The Texas Ranger's Bride (Lone Star Lawmen 1)

“You know damn well why.”

“Can’t you believe she took her rings off for the same reason?”

“But did she?”

“Only you can answer that question. Has she left you with no hope?”

Cy rubbed his eyes. “It’s not like that. She said she wanted to cook dinner for me. I knew it was just her gratitude talking. But the other night I told her my sister’s engagement party is on Sunday night. Since I didn’t dare leave Kellie alone, I asked her if she’d be willing to go with me and she said yes. But now that the case has been solved, she didn’t—”

“Didn’t what?” Vic challenged. “Tell you she still wanted to go with you?”

“No,” Cy muttered.

“Did you ask her if she still wanted to go? Maybe she was waiting for you to bring it up. You’ve been joined at the hip for a week in the most dangerous kind of situation, but now that you no longer have to pretend you’re married, I’d say she’s feeling a damn sight vulnerable...and probably nervous.”

He flung his head around. “Nervous—of me?”

“You’ve been in charge all this time, dictating every move. Maybe she fears she’s been played.”

“Hell—”

“Yup. And hell is where you’re going to stay till you get this thing straightened out.”

Stirred up by Vic’s perceptive comments, he started the engine and they took off for the warehouse at headquarters. Once they’d dropped things off, Vic left for home while Cy walked through to his office.

Hell wasn’t the place he wanted to be. He sat down at his desk and phoned Kellie. No doubt she was out riding and it would probably go through to her voice mail. If so, he’d wait until he got a live response, even if it took until he went to bed.

In the meantime he opened the file folder on the new case TJ had given him.

Fidel Ravelo is wanted in connection with the armed robbery of approximately $7 million from a security company in North Austin, Texas, that took place two years ago. He allegedly took three security employees hostage at gunpoint and handcuffed, bound and injected them with an unknown, nonlethal substance to disable them further. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information leading to Ravelo’s capture. He’s believed to be in Venezuela, but recent rumors say he’s been seen in Brownsville, where he has ties to family.

After studying the specifics, he’d start by talking to the security employees. Maybe one of them could recall a detail that hadn’t been included in the report. But he couldn’t do any more work today. The captain had told him to go home. Cy decided to take his advice because he could no longer concentrate.

* * *

KELLIE FINISHED SHAMPOOING Trixie and rinsed her off. After putting a little conditioner on her tail and mane, she brushed them to make them silky. Her last action was to use a damp cloth to rub her palomino’s face. Then she gave her a kiss and some Uncle Jimmy’s Squeezy Buns for a treat. She and Starburst chomped them down.

“There! Now you two look beautiful and I’m sure you feel much better.” Both horses stood in the late-afternoon sun while she towel-dried them so they wouldn’t catch cold. On Monday the vet would come out to look them over and check their hooves before the trip to South Dakota.

“All right, girls. It’s time for dinner.” She grasped their lead ropes and walked them to their stalls inside the barn. After removing their bath halters, they could eat from the hay nets and drink water.

The exercise had been good for her, reminding her these horses were her children and her passport to a championship. “See you tomorrow.”

She could hear nickering and walked to Paladin’s stall. Only two days ago Cy had ridden him. The memory of that heavenly afternoon made her ache for him. “You want a treat, too?” Kellie fed him the last of her horsey treats and walked out to clean up the grooming equipment. Once she’d coiled the hose, she headed back to the ranch house.

Today she’d wondered if she would make it through to evening without Cy, but here she was still walking around. And thanks to him, still alive. Somehow she had to get beyond all this. Earlier in the day her father had told her this was a time for debriefing. By working with her horses, it would help put the horror o

f her experience behind her. The passage of time would do the rest, but she couldn’t hurry the process.

Her mind thought about Cy. Every time he solved a case for the agency, how did he put the horror behind him?

She let out an anguished sigh. When she looked to the sun getting ready to set, she noticed the sky was shot through with pinks and yellows. The same sky Cy might be looking at tonight. How long would it take her to stop missing him? Was he missing her right now? Had the magic between them been a figment of her imagination? Those moments in his arms were real enough.

If he were her husband, how would she deal with their separations, knowing that every time he left the house it was possible he might not come back? Under those conditions, how long could the magic last?

“Not very long,” she whispered to the air. Kellie didn’t have the right stuff to live with a hero like Cy. That was what he was. It took a special type of woman who could compartmentalize her feelings in order to deal with that kind of stress on a day-to-day basis.

Once she reached the ranch house, she went upstairs to her old bedroom to shower. Since she had no appetite, she got ready for bed and reached for her laptop. It was time to draft a disclaimer to put on her blog. She’d known this day would have to come. Who knew Cy would solve her case this fast?