What he wouldn’t give to make that accidental touch the real thing. “Here’s the turn, Jace.”
He eyed the canyons, which were steeped in darkness. Somewhere out there, no doubt, their uncle Wolf’s henchmen lurked. No one knew yet how the fire had started, but according to the sheriff, the quaint, solitary farmhouse on the neighboring land had burned to the ground. Fortunately, the foreman hadn’t been home. Hadn’t lived on the property, except for weekends, after he’d sold out to Storm Cash.
“This isn’t Rancho Diablo, is it?” Rose asked.
“No,” Galen said. “This is Rancho Not.”
“Rancho Not?”
“What my ham-headed brother means,” Jace said, “is that we’re trespassing.”
Rose glanced at Galen. “Why?”
“Because we’re spying,” he said simply. “Actually, we’re not even spying. We’re gathering intel.”
“Spying,” Rose said. “You think your uncle Wolf has planted something in the cave we’re going to.”
“Not just another pretty face,” Jace said. “You see, Galen, I told you she had brains as well as beauty. You said Rose was a looker, and I said she was also a brain.”
“You were focused on my superficialities and not my intelligence?” Rose asked Galen.
“That’s about the size of it,” Jace said, happy to have him land in hot water with a huge splash. “This is the spot. Let me help you out, dollface.”
Galen glowered at his brother, who ignored his obvious discomfort with his flirting. “Dollface” took Jace’s hand, and he helped her from the truck, leaving Galen with no option except to get out and tag along behind them with a Maglite and a case of unexpected jealousy.
He had no reason to feel jealous. He barely knew Rose, and Jace was a boob of epic proportion. Rose would never be interested in his wild-eyed brother. And anyway, I have no place in my life for a girlfriend. Even one as sexy as Rose.
“Galen, tie the rope around Rose. I’ll check for snakes and bats, one last time.”
She let out an involuntary squeal. Galen grinned as he wrapped the rope around her tiny waist. “Don’t listen to him. He just likes to hear you squeak.”
“Well, I will, and loudly if there’s anything down there with two eyes!” Rose watched with trepidation as Jace shone his own Maglite into the crevice. “How did you ever find this cave?”
“Our intel revealed that there’s a lot of activity around this location. Then we found this cave. We want to know what’s down there.” Galen pulled the rope taut, tugging her a little closer to him. She smelled good, a flowery scent that tantalized him. “I’ll be at the other end of this rope, and nothing will happen to you. If you want to come out, you just jerk it, and we’ll get you out faster than a genie out of a bottle.”
“You’d better,” Rose warned. “Or I’ll commandeer the bag of cookies and not give you a single one.”
“That’s my girl,” Jace said, “hit him where it hurts. Now down you go.”
Galen handed her a flashlight, then stepped close to the edge of the cave opening, shining his own light so they could see as she was lowered down.
“What exactly am I looking for?” she asked, glancing up.
“Bodies,” Jace said. “Dead bodies.”
She let out a small gasp.
Galen laughed. “Don’t frighten her.”
“That’s right.” Jace grinned at Rose as he let out more rope. “You’re like a canary,” he told her. “You’re going to let us know if there’s any trouble down below.”
“Canaries die,” Rose said.
Galen smiled, impressed with her spirit. “Only in the case of noxious gas. And believe me, I’m up here with the only noxious gas around. You’re just going to be down there for a moment.” His words seemed to soothe her, but Galen felt suddenly anxious as Rose disappeared from sight.
It got very quiet underneath the velvety New Mexico sky. Galen listened, his pulse thundering, his breath short, his stomach even cramping a bit—maybe he shouldn’t have allowed his brother to talk him into this—and then suddenly, the rope went completely slack.
Chapter Three
“Rose!” Galen shouted, realizing that she was no longer at the end of the rope he held. He tossed it away, as did his brother. The two of them flattened themselves against the lip of the cave, peering down. “Rose!”
“Hold your horses,” she called from below. “All that bellowing is making me nervous.”
“What are you doing?” Galen gulped against the fear tightening his throat. She sounded as if she was talking to them from the bottom of a jar. “You were supposed to just take a quick look and come back out.”
“Yeah, but it’s pretty cool down here.”
Galen shone the flashlight into the crevice. “Put the rope back on and get up here!”
“Keep your pants on, boys. I may never come this way again, so I want to fully live in the moment.”
“What the hell is she doing?” Jace muttered. They pressed as close as they could to the hole, trying in vain to see what Rose was up to.
“I know just as much as you do, which isn’t exactly a comforting feeling,” Galen said.
“She’s a sparky little thing, isn’t she?” Jace commented, his tone admiring.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Galen demanded.
“Not to my knowledge. Sometimes I wish I did. Other times, I think how lucky I am that there’s no nagging woman in my life.”
“Hey!” Rose called up. “I heard that! I think you should know it’s a well-known fact that men nag as much as women. Sometimes more. Now, get your muscles going, fellows. I’m ready to come out.”
Galen grabbed the rope with relief. He and Jace tugged her out as fast as they prudently could. She came out of the crevice, illuminating herself with the Maglite.
“Look,” she said. “I’m Tinkerbell, rising from Hook’s lantern.”
“Someone likes children,” Jace said. “Which is a fortunate thing, because I like children myself. Maybe you and I—” they set Rose on solid ground “—should think about having some children of our own.”
“I don’t think so,” she said sweetly, and she smiled at Galen, whose breath went out of him. “Anyway, look at what I found.” She held up a handful of silver coins, jingling them.
He was about to say, Marvelous, but you had me so worried when the rope went slack, when the sound of
