked.

      Cy used his cell phone to have a local wrecker service take Lisa’s small car over to his ranch, where he had one of his two mechanics waiting to fix it. Harley was good with machinery, but he had the mechanic do the work instead. For reasons he didn’t understand, he didn’t like having his good-looking foreman Harley around Lisa.

      He went to the meeting with his banker and then on to Ebenezer Scott’s place, careful to phone ahead. There were men on the gate who didn’t like unexpected company and might react instinctively.

      Eb met him at the front door, more relaxed than Cy had seen him in years.

      “How’s it going?” he asked the newly married man.

      Eb grinned. “Funny how nice a ball and chain can feel,” was all he said, but his eyes were twinkling with delight. “How’s it going on your end?”

      “Let’s go inside,” Cy said. “I’ve found out a few things.”

      Eb took him into the kitchen and poured coffee into mugs. “Sally’s teaching. I don’t usually do more than grab a sandwich for lunch…”

      Cy held up a hand. “I haven’t got time, thanks. Listen, they’ve got the beehives on-site around that new warehouse on the land adjoining mine. There’s a lot more activity there, panel trucks coming and going and deliveries after dark. I’ve spotted a number of unfamiliar faces. They don’t look like beekeepers to me. Besides,” he added curtly, “I saw a couple of Uzis.”

      “Automatic weapons at a honey plant,” Eb murmured thoughtfully. “They must have armed, militant bees.” He grinned at his own whimsy. “I’d hoped that Lopez might hesitate after his failed attempt on Sally’s family.” Sally, along with her aunt Jessica and Jessica’s young son, Stevie, were targeted for vengeance by the drug lord. Luckily Lopez hadn’t succeeded in his mission.

      “We knew that Lopez had mentioned to one of his slimy followers that he needed a new distribution center. What better place than a little Texas town not far from the Gulf of Mexico, with no federal officers around?”

      “He knows we’re around,” Cy pointed out.

      “He only knows about me,” came the reply. “Nobody locally knows about you. And he thinks I won’t do any thing because he’s backed away from harming Sally’s family. He figures the two guys who are taking the fall for him will keep the wolves from his door.”

      “I don’t like it.”

      “Neither do I, but unless we can prove he’s channeling drugs instead of honey through here, we can’t do anything. Not anything legal,” he added slowly.

      “I’m not going up against Uncle Sam,” Cy said firmly. “This isn’t the old days. I don’t fancy being an expatriated American.”

      Eb sighed. “We’re older.”

      “Older and less reckless. Let Micah Steele go after him. He lives in Nassau and has connections everywhere. He wouldn’t be afraid of getting kicked out of the States. He doesn’t spend much time here anyway.”

      “His stepsister and his father live here,” Eb pointed out. “He isn’t going to want to put them in harm’s way.”

      “From what I hear, his father hates him and his step sister would walk blocks out of her way to avoid even passing him on the street,” Cy said curtly. “Do you think he still cares about them?”

      “Yes, I do. He came back with the express purpose of seeing his father and mending fences, but the old man refused to see him. It hurts him that his father won’t even speak to him. And I’ve seen the way he looks at Callie, even if you haven’t.”

      “Then why does he live in Nassau?”

      Eb glanced around warily. “He’s over here doing a job for me, so watch what you say,” he cautioned. “I don’t want him on the wrong side of me.”

      Cy leaned back in his chair and sipped coffee. “I suppose we all have our crosses to bear.” He narrowed one eye at his oldest friend. “Do you think Lopez will make a try for Lisa?”

      “It’s possible,” he said flatly. “Down in Mexico, a ‘mule’ crossed him. He killed the man’s whole family except for one small child.”

      “That’s what I thought. I sent Nels Coleman over to her ranch to stay nights in the bunkhouse. He used to work for the Treasury Department back in the late seventies.”

      “I know him. He’s a good man.”

      “Yes, but not in Lopez’s class. Your guys are.”

      Ebenezer nodded. “I have to have good people. The government and I are more than nodding acquaintances, and I run a high-tech operation here. I can’t afford to let my guard down, especially now that I’ve got Sally to think of.”

      “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to consider a woman,” Cy replied, his green eyes quiet and thoughtful.

      “Lisa Monroe is sweet,” Ebenezer said. “She’ll love that child to death.”

      “She’s like that,” Cy agreed, smiling. “I wish she wasn’t