Trouble in Texas

by Leann Harris

  “As kids, Todd and I rode through these hills, learning every inch of the ranch. We used to pretend we were the first white men to see this land, just like our great-grandfathers.” He stopped his horse and looked down at the valley below. “Those were hardy men and women who settled these parts. Sometimes I wonder how they did it.”

  Alex watched the play of emotions on Derek’s face. It was obvious that he loved the land and was proud of the life his parents and grandparents had carved out. She looked out over the vista, trying to see it through his eyes, trying to understand his love for the place. For Alex, when she was growing up, all she had wanted to do was leave west Texas behind, with its heat and sandstorms and hardness. Of course, Midland was miles and miles of flatlands, whereas in this area of west Texas, volcanic and limestone mountains were part of the landscape.

  “What brought your family to this part of Texas?” she asked.

  “Nick’s great-grandfather and mine came with the army. After they mustered out, they both stayed and started their dynasties.”

  Alex had friends in Midland whose grandparents had settled the land. Each successive generation had lived in the same spot, never leaving the county. The only exceptions were the soldiers drafted for war.

  “Have you ever been outside Brewster County?” Once voiced, her question sounded rude even to her own ears.

  She watched in amazement as his body tensed and his expression changed from relaxed to harsh. He pierced her with a laser-sharp look. “Yeah, I’ve been outside the county. Let’s see, I saw Beirut, Grenada, El Salvador.”

  Those places rang a bell in her mind. They were all trouble spots.

  “Ah, I see you recognize names where the U.S. military has been.” The sarcasm in his voice made her wince inwardly.

  She certainly had hit a sensitive spot. “You were in the military.” An obvious conclusion.

  He gave her a curt nod. “I served in the marines for eight years. Afterward, I joined the San Antonio police force and was a cop for another nine years.”

  She felt like an idiot. She argued with herself that she hadn’t meant to insult him, had only wanted to learn more about him. And she had, but she’d hurt him in the process. And still she didn’t have a clue as to what he saw in these barren hills.

  Derek nudged his horse forward and started down from the hilltop. Watching his rigid spine as he rode away, Alex knew she had to apologize. She rode after him.

  “Derek,” she called. He slowed his mount. Once she was beside him she looked him directly in the eye. “I need to apologize. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  His expression didn’t change, but at least he was listening. That gave her a ray of hope.

  “My question kind of came out sideways.”

  A muscle in his cheek twitched, and she thought he might be trying to suppress a smile. “Sideways?”

  She lifted her shoulder and gave him a sheepish look. “It came out harsher than I meant it. You see, growing up in Midland, all I wanted to do was escape. Go somewhere where trees grew in abundance and there was a shape to the landscape other than flat. Of course, my view might be colored by my feelings for my dad.”

  He cocked his head. “What does your dad have to do with anything?”

  “Everything.” How could she explain about her father? How did one express the tangled feelings that she and her two sisters had for their dad? It was like trying to explain the jet stream. Maybe if she told Derek about her car, that would show him. “You want to know why I drive a ‘66 Mustang?”

  “What’s a car got to do with Midland or, for that matter, your dad?”

  “I bought that car when I turned sixteen. With my own money. Money I earned myself. It was old and needed repairs, but that didn’t matter since it was all I could afford. My dad told me to take it back, that he could afford to buy his daughter a brand-new Mustang.”

  The horses reached the floor of the valley and were pulled to a stop. Derek dismounted and checked his horse’s right front hoof. He brought his knife out of the front pocket of his pants and dislodged a stone.

  “Is he okay?” Alex asked, nodding to the gray gelding.

  “I caught it early enough, but just to make sure, I want to walk him a little.”

  Alex slid off her horse, grabbed the reins and fell into step with Derek.

  “I take it you didn’t accept your father’s offer of a new car.”

  Memories of the two days of arguments and tantrums between her and her father washed over Alex in waves. “In the end, I won, but only after a lot of heated discussion.”

  One dark eyebrow arched and he gave her a speculative look. “Heated discussion? Is that what it’s now called?”

  “It is the polite terminology for a family donnybrook.”

  “Why did you want the old car when you could’ve had your father pay for a new one?”

  “Because I wanted to do something on my own, something that my dad hadn’t provided or arranged because of his influence. I wanted to feel...” Worthy of people’s respect. That was the real reason she’d fought so hard. She had needed to be valued for who she was, not who her father was. But she didn’t feel comfortable sharing that deep truth with a man she’d known less than thirty hours.

  “What did you want to feel?” he softly queried.

  They stopped and Alex was trapped by the deep quiet reflected in his face, as if he were sincerely interested in the emotions of a sixteen-year-old girl. And try as she might, she couldn’t ignore his tenderness.

  “I didn’t want to be known as just one of George Anderson’s girls.” She stared at the reins in her hand. “I wanted to be known as Alexandra, George’s strange middle child, who wanted only to be given what she earned.”

  “I bet that rubbed your father’s pride the wrong way.”

  The memory of her father calling her a willful and ungrateful teenager blossomed in her brain and she laughed. “Oh, yes, and he told me about it numerous times.”

  “But he let you keep the car.”

  “Only after he bought a new Mustang and parked it in our garage. After six weeks of it sitting there, he took it back.” Turning her upper body, she looked up at him. “When he came back from the dealership that day, he gave me a big hug and told me he was proud of me.”

  Derek stopped and patted his horse on the neck. “Did your relationship with your dad improve after that?”

  “It was never sour. It was just that Dad tries to live everyone’s life for them. If you don’t stand up for yourself, then you find yourself doing a lot of things you don’t like.

  “After I bought my car, Dad resisted my ideas as strongly as he had before. The man never quits.”

  “And that’s why you don’t like west Texas?”

  “It sounds stupid, I know, but my memories of my dad can’t be divided from the place. That’s why I wanted to know why you love this place. I wanted another view besides my own.”

  With his forefinger Derek pushed his Stetson back on his head. “Why do I love this place?” His horse nickered and Derek rubbed him between his eyes. “I tried for seventeen years to live a life-style that wasn’t the one in my soul. I finally woke up one morning and decided to be what I was, a cowboy who’s also a cop. When the job of deputy sheriff opened up, I grabbed it.” His gaze ran over the horizon, then returned to her. “I haven’t regretted the decision for one moment. In fact, I wish I’d gotten smart earlier before the big-city problems found their way out here.” He straightened his hat. “It’s getting late and I need to get back to town. You ready?”

  “Yes.”

  As they rode back to the barn, Alex tried again to see the land through Derek’s eyes. She didn’t think she was successful, except for the soothing feel of the wind on her face.

  * * *

  After saying goodbye to his brother and sister-in-law, and watching the two DEA agents admire and laugh with Alex, Derek escorted her to his Jeep.

  “They’re very charming,” Alex said, buckling her seat
belt.

  Derek paused in starting the engine. “You think those two feds are charming?”

  Alex gave him a startled look. “The feds?”

  Turning the key in the ignition, he kept his eyes straight ahead. “Yeah. Those DEA agents.”

  “No, no,” she replied. “I wasn’t talking about the agents. I was talking about your brother and his wife.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and saw the amusement in her face. Sunlight danced in red and gold highlights in her hair. Her smooth skin was the color of rich cream, her cheeks pink with health, her lips the color of strawberries. He wondered if they were as sweet. His gaze moved over her face and collided with blue eyes. Like a bolt of lightning, heat and awareness flashed between them, sizzling every nerve ending in his body.

  Alex broke the contact by staring down at her hands. “I like them.”

  Derek’s mind groped to remember what they were talking about. That was one of the things about lightning, it tended to short-circuit things.

  “Todd and Cathy,” she added in explanation. “I like them.”

  He shook off the lust-filled haze surrounding his brain, put the Jeep into gear and started down the driveway. “They’re good folks. They worked this ranch and kept it alive after my dad died and while I was gone.”

  “I assume you didn’t mention the suspected TB to them because it’s not positive yet?” she asked.

  “Yeah. No sense alarming them if we don’t have to.”

  “I agree.”

  “On the other hand, with doctors as scarce as they are out here, we have to be prepared.”

  “Is this a plug for getting your own doctor in town?” She sounded as if she suspected him of taking her out to the ranch for other reasons than to go horseback riding. Glancing at her, he saw that her expression confirmed what he’d heard in her voice.

  Anger flashed through him. This was not the first time she’d questioned his integrity. Earlier she’d accused him of being in cahoots with Billy Mayer to disable her car. Now she was implying that he was spending time with her for something other than the pleasure of her company.

  “No.” His voice rang with his irritation. “It isn’t. I took you out to the ranch for the reason I said. As a matter of fact, I was concerned that maybe some of the folks around here would hear you were in town and show up at the clinic.” He clenched his teeth, trying not to say anything he might regret later.

  They drove in silence the rest of the way to Saddle. Derek drove by the clinic and saw a truck parked in front of the building. A young woman holding a baby was pacing back and forth before the front door. When she saw Derek, she waved him down. With a glance at Alex, Derek pulled up beside the truck. Instantly the woman rushed to the driver’s side of the Jeep.

  This is exactly what Derek had feared would happen. But seeing the panic on Terri Hansen’s face, he couldn’t worry about what Alex thought. Rolling down the window, Derek asked, “Terri, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been waiting almost a half-hour and was about to drive to Alpine. It’s the baby.” Fear clouded her words. “He’s running a fever of a hundred and four. I can’t get it to come down.” A sob caught in her throat. “I was hoping...” She looked expectantly at Alex. “I heard about the doctor and thought I’d come into town to see if she could help. The drive to Alpine is so far and the baby’s so sick.”

  Derek and Terri turned to Alex. She sat stiffly in the seat, staring at the sign on the clinic wall. Derek had the odd feeling that Alex was battling herself. Finally, after a long pause, she looked at Terri. “Come on inside, and I’ll take a look at your baby.”

  Terri’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Thank you,” she choked out.

  At the door of the clinic Derek stopped Alex. “You don’t need me in there. I’ll check in at my office to make sure everything’s all right. Be back in a few minutes.”

  He watched the women disappear into the building, then walked to his office. As he strode down the sidewalk, he wondered what battle Alex was fighting, because sure as cactus had thorns, something bad was bothering the doc.

  * * *

  Alex sat down and smiled wearily at Terri. After an hour of pouring tepid water over the baby and administering a fever-reducing agent, the baby’s temperature was down to one hundred.

  “You’ll have to keep up with the medicine, and if his temperature goes up past a hundred and one, you’ll need to bathe him like we did here.” Alex pushed across the desk a sample of an antibiotic. “This is all that’s here at the clinic. I’ll write a prescription for more.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Courtland. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you weren’t here. I got so scared. One minute he was fussing, then the next he was burning up with fever.”

  The feeling of being trapped began to close around Alex’s heart. To be needed. Was it a blessing or a curse? “That happens all the time with babies. Their little bodies heat up quickly. But by the same token, they get over things much quicker than adults.”

  Terri took the medicine and stood. “What do I owe you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I want to pay you,” Terri insisted.

  Her car and the repairs to it came to mind. “I’ve already been paid, so don’t worry.”

  Terri hesitated, then nodded and hurried out.

  Alex leaned back in the big leather chair and closed her eyes. Images of another sixteen-month-old crowded in on her. That little girl had died in her arms because of the simple lack of antibiotic and the merciless soldiers who held up the medical convoy.

  Grief and pain twisted her heart. Alex fought to clamp a lid on the emotions that threatened to spill out. Once that Pandora’s box was opened, she didn’t know what would pour out. Alexandra leaped to her feet and headed out of the clinic.

  At that instant Sarah appeared at the front door. “Hi, Alex. Dad said you were down here with Terri and her baby.” She glanced around. “Are they gone?”

  “Yes. How was your day?”

  The girl gave it a moment’s thought. “Okay. I came by to ask you if you wanted to help me cook dinner tonight.”

  The hope shining in Sarah’s eyes made it impossible to refuse. “You realize I’m a lousy cook.”

  The girl gave her a wide smile. “I remember. But all you’ll need to do is make a salad.” From the delight on her young face, Alex guessed that what Sarah wanted was company, not another chef. And that she could provide.

  “Okay, Sarah, I’m yours.”

  Chapter 6

  Derek opened the front door of his house and froze at the sound of the female voices coming from the kitchen.

  “This is wonderful, Sarah.” Alex’s mellow voice skimmed over Derek’s skin in a provocative wave, making him painfully aware that he’d been without a woman since well before his divorce.

  His daughter’s laughter, light and carefree, cut through the sensual fog surrounding his brain. Derek took a deep breath, trying to get his emotions under control. This was the first time in two years that he’d heard his daughter laugh with such abandon.

  “It’s a bottled sauce,” Sarah answered.

  “You have an extraordinary talent for opening the jar and heating it up.”

  “You’re teasing me.”

  “I wish I was. I’ve burned more things on the top of the stove than I care to think about. Why, one week I set off my smoke alarm three times.”

  Sarah chuckled again and Derek leaned back against the door, enjoying the sound.

  “It’s the gospel truth. The fire department declared my cooktop a fire hazard and forbade me to use it again.”

  Derek shook his head. Was Alex simply teasing Sarah, or was she that bad a cook? If the past day was any indication of her sense of humor, or lack of it, then she was telling Sarah the truth. So far, most of what he’d seen of the lady was her grouchy side.

  “Now I know you’re pulling my leg,” Sarah answered.

  Derek silently walked down the hall to th
e kitchen.

  “Maybe a little. But the station chief came by after the last incident with a grocery bag of frozen microwave dinners. He said the guys at the fire station had chipped in and bought me the dinners. They said it would save them a lot of time and effort if I’d stick to microwave stuff.”

  Crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, Derek asked, “What did you say to the chief?”

  Both Sarah and Alex whirled to face him.

  “We didn’t hear you come in, Dad.”

  “I don’t doubt it with all the giggling going on in here.” He stepped to Sarah’s side and gave her a hug, then turned to Alex. “You didn’t answer my question and—” he looked down at his daughter and winked “—Sarah and I are dying to know what you said.”

  Alex pursed her lips. “As I recall, I didn’t say anything to him. But the next week after I treated one of his men for smoke inhalation, he invited me to eat at the station house.”

  “Did you go?” Sarah’s eyes sparkled with anticipation of Alex’s answer.

  “I did. And I’ll be the first to admit, they were much better cooks than I. After that, I ate with them on a regular basis.”

  “Really?”

  Alex held up her hand. “Scout’s honor.”

  Throughout dinner and homework, Sarah’s attention was focused on Alex. After the dishes were done, Sarah asked Alex to help her with her science homework. As Derek watched the two females working together at the table, his heart ached for his daughter. Sarah obviously missed the love and support of a mother.

  Derek tried to ignore them as he read the weekly newspaper but the note of joy in Sarah’s voice intruded into his thoughts. His divorce from Rhea had been ugly. She had wanted the house and car, but she hadn’t wanted Sarah. Of course, that hadn’t surprised Derek because a child would only inhibit Rhea’s partying and sleep-over friends. He had understood that, but his daughter hadn’t. All she knew was that her mom hadn’t wanted her. While they were still in San Antonio Derek had taken Sarah to a child psychologist, but once they had moved to Saddle there had been no more counseling sessions.