by Becki Willis
Such romantic words from the Ranger were few and far between. Hearing them, Kenzie realized the man was not only a cheater, he was also a thief; his simple words stole her breath away, right along with her heart. Kenzie managed to swallow, hoping she did not look as vulnerable as she felt.
“You promised to take me horseback riding,” she reminded him. “Remember?”
“I remember.” His rich tone said he remembered everything about their time spent together, and treasured it as much as she did.
Happiness bubbled up from Kenzie’s soul as they drifted along the glassy green waters. Even Travis visibly relaxed as the tranquility of the river worked its magic on them both. She caught a glimpse of his playful side when he scooped up a handful of water and tossed it at her. Sputtering in mock outrage, Kenzie slapped the water’s surface hard enough to splash it upon him. After that, they engaged in a silly battle to see who could splash the most water.
In the middle of the war, Travis proclaimed victory. “I win!” he announced triumphantly, a smug expression upon his face.
“Oh, yeah?” she asked, sending another spray his way. “Who says I’m through fighting?”
“Doesn’t matter.” His voice floated out low and sensual as his eyes slid slowly down to the soaked bodice of her swimsuit. The bathing suit he chose for her was tastefully modest, with a halter-top that tied in the back and a peek-a-boo cutout that revealed her cleavage. The suit showcased her full figure without revealing too much skin, but when wet, the material clung to her, the same way his hungry eyes did. “I definitely win.”
To her surprise, Travis grabbed the edge of her tube and hauled it toward him. He maneuvered alongside her and leaned across to kiss her with undisguised desire, holding her in place with a large hand wrapped around the back of her neck.
“Think I’d sink us if I pulled you over here with me?” he muttered breathlessly against her lips.
“Maybe. But what difference does it make?” she whispered back. “When I’m around you, I always feel like I’m drowning.” She made the admission with large, luminous eyes. Her heart was thudding in a crazy tempo, thrilled with Travis’s surprising show of passion.
“I know that feeling, darlin’, all too well.”
Just as he made his own raw admission, they hit a small rapid and their rafts jerked apart. Travis went to the right, the waters carrying his tube further downstream, while Kenzie derailed toward the shallow and rocky riverbed to the left.
“Wait for me!” she laughed as she guided her way through the partially submerged boulders.
“Been waiting for you my whole life, just didn’t know it.” He casually tossed the precious words over his shoulder as he hit an unusually strong current and floated even further away.
Thinking she had surely misunderstood, Kenzie was determined to catch up and ask him to repeat his statement; she would get out and wade the waters if necessary!
“Don’t you dare leave me now, Travis Merka!” she called to him, half-laughing, half-begging. “Things were just getting interesting!”
He laughed as he watched her paddle toward him frantically. The sound was rich and deep, filling Kenzie with wonder. It seemed the lazy river had cast a spell upon the somber and reserved lawman, loosening his self-restraint and making him more vulnerable. More human. Today she was seeing entire new faucets to the man who had taken her heart.
She finally caught up with him at an exit point in the river. As they scrambled out of their tubes and up the banks to shore, Travis purposely kept one step ahead of her. He brushed past a trio of teenagers entering the river at the same point. Without waiting for her, Travis hurried onto the trail that ran alongside the river, its pathway half-hidden by the thick trunks of age-old bald cypress and pecan trees.
“Where did you go?” Exasperation mingled with laughter as Kenzie struggled to keep up with his long-legged pace. The trail curved with a bend in the river, and all she could see was a tangle of cypress, willow and elm, interspersed with bushes, vines, and gnarly roots. The inner tube she carried on her hip snagged on a sycamore limb and she tugged it free impatiently, just as she caught a glimpse of Travis’s long form, lounging against the thigh-high roots of a massive tree trunk. Near the base of the tree, the roots flared out like wooden chaises, their height perfect for even the long-legged Ranger.
As she stepped over the maze of smaller tangled roots leading up to the ancient cypress, he laughed and snagged her around the waist. When he tugged her close, she fell ungracefully upon his long body. The moment their bodies touched, heat flared between them. Neither was concerned about gracefulness. “What took you so long?” he breathed, nuzzling her neck as laughter quickly turned to lust.
The raft fell from her hands as she melted into him, consumed at once by the fire their bodies ignited. Three weeks apart had been too long. Even Travis, normally so carefully in control of his feelings, seemed starved for the taste of her. The rough scrape of his beard grated against tender skin as his mouth ravished hers. Kenzie longed to feel the scrabble on other parts of her body, but the wet bathing suit plastered to her like a second skin. The steamy fabric intensified the heat of his hands as they roamed greedily over her.
He had kissed her like this once before, in a cheap motel room in Wyoming. She had offered herself to him that night, but his rigid morals kept him from accepting her gift. Would it be the same this time? She managed a few coherent thoughts as he swept her along in the frenzied flame.
There was shuffling behind them, and the sound of snickers. “Dudes, get a room!” a boy’s voice called as a small group of teens traipsed past them. One of his friends offered words of encouragement, crude though they were, sending the group into peals of nervous laughter as they went along their way.
Travis groaned aloud. Kenzie half-expected him to thrust her away, angry and ashamed of being caught in such a compromising situation. She was encouraged when he only stilled his hands and leaned his forehead against hers, allowing them both an opportunity to cool down, even though her body was still draped upon his.
“I can’t believe I’m acting like a love-starved teenager,” he muttered, voice still thick with need.
Kenzie giggled, partially from pent-up frustration, partially from sheer joy. “I can’t believe we were caught by teenagers!”
“Told you back in Wyoming, my dating skills are rusty.” Another minute holding her close, and then Travis was gently pushing her off him.
Allowing her eyes to trail over him with a seductive grin, gaze lingering over his tented swim trunks, Kenzie raised an eyebrow and drawled, “Oh, there is nothing rusty on you, Stix.”
Red stained his cheeks as Travis pushed himself off the tree and grabbed the inflatable rafts to cover his state of arousal. “Let’s get out of here,” he suggested gruffly, to which she laughed merrily.
It was a long hike back to the car, giving them plenty of time to walk out their disrupted sexual energy. When they finally reached the parking area, Kenzie tossed him the keys. “Here, you drive. I have no idea where we’re going.”
“But isn’t this a rental? I’m not on the contract.”
Kenzie rolled her eyes as she opened the passenger door. “Don’t worry, you’re not breaking any rules,” she assured him. “It’s not a rental. It’s my car.”
“Yours?” He was clearly surprised, and looked around the car with renewed interest. “How did the insurance company work so fast?”
As Travis moved the driver’s seat back to accommodate his long legs and readjusted mirrors, Kenzie hesitantly told him the truth. “Actually, it was a gift. From Senator Harry Lawrence.”
Travis turned his head to look at her with suspicion. “And why would the Senator give you a car?”
“My question, exactly. He claims it is because he feels somehow responsible about Franks stalking me and trying to kill me. When he heard about my wreck last week, he says he saw the opportunity to express his apologies. It came gift wrapped in a huge yellow bow. And get this
. That afternoon, a second car showed up at our apartment, this one pale icy blue with a huge red ribbon. It was for Makenna. Even though he’s never met my sister, he said he would be remiss if he did not apologize to her, as well, since Franks held us both at gunpoint and wreaked havoc on both our lives.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. A Senator buys a forty thousand dollar automobile for a woman he barely knows, and another one for a woman he’s never met before? And they’re not even in his voting district? He’s the Senator from Colorado, for crying out loud. Why would he buy you and Makenna cars?”
“Beats me. We both tried to refuse, but he wouldn’t listen. He said if we didn’t want them we could donate them to charity, but the titles were already in our names.”
As Travis eased the smooth-handling car onto the highway, his face was still set in a frown. “It’s a nice car,” he conceded. “Handles well, nicely equipped, sharp looking. But it’s not normal for an elected official to buy such extravagant gifts for women less than half his age. I still say the man is some sort of old pervert.”
Kenzie sighed. “At first, it was sort of creepy. But Craven says that the Senator is ‘very fond’ of me. And he’s never said or done anything inappropriate.”
“Except request you specifically as the photographer in Colorado, invite you to his home in New Hampshire where he treated you like the guest of honor, and buy you and your twin sister fancy cars.”
“Well, when you put it like that….”
“I think you need to steer clear of the Senator, Kenzie. Something is not right about all this.”
“I don’t think it hurt matters any that, somehow, I may have unwittingly helped his chances at getting the Presidential nomination. Instead of blaming him for what Franks did, people seem to be sympathetic towards him.”
“If he actually gets elected, what’s he going to do, buy you both a house?” Travis muttered.
Kenzie shrugged. “Who knows what people will think when the whole story is revealed? He may not have been aware of what was going on, but what does that really say about him? This whole scam was going on right under his nose for over twenty years.”
“Have you heard anything from Captain Ramirez on how close he is to releasing the information?”
“No, I was hoping you had.”
“Sorry, darlin’, I’ve been all tied up in this new case. I don’t get much chance for phone calls. You just happened to catch me last week.”
Kenzie was quiet for a moment before asking solemnly, “This is dangerous, isn’t it, Travis? This new case you’re involved in.”
“There’s an element of danger in all our cases, darlin’. These are criminals we deal with.”
“You sound like Hardin,” she grumbled. “Is that a standard answer they teach you in training?”
“Just a fact.”
“Is it hard, being back in East Texas? I know it holds some painful memories for you.”
“To be honest, I’ve been too busy for any strolls down memory lane.”
“So I don’t suppose you’ve had a chance to look up your old friend Emilio?”
She glimpsed the odd look that crossed his face before he hid it. “Too busy.”
“Except, what? I saw that look.”
He hesitated briefly before telling her, “Funny you should mention Emilio. The leader of the gang I’m trying to infiltrate has a familiar face.”
With a small gasp, she guessed, “The brother who went to Juvie?”
“Oh, he’s escalated far beyond Juvie. Two years in prison, in and out of jail a dozen times, now the leader of a rag tag group that roams from East Texas to Louisiana.”
“But… won’t he recognize you? Won’t he know you’re a Texas Ranger now? I’m sure the orphanage is very proud that one of its own became a member of such an elite group of law enforcement. People have to know who you are.”
“Luckily for me, I was a scrawny little kid back then. I don’t look a thing like I used to, especially not dressed like a biker.”
“So he hasn’t recognized you?”
“We haven’t come face to face yet. But I’m confident he’ll have no idea who I really am.” Despite his words, there was the slightest hint of doubt in his tone.
“I don’t guess you can tell me anything about the case?”
“Sorry, darlin’. I shouldn’t have even told you this much.”
“Like you’ve told me anything at all. What do they deal? Drugs? Guns?”
“Among other things,” he said elusively.
“Do you know how long it’s going to take, how long you’re going to be undercover?”
He shrugged. “Hard to say.”
“Take a guess. A month, a year?”
“That’s impossible to predict, darlin’.”
Kenzie sighed in exasperation. “Well, if you can’t tell me anything, can you at least get me something to eat? I’m starving!”
Travis chuckled. “Now that, I can do. If you can wait about thirty minutes, I know a great little place we can go for the best steak you’ve ever had.”
“I’m not sure I’m dressed for a steakhouse.” She glanced down at her attire. She wore a pair of bluejean shorts over the swimming suit. Rhinestone-studded sandals graced her feet.
“I never said this was a steakhouse,” he corrected her. “And believe me, darlin’, you look fine. Extremely fine.”
The look that accompanied the words sent a delighted shiver over her skin, reminding her of their heated kisses by the river, not that she was likely to ever forget.
The compliment deserved a peace offering of sorts. “Last night, you asked me what picture I was looking at. Apparently, when we had that roll of film developed, one of the pictures was stuck in with the negatives or something. I just recently discovered a third picture. It was of my mother with Makenna and me.”
“I’m glad you at least have a picture of the three of you.” He reached over to engulf her smaller hand with his large one.
“You should see it, Travis,” she said softly. Her voice turned wistful. “We looked so happy. And she was so beautiful. Her hair was short and had just enough curl to make it bounce around her face like a halo. It was dark, with auburn highlights. And her eyes were green, like ours. She looked so happy.” The words came out strangled as she fought back tears.
“I’m sorry, darlin’, that you don’t remember her.”
“It wasn’t the same woman, Travis.”
Her words were so low and raw he had trouble hearing them. “What did you say?”
“The woman in the picture was obviously our mother. We look too much like her to doubt that. But she wasn’t the woman who raised me, Travis. Apparently, that woman was not my mother.”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know what, and I don’t know why, but something happened between the time that picture was taken in January and by the time my parents deserted Makenna in June. Something happened to my real mother.”
“Then who raised you?”
Her green eyes were tortured. “I don’t know, but I have to find out. The not knowing is killing me. It haunts me, thinking about what could have been, if only I had been raised by a mother who loved me.” Her voice broke with the admission. “I’m haunted, knowing she might be out there somewhere and I might not ever get to see her again. That I might never remember her.”
“I know your father hid their tracks pretty well, erasing most of their background data. But there has to be some trace of your mother out there. I won’t have much time to work on it, but I’ll see what I can dig around and pull up. I have access to files you don’t.”
A huge smile lit her face. “You’d do that for me?”
“You might be surprised at what I’m willing to do for you.”
She wanted to ask if he was willing to quit his job for her, or to at least transfer back to Austin. She would never ask it of him, of course, but a part of her wanted to know what his answer would be if she did. The other part of h
er was terrified to find out. So instead of asking, she kept the smile plastered on her face and cooed flirtatiously, “Aw, Stix, it almost sounds as if you care about me.”
In answer, he scrunched his forehead in a glower. He did not return her playful mood. “Of course I care about you, Kenzie.”
She pulled her hand away from his, her mood suddenly somber as she turned her head to stare out the window. “Sorry, guess I didn’t notice in the all the dust,” she muttered.
“What dust?”
“The dust you left behind when you got out of Austin as fast as you could. You remember, it was one week after the first time you told me you cared about me. You promised me everything was going to work out. And I guess for you, it did.”
“Is that what you think?” A nerve worked along the edge of his taut jaw. “You think I wanted to leave you? That it was easy to walk away, especially with all you’re going through right now?”
“It took you less than a week to pack up and go,” she pouted.
“Those were my orders, Kenzie. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.” Kenzie knew she was being childish, but the words were tumbling out, fueled by the pain in her heart.
“So, what? I was supposed to turn down this promotion because my girlfriend didn’t want me to go? Is that what you want, Kenzie?” He did not give her time to answer, he just grabbed his cell phone and said in a voice like thunder, “Fine, I’ll call up my Captain and tell him I changed my mind!”
Kenzie felt the goofy grin that bubbled up from her heart and smeared across her face. She forgot all about being in the middle of an argument. Making light of the unaccustomed mushy feelings, she teased, “Aw, am I your girlfriend, Travis?”
He looked more irritated than embarrassed. “What are we, in seventh grade?” he scowled. “Am I supposed to ask you to go steady with me or something?”
“Well, a commitment is always nice,” she teased. “Do you have anything for me? An I.D. bracelet, senior ring, anything that will let people know I’m your girl?” She batted her eyes playfully, leaning toward him.