her own family. If he’d been the person she’d thought he was.
A son like Trent, energetic and bright. They might have built a tree house, played
soccer, and every Christmas made construction-paper rings for the trees. He would
have hugged her each night, after a bedtime story. Mommy, I love you...
Enough. It was better that they hadn’t had children. The divorce would have been an
even greater nightmare, and no son of Davis’s could have grown up healthy.
Kelsey decided to start with a shower and in the bathroom she discovered Kade’s apple-scented
shampoo. She smiled. No wonder he smelled of apples.
While she washed her body her mind went places she hadn’t intended, imagining what
it would be like to have Kade soaping her, touching her.
With a groan, Kelsey sagged against the wet tile behind her while warm water sprayed
on her chest. Fantasizing about Kade was the wrong direction to take. If she let herself
go, how would she manage to keep her hands off him during her stay at the ranch?
After showering, then dressing in jeans and a blouse, Kelsey headed to the den. The
country air certainly did relax her, as if there was no hurry in the world to get
to work. That’s probably what Theresa had in mind when she’d agreed to giving Kelsey
the assignment.
Kelsey sank into a swivel chair in front of a rolltop desk. She slid on her glasses
and skimmed the latest news headlines on the Internet. The only sound in the room
was the ticking of the wagon wheel-shaped clock, and the click-clack of her laptop
keys.
Outside, chickens clucked and Rain Bird sprinklers went ch- ch-ch-ch. A wave of memories
washed over Kelsey. The lazy sound of the sprinklers took her back to her childhood,
when she and her sister, Naya, would run, in their panties, through the water sprays
from sprinklers in their backyard. Kelsey could smell fresh-cut grass and feel water
splashing her legs.
She rubbed the scar on her thigh as she stared out the window. How she missed Naya,
and her mother. If only...
Kelsey jerked her attention away from things that couldn’t be changed and downloaded
her e-mail. She wanted to turn off the computer as soon as she saw the hundred-plus
e-mails that had accumulated in the two days since she’d last checked.
Several were responses to her recent feature on the former California governor, a
couple were from friends, three from her editor, and the rest were spam. She deleted
all the unsolicited mail and responded to the others.
After she finished her replies, Kelsey leaned back in the swivel chair and closed
her eyes. Her thoughts turned to Kade. His was a powerful presence, yet he was so
gentle with her. Definitely a man she could lose her heart to, and it would make it
all the harder when it was time for her to head home.
***
“They’re not suffering, Kade,” Don Mitchell said. “Just a bit of dehydration, and
we’ve been making sure they’re getting plenty of water.”
Kade nodded and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The merciless
sun cooked the desert as agents rounded up a group of thirty-three undocumented aliens
at the Ford Ranch, at the foot of the Mule Mountains. Men, women, and children made
up the miserable group, but they were too beaten by the heat to do more than crouch
in the dust and wait to be processed.
Ford had reported the group when they stopped at his ranch for water. The rancher
was a good man, and had allowed the UDAs to drink from his irrigation hose.
The stench of sweat and body odor was almost unbearable, and the heat only intensified
the smell. It was obvious they’d been on a long and difficult journey, not uncommon
for illegals trying to cross the U.S. border. Kade was not usually called in on a
routine process, but one of the UDAs had claimed to have information on a key smuggler
Kade was after.
In Spanish, Kade questioned Juan Dominguez, who’d insisted he knew the
A son like Trent, energetic and bright. They might have built a tree house, played
soccer, and every Christmas made construction-paper rings for the trees. He would
have hugged her each night, after a bedtime story. Mommy, I love you...
Enough. It was better that they hadn’t had children. The divorce would have been an
even greater nightmare, and no son of Davis’s could have grown up healthy.
Kelsey decided to start with a shower and in the bathroom she discovered Kade’s apple-scented
shampoo. She smiled. No wonder he smelled of apples.
While she washed her body her mind went places she hadn’t intended, imagining what
it would be like to have Kade soaping her, touching her.
With a groan, Kelsey sagged against the wet tile behind her while warm water sprayed
on her chest. Fantasizing about Kade was the wrong direction to take. If she let herself
go, how would she manage to keep her hands off him during her stay at the ranch?
After showering, then dressing in jeans and a blouse, Kelsey headed to the den. The
country air certainly did relax her, as if there was no hurry in the world to get
to work. That’s probably what Theresa had in mind when she’d agreed to giving Kelsey
the assignment.
Kelsey sank into a swivel chair in front of a rolltop desk. She slid on her glasses
and skimmed the latest news headlines on the Internet. The only sound in the room
was the ticking of the wagon wheel-shaped clock, and the click-clack of her laptop
keys.
Outside, chickens clucked and Rain Bird sprinklers went ch- ch-ch-ch. A wave of memories
washed over Kelsey. The lazy sound of the sprinklers took her back to her childhood,
when she and her sister, Naya, would run, in their panties, through the water sprays
from sprinklers in their backyard. Kelsey could smell fresh-cut grass and feel water
splashing her legs.
She rubbed the scar on her thigh as she stared out the window. How she missed Naya,
and her mother. If only...
Kelsey jerked her attention away from things that couldn’t be changed and downloaded
her e-mail. She wanted to turn off the computer as soon as she saw the hundred-plus
e-mails that had accumulated in the two days since she’d last checked.
Several were responses to her recent feature on the former California governor, a
couple were from friends, three from her editor, and the rest were spam. She deleted
all the unsolicited mail and responded to the others.
After she finished her replies, Kelsey leaned back in the swivel chair and closed
her eyes. Her thoughts turned to Kade. His was a powerful presence, yet he was so
gentle with her. Definitely a man she could lose her heart to, and it would make it
all the harder when it was time for her to head home.
***
“They’re not suffering, Kade,” Don Mitchell said. “Just a bit of dehydration, and
we’ve been making sure they’re getting plenty of water.”
Kade nodded and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The merciless
sun cooked the desert as agents rounded up a group of thirty-three undocumented aliens
at the Ford Ranch, at the foot of the Mule Mountains. Men, women, and children made
up the miserable group, but they were too beaten by the heat to do more than crouch
in the dust and wait to be processed.
Ford had reported the group when they stopped at his ranch for water. The rancher
was a good man, and had allowed the UDAs to drink from his irrigation hose.
The stench of sweat and body odor was almost unbearable, and the heat only intensified
the smell. It was obvious they’d been on a long and difficult journey, not uncommon
for illegals trying to cross the U.S. border. Kade was not usually called in on a
routine process, but one of the UDAs had claimed to have information on a key smuggler
Kade was after.
In Spanish, Kade questioned Juan Dominguez, who’d insisted he knew the
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