Secrets and Seduction (Dangerous Desires)

by Sahara Roberts

  Both men nodded their understanding. “I’d rather we be on our way as soon as possible.” He pointed to Carlo’s prone body. “Check on Carlo and get me my bag.” Alex scrambled to kick away the gun before he squatted to check the body. Straightening, he shook his head then disappeared around the wall.

  “Andres, hijo. You need to do right by your family.” He couldn’t possibly understand what it was like to grow up without a father. And he’d do everything in his power to make sure that didn’t happen to another Calderon.

  Andres’s jaw tightened. “Susana’s child isn’t mine, Dr. Treviño.” He shook his head. “I just found out she led you on.”

  Reynaldo stared, dumbfounded. It hadn’t occurred to him that the woman would have lied. He expected the woman Andres chose to have integrity. That’s why he’d tried to get her and the child out of harm’s way, sending them to Monterrey while he dealt with Pablo Guerrero.

  If only Carlo had eaten dessert, he would have wiped out all vestiges of the cartel with the fiery blaze. Granted, he hadn’t had time to account for all possibilities. Not when Lourdes had discovered evidence that would have implicated him in Paloma’s death. There’d been so much blood. Some of it was bound to end up on his clothing.

  “I think she’d gotten to Carlo, too,” Andres continued. “I heard him yelling about the kid.” His voice broke. “I’m so sorry you got caught in the middle. He must not have seen you standing there when he came after me.”

  Reynaldo squeezed his hand. The poor boy thought he’d been shot by accident. No, Carlo had just come upon him at an inopportune moment. Well, no matter. He could still take Pablo away and figure out what to do with him.

  “I’ll be fine.” He managed a weak smile as he straightened himself. “You go take care of what you need to do.” Andres hesitated. “Go on, I’ll wait here for Alex.”

  He nodded once, then stalked off toward the house.

  It was over, for the time being. He slumped against the wall, holding the tattered shirt against his wound as adrenaline worked through his body. His gaze lifted to the framed picture of Reynaldo Calderon which hung over the corner of the doorway. “Papá, your home is back within the family, as I’d promised.”

  “Ay-ay-ay,” Lupe screeched as she braced herself on the dashboard.

  “We’re almost there.” Monica reassured her frightened companion while maneuvering around the lake-sized craters in the road. They’d called an unspoken truce while loading the car with supplies.

  For months Monica had been anticipating the job in emergency medicine. But as she handed Simon a bin of gauze, antiseptic, and gloves, she’d realized she’d found a sense of community, and maybe family, that she’d never felt in the city.

  By the time they were packed, the line of helpers reached the front door. Dora agreed to stay behind, with Simon checking in on her. They’d shared anxious hugs and pleas to be careful before taking off. Dora and Simon watched from amid the crowd, her hand held tightly in his. Lupe had been too busy staring into the distance to pay any attention.

  They were getting closer to the smoke—and Rancho del Sol.

  Monica’s stomach roiled. Andres. Had he made it home? Was he safe? He hadn’t answered her call. Was the phone turned off? Was he at the scene of the explosion…or a part of it? She had seen his face when he left and could imagine what he was thinking.

  He’d all but stomped out the door, and she’d let him. But Kris had a bounty on his head, and she wouldn’t expose him, not even for Andres. Kris had waited, watching the scene with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised, silently demanding an explanation.

  While she had refused to give him one, she knew it was obvious Andres was her lover. After assuring Kris she was fine, the situation was fine, the whole damn world was fine, she’d tried shoving him out the door.

  He’d come with the intention of taking her home. He wouldn’t risk losing her to the cartel, the way he’d lost his parents. The chief was dead, Paloma was dead, they had no police force, and now something was up at Rancho del Sol.

  She was in the middle of trying to get answers when the low rumble of the explosion brought her to a screeching halt.

  In the distance, the flames reached above the trees. Just as she’d feared, Andres’s ranch. The main house was on fire. Her throat constricted with unshed tears. Dios, please let him be safe… He didn’t live there…did he? Dr. Treviño did. She hit the gas, earning a few expletives from Lupe as they sped off the main road and up the drive.

  The car shuddered, ending with another hard clank from somewhere beneath the vehicle. I can’t deal with you right now. With the last bit of momentum, she pulled off the driveway, throwing the gearshift into park before pushing the door open. The seatbelt jerked her back against the seat. “Ahhhh. Stupid…damn…belt.”

  She fought with the release while Lupe waddled on ahead. Please let him be okay. She grabbed her medical bag out of the back and flung the door closed.

  The front of the once beautiful home was barely recognizable. Part of the hand-carved porch swing she’d admired during her last visit lay on the hood of an SUV, charred and broken.

  Thankfully, only a couple of trees grew next to the house so the blaze was contained. Men in various states of dress were spread around the grounds, putting out small brushfires. None of them Andres. She’d pick out his form in a heartbeat.

  The only person she did recognize was Alex, who ducked his head and plowed on. Should she go ask questions, find out what happened? Fear choked her, leading her mind to the worst-case scenario. She needed answers as badly as she needed her next breath. Andres…

  Just then the screen door to a lone cabin opened and a woman stepped out, catching her heel on the threshold. Moni’s hand tightened on the strap of the backpack as she watched Andres step quickly to her side, his arm curled protectively around the woman’s waist, steadying her and the wailing bundle she held to her shoulder. In his other hand, he clutched a light blue bag with a baby bottle sticking out a side pocket. It could be nobody but Susana…with a baby.

  Moni’s heart stuttered as Andres bent his head to Susana’s ear and said something to her. She nodded, and they continued down the porch. Even disheveled the brunette was pretty, not beautiful in the classic sense, but slender and delicate right down to her dainty ankles.

  “Oh damn,” Lupe muttered, incredulous.

  Moni’s steps slowed. She straightened until her spine was painfully stiff then retreated into herself as the couple and their baby hurried past her toward his truck. She watched while Andres pulled open the passenger door, carefully taking the baby in his arms while the woman climbed in. Moni’s gaze locked onto his face as he looked down at the child. She saw the slight crease in his forehead, the tender way he tugged the blanket up around the face, shielding it from the smoke. Every gesture tore at her. He would be a good father. The woman murmured something, and he looked up, hesitating a moment before handing her the bag and then the baby. He closed the door carefully, pushing it tight against the truck rather than slamming it shut. Finally he turned and looked at her. His face was carved from stone, and the eyes that had danced with humor and glinted with lust were now distant and remote. Anguish lashed every cell of her being, but she held strong. This couldn’t be happening, yet the hard lines around his mouth dug deeper as he stared at her. She opened her mouth, but he shook his head. He dropped his gaze and stepped around the front of his truck, as if she wasn’t standing right there in front of him.

  “Andres?” She hesitated. What could she say?

  “Not now.” His back and shoulders stiff, he continued around to the driver’s door.

  Tears burned in her eyes, but they wouldn’t fall. The truck pulled away, and Lupe came up to her. “I can’t believe nobody told me they had a baby. What did you say to him?”

  Yeah, you and me both. Moni fought against the pain of betrayal and loss closing in on her like a tsunami. How could she have fallen for his lie? We’re not together… Yet here they wer
e, leaving his home—together. With their child. She was acutely aware that Lupe was waiting for an answer.

  “I asked if the baby was injured. He said no.” The lie came easily though her words were thick and pained.

  Lupe sniffed beside her. “And he would know this how? He should have let you examine it.”

  Monica mustered up a shrug. As smoke billowed over them she waved her hand in front of her face and coughed. “We need to get away from this. Over there.” She gestured toward the stables. At least this time she had an ironclad excuse for reddened eyes and tears. This time nobody would know how much it hurt inside.

  “I was right,” Lupe stated with assurance. “No wonder her parents wouldn’t have her.”

  Was that part of his initial reluctance last night? Knowing he had a woman and child at home waiting for him? Swallowing hard, she called herself every kind of idiot. She should have listened when he told her to send him away.

  “Over here.” Lupe rushed ahead to the SUV parked by the stable. “Doctor!”

  Moni forced her feet to move. She trudged behind Lupe, arriving just as Alex opened the rear doors of the SUV then seated Dr. Treviño and his bag. “Go,” he said to Alex. “Take care of what you need to, then get Pablo.” Some unspoken message passed between them.

  Moni moved to stand beside her mentor, immediately focusing on the blood at his side. Dropping her bag she reached for the zippers while pummeling emotions into the hollow where her heart sat just minutes ago. She couldn’t seem to find anything, regardless of how many zippers she opened.

  “I’m fine, dear.” His calm tone did nothing to reassure her, but she was fine if he believed her nerves were for him. “I just need you to bandage me up.” He handed her gloves out of his bag, holding on to them for an extra second when she’d tried to accept them.

  She met his eyes.

  “This is nothing,” he said with finality. The message came through loud and clear.

  She was to bandage him up and keep her mouth shut.

  Behind her, the nurse paced behind the vehicle.

  “You shouldn’t have driven here by yourselves,” Dr. Treviño murmured. “It’s too dangerous to have women out alone.”

  “We had to come,” Lupe said adamantly. “I’m sure the whole town is concerned, knowing you’re here…with these people.” She ended in a harsh whisper.

  Bandaging done, Moni administered a shot to help with the pain, then helped move him to the backseat on the driver’s side.

  Alex opened the far door, maneuvering Pablo Guerrero into the vehicle. The older man slumped into the corner, a blood-stained bandage covering his leg. Pink would have seemed an unlikely selection for his shirt, if she didn’t know about Paloma and her fondness for the color. The vacant eyes and heavy jowls dragging down his jaw attested to the hell he’d been through lately.

  Monica frowned and leaned in, peering closer at Guerrero’s eyes. She dug into her side pocket and pulled out a tiny flashlight. With a quick flick of her wrist she aimed the beam at him for a second, then moved it away. His pupils were pinned and nonreactive, and he didn’t even glance her way as she straightened up. He wasn’t drunk, he was stoned out of his mind on narcotics.

  Clicking off the light, she shook her head. She couldn’t muster up too much surprise that a drug kingpin might succumb to the very poison with which he’d made his fortune. At least it had kept the man from rampaging across the countryside seeking revenge.

  “Monica, I’m sorry to have put you through this.” She snapped her attention back to Dr. Treviño, nodding an automatic response to his apology. “I never expected things to progress this far.”

  The disaster around them or the disaster her life had turned into? Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, overflowing down her cheeks. Refusing to break down in front of her mentor, she blinked in rapid succession, trying to stem the tide to no avail.

  He placed a hand over hers. “Go home, Dr. Vasquez. There’s nothing more you can do here.” Something shrank in her chest, agreeing with the stark truth of his statement.

  Reynaldo relaxed against the passenger door. The shot Monica gave him numbed the pain and left him lethargic.

  “You okay over there, Dr. Treviño?” Alex looked back at him through the rearview mirror.

  “Mmmm.” Reynaldo nodded as they merged onto the highway and Alex sped up. “I was just thinking…”

  “About?”

  “Copas has roots.” He looked out at the fence posts running past them. They were melding into one column then separating again. “The people care.” He sniffed, his eyes burning. “My mother cared. She-she was a good woman. A lady.”

  Alex tilted his head. “She was from here?”

  Reynaldo shifted forward, his chin hitting his chest. He tried lifting his head but for some reason, his neck refused to perform the simple movement. “The family moved to Galala-Gadala…Gua-da-la-ja-ra.” He chuckled, adjusting in his seat. “They moved so moth-her could go to school.” Alex nodded. “Ed’cation is important.”

  “Yes, it is.” Alex agreed.

  “I would have been happy.” Sorrow weighed him down. “A happy little boy.” But she went to school. School. And he went to school. A doctor. He smiled, remembering the joy of teaching others. Those special few… “Monica cares.” Deep breathing echoed against the glass. “I thought she’d be good for Andres.” He settled back, lulled by the hum of tires on pavement.

  How many hours had he spent with eyes so similar to Andres’s staring back at him? The old photograph had been put away, meant to be kept from prying eyes. But a curious little boy was apt to find hidden secrets then fit the pieces together.

  Family had brought him to Copas. The family his grandparents had robbed him of when they’d found out his unwed mother was expecting. Now, for Andres’s sake, his nephew and papá’s only blood relative still on the ranch, he was leaving—and taking the garbage with him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Monica sat at the foot of the bed, her eyes fixed on the luggage she’d prepared for her return home. She should have been on the road an hour ago, but the day’s events still held her attention in a stranglehold.

  Guerrero had stirred up the devil himself. Whoever was out to get him could blend in so well nobody realized he was there. He’d managed the impossible, clearing out the cartel from the area in one final blow. Andres would get his property back, and the town would have a better chance of getting another doctor. Someone who didn’t want to skulk away again, to lick a new set of wounds. Tears clouded her vision, and she dropped her forehead into her palms, angry at the loss she couldn’t seem to smother.

  The door leading down to the office opened a few inches with a protesting creak. Wide-eyed, she jerked up, her gaze going to where she normally left her backpack. She cursed under her breath when she saw the empty spot. The door opened wide, letting a familiar form into the apartment.

  “You okay?” Kris advanced toward her with a concerned frown.

  “I’m fine.” She slouched, letting the tension ride out of her back. “You heard about the ranch?”

  “Yeah. And you’re not answering your damn phone.”

  She winced, realizing he’d probably thought the worst when she hadn’t answered her phone. “I’m sorry.” She shot off the bed, wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her back just as hard. “I didn’t realize I left my bag in the car.” Proof she’d been in shock since she left the ranch.

  “You had me worried.” Kris’s bear hug loosened. He pulled away, holding her at arm’s length as he chastised her. “When I got word the explosion was at the ranch, I called you. You didn’t answer.” With the dark hair and annoyed twist of his mouth, he reminded her of her father.

  “Oh God.” He’d been worried about the chatter at Rancho del Sol enough to jump on a plane and head down to pull her out, but of course she hadn’t listened. “I’m soooo sorry. I…”

  He kissed the top of her head. “As long as you’re alive, I’ll get over it.�
�� She pulled away, immediately missing the support.

  “We went to the site but were ushered out pretty quickly.” She swallowed the lump in her throat at the reminder of Andres. “Nobody needed medical attention.”

  “No survivors?” he asked, with little emotion in his voice.

  “I can confirm Guerrero and Dr. Treviño made it out of the house alive.” She still didn’t know the full extent of the damage or the lives the killer had claimed.

  “We had another agent on the inside. He hasn’t checked in.”

  This part of the job she could do without. There was no easy way to handle a notification. At least Kris would be expecting her words. “I didn’t see any of the security crew.” Silence stretched out. She didn’t prod. Kris always believed information should be shared on a need-to-know basis. “Andres, Alex, and the rest of the workers in the bunkhouses were spared.”

  “Where is Guerrero now?”

  “I have no idea.” She’d been racking her brain trying to figure out their next move.

  “Guerrero’s too invested to leave the area overnight. Money, weapons, privacy,” he ticked off. “Everything’s at his fingertips.” Kris’s voice trailed off when she shook her head. “Hell, just what he’s got hidden in the caves overlooking the ranch would buy up half the state.”

  “They’re gone. Dr. Treviño took Guerrero and left town.” Monica assured him. “So what happens now?”

  “We’re trying to piece the information together.” Kris pressed his lips together, retreating into his thoughts.

  “The propane tank behind the house exploded,” she prodded, refusing to let him go silent.

  “Yes. We have at least seven guards dead, along with two live-ins. The number may be higher. Some of the men Guerrero sent out may have returned.”