The Texas Ranger's Reward (Undercover Heroes)

by Winters, Rebecca

  “I beg to differ. If I’d gone to the store with Valerie, she might still be alive.”

  With that revealing response, joy went out of Melissa’s world. But it was the wake-up call she’d needed to get out of her dream state.

  Tonight’s activities had brought back happier memories for him from the past, but it couldn’t be clearer that he would always miss his wife. Up until now Melissa had assumed her resemblance to Valerie had worked against her. But after what he’d just said, she decided he wasn’t interested in any woman. He had a son to raise. That was enough for him.

  Heartsick, she resolved to keep the situation between them strictly business. It might be the end of her, but that was the way it had to be.

  “See ya!” Casey shouted.

  She waved to him from her front door. It was a good thing neither of them could see the tears in her eyes. “See ya,” she said softly.

  Chapter Seven

  “Bye, Dexter,” Casey said. “You’ve got plenty of food and water. I left you a doggie treat.”

  Travis glanced over his shoulder. They’d just finished breakfast and were ready to leave the house. He put some bottled water in his backpack for the hike. “Casey? What are you doing now?”

  “I’m cutting some brownies to take for my school snack.” He got out the foil and wrapped them up before putting them in his backpack.

  Travis couldn’t help laughing because he’d had the same idea. He went over to the counter and cut two brownies for himself, which he proceeded to eat on their way out to the truck.

  “I think Melissa’s food is as good as Mom’s.”

  Whoa. Travis hadn’t been prepared for that, but it was clear his son had moved on. “Yeah, these brownies are the best I’ve ever tasted.”

  “Yup. She makes good hot dogs, too. Can she come over tonight?”

  “We’ll see.”

  “You always say that.”

  Travis glanced at him. “What would you like me to say?”

  Casey looked at him with innocent eyes. “Just say yes.”

  Travis chuckled at his son’s remark. It was so…adult. He was still chuckling when he dropped Casey off at school and then pulled up in front of Melissa’s town house five minutes later. She came hurrying out to the truck before he’d even opened his door. He got out and put her backpack in the rear seat with his.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  When he told her, she chuckled, too. “He’s an original if ever there was one.”

  “So,” Travis said, “after our hike, do you want to make his day and come to our house for dinner? I’ll order Chinese.”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Only if I can bring something to contribute.”

  “I think Casey’s hoping you’ll make more brownies. Me, too.”

  She rolled her eyes. “More?”

  “There was only one left when we walked out the door this morning. It’ll be a race to see who gets it when Casey and I return to the house later.”

  “If that’s what you really want.”

  “It is. Believe me.”

  Her fragrance, whether from the shower or her shampoo, met his nostrils. He was becoming addicted to it. “I do believe you’re the most punctual woman I ever met.”

  As she climbed into the cab, the action revealed the lush curves of her body. She’d come dressed in denims and a long-sleeved crew-neck in an oatmeal color. He helped her in and shut the door before going around.

  After they were on the road she flashed him a guileless smile. “My brother says that a girl being on time makes a guy nervous. He says it’s one of my most irritating qualities.”

  Travis chuckled. “If he’s rarely on time, then you make him feel guilty. In my business punctuality is an absolute necessity.”

  “Oh, good,” she said drily. “Now I feel much better.”

  “I was paying you a compliment.”

  Melissa laughed. “I know. Thank you. What’s the plan for today?”

  “I’m going to let you decide where we go. We’ll hike beyond the ridge and look in the high back country for people who might be up to no good. It’ll be better if we don’t talk while we’re moving. When we stop, we’ll whisper.”

  “Okay.”

  He pulled a Geological Survey map out of the glove compartment and handed it to her. “This is one I took from the cabin drawer. Let me know how much of the terrain you’re familiar with. I’ll drive us up to one of the firebreak roads. When we find a good spot, we’ll pull off and walk from there.”

  She opened the map. He glanced at her as she studied it. Her lovely profile was beguiling, and with her hair caught back in a tortoiseshell clip, sheerly elegant. For once he wished he was on vacation and they could enjoy the day doing whatever they wanted. From the first she’d gotten to him, thrilling him at odd moments. Now those moments were merging. When he was away from her, he thought about her more and more....

  Yet part of him still felt an illogical resentment for those thoughts. He and Casey had been surviving in a numb state until that first day at the clinic. When she’d greeted them at the door, it was as if Travis had walked out of a black-and-white movie into a world of blinding Technicolor. Besides conjuring up remembered pain from the past, new feelings burgeoned. Longings and yearnings had taken hold, surprising the hell out of him.

  He understood the initial attraction because of her similarities to Valerie. But to go on seeing Melissa as anyone but a client, desiring her to the point that he ached to act on his feelings, thrust him into an unexpected realm of guilt. Valerie hadn’t been gone that long. It seemed a desecration of her memory that he wanted this woman sitting next to him. But he couldn’t stop what his body was telling him.

  Outside Kamas, Travis took a right and drove up an emergency access road into the forest. When he found a natural turnout, he pulled into it and parked. “What do you think?” He leaned over to look at the map. Her warm cheek was too close to his, distracting him from the business at hand. He’d become acutely aware of her.

  If she was disturbed by his closeness, she hid it well. “I’ve hiked all through the forest this side of the ridge. But I hiked on the other side only once, with my grandpa. That’s the area with the mine. The slope is steeper there, and the forest is thick, making it difficult to walk.”

  “Okay then,” he said, “we’ll hike in the area you’re most familiar with and see what we can find.” From what he could gather, much of the western end of the Uinta Mountains was unroaded and relatively pristine country, accessible only to those willing to hike or go in on horseback. He’d seen no sign of anyone else in this area so far. “I’ve brought my thermal-image goggles to help us. Let’s go.”

  They got out of the truck and she put on her backpack without waiting for his assistance. The more he got to know her, the more he noticed how independent she was, always protecting her body space. But there’d been a slight change in her from last week. Last evening he’d caught her staring at him a few times. That had to count for something. He planned to find out what during their hike.

  Today there were clouds overhead, but they weren’t threatening rain. When they blocked the sun, the forest air just grew cooler. The endless varieties of trees and undergrowth created a world of enchantment. Somewhere in this greenery a plantation of Early Misty marijuana was growing. He needed to stay focused to spot it, though Melissa’s presence was a constant distraction.

  The only sounds were of small animals and birds, a
nd their own movements. For Travis it was as if they were the only two people on earth, encased in an almost spiritual solitude. He pitied anyone who’d never walked through a forest like this.

  They’d been hiking for about two hours when he spotted movement in the distance. He stopped and waited until an elk with the biggest rack he’d ever seen walked into view. Signaling for Melissa to stop, he took off the goggles and helped her put them on. He stood behind her and pulled her against his chest while she took a good, long look.

  “Oh, Travis,” she whispered in awe, “he’s magnificent. I think he must weigh a thousand pounds. Casey wouldn’t believe it. I’d love to bring him hiking up here so he could see the elk, too.”

  “You’ll have to draw him a picture,” Travis suggested, speaking into her hair.

  He felt a tremor run through her body, but she didn’t move away. “I hope no hunter ever finds him.”

  “A rack that size proves he’s eluded them for years.”

  Slowly, she peered around her, through the goggles. “I can see everything!” she exclaimed softly. She kept turning until she faced him. “There’s nothing more beautiful than nature’s creations.”

  “You’re right.” Without conscious thought he removed the goggles and set them down. “I’m looking at one of them right now. You have no idea how beautiful you are to me, Melissa.” He’d loved watching her move quietly through the forest, a gorgeous human creature if there ever was one. His hands closed around her upper arms. “I want to kiss you, but you already know that.”

  “Because I look like your wife?” she asked with a daunting frankness.

  He drew in a fortifying breath. “I don’t know how to answer that. Maybe. Partly.”

  “That’s honest, anyway. I can see in your eyes you’d give anything if I were her. But I’m me. I don’t think you have any idea who I am.”

  His hands cupped her face. “Then there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” He lowered his head and found her mouth with his own. It was sweet to the taste. So sweet. She’d been eating red grapes from her pack. He proceeded with slow deliberation, teasing her, pressing kisses against her throat and around her lips, invading her mouth a little deeper each time until she opened to him, like a rose opening to the sun.

  He groaned before pulling her body to his. After Valerie, he’d thought he would never experience this kind of passion again. But holding Melissa in his arms, exploring her warm, pliant mouth, showed him he knew nothing about the mysterious alchemy stirring up his fire.

  The world faded away as she wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing him to embrace her fully. He’d been craving this since she’d helped him put up cameras inside the cabin. While he’d been working, he’d had to fight the urge to reach out and touch her. Now he didn’t have to hold back.

  It wasn’t his imagination that she wanted to get closer to him. Their bodies gravitated together in mutual need. One kiss didn’t begin to satisfy and could never be enough for him. After such a long time in a state of limbo, the rapture he felt with this woman was almost beyond bearing. But it came to an abrupt end when she cried, “No, Travis!” and slid out of his arms.

  He was so far gone, it took him a minute to realize what had just happened. Bereft after such ecstasy, he stood there breathing hard while he attempted to pull himself together. “What did I do that you didn’t want me to?”

  * * *

  WITH THE CLOUDS SHUTTING out the sunlight, his eyes looked black. Melissa shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “But you wanted me. You were with me all the way.”

  “I don’t deny it.” Being in his arms, undergoing that explosion of joy when he’d kissed her breathless, had been a transcending experience Melissa had wanted to go on and on.

  “Then what caused you to pull away? Did I frighten you?”

  She rubbed her arms with her hands. “No.... Yes.... I don’t know....”

  He put his hands on his hips. “I did frighten you.”

  “No. It wasn’t you. It’s me. I frightened myself.”

  “Because you responded to me? Help me out here. I want to understand.”

  Melissa shook her head. “You had the power to make me respond when I had no intention of doing so.”

  “Make you? That’s an odd choice of word. It takes two willing participants to feel what we were feeling.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. I—I can’t,” she stammered. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to the truck.”

  The safe world she’d created for herself since the divorce had just blown up in her face. For the first time in six years, she felt confused and out of control.

  It was cruel to blame him for wanting his wife to still be alive. He could no more help it than he could fly. And Melissa knew it was sheer insanity to accuse him of trying to dominate her, when he’d done nothing of the kind. For days now she’d been wanting him to kiss her. Now that he had, she was a writhing mass of contradictions. She’d ruined it with him and could have bitten her tongue off for speaking to him like that.

  Without saying anything, he put the goggles on again and started back the way they’d come, pacing his strides so she could keep up with him. When they got back to the truck, she checked her watch. It was one-thirty. They’d been out longer than she’d thought and they hadn’t seen a soul.

  He left her to remove her own pack and put it in the backseat. When she climbed into the cab, she still felt devastated by what she’d done. “Travis…I owe you an explanation, but I don’t know where to start.”

  “You owe me nothing,” he said in a remote tone of voice. “I felt like kissing you and I did, until you stopped me. We both know it happens to males and females all the time. It’s just as well I got it out of my system so I can concentrate on finding the people invading your domain.”

  After starting the engine, he turned the truck around and they headed down the mountain. “I have to go to the cabin,” he said, “so I can gather the memory cards from the cameras and put a new listening device in the flowers. I’ll drive into Kamas and you can do some shopping there, or wait in the truck at the church, while I go up on foot. It won’t take me long.”

  “I want to stay with you.”

  “I don’t think so. Not after what happened back there.”

  “Please forget what I said.” She was starting to panic.

  “That would be impossible.”

  Melissa stirred restlessly. “I’ve made you angry, when it was the last thing I meant to do.”

  “If I’m angry, it’s at myself. There’s an unwritten law. No fraternizing with the clients. I’ve never crossed the line before and now I know why. Believe me, I won’t do it again.” The ice was back in his eyes.

  She realized this wasn’t the time to explain herself. He wasn’t in a mood to listen. Perhaps by the time they reached the cabin, he’d be more approachable. For the rest of the drive to town she sat back and stared out the window, not seeing anything.

  At one point his phone rang. He checked the caller ID before answering it. The call was a short one, but she sensed it was important. He didn’t bother to explain, however.

  When they reached Kamas, he parked at the church and said nothing as she headed up the road with him. But with every step, she grew more and more uncomfortable. Travis had surrounded himself with an invisible shield that no plea for leniency could penetrate.

  Once at their destination, she followed him around the back. Melissa saw fresh cigarette
butts outside the door the second he did.

  He spoke at last. “There were more visitors here last night, but they didn’t come from the area where we were hiking today. That leaves the section of forest I haven’t explored yet.”

  He opened his pack to collect the samples and bag them. Returning to the front, he unlocked the door and they moved inside. “The lanterns have been transferred from the end table to the floor,” she blurted.

  “So I noticed. Your squatters have grown careless.”

  While Melissa drank water from the kitchen tap, he got busy removing the memory cards and replacing the batteries in the cameras. His last action was to hide a new listening device in the geraniums and pocket the other one.

  “Shall we go?” he asked, his tone frigid.

  She couldn’t let things continue this way. The thought of trekking back to the truck and then driving down the canyon with him without saying a word was too painful to contemplate. In desperation she reached the front door ahead of him and flattened herself against it, so he’d have to remove her physically to go outside.

  “We’re not leaving until you let me explain.”

  His face was a study of lines and shadows. “It’s not necessary.”

  “When I told you the reason for my divorce, I didn’t tell you everything.”

  With that remark, he lifted his head. She had his attention. “Go on.”

  “Russ and I met in Kamas at the beginning of the summer. He was at his parents’ summer home in Park City, and drove to Kamas with friends. We met at a local dance. He was good-looking, fun, funny, smart. He had lots of friends I really liked, and he liked my friends. I fell for him. In the fall, we got married.”

  Travis looked at her through veiled eyes. “What happened?”

  “My parents had paid for my college education, and suggested that we wait and get another year of schooling behind us first, but we both wanted to marry. My siblings were married. All my friends were getting married. Love was in the air. I wanted what every girl wants, and didn’t want to waste any more time. Mom and Dad got behind me, like they always do, and provided the beach honeymoon. It was great.”