They sat for a few minutes in an uncomfortable silence. Lucas realized he wasn’t hearing her thoughts anymore. But at least she couldn’t still be afraid of him. He was positive he’d be able to see an obvious emotion like fear in her eyes.
“Well, then, why don’t you go ahead and leave already?” she suddenly blurted out in a most annoyed tone. She was swiping angrily at the hair in her face.
Obviously still in pain, and also just as obviously frustrated with her body’s dusty condition, Teal was letting irritation color the words she chose.
He nearly laughed aloud as he watched her fighting phantom flyaway hairs. Every time she stuffed a recalcitrant ebony strand behind her ear, the silky soft ends slipped back down over her eyes. It was everything he could do not to touch it—touch her.
But he managed to sit there without moving and without saying a word. The FBI special agent would not care for him to be so familiar just yet. They weren’t even friends.
“Talk about your ultimate in bad hair days,” she groaned, apparently forgetting for the moment her desire to be rid of him. “I am so filthy, all I can think of is getting into a shower.”
“Except for the few bruises and cuts, you look great,” he soothed. “In fact, better than great. You’re one of the most exotic and beautiful women I’ve ever met.”
Teal twisted her head and shot him an incredulous look. “Skip the phony flattery. I know what I look like, and it’s not great.
“I have a younger sister,” she added without a breath. “She’s the pretty one in the family. I’m plain old Teal. I’ve always thought of myself as just one of the guys.”
That brought to his mind another question he certainly wished he could read in her eyes. Hours ago he’d stopped being able to read Teal’s thoughts at all. It was a strange feeling this—not knowing. Strange and alarming.
“I can’t imagine you actually believe such nonsense,” he said with a wry smile. “Aren’t the men in your life forever telling you how pretty you are?”
She dropped her hands into her lap. “Is that a sneaky way of asking about my personal life? Are you flirting?”
He couldn’t keep the grin from spreading across his face. “And that would be so terrible, because…?”
Shrugging, she turned her face away so he couldn’t see her eyes.
The woman sitting next to him was more than simply pretty. She was beyond beautiful. With those huge chocolate-colored eyes and those long lashes skimming her cheeks every time she looked down, Special Agent Teal Benaly radiated sensuality. And somehow, it ceased mattering that he had no idea what she was thinking.
Finally she turned back. “I’m single. Not involved with anyone, either, if you must know. But that doesn’t mean I can take the time to date or start a new relationship at the moment.”
“Not with anyone?” he asked. “Or just not with me?”
“Not with anyone. But thanks for asking.”
She was being flip, but he heard an emotion in her voice that made his heart stutter. He wanted to know more about her. Like for instance, what had that achingly familiar but not quite clear tone of voice really meant?
“Maybe if you got to know me better, I could change your mind.” He watched her expression carefully.
It was difficult not being in tune with her thoughts. Unaccustomed to the absence of noise in his head, he had to keep a close watch on her eyes and body movements to guess what she was thinking.
However, her current thoughts seemed easy enough to judge. She screwed up her mouth and stared at him as if she, too, were trying to guess what he’d been thinking.
Then she lifted a shoulder and sighed as though she’d temporarily given up. “Kody told me you’re an athlete. Is that right?”
Lucas didn’t think that was what she’d meant to ask, but he answered her question anyway. “Yes, that’s right. Every year but this one, I’ve placed in the top ten in the Iron Man competition.” He shrugged himself. “It’s something I love to do.”
“Iron Man, huh? I’ve heard that’s a bitch. How come you didn’t place this year?”
“I decided not to compete. Things were…well, things around Dinetah were complicated this year. I had a lot going on.”
“A lot going on? Let me guess. Does it have to do with…a woman?”
Ah. The question she had hesitated to ask before. “Isn’t that too personal a question for a woman who doesn’t want a relationship?” he teased.
She shrugged and smiled a wry grin. “I’m allowed to wonder about personal things, too. But I have a better reason to ask than you do. It’s in my job description.”
He chuckled. “I’m divorced, Special Agent. And before your next too-personal question, it was a long time ago and there were no children. I live alone—about a half mile from my grandmother’s hogan where I was raised.”
It hit him then that most of the time he felt very much alone. But that was his choice now. He’d come to terms with his life.
Teal watched the quiet struggle behind Lucas’s eyes over that last sentence. But she had no idea what he’d said that was so difficult for him to admit or accept.
This guy absolutely fascinated her. She couldn’t tell what he meant half the time. She’d always prided herself on being able to read people’s intentions, figuring it was one of the things that would make her excel in law enforcement. But with him…nada.
As she continued to watch him, his face became bathed in an eerie rose glow. Turning, she discovered the first few rays of sun creeping over the rim of a canyon.
“Sunrise,” Lucas said with a smile. “Things in the desert take on a different hue at first light. See how the gray sand is now cast in pinks and golds?”
“You have a real artistic temperament, don’t you?”
He nodded, but didn’t say anything more while he continued to stare up at the soft colors of the morning sky at dawn. Teal was beginning to feel a comradeship, or a kind of familiarity with him, and she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to. The guy was a flirt and a weirdo.
But he seemed like a loner, and she was most definitely a loner, too. Though the idea that they were both single and each stayed to themselves didn’t seem like much to build a friendship around.
In spite of the fact he was sexy as hell and that should be enough all by itself to keep her interest, there was something else about him that seemed to be drawing her, or calling to her. A nebulous thing, right outside of her conscious, she was determined to figure out what it was.
“I’d like to say a few sunrise prayers,” he told her softly. “It’s something I do every day. Would you mind?”
She jumped to her feet, stung by her own wayward thoughts. “No. Not at all. The forensics team will be here soon anyway.” She started off toward the crime scene tape and the abandoned truck, eager to get away from him for a few minutes and give him some peace.
“Wait.”
Not wanting to hang around to face her self-examinations while he prayed, she moved faster. “I’ll go stand by the truck, don’t worry about…”
“Teal, stop moving.”
The tone of his voice told her there was trouble. But her feet didn’t get the message. She couldn’t stop the forward motion, but turned her head back around to check on what he’d wanted to say.
Lucas was racing toward her, already only a foot away. “Stop,” he shouted as he reached his arms out for her.
“Huh?”
But it was too late to stop. Her back foot was slipping off the edge of some precipice.
Damn it. She’d been there, done this. And how did a frigging cliff suddenly appear on flat ground anyhow?
Her balance was definitely lost. She tried to save herself, and grabbed for Lucas. He was strong—and could be her savior once again.
Which was her very last thought as she started backwards over a dark edge. This time, though, she’d hooked her arms around Lucas and took him along.
Both of them went flying off into oblivion—together.
L ucas wrapped his arms around her and twisted his body before they hit the ground. He’d been aware Teal was about to step into the prairie dogs’ city, but he couldn’t reach her in time to stop her fall. He’d hit one of the holes in his haste and lost his balance, too.
All he could do now was tuck and roll, keeping her body cushioned with his own. He landed flat on his back, and finally stopped rolling with the special agent’s inert body splayed like a broken doll across his chest.
The gorgeous special agent of his dreams. This couldn’t be good news for their budding relationship.
“You okay?” he whispered when his breath evened out.
Teal remained quiet, not even stirring in his arms. Did she have the breath knocked out of her? Was she conscious?
Afraid to move, afraid not to, Lucas held his breath and waited a minute. Finally, he felt her chest heaving in and out and knew at least she was breathing.
He loosened his grip, and with a sigh of tremendous relief softly placed his lips against her silken hair. She was okay.
Squirming slightly in his arms, she ended up aligning her limp body exactly horizontally with his. He cursed under his breath. His body immediately reacted to the movements and to the feel of a rounded female pressing against him too intimately. Instead of limp, he went hard. Completely normal for a healthy male. But not so good for someone who was trying to earn her trust.
He could feel her warm breath against the damp skin of his neck, and chills began nipping along his spine. His heart raced as he felt her nipples pebble into his chest.
Lucas began to shake. His body wanted one thing—desperately. But his head knew better than to let anything like that happen between them. Not yet.
“Please,” he begged. “You have to get up. It wouldn’t do your career any good for the forensic team to show up and find us rolling around in the sand together.”
That seemed to get through to her. She groaned and slid off his body to the ground beside him.
The sound and friction of her movements melted his insides and hardened other parts. “Talk to me, Teal. Are you injured?”
“How the hell did a cliff come out of nowhere like that? I thought…” She lifted her head and looked around. “What happened?”
“You stepped into a prairie dog hole and lost your balance. You didn’t twist your ankle, did you?”
She sat up and checked both her ankles. “I guess not. In fact, I seem to be in remarkably good shape. Is that thanks to you?”
Lucas sat up beside her, hoping the lingering shadows of dawn would hide the evidence of his own body’s shape. At least until he could get things back under control.
“It wasn’t anything. I gave you something to land on.”
“That’s twice you’ve saved my life. I owe you big time.”
“I would hardly call tripping over a hole in the desert a matter of life and death. As long as you’re okay…” He stopped himself from finishing. Would it be better to have her feeling obligated to him? Could that work in his favor?
He clamped his mouth shut and shrugged. “We’ll work something out.”
Standing, he held out his hand. “Let me help you up. Go slowly until you’re sure no bones are broken.”
“I’m fine,” she said with a grunt as she got to her feet. “Just embarrassed. I’m usually pretty agile. I don’t know what’s the matter with me.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re in a strange land and unfamiliar with the environment.” He watched as she dusted off her slacks and jacket. “This might be a sign, you know.”
She lifted her eyebrows in question.
“You’re going to need someone to watch over you until you learn your way around. There’s a lot of hidden dangers in the high desert. Maybe…”
“Are you applying for the job?” Her voice carried an angry note of sarcasm, and he figured he’d pushed her too fast after all.
“Teal. I’m just saying you could use some help. Temporarily, of course. I’d be willing to…”
“Forget it. The FBI would not approve of one of their special agents needing a bodyguard. It’s against regulation.”
Lucas dropped the subject. But he had to find a way to stay close to her. Teal could potentially be in danger from things she didn’t even know existed. And he was positive it would somehow be his destiny to keep her safe.
He considered his options for a moment. Now that he thought about it, she’d given him a good idea. Perhaps there was a way to make the FBI change at least one of their regulations.
Teal flipped her cell phone closed and groaned. Slowly sliding her way to a sitting position at the side of the bed, she tried to ignore the fact that every inch of her body hurt.
Now that she was beginning to wake up, yesterday’s activities seemed like a big blur. Although after leaving Many Caves Canyon in late midmorning, she definitely remembered going to the medical examiner’s office to check on when they could do the autopsy, and she also vaguely remembered going back to the field office in Farmington to transcribe her notes on the murder scene. But the rest of the day was still a little fuzzy.
Except…Her memories of every minute with Lucas were entirely too sharp and clear.
She’d finally gotten rid of him when she managed to hitch a ride back to her car with the forensic techs. But the damned strange man continued to occupy a huge part of both her waking thoughts and her nighttime dreams.
Taking a breath and steeling herself for the pain, she got to her feet. Thank goodness she wasn’t light-headed this morning. Not when her boss had just called and wanted her in his office for a meeting within the hour.
Better get a move on. Struggling on her shaky and bruised legs into the tiny bathroom of her rented mobile home, she flipped on the harsh overhead light and glanced at herself in the mirror.
Big mistake. With a sharp gasp, Teal stared open-mouthed at somebody else’s image gazing back at her. Just look at that poor woman’s face. It looked like someone had stuck her head in a washing machine full of rocks and punched the spin cycle.
Now wasn’t that attractive? How was she ever going to be able to act like a professional in front of her boss with a black eye, a puffy, red nose and that nasty dirty bandage on her cheek? She looked like a boxer after losing a fight.
There was no choice in the matter, however. Special Agent In Charge Sullivan had summoned her and she had to go. Maybe she could cover up some of the damage with makeup.
Pulling the tiny butterfly bandage off her cheek, she found the cut underneath looked almost healed. Was fast healing one of the effects of Lucas’s medicine-man salve? She glanced down at the back of her hands and was surprised to see that the cuts there looked better, too. Something had made a tremendous difference overnight.
Okay, time to quit daydreaming and get moving. She was becoming more and more curious about what her boss wanted with her. Today was supposed to be her day off, though she’d planned to do a few preliminary interviews for her murder investigation.
Looking in the medicine cabinet for some way to cover the bruises, she ended up chuckling at her own dumb ideas. Makeup? At FBI Special Agent Teal Benaly’s place? Puleeez. She’d be lucky to find a lipstick.
Instead she spotted a bottle of peroxide and hurriedly splashed it over her hands and face. After two minutes of whimpering over the pains she’d inflicted upon herself, Teal ran a wet toothbrush around the inside of her mouth—carefully. Then she tried brushing her clean but still matted hair.
Hobbling back to her bedroom, she threw open her closet looking for a nice pair of black slacks to wear to the office. Again, a moment’s reflection reminded her that she hadn’t done laundry in a couple of weeks.
She rummaged through the dirty clothes basket and came up with slacks that had only one tiny spot of spilled coffee on them. Coffee against black material? No one would notice. These would have to do. Easing into them, she considered a top and decided to go with a pullover sweater that she hadn
’t worn yet this season. It was bound to be clean. She gave the armpits the old sniff test then pulled it over her head.
On her way out the door, Teal stopped and dumped a lump of fish food into the glass bowl with her Japanese fighting fish. “That ought to do you, Hiro. Sorry I can’t stay and join you for breakfast,” she murmured as she locked the front door behind her.
What had ever possessed her to buy a fish, anyway? She’d never had any kind of pets before. Living things just seemed so difficult. You couldn’t quantify them, and they tended to get messy sometimes.
But she’d felt really isolated when she’d first come to the reservation. Actually, she’d been lonely for a long while before that, but out here in this odd world the loneliness seemed magnified.
And really, Hiro was hardly any trouble. He was hardly any company, either, but she was glad for him just the same.
Outside in the sunshine, she discovered getting into her car was a real trick without bumping into any of her major bruises. After issuing a few audible grunts and groans, she finally made it behind the wheel. And with only fifteen minutes left to make it to the field office, she spun her wheels and squealed out of the driveway.
Sixteen minutes later, Teal wheeled into the parking lot of the federal administrative offices in Farmington and parked in her regular spot. She gritted her teeth, jumped free of the car instead of prolonging the agony, and limped into FBI headquarters for the upper New Mexico/Arizona reservation area.
Passing by the series of cubbyhole desks in the outer office, she ignored the stares and comments of the assistants and secretaries. For once in her life, she had nothing to say and couldn’t even manage to make her aching body shrug in answer to the questions about her bruises.
After knocking, she was invited into her boss’s office but was surprised to see two Navajo men sitting in the brown leather wingback chairs in front of his desk. Her boss, Special Agent In Charge Chris Sullivan, gave her a wide-eyed once-over, but waved her to a side chair as both the Navajo men turned to stare at her face.
Books by Linda Conrad Page 79