respond until she had the coffeemaker going. Then she turned and leaned back against a counter to ask, “And just what am I doing?”
“You’re going to Texas for a reason.”
“Yes, and I explained why. I need a break from work.”
“Why Texas?”
She lifted her chin. “Why not Texas? It’s a great state, and I haven’t been there in a while. I missed that ball Clint, Cole and Casey do every year for their uncle. It will be good to see them, especially since Alyssa is expecting again.”
“But that’s not why you’re going to Texas and you know it, Megan. Can you look me in the eyes and say you don’t plan to set one foot in Forbes?”
She tilted her head to look at him. “No. I can’t say that because I do.”
“Why?”
Megan wondered how she could get him to understand. “Why not? These are my relatives.”
“You are paying me to handle this investigation,” he countered.
She tried not to notice how he filled the entrance to her kitchen. It suddenly looked small, as if there was barely any space. “Yes, and I asked to go to Forbes with you. It’s important for me to be there when you find out if I have more relatives, but you have this stupid rule about working alone.”
“Dammit, Megan, when you hired me you never told me you would get involved.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I hadn’t planned on getting involved. However, knowing I might have more kin out there changes everything. Why can’t you understand that?”
Rico ran a frustrated hand down his face. In a way, he did. He would never forget that summer day when his mother had brought a fifteen-year-old girl into their home and introduced her as Jessica—their sister. Savannah had been sixteen, and he had been nineteen, a sophomore in college. It hadn’t mattered to him that he hadn’t known about Jessica before that time. Just the announcement that he had another sister had kicked his brotherly instincts into gear.
“I do understand, Megan,” he said in a calm voice. “But still, there are things that I need to handle. Things I need to check out before anyone else can become involved.”
She lifted a brow. “Things like what?”
Rico drew in a deep breath. Maybe he should have leveled with her yesterday, but there were things that had come up in his report on Raphel that he needed to confirm were fact or fiction. So far, everything negative about Raphel had turned out not to be true in Dillon’s investigation. Rico wanted his final report to be as factual as possible, and he needed to do more research of the town’s records.
She poured a cup of coffee for herself and one for him, as well. “What’s wrong, Rico? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
He saw the worry in her eyes as he accepted his coffee. “Look, this is my investigation. I told you that I was able to track down information on Clarice and the fact that she might have given birth to a child. That’s all I know for now, Megan. Anything else is hearsay.”
“Hearsay like what?”
“I’d rather not say.”
After taking a sip of coffee, she said, “You’re being evasive.
He narrowed his gaze. “I’m being thorough. If you want to go to Texas to visit Clint and Alyssa, then fine. But what I don’t need is you turning up where you don’t need to be.”
“Where I don’t need to be?” she growled.
“Yes. I have a job to do, and I won’t be able to do it with you close by. I won’t be able to concentrate.”
“Men!” Megan said, stiffening her spine. “Do you all think it’s all about you? I have brothers and male cousins, plenty of them. I know how you operate. You want one woman one day and another woman the next. Get over it already. Please.”
Rico just stared at her. “And you think it’s that simple?”
“Yesss. I’m Zane and Derringer’s sister, Riley, Canyon and Stern’s cousin. I see them. I watch them. I know their M.O. Derringer has been taken out of the mix by marrying Lucia, thank goodness. But the rest of them, and now the twins … oh, my God … are following in their footsteps.
“You see. You want. You do. But not me. You, Rico Claiborne, assume just because you want me that you’re going to get me. What was your warning? If we go somewhere together alone, that you’re going to have me. Who are you supposed to be? Don’t I have a say-so in this matter? What if I told you that I don’t want you?”
Rico just stared at her. “Then I would say you’re lying to yourself. You want me. You might not realize it, but you want me. I see it every time you look at me. Damn, Megan, admit there’s a strong attraction between us.”
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