Buch lesen: «The Specialist»

Chapter One

Rafe rose slowly, rubbing his jaw. He was going to have a bruise! In fact, she might just have loosened a couple of his teeth—but he’d be hung before he’d admit that out loud.

“My partner, huh?” He surveyed her lanky, boyish build beneath the dark jacket she wore and the no-nonsense glasses that still hung askew on her narrow face after their tumble. Rafe suddenly found himself wanting to grin. Whoever she was, she was no rustler.

“Darlin’, most women who want to be my ‘partner’ use a slightly different approach.”

Her lips thinned in prissy rejection of his attempt to tease. “Not that sort of partner.”

“Well, I’m not into rustlin’ cattle, darlin’,” he offered.

“I’m not a cattle thief!”

“Well certainly not the sort I was expectin’,” he agreed watching her closely. It was difficult to tell in the dark, but he’d swear she was blushing. Now when had he ever seen a grown woman blush? Was she so naive she didn’t realize the risk of running around the countryside in the middle of the night by herself?

“What are you doing out here at this hour, darlin’?” He took a step in her direction. Instantly, she backed away, almost stumbling over a rock.

“Stop that!”

Rafe halted. He was used to a much different reaction from the women he met and he found himself unaccountably irritated by her angry response and this entire crazy situation. Somebody needed to teach Ms. Kendra Kincade that there could be consequences to foolish actions.

“No call to be shy, darlin’. There’s only you and me and the cattle out here.” He swept his hand to indicate their isolation and caught a glimpse of Whicker munching contentedly on some grass a few yards away.

“Shy? Why you arrogant—” She fumbled for words, obviously at a loss. “Male,” she finally spit at him.

Rafe rubbed his jaw where her fist had connected. “Guilty.”

Her eyes glinted in the moonlight reflected off the unattractive glasses she wore. Any minute now, like a cartoon, steam would pour from beneath the open collar of her jacket. She was too annoyed to be frightened, but she should be frightened. Didn’t she see the risk out here in the predawn morning hours?

Rafe closed the distance between them. This time, she held her ground. Overhead, clouds parted to let the moon highlight her features.

Thirtyish, at a guess, though her age was hard to determine for sure. Her brown hair was long and stringy. The ends looked as if she’d taken dull scissors to them. No jewelry, not even a ring. He continued his assessment, waiting for her reaction. Dark jeans hugged a surprisingly nice pair of legs, and a light colored, button-down shirt that he’d already discovered harbored nicely rounded breasts. Her feet had been stuffed into a pair of boots that looked suspiciously new. She had surprisingly small feet.

“If you’re through with the inventory, you can hold it right there, buster.”

She might not be much to look at, but she did have spunk, he decided.

“Buster?”

She set her jaw, planted her fists on her hips and glared at him. “Your name is Rafael Alvarez,” she snapped out, “but you’re called Rafe. Six feet one inch tall, brown hair, green eyes, half Spanish and half Irish,” she recited. “And all baloney,” she added defiantly.

“Baloney?”

“Your parents died in a car crash when you were an infant. Your grandparents raised you until your freshman year of college. Tragically, they died along with a lot of other people in that fire on board the cruise ship Althea.”

His amusement dissolved at her recital.

“Their deaths left you alone, but financially secure,” she continued. “You went back to school where you got in with a rowdy crowd. Your sophomore year culminated in your drunken arrest for grand theft auto. A friend boosted another friend’s car before picking you up along with several young females after a party. All of you were drunk and there was beer in the car.”

Rafe flinched at the memory.

“Fortunately, the police stopped the driver before anyone was hurt. You spent a full night in jail and hired a high-priced lawyer to avoid serious criminal charges. Apparently, you wised up after that. You dropped your former associates, changed your major and went on to study law, though you never took the bar exam.”

How did she know all this?

“That’s enough.” His soft voiced tone would have warned off anyone who knew him. Kendra never batted an eye.

“Next, you applied to the police academy, but you were too much of a maverick for all their rules and regulations. You dropped out almost right away. Or maybe they suggested you leave. Either way, you did some research of your own. I’m guessing you stumbled over the very quiet, very private organization known as Texas Confidential.”

Rafe drew in a breath, his body vibrating with sudden tension. “Who are you?”

“We already covered that. Then—”

He grabbed her shoulders in a punishing grip. Instantly, he relaxed his hold because she felt astonishingly delicate beneath his broad hands. While he wanted to scare her enough to interrupt her recital, he didn’t want to hurt her. Her eyes widened behind her glasses giving her a frightened, baby owl appearance.

Rafe gentled his hold even further when she licked her lips nervously. He followed the motion of her tongue, annoyed to notice that she had very nice lips—when they weren’t pursed in disdain.

“I want to know who you are.”

“I told you,” she stated boldly, “I’m Kendra Kincade.”

He crowded her until she was pressed along his jacket. The action defined her slenderness against his much larger masculinity. He watched her eyes widen in final acknowledgment of his size and gender and their isolation. Nearby, a cow snorted at a patch of ground.

“Who is Kendra Kincade?” he asked softly.

She lifted her chin a little higher, though she flinched when he took the back of his hand and ran it down the side of her face. He felt her body quiver. The softness of her skin took him by surprise yet again. Her long, unstylish hair tumbled messily about her shoulders while a beguiling scent of shampoo filled his nostrils. She wasn’t his type by a long shot. Still, he found himself aware that she was definitely a woman. That firm round curve of flesh he’d held so fleetingly had left an indelible impression.

Some of her assertiveness drained away as he continued to hold her shoulders now. She licked her lips once more and planted her hands on her hips. “I told you I’m—”

“My partner,” he finished for her. Time for her to comprehend the risk she was taking. He trailed his fingers over the curve of her cheek, sliding them along the slope of her neck to where the V of her open jacket revealed the cotton material of her blouse. “But if you know so much about me, you know I prefer selecting my own—partners.”

Rafe didn’t feel the least bit sorry for using his own brand of intimidation. The woman was playing a dangerous game of some sort. A game that could have serious consequences if she tried this approach on the wrong man. He let his fingers slide beneath the top button of her blouse in a subtle warning caress.

For a moment, neither of them moved. The abrupt prick of the knife tip against his exposed throat came as a complete shock.

“Back up, Alvarez. I mean it.” There was nothing teasing in her tone.

While it would have been a simple matter to take the knife from her, Rafe was more curious than alarmed. This was not the effect his legendary charm generally had on women. Of course, he wasn’t exerting a whole lot of charm right now. Still, no other woman had ever caught him so totally off guard as this skinny handful of a female with the glittering eyes.

Rafe dropped his hand and took a step back, watching her intently.

“Do I make you that nervous, darlin’?”

“No, you annoy me that much.”

The knife disappeared with a speed that made him pay attention. She was not what she seemed.

“And stop calling me darling!”

His lips curved at the corners. “Whatever you say, sugar.”

Kendra Kincade looked like she wanted to stomp her booted feet—preferably in the region of his face. Rafe found his lips curving in a reluctant smile that disappeared almost as fast as it had come. He rocked back on his heels, hooked his thumbs in his belt and studied her.

“I assume you’re going to explain why and how you know so much about me?”

Kendra shook the hair out of her face and kept from sighing her relief out loud. Thankfully, he’d finally given her some breathing space. She wasn’t used to being crowded—and he was a very large man.

“Your life is an open book,” she told him.

“Is that right?”

She told herself she was edgy because she didn’t appreciate the way he studied her like some tasty morsel waiting to be sampled. The truth was, she’d been totally unprepared to meet Rafael Alvarez in the flesh.

He looked deceptively relaxed as he nudged his hat further back on his forehead with a knuckle and regarded her. He was toying with her, darn him. The knowledge annoyed her.

“It is for anyone who knows how to operate a computer keyboard,” she affirmed.

“And you do.”

“It’s what I do best.”

“Now that,” he said suggestively, sweeping her body once more with his gaze, “is too bad. There are lots of better things a woman like you should do best.”

The moonlight allowed her to see his gently mocking expression. She’d studied his computer image for hours. She’d thought she knew every nuance of his features, but nothing could have prepared her for the sensual reality of the man himself.

Rafe Alvarez was bigger, more masculine, and far sexier than any picture could convey. His suave, rumbly voice slipped inside her mind like a phantom lover’s caress.

She wasn’t supposed to be feeling this pull of attraction, yet her skin still felt the path his hand, then his fingers, had taken down her face and below. Her heart still hadn’t settled back to a regular rhythm. This would never do. The key to handling a man like Rafe was to keep the upper hand. He was baiting her, but two could play at that game.

“I know everything about you and Mitchell Forbes and his Texas Confidential agents,” she asserted. “I even know your next assignment.” She watched his body tighten. “You’re going after Stephen Rialto.”

She dangled the name between them in the silence of the night, disturbed only by the distant shuffle of the herd of cattle.

Rafe’s eyes narrowed dangerously. A shiver traced its way down her spine at his new expression. Despite the sensuality that practically radiated from him, this was not a man to trifle with.

“What do you know about Stephen Rialto?” Rafe asked softly.

“More than I want to know.” She knew he saw the small shudder she couldn’t control. “He’s lower than a snake and far more deadly. I intend to help you see that justice is served.”

Rafe studied her in silence. The sweeping glance of his eyes was disturbing, making her uncomfortably aware of herself in a whole new way. Until this moment, her lack of attractiveness had never bothered her one whit. She’d take brains over useless beauty any day.

Rafe, on the other hand, was gorgeous—in a purely masculine way. He was cocky with the self-assurance that came from being handsome and confident in who he was. When she’d decided to use him, Kendra had made a complete study of the man. He loosed his lethal charm on any unsuspecting woman that came within range—an ingrained habit on his part no doubt.

But she was supposed to be immune.

“Let me guess,” he said quietly. “You used to work for Rialto.”

“Hardly.”

“A jilted lover?”

“Of course not!” She shuddered at the very thought of letting Stephen Rialto touch her for any reason at all. Stephen Rialto had climbed over the bodies of the people he’d killed to become Tomaso Calderone’s number one henchman here in Texas. Kendra squared her shoulders. “I’m not going to stand here and spar with you. My motives don’t come into this. All you need to know is that I’m going to help you destroy him.”

The moon darted behind another cloud. Rafe didn’t so much as twitch at her words. He watched her in unnerving silence while the dampness of the grass they had rolled in soaked its way through her jeans to chill her skin uncomfortably. She had to remind herself that she’d left behind the safety of her computers for one reason and one reason only. Rafael Alvarez was going to help her achieve her goal—whether he wanted to or not.

“I think,” he said softly, “this conversation requires a different setting. Would you like to ride back to the Smoking Barrel Ranch with me?”

She released the breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.

“I hadn’t planned…”

“Hadn’t planned what?”

She pushed back her uncertainties. “On meeting you tonight.”

“But you did plan to meet me, huh, darlin’?”

“Not the way you mean.”

“Really.”

He ruffled her anger all over again with the simple arrogant inflection of the word.

“Yes, really.”

“Then what were you doing out here at this hour?”

“I was enjoying a quiet ride.”

“At four o’clock in the morning?”

“Yes!”

“On posted land.”

“I wasn’t here to steal any of your precious cattle.”

“Perhaps not, but you do realize you could easily have run into whoever is.”

“It never occurred to me that anyone would have the temerity to steal from the Smoking Barrel.”

“No? Your computer didn’t give you that little fact?”

He was trying to provoke her again. “Has anyone ever told you that you can be real annoying?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, Penny tells me that on a regular basis.”

“Penny Archer?” She was Mitchell Forbes’s indispensable right hand.

“Do you know her?”

“We’ve never met. I know of her.”

Rafe’s jaw clenched, but he inclined his head. “You do have a lot of knowledge.”

“I told you, I know all about the setup here.”

“So you did. Then you must know that you and Penny have a lot in common. She has a sharp tongue, too. I think you should come with me and meet her for yourself.”

Kendra hesitated. What would he do if she refused? Would he force her? A shiver of something that might have been anticipation but was probably fear, worked its way down her spine. She shrugged off the sensation. After all, she hadn’t come out here to play word games with him. She’d planned to reconnoiter the area before approaching the ranch later this morning.

“I’m tempted, but thanks to you, my horse took off.”

“No thanks necessary,” he said wryly. “Fortunately, my horse is better trained. He won’t mind if we ride double.”

“Maybe he won’t, but I will.” Get on top of that big horse he’d been riding—with him? No way.

“It’s a long walk.”

“So go catch my horse for me.” She saw the flash of his teeth as he smiled and she tried not to clench her jaw. She’d spent so much of her life talking to computers, she was finding it more difficult than she’d expected to deal with a man like Rafe face-to-face.

Rafe whistled, startling her. His horse lifted its head, whuffed and trotted over obediently. Kendra was impressed despite herself.

“How’d you train him to do that?”

“Charm,” Rafe replied. “You ought to try it sometime.”

She refused to let him see how that stung. “Charm only works on susceptible females.”

“Nope, he’s a gelding.”

“Very funny.”

Rafe took up the dangling reins and swung himself into the saddle with grace and an economy of movement she had to admire. He was incredibly sensual without even trying.

“I’m not riding double with you,” she said defensively.

“I believe I mentioned the long walk.”

“Settled Sue can’t have gone far.”

“Settled Sue? You rented one of Chet’s broken-down ponies? She’ll be halfway to Ash Pond by now.”

So he recognized his neighbor’s horse, which meant he must realize Kendra was staying at Chet Thilgarde’s dude ranch several miles away. Kendra watched as he reached for his saddlebag and withdrew a cell phone, quickly punching in a series of numbers. The call must have been answered immediately because he began speaking almost at once. “Hey, beautiful, what are you doing awake at this hour? Oh. Sorry. Does that mean you’re still in bed? Want to describe what you’re wearing? Something black and sheer, I hope.”

His rumbled chuckle resonated right through Kendra along with a stab of something that felt suspiciously like jealousy.

“Ah, Penny.” Rafe lowered his voice. “And here all this time I never thought of flannel as particularly erotic.”

Kendra realized that while he was speaking to Penny, he was actually watching Kendra from beneath long sooty eyelashes a woman would kill to possess. She tried to keep her face impassive, but it was more difficult than it should have been.

“You wound me, darlin’, but I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone that conversation for another time. I called to give you a heads up. I’m on my way in with company. Nope. I’m afraid Ms. Kendra Kincade assures me she isn’t a rustler, but she does pack a rather wicked six-inch knife.”

He flashed Kendra a grin and listened some more.

“Hey, what can I tell you? A man like me simply isn’t safe guarding the range anymore. Apparently we’ve got women hiding behind every shrub out here. Next time I pull guard duty you’ll have to come along and guard the guard. What’s that? Why, Penny, shame on you. But that reminds me, you might want to alert everyone who’s on watch to keep an eye out for a riderless paint by the name of Settled Sue. Yeah, one of Chet’s. She spooked when I jumped her rider.” He listened for another minute and his devilish grin widened. “Why Ms. Archer, you have a dirty mind. Why didn’t I think of that? We’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

With a chuckle, he clicked off the phone and reached a hand toward Kendra. “Come on.”

When Kendra didn’t take the offered hand, he lowered his voice to an intimate level. “I only bite when I’m invited.”

Several responses leaped to mind, but Kendra was determined to maintain control if it killed her. Reluctantly, she took his hand. She found herself on top of his massive horse before she could change her mind. Rafe was stronger than he looked. His horse had to be seventeen hands high.

“Hold on, darlin’.”

“To what?”

He reached back, took her hands, and guided them around his waist. “Me.”

Kendra resisted the desire to shove him out of the saddle. For a moment it was sorely tempting but she had the distinct feeling he knew exactly what she was thinking. His lips quirked again in subtle amusement.

“Hang on tight.” And Rafe prodded the animal into a long, loping canter.

Reflexively, her hands closed around his waist, finding no purchase on the slick dark leather of his jacket. Instead, she gripped lower, where the jacket ended and the rough feel of denim met her touch.

“As much as I could really enjoy this,” he called back to her, “if you drop those fingers a few inches lower darlin’, I’ll have to assume you really are planning to become my partner.”

Instantly, her hands let go. He captured one and placed it against his belt. Her cheeks burned at the intimacy and his knowing chuckle. She gave more serious thought to knocking him out of the saddle. Only the knowledge that she needed him stilled her impulse.