“Bella?”

Cal’s eyes had turned steely gray. “I’ve been standing here in the dark watching the plain because I can feel those coyotes out there… somewhere. I’m afraid I’ve made a mistake bringing you out here.”

Bella looked out through the window into the black night. “Have you seen something?”

He reached up and took hold of her shoulders. “No. But I don’t need that to know they’re out there.” He squeezed her shoulders, as if to push her away. Instead his fingers massaged…caressed. Aroused beyond belief, he said, “Go to bed.”

But his hands stayed where they were. Too close. Too intimate.

Bella threw her arms around his neck. “Take me there.”

Staggered, his blood was racing. He leaned against the kitchen counter to keep himself steady. But he didn’t have a chance to think about it.

“Take me,” she whispered in his ear. “I know you want me. Take me now.”

Dear Reader,

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DYNASTIES: THE BARONES continues in July with Cinderella’s Millionaire (#1520) by Katherine Garbera, in which a pretty pastry cook’s red-hot passion melts the defenses of a brooding Barone hero. In Bed with the Enemy, (#1521) by rising star Kathie DeNosky, is the second LONE STAR COUNTRY CLUB title in Desire. In this installment, a lady agent and her lone-wolf counterpart bump more than heads during an investigation into a gun-smuggling ring.

What would you do if you were Expecting the Cowboy’s Baby (#1522)? Discover how a plain-Jane bookkeeper deals with this dilemma in this steamy love story, the second Silhouette Desire title by popular Harlequin Historicals author Charlene Sands. Then see how a brokenhearted rancher struggles to forgive the woman who betrayed him, in Cherokee Dad (#1523) by Sheri WhiteFeather. And in The Gentrys: Cal (#1524) by Linda Conrad, a wounded stock-car driver finds healing love in the arms of a sexy, mysterious nurse, and the Gentry siblings at last learn the truth about their parents’ disappearance.

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Enjoy!

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

The Gentrys: Cal
Linda Conrad

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LINDA CONRAD

Born in Brazil to a commercial pilot and his wife, Linda Conrad was raised in south Florida and has been a dreamer and storyteller for as long as she can remember. After her mother’s death a few years ago, she moved from her then-home in Texas to Southern California and gave up her previous life as a stockbroker to rededicate herself to her first love—writing.

Linda and her husband, along with a Siamese-mix cat named Sam, recently moved back to south Florida. She’s been writing contemporary romances for about five years and loves sharing them with readers. She enjoys growing roses, reading cozy mysteries and sexy romances, and driving her little convertible in the sunshine. But most important, Linda loves learning about—and living with—passion.

It makes Linda’s day to hear from readers. Visit with her at www.LindaConrad.com.

For Laurie Jayne (with a y)

You have my love. My respect for everything you face with grace and kindness. And my many thanks for becoming a wonderful adult and a terrific parent. In my whole life, you have been the best gift I ever received. I cherish you.

News Flash: Local Celebrity

Involved in Fatal Accident

Gentry Wells native, Callan A. Gentry, suffered critical injuries last week when a pickup trying to evade Fort Worth police sideswiped his van. Gentry’s wife, Jasmine, and the driver of the pickup were killed in the accident. Gentry’s daughter, four-month-old Kaydie Ann, escaped injury.

A world-renowned stock-car racer and winner of several titles, Gentry inherited a partial ownership in the family ranch twelve years ago after his parents disappeared at sea and were presumed drowned. Gentry graduated from Gentry Wells High School and went on to attend the University of Texas in Austin.

Gentry’s condition continues to be listed as serious. A spokesperson for Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth declined to confirm or deny rumors that he will face permanent disability. Speculation from sports media sources has centered on the possibility that Gentry may be forced to abandon plans of returning to the racing circuit next season.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

One

Two months later: Gentry Ranch, Texas

No doubt about it. Cal Gentry had finally found something he couldn’t handle. He was in way over his head.

He cringed once again at the baby’s wail and wondered why on earth his daughter wouldn’t stop crying? Holding her loosely in one arm, Cal contemplated his options. With his movements restricted by having to use a crutch for a bum knee, the choices were quickly disintegrating.

Cal jiggled the tiny screaming bundle once more and limped back and forth across the front room of the cabin they were temporarily calling home. The solution to quieting his child seemed more elusive than ever, and his head hurt from worrying about her. Soon he would probably drown in her tears.

He cursed his rotten luck. First, at losing the baby’s new nanny this morning—as she’d been the one person who seemed able to settle the child down when she was fretting. And second, because the family’s attorney in Gentry Wells, Ray Adler, had been sympathetic but didn’t offer much hope for a quick fix. And Cal needed a solution—now.

A loud knock suddenly came from the front door and Cal grimaced. It had to be one of his family come to check on their welfare. Dang, but he hated to look so incompetent and foolish in front of them, almost as much as he hated to go to the main ranch house and face the sad memories and his own glaring lack of independence.

The knocking grew more insistent and a bright new thought occurred to him. What if Ray had been wrong and it had only taken a few hours to locate a replacement for Mrs. Garcia?

Cal inched toward the front door as fast as his useless leg would let him. When he got there, it took a minute to lean the crutch against the wall, shift his weight so he could stand alone, and rearrange the baby to ensure she wouldn’t squirm out of his grip. As he accomplished it all, the thought that the person knocking must be someone sent to be the baby’s nanny became more and more plausible in his mind. He eagerly threw open the door.

Before him stood one of the most exotic and beautiful women he’d ever beheld. Cal couldn’t help the gasp that escaped his lips.

After he’d swallowed a couple of times and managed a second look, he realized that the gorgeous Mexican-American woman on the doorstep also appeared somewhat haggard. In her mid-twenties, she appeared to be a little older than his sister. The worse-for-the-wear clothes she wore hung loosely on her ultra-thin frame. Her shoes were filthy, dust and mud clung to them like she’d walked both through shallow puddles and the deep Texas dirt.

Aside from her weary-traveler appearance, she was downright spectacular. Warm-chocolate eyes with golden highlights stared out of a perfect heart-shaped face. Her expression was laced with a kind of soul-searching starkness.

But her skin, the color of golden honey, looked as smooth as a brand-new fiberglass paint job. She’d pulled back her long, shiny black hair into an untidy ponytail. The strands resembled spun silk where they flew loose around her face.

“¿Señor? I saw the smoke from your chimney. Excuse the interruption but…”

The musical sound of her voice rising above the baby’s cries broke into Cal’s stupor.

“Thank God you’ve come!” he shouted at her over the din. “Come in. Hurry!”

Snatching up his crutch again, he shuffled aside to allow her to enter. She hesitated and looked at him with a puzzled expression, but finally began to step inside.

When she’d taken only a few tentative movements to cross the threshold, those beautiful limpid eyes focused on Kaydie. “What is wrong with the little one?” she asked.

“Wrong? I have no idea. I don’t know what she wants. I can’t make her stop screaming.” He shoved the baby in her direction. “Here, you see what you can do.”

Suddenly the extraordinary eyes he’d been concentrating his whole attention upon flashed angrily. “You do not treat a baby in that way,” she fiercely announced.

“It’s not my fault,” Cal began as he released his child into the woman’s arms. “I am not equipped…”

Immediately she cradled Kaydie in her arms and placed a soft kiss against her forehead. “Madre de Dios!” she exclaimed, interrupting his excuses. “Pobrecita. This child is muy caliente.”

Cal thought that meant that Kaydie felt hot. But he wasn’t sure, and all he really wanted was to make her screaming come to an end. “Will kissing her make her stop that squalling?”

“Do you know nothing about children?” the woman muttered. “Putting my lips to her hot skin tells me this baby is burning up with fever. And you do nothing for her but complain about the crying?” Her gorgeous brown eyes were shooting sparks of anger in his direction.

“Hey. That’s not fair. I’m not—”

“Have you called her doctor?”

Cal shook his head. “We just moved here, and she was fine this morning.”

“And she is what…six months old?”

“Yes, almost, but—”

“Where is the kitchen?”

Cal pointed toward the back of the cabin.

“We shall see what we can do,” she said, and rushed off carrying the baby in her arms.

Cal stood at the open front door and stared after her. What had just happened here? The strange but spectacular-looking woman wasn’t dressed like any nanny he’d ever seen, and she’d never actually said she was a nanny, either.

It suddenly occurred to him that he’d just handed over his daughter to a total stranger. He stepped out to look around the cabin’s empty yard and began to wonder who this rather prickly and hotheaded woman might really be.

And who had brought her all the way out here? Come to think of it, Cal hadn’t heard any noises at all that might’ve been her transportation.

This morning he’d given Mrs. Garcia the keys to his Suburban when she’d demanded to be returned to civilization, and told her to just leave the truck at the bus station in Gentry Wells. The doctors wouldn’t let him drive yet, anyway, and Cal knew it would only take a phone call to his older brother, Cinco, to get transportation or supplies to them whenever necessary. So the cabin’s yard stood completely empty of vehicles.

But how did this stranger get her things out here if she came any other way? He looked around the front stairs and found one bundle that looked like rags tied together. The woman had obviously hidden it under some bushes.

Hmm. This definitely was not adding up.

She could be an escaped convict or a lunatic or any of a dozen unsavory characters. He’d handed over his tiny daughter to an exotic woman who just might be a crazed maniac. What was the matter with him? Had he been so mesmerized by a pretty face that he’d totally lost his mind?

Where were her references? How did she get here? His brain finally began working once again. He hadn’t even asked the most basic of questions. Like what the heck was her name?

He steadied himself with his crutch and, following the sound of his daughter’s cries, he limped toward the kitchen—and some answers.

Bella Fernandez fought back her irritation at the gringo’s lack of sympathy for the sick baby girl. She’d come begging for a little help and compassion for herself. But when she’d seen his seeming ignorance and confusion over the helpless child, righteous indignation got the best of her.

That had always been one of her worst faults, she sighed. Stepping in and opening her mouth when she should’ve kept her thoughts and opinions to herself. The current turmoil bringing her to this remote cabin in the United States stemmed from just that same sort of thing.

She gently laid the baby on the kitchen counter and removed the little girl’s dress and diaper. Murmuring to the child as she went, Bella quickly checked her over for any signs that this might be more than a simple childhood fever.

The baby wasn’t convulsing and had no skin lesions, rashes or contusions. She didn’t seem dehydrated. Her tears were falling easily, her lips weren’t dry or cracked. No yellow appeared in her eyes and she certainly wasn’t excessively lethargic or sleepy.

The swinging kitchen door opened up behind her. “What are you doing to my child?”

In the bright golden light of the late-afternoon sun streaming through the kitchen window, Bella noticed for the first time what the confused man really looked like. Early thirties, lean but broad-shouldered, his light-brown hair was cut short in back yet hung down over his forehead. Bella felt a crude rush of awakening but wished she hadn’t.

Instead of answering his question right away, she continued examining the baby and studying the man at the same time. She could tell a ladies’ man from miles away, and this one was most certainly qualified. His sharp, gray-green eyes focused intently on her. But those eyes also held an underlying potent sexual draw.

To complete the perfectly dashing picture, full lips and a cleft in his chin softened what would otherwise be a too severely chiseled jaw. That erotic magnetism in his eyes made him look rather devil-may-care and young.

All in all, his looks succeeded in showing off a thrilling mixture of allure put together with a rock-hard promise of passion. She turned her back to him and concentrated her attentions on the baby.

Yes, most women would definitely fall under the spell of this charmer. Good thing she wasn’t most women.

Bella’s first lesson about charming men came from trying to get the attention of the dashing man who was her father. After she grew up, she became engaged to another charmer—and that one really brought home the point.

Given a choice, she’d rather stay a hundred miles away from an attractive and lady-pleasing man like this gringo, but right now she saw no other alternative. She would not leave a sick child, no matter what.

Without turning around, she finally asked a couple of questions of her own. “Do you have a flashlight and a baby thermometer?”

“What? Why?” He came close and looked over her shoulder. “What’s wrong with Kaydie?”

“I told you, she has a fever. I’m trying to determine why and how bad it might be.” Bella never looked up at him, though she could feel his body’s warmth seeping through her thin clothes, making her wonder if she might be running a fever, too. “Where is the child’s mother?”

A long, deadly silence followed her question, and Bella realized the baby had quieted down.

“My wife, Kaydie’s mother, was killed in a car accident a couple of months ago.” His voice was so hushed, Bella could barely make out the words.

He laid a firm hand on Bella’s shoulder. “Who are you?”

Keeping both hands on the baby’s warm body, Bella turned her head to answer him. “I’m sorry for your recent loss, señor. My name is Isabella Maria Fernandez. But please call me Bella.” She managed a half smile, trying to ignore the brushfire he’d ignited inside her with his touch. “Can we have our discussions later? Right now your daughter’s welfare should be your first concern.”

“She is my first concern.” His fingers dug lightly into her shoulder. “Where are you from, Bella? Who sent you?”

“No one sent me.” Did this man not realize how potentially serious a high fever could be? “Please. I will tell you everything just as soon as I am satisfied the baby is not in immediate danger.”

“What do you know about this kind of thing? Do you have children of your own, or are you a doctor?”

His hold on her shoulder tightened, and she winced involuntarily. “In my country I am a licensed nurse. I received training in the United States to be what you call a practical nurse.” She tried to twist free of his grip. “Por favor, you’re hurting me. Let me do what I can for your daughter. Then we will talk.”

He eased his hand from her shoulder, but his six-foot frame towered over them as he continued to keep a steady watch on his daughter. Bella thought he must truly be concerned and aware of his duty to his own flesh and blood, but he didn’t seem to know the first thing about how to care for a sick child.

“Do you have a flashlight and a baby thermometer?” she repeated.

“I saw a flashlight in this drawer.” He pulled open a cabinet drawer and handed her the heavy metal light. “There may be a thermometer in Kaydie’s things in the front room. I haven’t had a chance to unpack yet.”

He hesitated while Bella coaxed the baby to open her mouth. With one free hand she held the child’s head and with the other Bella pointed the light down her throat.

The father looked as if he wanted to pace the floor, but his obvious leg injuries held him back. “I’ll go look through her things for a thermometer. I think the boxes are marked.” He took his crutch and began to limp toward the doorway but turned before he’d gone through. “Will she be all right?”

“Yes. Your daughter should be okay. Her throat looks fine and she doesn’t seem to be in as much distress as she was when I arrived. Let’s just take her temperature to be sure, though. Okay?”

The norteamericano father nodded once then disappeared on his mission.

“Ah, niña,” Bella cooed to the child. “What are you doing way out here with a man who can barely help himself, let alone take care of a baby? Why is there no woman to attend to you?”

Bella had been struck by the lack of emotion in the gringo’s voice when he’d mentioned his wife’s death. Perhaps he was still so grief-stricken that he dared not even speak of her in case he broke down. Bella knew lots of men in Mexico who would act in that same way. She vowed not to mention the baby’s mother again unless he brought her up first.

Bella felt sure that the fever had already lessened its grip on the child’s body. “Kaydie, wasn’t it?” The baby’s light-blue eyes stared up at her in that curious way some babies had. “Well, Kaydie. Let’s see if we can make you a little more comfortable.”

After turning on the water tap, Bella waited a few minutes for the water to reach the right lukewarm temperature. Carefully she placed the baby in the sink, but not directly under the water’s stream. Cupping her hand, she put a bit of the water on the baby’s chest and tummy, then let the water fill the sink.

“How does that feel?” she asked in Spanish.

Kaydie responded by widening her eyes and hiccuping. She seemed to understand the language—or perhaps it was the tone that Bella used. Or maybe the baby just liked the feel of the tepid water on her heated skin. Bella turned off the water faucet and held the baby in the sink while the water turned colder.

“Are you giving her a bath?” The father’s voice startled Bella as he dragged himself back into the room. “I found a thermometer, and I brought her diaper bag.”

“Good. Set the bag down on the table, then come here and hold Kaydie while I take her temperature.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he grumbled while he did as she’d asked.

Bella knew a disgruntled tone when she heard one, but she didn’t care. He had an air about him that, like many norteamericano men, said he was powerful, rich and accustomed to getting things done his own way.

But right now he needed her help. And he could darn well do things her way to get it.

She dried Kaydie off and wrapped her in a clean towel. Instructing the child’s father to sit, she placed her in his lap. While he held the baby, Bella stuck the digital thermometer in her ear to take her temperature.

“You know my name, señor,” she asked as she held the thermometer in place. “May I ask for yours?”

“Gentry,” the man bristled.

When Bella continued to watch him expectantly, this Gentry fellow seemed to realize he had more of a name than just that.

“Cal Gentry.”

Bella shrugged a shoulder. A nice name, she thought. But not one she’d ever heard before. Cal had said it as though she should definitely be impressed. She wasn’t.

“Well, Cal, your daughter’s temperature must have subsided with the cool bath. This thermometer says 101 degrees.” Bella put aside the thermometer and lifted the baby back into her arms. “Does she have a change of clothes in that bag you brought?”

“I guess so.” He picked up the bag and scooted it over the tabletop toward her. “I think I saw some clothes in there. But I didn’t pack it, so I’m not positive.”

She could’ve guessed that this father would be unsure about his daughter’s care. When Bella had first held her, the baby’s pink dress was buttoned backward and the tabs on her plastic diapers dangled dangerously below it.

She held Kaydie against her left shoulder. With her other hand, Bella rummaged through the duffle. She found powder, creams and antibiotic wipes in one of the side pockets. Inside the main compartment were several changes of clothes, plastic diapers and a few small bottles filled with juice and water. Another pocket revealed baby-strength liquid aspirin substitute, vitamins, a few bottles of rehydration fluid and jars of processed baby food.

What Bella wouldn’t have given for such a fantastic stash when she’d worked with the small bands of Mexican families on the border. She’d been making do with whatever was handy for so long that she almost didn’t recognize some of the things.

Jealousy and curiosity got the best of her. “If you didn’t pack this bag, then who did?” she finally asked.

He scrunched up his mouth and rolled his eyes. “I guess I made a big mistake. I was so anxious to make a fresh start and come back to the old family homestead that I hired the first nanny I could find who would agree to leave Fort Worth.

“The woman hadn’t learned to like Kaydie yet, as she’d only been with us a couple of days. So when she got a good look at the place in the sunlight, she threw her hands up and claimed the cabin was falling down and not safe.”

“She left you and the baby alone here?” Bella was stunned. What kind of woman would do such a thing?

“Yeah. I told her to go. There’s absolutely nothing the matter with this old place. I think it looks great. If I can manage to get some temporary help with the baby, I’ll do just fine here.”

An hour later Cal was still wondering who this absolutely beautiful and sensual woman was and why the heck she’d apparently been wandering around on the Gentry Ranch alone. It just didn’t add up.

She’d been busy, giving Kaydie some of the children’s Tylenol after the bath. Then she’d dressed the baby up in soft nightclothes, still too busy to adequately answer his questions. But she seemed to know exactly what she was doing with a sick baby, so he shut up and let her attend to things.

Cal peeked into the little room off the kitchen that he’d planned to make into the nanny’s bedroom and where he’d set up Kaydie’s things last night. Bella bent over the crib, laying a soft baby blanket lightly across Kaydie’s feet.

After she’d finished, she sat down on the single bed by the baby’s portable crib, watching Kaydie sleep as the dim shadows of twilight darkened the room.

“Is she better?” he whispered.

Bella got up and crept toward him as he stood in the doorway. “Sí. The fever has subsided.”

He backed away to let her come into the kitchen.

The minute she’d partially closed the door behind her, Bella drew a deep breath. “I think perhaps Kaydie’s father also needs his sleep. You look as though it’s been a very rough day, señor. I noticed the bed in the baby’s room. You’d better sleep there tonight in case she needs you.”

She sighed and tried to stifle an obvious yawn. “If I may be permitted some water for my journey and perhaps a few directions to the border, I should be on my way.”

“You’re leaving?” That thought hadn’t occurred to him.

In fact, Cal had been quite relieved to think she would be here all night in case Kaydie awoke in trouble. And besides, they still needed to talk. He wanted to find out all about her. He wanted to talk to her. Tomorrow. When he could get a better grip on things.

Couldn’t she see he and Kaydie needed help? But more than that, couldn’t she feel the same draw he felt when he looked at her? There was something… something…

Well, maybe it was just lust, but it felt deeper, more fundamental somehow. Cal was not about to let her out of here until he had a chance to explore what was happening between them.

Tired and irritable, he knew he couldn’t cope with Kaydie any more tonight, either. Tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, everything would seem easier and clearer.

“You cannot leave tonight. You’ll sleep here,” he commanded. “I’ll bring your things.”

Two

“Me perdona?” Bella questioned Cal’s words in a deliberately hushed voice because she didn’t want to wake the baby.

But she also narrowed her eyes at the demanding and arrogant gringo. Perhaps her English was rustier than she’d thought. Certainly, he had not just commanded her to sleep with him.

Because she was so tired, Bella felt sure her ears had played tricks on her. He’d simply meant that she spend the night, nothing more sinister than that. Obviously her hunger was playing games with her mind.

Still, she knew an order when she heard one. Whether he’d been demanding that she sleep with him or ordering her to spend the night for safety’s sake, he was in for a fight.

She lifted her chin in defiance, but her empty stomach betrayed her. Its rumbling complaint could be heard throughout the house. She folded her arms across her waist and tightly held herself together in the middle.

If she remained still, maybe Cal would ignore the noisy reminder that she hadn’t eaten. He might even help her to be on her way. She was still worried that the men who chased her would be closing in, so she needed to leave this cabin and find a place to hide soon—before her presence put the baby and her injured father in grave danger.

But no such luck. He’d definitely heard her stomach’s grumble. It would’ve been hard to ignore. The stern and commanding expression on his face melted into a cocky but utterly disarming smile. The jaunty ladies’ man was back. Even with his disability, he gave the impression of being strong and virile—yet still tender and giving.

“You are pardoned, sugar. But it’s not hard to tell you’re hungry. Where are my manners?” He took her elbow with his free hand and gingerly guided them both back into the kitchen. “Let me get you something to eat. And I’ll make us some coffee.”

Bella allowed him to lead her back to the kitchen table. To tell the truth, the weakness from hunger had already begun to show up in her lack of stamina and the silly wanderings of her mind. But she was grateful for his charity. She knew she wouldn’t have lasted much longer.

She’d decided to accept his hospitality, but also made the decision that he would not make demands on her just because she was a woman alone in the wilderness. If she chose to stay for the night, it would be because she wanted a safe place to sleep—not because he’d insisted.

All these months on the open range, working with families of migrants, had taught her to watch out for herself. She would not be coerced by force—or by charm.

But goodness, when he smiled and that warm glow in his eyes focused on her, the attractive and tempting Cal Gentry was certainly a joy to behold. Not only did he look good enough to eat, his scent drove her to distraction. And his voice washed over her like rich Mexican chocolate. Dark, deep and sensual.

Bella knew he was in pain, she could see the fine lines of it around his eyes, but he still seemed to need to be the host. “I can do this myself,” she told him. “I’m a good cook. Just sit and tell me where things are.”

“No, thanks. You’re my guest, and you helped with the baby. I can handle it.” Trying to keep the slight irritation out of his voice, Cal took the water pitcher from the refrigerator and showed Bella where the drinking glasses were kept.

Exceedingly grateful that the kitchen in this cabin was compact and efficient, he knew his disjointed movements might be slow, but he figured he could get the job done with everything so easily accessible. And maybe, with a little coffee, he’d be able to think clearly enough to ask a couple of his questions.

While he brewed coffee, she drank two big glasses of water, then sat down quietly at the tiny table with the yellow-checked plastic cover. He wondered who she really was and what she might have been going through before she showed up at his door. She looked half-starved and exhausted, but her natural beauty and her passion for life shone brilliantly through bright, clear eyes.

“Will you tell me now how you came to be at our door this afternoon, Bella?” He struck a casual pose as he continued fixing her coffee and a sandwich. “What’s a practical nurse doing alone on Gentry ranchland?”

When she turned her deep-set, brown eyes to stare up at him, their depths seemed to contain more mysteries than answers. “I did not realize I was on your ranch, señor. I have been walking for slightly less than two days, searching for a safe way back across the border to my home.”

“The Mexican border? You’re a long way from any normal crossing point here.” Cal tried to ignore the inexplicable tug in his gut whenever he looked at her. “In fact, we’re about 250 miles from Lake Amistad, and that’s as close as the Rio Grande comes to the ranch. You’re really lost, aren’t you?”

She heaved a huge sigh. “Sí, I suppose I am. That was the reason I decided to risk stopping here. I was out of choices.”

“But how did you get onto the Gentry Ranch? What are you doing walking across the range alone?” The questions poured from his mouth. “And how did you come across the border in the first place?” He set the sandwich he’d made down on the table in front of her and reached above the counter for a couple of coffee mugs for them both.

Before she answered any of his questions, she daintily picked up the turkey sandwich and took a bite. Her eyes closed as she swallowed the food, and the passionate expression on her face looked as if this was the best meal she’d ever eaten. Cal knew his cooking abilities left a lot to be desired and the sandwich fixings had been rather plain in the first place. It was just lunch meat on wheat bread—not ambrosia of the gods.

“How long has it been since you last ate anything?” he inquired.

Bella quickly swallowed two more bites before she answered. “I will answer all your questions, but this is the first food I’ve eaten in two days. May I finish first?”

“Two days?” The woman was truly starving to death.

Cal wondered if he would be so polite and quiet if he hadn’t had anything to eat in forty-eight hours. He took a bowl of fruit off the counter. Placing the apples and bananas on the table in front of her, he sat down and waited, encouraging her to finish every last bite of sandwich.

After she’d washed down the sandwich with the coffee, Bella sighed once more. “Thank you, Cal.” She eyed the fruit, but folded her hands in her lap. “I believe it might make me sick to eat too much after such a long time. I will try a banana later…if the sandwich settles well.”

She seemed so poised and unhurried. He reached for an apple himself, suddenly feeling ravenous. Man, if it was him who hadn’t eaten in that long, he’d be grabbing and stuffing by this time. Just who was this woman, anyway?

Bella took one more sip of coffee as he bit into his apple. “There,” she said. “I think I can talk now. I appreciate your hospitality.”

He swallowed and reached for her hand with his free one. “It’s nothing, Bella. I would’ve fed you earlier if I’d known. You should’ve told me.”

She shook her head. “The baby came first. It was only right.”

Bella looked down at their joined hands. The glow of heat she’d felt when he touched her had been a surprise. She’d thought herself immune to such feelings of lust after all this time on the open range, away from temptation.

“Now then, where to begin?” She considered pulling her hand from under his, but decided to leave it where it was for the moment. “This is the first time that I have actually crossed into your country illegally. I did not realize how far into Texas we’d come.”

She knew her words had taken him aback when he quietly removed his hand and took another bite of apple. Bella wondered what he’d say when he learned she was running from such dire circumstances.

“Perhaps I should begin at the beginning and tell you why I have been working in the Mexican countryside near your borders,” she said, sighed and then continued. “Several years ago my church in Mexico decided to start a…how do you say it…‘missionary outreach.’ Is that not right? Anyway, many of our poorer countrymen take huge risks to come to your country. Unfortunately, too many of them also die for their trouble. We wanted to…I wanted to…make a difference for a few.”

“So you…did what? Went on a hunger strike?” Cal interrupted.

There was that arrogant tone again, even through the disarming grin. The man just oozed sex appeal in his trendy designer jeans and blue-striped western shirt. And his new clothes covered a broad chest narrowing down to perfect slim hips, too. But he couldn’t manage to keep his demanding, rich-man’s ways hidden for long.

Judging by the look of his expensive clothes and the smug sexual way he stared at her, he appeared to be a man used to getting his own way. She had no doubt that the women around him fawned over him, spoiling him and making him cocksure of himself where it came to the opposite sex.

She wasn’t quite sure what he was doing in this cabin that looked a little shabby around the edges, though he’d said it was temporary. But she knew he lived on a big Texas ranch and could afford a nanny for his child. Bella wondered if she should bother explaining anything to this demanding and probably extremely rich charmer.

Since he was her host, she decided to try. “No. For four years the church has sent teams to our border,” she began again. “We camp out, eventually finding small bands of migrants heading north. We take them health care and a rudimentary knowledge of how to remain safe during their journey through the wilderness.”

“Do you try to talk them out of coming here?” he asked.

Bella shook her head. “It would do no good. Poverty drives them from their homes and spurs them to seek a better way in this land of plenty. Nothing we could say would change their desperation.” She wondered whether he would listen to the whole story. “My job is to bring them a little medicine, though I cannot carry everything they need. We talk to them about sanitation, about regulating their body temperatures and staying hydrated.” Taking a last sip of coffee, she eyed the fruit bowl.

“That all sounds very noble of you,” Cal commented dryly.

She glared at him. “What we do, we do for our countrymen and their families…and for God. Not for glory.”

As annoying as his remarks might be, she was glad he’d asked. She’d sort of lost track of the point of it all. Telling him reminded her of the reasons she took this challenge in the first place—to save lives.

Cal took one last bite of apple and spoke after he swallowed. “Yes, well, that doesn’t tell me why you’re here alone in Texas. Did you decide to come across with some migrants this time?” he asked at last.

He loved the way her eyes sparked as she talked. The fire and enthusiasm for what she was doing flashed out of every pore. She had to be exhausted and near collapse, but she seemed determined to make him understand. He discovered it aroused him no end to simply listen and watch.

He’d slept with a number of women in his youth, but he’d never seen this much pure passion packed into one gorgeous body. Cal experienced a demanding desire to capture that passion. But he also badly needed her help with Kaydie. So he decided to go slow and eventually charm his way into her arms.

“I usually travel with one or two other church members,” she told him. “On this particular journey, two of us had been working with one of the bigger migrant groups…Armando with the single men, and I was with the families that had mothers and babies along.” Bella rose, refilled her glass.

“Three nights ago the dangerous men who’d promised to take the whole group across the border showed up at the camp.” She took a sip and returned to her seat. “Your U.S. law enforcement uses the term coyotes for the hombres who guide migrants across for money. The name suits most of them and certainly described these men.”

Cal began to wonder exactly what details her story might entail. A look of terror had flitted across her eyes as she spoke of the coyotes.

“You look tired, Bella.” He swallowed back the flash of anger over the treatment he’d imagined she’d suffered at the hands of the human smugglers. “Why don’t you finish telling me this tomorrow?” He wasn’t sure he could take hearing the details of what had happened to her.

She shook her head. “I will finish now, por favor.” Bella blinked once and shivered. “The men who were to act as coyotes for our band of migrants seemed particularly bad. Rough, drunken and violent. Armando and I talked the women and children into staying inside Mexico and trying to find another way to cross. The single men wanted to go ahead.

“The coyotes were displeased with Armando and me for interfering with their plans…and for warning the single men not to turn over all their money until they’d arrived safely at their destination.”

Wiping a hand across her weary eyes, Bella suddenly looked vulnerable and small. “A coyote shot Armando. Killed him instantly. One of the single migrant men hid me under a tarp in the bed of a covered truck…or I would be dead, too.”

Cal reached for her, but she shirked away from his touch. “My God, Bella. This sounds incredible. How did you survive? What did you do?”

“I kept perfectly still while the coyotes herded the rest of the migrants into the trucks. It was so hot in there and we had so little air, breathing was difficult. The first time they stopped the trucks to provide for some human comfort must’ve been nearly twelve hours later.”

Bella closed her eyes, apparently remembering the horror. “Some of the migrants feared that if the coyotes spotted me they might try to assault me and perhaps kill us all. One kind man gave me a little water that he’d hidden and then helped me escape into the night.

“I had no idea how far we had come before I got away…or where I might be headed. But I was panicked that the coyotes would come looking for me. They know the Texas range…and they want me dead.” She took a breath and swallowed. “I waited until daylight and then traveled south, hoping to run into something recognizable sooner or later.”

Cal stood. He felt like punching something, but there was nothing to hit. So he pitched his apple core into the garbage can and limped to the sink. Her story had disturbed him more than he liked to think.

“How did you manage to get through the Gentry Ranch fence?” he grumbled over his shoulder.

“Well, I most certainly did not cut any wires to come here, Señor Gentry,” she retorted smartly. “The trucks stopped on a dirt road in the dark of night and out in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea how we arrived at that spot, considering that I was buried under a dozen men in the dark trying not to breathe too loudly. I saw no signs of civilization when I snuck away.

“At daybreak, I walked south. I came across cattle and sheep and took water from stock tanks, but I saw no one’s fence. The smoke from the chimney of this cabin was the first thing I saw that looked like civilization.”

Upon hearing the obvious annoyance in her words, Cal had swung to watch her face. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of trespassing, sugar.” He hoped he could take the darts from her gaze with an explanation. “But my older brother, Cinco, will have a fit when he hears of this. He prides himself on the security surrounding Gentry Ranch.”

Bella’s hand motioned around the tiny kitchen. “Your brother lives here, too? I’ve only seen one bedroom bedsides Kaydie’s little room. Where is your brother now?”

Cal chuckled. “Most of the time no one lives in this cabin. Kaydie, her nanny and I just arrived last night. The nanny left this morning.” He sighed, then continued. “Cinco and his wife live in the main ranch house, about a half hour drive from here.”

At her startled look, he explained. “The Gentry is a good-size Texas ranch, honey. If you walked south all day yesterday, you must’ve escaped the coyotes’ truck about ten or twelve miles inside our eastern fence line. The question is how and where the coyotes broke through.”

“I didn’t realize your ranch was that big. There are rich patróns in Mexico who also have such massive land holdings.” She shrugged a shoulder. “But I don’t know how we arrived on your land in the trucks. We had no windows or way to see out. I did hear the coyotes bragging to the migrants about how they’d found a new, perfectly safe way to travel north, though.”

When she finished speaking, she yawned again, and Cal instinctively wanted to cradle her in his arms and rock her until she relaxed enough to fall sleep. He was surprised at the protective feelings she’d suddenly aroused in him. They felt a lot like the fatherly urges toward Kaydie he’d been trying to ignore for the last couple of months.

He couldn’t afford to suddenly feel anything more than duty when it came to his child. Not now. And with Bella…well, with her he wanted to keep his urges running more toward the lustful side anyway.

“You need sleep,” he told her.

He noticed her studying him carefully so he explained. “I want you to stay with us…at least for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll make some calls and we’ll talk more about getting you home. You can’t just wander around on the Gentry Ranch, starving and in danger of sunstroke.”

She gestured toward his gimpy leg. “Will someone come to care for Kaydie tonight? Forgive me, Cal, but you are not in very good shape to care for such a small and sick child.”

“You’re telling me,” he said with a nod. “No. No one else will be coming here tonight. It’s just my daughter and me. Kaydie has had one nursemaid or another since she was born, but the one I hired to come out here felt the place was too…rustic…for her tastes.”

Bella looked around the kitchen. “Running water. Indoor plumbing. Two bedrooms with safe and cozy beds in which to sleep.” She smiled. “This place would be a palace to some. How long has this cabin been here?”

For the first time since she’d known him, Cal smiled with real pleasure. “My great-great-grandfather built it by hand for one of his children over a hundred years ago. I figure it’s sturdy enough to still be standing here for at least another hundred.

“My sister and I used to play in these old rooms as kids,” he continued. “Abby…that’s my little sister…and her new husband, Gray, moved in right after they got married and started remodeling the old place. They rewired and put in new plumbing. In fact, they really brought the cabin up to date…except for a few cosmetic problems. They stopped and moved out when Gray’s stepfather died, but I plan on fixing up the rest of it while I’m here.”

“How long will you and Kaydie live out here?”

“I’m thinking we’ll probably stay a couple of months…. It all depends.”

Bella looked around the warm and safe cabin once more. She knew the coyotes might be looking for her, now that it was dark again. And at some point she would have to start worrying about the U.S. Border Patrol catching her and carting her off to a detention cell, then hustling her off across the border.

It didn’t take her long to figure out her best plan would be to stay here, acting as the sweet baby’s nanny. Maybe she could also help the child’s injured father—even though being near to Cal made her feel lots of things that she shouldn’t.

“I will stay with you tonight,” she told him. “But only for the baby’s sake. And only…if I sleep alone in the little bed next to her crib.”

Bella awoke with a start. As she lay perfectly still and held her breath, she listened carefully for the sound or movement that must’ve disturbed her sleep. Had the coyotes found her?

A small, soft noise in the baby’s crib next to her bed suddenly reminded her of where she was and how she’d gotten here. Before sitting up and trying to clear the rest of the ravages of sleep from her brain, she took a second to think about how fantastic a real mattress and box springs felt after all these months of sleeping on the ground.

When the last speck of the dark coyote nightmare that had been plaguing her for days finally cleared away, she rose to check on the baby.

The child was on her back with her eyes closed, but she seemed restless. Bella reached to check her diaper, thinking perhaps the girl was wet and uncomfortable. But the moment her hand touched the baby’s sizzling skin, Bella knew what was really wrong. Kaydie’s fever had come back.

Bella quickly changed the diaper then cradled the child to her chest. The baby snuggled close, trying to find comfort against a women’s breast. But after a fruitless minute, Kaydie pushed herself back and began to wail.

“Ah, pobrecita. You do not feel well, I know,” Bella cooed. “Let’s see if we can find a way to help.”

With Kaydie still crying, Bella headed toward the darkened kitchen and the baby bottles she’d washed out earlier. “We’ll get you some water and check you over again, little one,” she told the screaming child.

Not sure where the light switch might be, and with the cool moonlight streaming through the windows, Bella didn’t bother with the lights. There was enough of a glow for her to fill a baby bottle. After all, she’d become accustomed to maneuvering in the dark over the last couple of years on the open range.

But as she reached the counter and shifted Kaydie enough to pick up a bottle, the overhead light suddenly flooded the room with a shock of glaring illumination. Bella turned to make sure the interloper was Cal.

It was most definitely, absolutely positively, her host.

He stood motionless, leaning on one crutch at the threshold of the kitchen, scrutinizing her. He looked like he’d just stumbled out of bed. His hair was in luxuriant disarray, the deep shadow of a late-night beard grazed across his jaw, and he was wearing only a pair of loose fitting running shorts. His naked broad chest and the smattering of dark hair there caught her immediate attention—until she glanced into his eyes.

As his gaze raked her body, from the tip of her uncombed hair right down to her bare toes, a spark of sexual recognition hammered through every single part of her. Burning passion flamed openly in his eyes as he brought his gaze up to meet hers.

She had to clear her throat twice to speak. “You did not need to get up. I told you I would take care of Kaydie.”

The man was every sexual fantasy she’d ever had all wrapped into one package. She wondered if he’d be tender or rough, whether he’d try to please her or continue with his selfish ways in bed. Hmm.

She shook off the images. It didn’t matter. She didn’t even know him. She vowed there would be no fantasies with Cal, sexual or otherwise.

“I…” Cal was almost rendered speechless by the sight of the sleep-tousled, golden-skinned woman in bare feet. The sexy dark-haired angel, standing next to the kitchen sink, cradled his child to her breast.

He could not for the life of him figure out why that vision seemed so erotic. Never once, while he’d been married to the baby’s mother, had he ever felt anything even resembling passion when his wife had held their child—which really hadn’t been too often, come to think of it. And he’d even read that fathers-to-be were sometimes filled with great passion toward their wives when they were expecting—but he’d had good reason not to be.

When his eyes met Bella’s just now, he not only felt more turned on than he could remember, but he also recognized that same inexplicably tender tug deep in his gut that he’d noticed earlier. He didn’t know what that was all about, or why it had hit him so suddenly, but he certainly had no intention of exploring the feeling at the moment. He swallowed hard a couple of times, trying to dislodge the pull from his craw.

“Sorry to startle you, babe.” He tried one of his fail-proof smiles. “I heard Kaydie’s cries and thought maybe you might need help.”

She rolled her eyes. With a look that said, “A lot of good you’d be with your leg slowing you down,” she turned back to the baby.

Cal couldn’t imagine why Bella didn’t react to his smiles the same way other women did. But, so help him, he intended to make it a point to charm his way into her good graces—and maybe a whole lot more. It seemed like kind of a challenge now. But he had to be careful not to rush things and scare her off.

He moved closer while Bella fumbled with a baby bottle and the bottled water. “Here. Let me,” he offered.

She relinquished the bottle and rearranged Kaydie in her arms. “I think the fever is back. But not so bad as before.” She laid her cheek against the baby’s forehead. “Yes, she’s cooler. But there’s something else…”

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