sounded confident. “We just have to make sure they learn about it when we want them to.”
Elaborate plans. Even as a kid, José had always engineered complicated schemes that always seemed to work out. This time, he’d planned the most intricate of them all. Not only did they have to fool the ATF, but La Familia, as well. Good thing Matt trusted his friend implicitly. He wanted revenge, and that was what José promised he would get. With no collateral damage. This was important, too. Matt didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.
Jamming his hands into his pockets, he stared out the window at the ranch he’d developed from the ground up. Too late for his family to enjoy it.
“You’re right, though. I’ll have to be careful,” he muttered, thinking out loud. “Since you’re positive your plan is going to work, I’ve got to figure out a way to let Skylar McLain hang around without allowing her to find anything.”
“At least until you want her to,” José reminded him.
“Yeah.” Matt gave a short laugh. Reaching deep inside to that dark, still place he carried with him always, he straightened, infusing the steel into his spine the way he’d learned in the army. “Let’s hope it all works out the way we’ve planned. I’d hate to be the one responsible for getting someone else killed.”
“Amigo, you need to stop.” José cuffed his shoulder again. Matt braced himself to blow off the words he knew his friend was about to say. He ignored them at least once a month.
“None of this is your fault.”
José always said this, like a litany, and by now Matt thought his friend truly believed it. Of the two of them, José had changed the least. Oh, prison had hardened him, shown him life was not all sunshine and roses, but José somehow managed to remain an eternal optimist, just like he’d been when they were kids. Most times, Matt envied that. Other times, he couldn’t help but feel José was foolish, destined to get hurt.
Rubbing the back of his neck with a tired hand, he thought he’d been playing this game for far too long. He was more than ready for it to be over. Patience had never been his strongest trait, but in this he’d had no choice.
“These things take time,” José said, correctly reading the expression on Matt’s face.
“So you keep saying.” Matt knew he sounded sour, but didn’t really care. “With your newfound serenity and all, you’re starting to remind me of our old priest, Father Peter, from Wednesday night catechism.”
José grinned, taking it as a compliment. Matt suspected José himself had once toyed with the idea of becoming a priest. Growing up, they’d both attended the same church, worshipped at the same masses. They even briefly served as altar boys together. Back then, the future had seemed rosy and bright. Neither had imagined what life would have in store for them, though they’d each been certain they were going to change the world.
After high school, though they’d remained best friends, they’d drifted apart. After all, they’d taken opposite paths after graduation. Matt had enlisted and had become a sharpshooter for the army. José had gone to work at his cousin’s body shop. He’d gotten into trouble soon after that.
By the time Matt had completed his second tour of duty in Afghanistan and finally returned home, José had already been arrested and was doing time. Possession with intent to distribute.
José had done his time and emerged better for it. He’d cleaned up, gotten reformed and, when Matt picked him up outside prison the day José was released, he’d been ready to help his best friend get revenge for the brutal murder of his entire family. José was the only one who’d known Matt before the complete identity change, back when Matt’s name had been Miguel Lopez. José knew about Matt’s past and understood his future.
These days, Matt trusted no one. Except José.
* * *
Skylar waited until Matt’s footsteps had faded into the distance before heading toward the barn. In a way, she was glad he’d taken off. She’d always loved horses and wanted to take her time examining his.
The instant she entered the barn, her chest felt tight. Enraptured, she saw nearly every stall was full. Matt’s horses were the most magnificent animals she’d ever seen.
Walking down the barn’s broad cement aisle, she inhaled the aroma of horse and straw, and grinned. Perfectly chiseled features, the classic arch to the neck, the flowing lines and ideal conformations told her she was among rarified specimens. Purebred Arabians, every single one of them. Expensive, finely cared-for animals. A dazzling bay mare in the first stall, two grays, a chestnut gelding with a huge white star on his forehead. All of them looked up at her approach, swinging their beautiful heads to eye her.
None seemed skittish. Petting their velvety noses, she found herself wondering which one Matt rode. Then, when she reached the big stall at the end of the aisle and saw the huge black stallion inside, she knew.
This would be his horse. She could envision him astride it now.
Blinking rapidly, she took a step back. What the hell was she doing? She’d known going in what she’d be facing’a rich, charming playboy with more money than sense. Why on earth she was letting someone like that get to her?
As she turned to exit the barn, her cell phone rang. Caller ID said it was a private call. Which meant it would be her boss, David Northrup.
“Checking your progress,” her supervisor barked before Skylar even finished saying hello.
Quickly, she outlined what had happened since she’d arrived.
“Did you meet José Nivas?”
Matt Landeta’s right-hand man. “No,” she answered. “Matt hasn’t actually introduced me to any of his employees.”
“Be careful. He’s dangerous.”
Gripping her phone, Skylar grimaced. She’d reviewed the dossier front to back. “I know.”
“Then you’re aware that Nivas has been clean since he got out of prison. He works with Landeta at the ranch. We’ve had our eyes on him for a long time, but he’s’to all appearances’stayed straight.”
She sighed. “That was all included in the paperwork I was given.”
“You have to befriend him.”
“Matt invited me to dinner up at the big house tonight. Maybe he’ll be there.”
“Perfect.” David cleared his throat, which meant Skylar wouldn’t like whatever he was about to say next. “You know what you have to do. Turn up the charm. Landeta won’t be able to resist a pretty lady like you. That’s one of the reasons you got this assignment.”
As if she needed to be reminded. Though she’d had numerous assignments in the past’all successful’she hadn’t ever had one where she was actually attracted to the suspect. Maybe her coworkers were right and it was time for her to take a vacation.
After she wrapped up this case, that is. She’d go to Jamaica or Key West, lie around on a beach and sip fruity umbrella drinks.
“Are you there?”
Belatedly
