for my animals. So I intend to go over my rules with you and I expect you to abide by those rules at all times. Think you can handle that, Ranger?”
Anderson put on his hat and tipped it toward her.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She didn’t frown at the exaggerated answer as he’d expected. Instead, she grinned and pointed toward a side door. “Right this way, sir.”
Anderson smiled as he watched her prancing in front of him, her old Frye boots clicking with each step.
He’d sure have his work cut out for him, trying to run down a cartel and trying to keep this woman safe at the same time. It might turn out to be a lot harder than he’d planned. And a whole lot more interesting.
TWO
The man sure came prepared.
Jennifer watched as he lugged in a laptop, digital cameras, a recorder, a set of high-powered binoculars and a set of various flashlights. Not to mention the 12-gauge Remington shotgun, the Ruger Mini-14 automatic rifle and the slick, black pistol peeking out from his shoulder holster. And all the while his star-shaped silver badge, forged in the Ranger tradition from the cinco peso—a Mexican coin—winked over his heart at her each time his jacket fell open.
Even though he was dressed like any Texas man might be, Ranger Anderson Michaels wore the badge well and fit the bill from the top of his tan hat to the bottom of his Tony Lama boots. Jennifer watched as he purposely and meticulously placed his equipment on the shelves near one of the three bunks in the long, lonely room.
Forget the equipment inventory or the fact that she seriously needed to renovate this place. She rather liked surveying the man. Tall and built—nice. Crisp curls of wispy dark blond hair cut close to his head—nice. Wrangler jeans with a knife-pressed crease over rich brown no-nonsense boots—impressive. White button-down shirt with a hint of Western stitching around the collar and cuffs—sigh. And a brushed-suede, burnished-tan sportscoat that looked adorably worn in all the right places, especially over the broad shoulders—double sigh.
And each time he shifted his arms to put away some thing, she also saw the gun holster underneath his jacket.
“I guess I’m settled in.”
Jennifer lifted her head to find Anderson staring at her with those golden-brown cougar eyes and immediately felt like a nocturnal creature staring into a forbidden window.
Wishing she hadn’t impulsively asked him to dinner, she said, “Oh, right. I guess you are. I’ll just go and heat up that chili.”
He gave her a little half smile. “I’ll get freshened up, make some calls and be back at the main house in about half an hour.”
“That should work.”
That would give Jennifer time to wipe this silly schoolgirl fuzziness right out of her brain. The man was here to do a job and from the looks of things, he was so focused and single-minded, he probably hadn’t even noticed she was a woman. Too bad she had her own work to concentrate on. Or maybe, a good thing she did have work to concentrate on. ’Cause she sure didn’t need to walk around sighing about a good-looking Ranger. Hadn’t she learned from her parents’ divorce that good-looking, adrenaline-junkie-type men didn’t make great husband material?
Yes, she certainly had, and she would bet the farm that Anderson Michaels got a rush out of fighting crime much in the same way her dynamic father had gotten a rush out of stalking snakes and alligators. That didn’t leave much room for home and hearth.
She only wished she could tell her girlfriends about Anderson next time they headed in to San Antonio for a girl’s night out.
Anderson looked out the window of the bleak bunkhouse, watching Jennifer walk back to the main cabin. Only one security light for the whole place and it was as weak as a flickering candle at that. Did the woman even think about her own safety at all? She was a sitting duck out here alone at night with drug runners in her backyard.
Anderson didn’t want to think what might happen if Jennifer tried to tangle with these nasty squatters. He’d seen enough crime scenes involving drug wars to know the drill—torture, mutilations and slow, horrible deaths. He couldn’t imagine that happening to this woman.
Even though he was here to watch and observe, he wouldn’t let that happen to Jennifer Rodgers.
So he checked in with his new captain, Ben Fritz, trying to stay focused on the case. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m at the rescue farm and in the bunkhouse. As a courtesy, I alerted the local sheriff, too. He wasn’t too keen on not being in on the investigation, but I’m hopeful he’ll stay out of the way unless needed. As for Jennifer Rodgers, it was a hard sell, but for now I’m on the case. And not a minute too soon. She said someone’s been messing with a new alligator pen she’s just started building on the back of her property. This place is sure off the beaten path and has about as much security as an open-air flea market. Easy pickings.”
He heard Ben let out a breath. “Be careful. Just watch and learn for now. We need to find out if anyone around there has seen either Eddie Jimenez or our mysterious coma victim. Or anyone else we can tie to this case, for that matter. And remember, I want you to follow up on any leads we get from that photo we released of our comatose suspect.”
“Got it.” Anderson planned to lock and load, too, if need be. “I can tell you right now, the place is way too isolated for my tastes. A woman alone out here—”
“Careful, buddy. That woman might think she has it all under control. You can advise her, but it’s up to her to listen.”
“Yeah, well, these are dangerous thugs. They don’t respect women.”
“I know that and so do you. Part of your job is to convince said woman of that. And your main reason for being there is to try and catch these thugs in the act, not become a bodyguard.”
“I always get the hard cases.”
“You’re good at the hard cases. Just keep the drop site under surveillance and see if there’s been any recent activity, maybe talk to some of the neighbors and the workers. Look for any kind of evidence we might use. Then wait and see if we get any more activity out there.”
“I plan to go out to the site as soon as possible,” Anderson replied. “According to what she told me tonight, things are already heating up around here. She saw a man running away from a cut fence the other day. Could get dicey.”
“Keep an eye on her. Those drug runners won’t like anyone messing around in what they consider their territory. And neither will the Lions if they get wind of this. If they risk showing up again back there, we have to catch ’em in the act.”
“I thought I wasn’t a bodyguard.”
“Not yet. But you can’t stand by and let her walk right into the middle of this, either.”
“Got it.”
Anderson put away his cell, thinking Ben was a fine one to talk about stubborn, independent women. He was so in love with Corinna Pike it wasn’t funny. But it was sweet and nice, if you went for that kind of thing. Anderson was too married to his work for such nonsense, or so his mother and his baby sister told him with disgust each time the family had Sunday
