Grace, he had another think coming. “Can’t say I trust government men as far as I can throw them.”
He kept his face emotionless as he asked, “Any particular reason?”
She didn’t mind telling him. All the anger was still there, simmering just under her skin.
“My brother was in the first Gulf War. Got sick. The government never acknowledged that he’d been exposed to biological weapons. We went through hell to get him proper health care.” She was convinced that if Tommy had gotten better help earlier, he would be still alive today.
The thought tore open a barely scabbed over wound deep inside her.
“And here you are, a doctor, unable to help him. That must have been doubly frustrating.”
She shot him a blank look.
He gestured toward his injured leg. “You put in some fine stiches.”
“I was an army medic.” And now almost a veterinarian. She could still save lives, and animals were so much less complicated than humans.
He looked at her through narrowed eyes, as if he was trying to puzzle her out. Good luck with that. These days her thoughts were such a tangled mess, she could barely make sense of them herself.
Nor could she make much sense of him, so far. Beyond his name, she still barely knew anything about him. Well, other than he was annoyingly hot.
Since he was strangely getting under her skin, she decided to go on the offensive. “What were you doing on my land?”
“That’s classified information.”
Of course it was. If she had a dollar for every time she’d heard that answer while trying to investigate just what chemicals Tommy had been exposed to…. She returned to the stove to remove the eggs from the fire.
He was dialing the phone behind her, but said very little beyond his location when the other end picked up. He was long done before she turned around with his breakfast. Maybe he’d be in a better mood to help once he was fed.
She split the eggs between him and Esperanza, who ate quickly, standing by the counter. She didn’t seem to want to go anywhere near the table and Ryder. Grace couldn’t blame her. Even in a weakened state, the man was pretty intimidating.
“Much appreciated,” he said and dug in. Whether he was hungry or simply ate because he knew he needed the energy, he did a fair amount of damage in a short time.
Grace watched him for a minute or so, wanting to give him time to eat in peace, but she ran out of patience too quickly. “Esperanza needs to find her family. I want to help her.”
“The authorities will help her,” he said between two bites, then spoke to Esperanza briefly in Spanish.
Tears rolled down the woman’s face as she set her empty plate in the sink. She looked as if she’d just been told that she’d be taken out back and shot.
“The authorities have done nothing to help her until now,” Grace argued, frustration humming through her. She hadn’t been able to help her brother, but she could help Esperanza. If Ryder didn’t stand in her way.
He finished his eggs, leaned back in his chair and watched her for a few seconds. Then his face hardened suddenly. “How long have you been aware that you have drug smuggling and human trafficking on your land?”
The air got stuck in her lungs. “We never had any of that out here.” Of course, she hadn’t lived here for years. Still, Tommy hadn’t mentioned anything. Neither had Dylan.
But Ryder had gotten shot. Had he been confronting drug runners? And Esperanza was here. What if all this was just the tip of the iceberg?
“Were you shot by smugglers?” Not that she was ready to believe that, but she couldn’t pretend that it had been a hunting accident, either. She’d known from the beginning that it had been something a lot more sinister; she just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it. She sank into the chair across the table from him.
She’d come to spread her brother’s ashes in the most peaceful, nicest place on earth, in accordance with his wishes. But suddenly, the ranch seemed a much more dangerous place than she’d remembered.
“I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”
God forbid someone told her what was going on on her land. But instead of pushing for an answer about that, she decided to pick her battles. “Esperanza had nothing to do with whatever happened to you. We both know she didn’t shoot you. How about you give her a break?” “I can’t.”
“You could pretend you never saw her. I could have just hidden her upstairs until you were gone.” In hindsight, not doing just that had been incredibly stupid. They could have avoided all of this.
“I don’t play those kinds of games.”
No, he probably didn’t. He looked as serious as a longhorn stampede.
“Don’t you have a heart?” The words burst from her in a fit of frustration.
“I’m going to take her into custody,” Ryder said in a tone that bore no argument. “We’ll consider it a voluntary surrender. I might be able to arrange for her record not to be marked, so she’ll be able to get an actual visa and come back legally as soon as that’s processed.”
“And who’s going to look for her husband and children?” she challenged.
He measured Esperanza up, then turned his attention to Grace. “I will. I’m interested in criminal activity in the area. Her family’s disappearance could be connected to the case I’m investigating.”
“Which is?”
“A matter of national security.”
She could have cheerfully strangled the man. “Whatever happens on my land concerns me.”
“The concerns of private citizens are secondary in this case.”
Words easily said. And easily abused.
And what if he didn’t follow through? If he found that there was no connection, after all, he’d probably drop the search in a second. She could all too easily see the kids and the husband becoming yet other victims the system failed.
She leaned forward in her seat. “I can help you. I’ve been living in Bryan for the past few years, but I know this area. I know the people around here.”
He pinned her with a hard look, suddenly appearing stronger than he had a minute ago. “Not only won’t you involve yourself in this, you won’t talk about it, either. To anyone. You never saw me. I was never here. Is that clear?”
The strength of his voice surprised her, gave her a glimpse of what he might be like when he wasn’t waylaid by massive blood loss. Tough and stubborn. She gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to upend the egg plate over his head.
But he distracted her with, “I don’t suppose you have a spare pair of men’s pants.”
She
