“So what you’re trying to tell me is that you’re not looking for a husband?”

Taking hold of her hand, Lex passed his thumb softly, sensuously, over the back of it.

A nervous lump thickened Christina’s throat. They were walking on treacherous ground. “That’s right. Setting out to deliberately find a spouse is – well – ”

“Unromantic?”

“Yes. Love doesn’t happen by design.”

“And you think love is an important ingredient for marriage?”

“It’s the essential ingredient.”

She watched his lips spread into a wide, seductive smile as she suddenly found his hands on her shoulders and his head lowering to hers. She mentally shouted a self-warning to turn her head, to step back and away from him. Yet her body refused to obey. Instead, she felt her chin lift, her lips part, and then the totally male taste of him shattered her senses.

Stella Bagwell began writing romance novels more than twenty years ago. Now, more than sixty books later, she likens her job to childbirth. The pain is great, but the rewards are too sweet to measure.

Stella married her high school sweetheart thirty-seven years ago and now the two live on the Texas coast, where the climate is tropical and the lifestyle blessedly slow. When Stella isn’t spinning out tales of love, she’s usually working outdoors on their little ranch, 6 Pines, helping her husband care for a herd of very spoiled horses.

They have a son, Jason, who is a high school maths teacher and athletic coach.

Cowboy to the Rescue

by

Stella Bagwell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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To my late parents, who are still guiding my footsteps. I miss you both.

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Excerpt

About the Author

Title Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Preview

Copyright

Chapter One

“Who the hell is that?”

Lex Saddler’s drawled question was directed to no one in particular in the dusty cattle pen, but it was spoken loud enough for his cousin Matt to hear.

The other man followed Lex’s gaze across the ranch yard to see Geraldine Saddler, the matriarch of the Sandbur ranch, approaching the corral fence. The surprise wasn’t Lex’s mother, an attractive woman in her mid-sixties with silver, bobbed hair, but the person by her side. The tall, young woman with long red hair, dressed in a short black skirt and delicate high heels, was definitely a stranger.

“I don’t know,” Matt murmured, “but if she gets any closer, she’s going to get coated with dust.”

Behind the two men, several cowboys were roping calves and stretching them out for the branding iron. The indignant little bulls and heifers were bawling in loud protest as the stench of burning hair and black dust filled the hot, muggy air.

Squatting near one of the downed calves, a cowboy called out, “Hey, Matt, better come look at this one. Looks like he has a loose horn.”

Grinning at Lex, Matt inclined his head toward the rapidly approaching women. “You go meet the company. I’ve got more important things to do.”

“Yeah, right,” Lex muttered dryly, not bothering to slap at the dust on his denim shirt or brown leather chaps as he walked over to the fence.

“Lex, climb out of there, please,” Geraldine called to him. “I want you to meet someone.”

As he mounted the fence, then dropped to the other side, he could feel the redhead eyeing him closely. Normally, the idea that a woman was giving him a second glance would have pleased him. He made no pretensions about his love for the opposite sex. Women made his world go around, and he soaked up any attention they wanted to throw his way. But something about this particular female was making him feel just a tad self-conscious. Instead of batting her eyes with appreciation, she was giving him a cool stare. Wouldn’t his tough cousin have a laugh about that? he thought wryly.

Shoving a black cowboy hat to the back of his head, he sauntered over to the two women. His mother began to make introductions, but Lex was too interested in their guest to pick up more than a word here and there.

Thick auburn hair clouded around her shoulders in glistening waves. Her pale skin, with its faint dotting of freckles, reminded him of cream sprinkled with nutmeg, and her blue eyes, of a late-summer storm cloud. Beneath a faintly tip-tilted nose, her lips were plush and pink, the moist sheen on them implying she’d just touched them with the tip of her tongue.

“Lex? Did you hear me? This is Ms. Logan. Christina Logan. The private investigator that has agreed to take our case.”

His mother’s words cut into his meandering thoughts, adding even more shock to his addled senses. This was the P.I.? And his mother might call it our case, but he viewed it as hers. Even though he’d agreed to help, this was totally his mother’s doing.

“Uh—yes.” He jerked off his leather glove and quickly offered his hand to the beauty standing in front of him. “My pleasure, Ms. Logan.”

Instead of touching her palm weakly against his, the woman totally surprised him by curling her fingers firmly around his and giving his whole hand a strong shake.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Saddler.”

“Oh, don’t call him ‘Mr.,’” Geraldine quickly interjected. “You’ll make his head even bigger than it already is. He’s Lex to everyone. Even you. Isn’t that right, son?”

Lex glanced at his mother, then smiled at Christina Logan. “I’d be pleased if you’d call me Lex. After all, I’m sure we’ll be getting to know each other very well in the coming days.”

Not if she could help it, Christina thought as she eyed the tough cowboy standing in front of her.

When Geraldine Saddler had approached her about taking on this case of her husband’s death, she’d been very excited. The Sandbur reputation was known all over the state of Texas and beyond. Besides being rich and prominent, the families had the reputation of being fair dealers. Solving this case for the Saddlers was definitely going to put a feather in her cap. However, when Geraldine had spoken of her son and the role he would be playing to help Christina with information, she’d expected Lex to be a businessman. The kind that sat behind a desk all day, giving orders over the phone. The kind that had soft hands and plenty of employees to make sure they stayed that way.

She’d never expected the rough, tough specimen of masculinity standing before her. He was tall. At least six foot three. And his body was the lean, wiry kind full of strength and stamina. Straight hair in myriad shades of blond covered his forehead and lent a boyish look to his rugged, thirty-something features. White teeth gleamed against his tanned face as his smile zeroed in directly on her.

Christina wanted to turn and run. Instead, she dropped his hand and drew in a long, much-needed breath.

“Then Lex it will be,” she said as casually as she could. “And you must call me Christina.”

“Will you be working here much longer?” Geraldine asked her son.

The man’s dark green eyes swung away from Christina’s face and over to his mother’s.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Probably till dark. Why?”

Geraldine rolled her eyes as though her son was growing slow-witted. “Cook is preparing a special supper in honor of Christina’s arrival. I’d appreciate it if you weren’t late.”

“I’ll try not to be,” he assured her. “But I’m not going to leave everything with Matt.” He smiled at Christina. “You understand, don’t you?”

Christina understood that this man had probably been charming females with that smile from the moment he’d been born.

“Perfectly,” she told him, then quickly softened the word with a faint smile. After all, the man was to be admired for working at all when he clearly didn’t have to. Add to that, it was obviously important to him to carry out his part of the work, instead of leaving it all to the other men. “And don’t feel you have to make a special effort to hurry on my account. Your mother and I have plenty to talk over.”

“Seven thirty, Lex,” Geraldine warned. “After that, I’m telling Cook to throw yours out.”

“Ouch!” he exclaimed, with a grimace. “All right. I’d like to eat tonight, so I’d better get back to work. See you later, Christina.”

He pulled the brim of his hat down low on his forehead, then tipped it toward Christina in an outrageously gallant way before he climbed over the fence and jumped back into the dusty corral.

Sighing, Geraldine turned toward her. “I’m sorry if my son seems indifferent, Christina. But don’t worry. He’ll come around. I’ll see to that.” She closed a hand around Christina’s elbow and urged her toward the big hacienda-style ranch house in the distance. “Let’s get out of this dust and get you settled.”

Two hours later, Christina stood in the upstairs bedroom she’d be occupying while on the ranch, peering out the window at the shadows rapidly spreading across the lawn below. From this view, she could see only portions of the massive ranch yard, with its numerous barns, sheds and corrals. The area where Lex Saddler had been working earlier was blocked from her view by the branches of a massive live oak tree.

And that was okay with her. She didn’t need to be sneaking extra peeks at the man. Not when his image was still crowding her mind, refusing to leave her alone.

He had trouble written all over that sexy face, and she’d not traveled all the way from San Antonio to this South Texas ranch to let a rakish cowboy—or any man, for that matter—distract her from her job. She’d learned the hard way that men like Lex had a habit of turning a woman’s life upside down, then leaving her alone to pick up the pieces. Now that she’d gotten herself glued back together after Mike’s betrayal, she had no intention of letting another man turn her head.

Her lips pursed with grim determination, she walked over to a long pine dresser and gazed at her image in the mirror. Geraldine had insisted that the family didn’t “dress up” for evening meals, so Christina had chosen to wear a casual skirt with a ruffled hem, topped with a sleeveless cotton sweater in the same coral color as the skirt. Her aim was not to be overly dressed up, but to still look nice enough to show respect to her hosts.

She was brushing the loose ends of her hair when a knock sounded on the bedroom door. Laying the brush back on the dresser top, she went to answer it and was faintly surprised to see Lex Saddler standing on the other side of the threshold. Obviously, he and his men had gotten all the little dogies marked with the Sandbur brand.

“Good evening, Christina.”

Christina couldn’t help herself. Before she could stop it, her gaze was sliding over him, noting the clean jeans and brown ostrich boots, the blue-and-white pin-striped shirt tucked inside a lean waistband, the long sleeves rolled back against corded brown forearms. At the moment his hat was absent. It appeared he’d made an effort to slick the thick blond hair back from his forehead, but a couple of strands had slipped from the restriction and were now teasing a toffee brown eyebrow. A faint stubble of whiskers said he either didn’t like shaving or had lacked the time to pick up a razor.

But the faint brown shadow did nothing to detract from the man’s appearance. In fact, he was even more sensual and sexual than she’d first thought, and it irked her that the mere sight of him elevated the beat of her heart.

“Good evening,” she said, returned his greeting, then, with a quick glance at her watch, asked, “Am I late?”

He smiled. “Not at all. Mother’s on the front porch. We thought you might like to come down and have a drink before supper.”

“Sounds nice,” she agreed.

She shut the bedroom door behind her, and as they started down a wide hallway leading to the staircase landing, he linked his arm though hers, smooth and easy. Christina realized he was an old hand at escorting women.

“So, do you like your room?” he asked. “If you don’t, there are several more you could try.”

“The room is lovely,” she told him, then tossed him a glance. “And so is your ranch.”

His brows arched upward, and then he chuckled. “My kind of woman,” he drawled. “I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

Christina wasn’t ready to make such a prediction. Especially when he was giving off such flirtatious vibes. She was here for work and work only. She wanted to get along with this man, which would allow her to resolve the case quickly. If she had to keep fending him off at every turn, she was in for a long row to hoe.

At the bottom of the long staircase, they crossed a wide living room with Spanish-tile floors, brown leather furniture and several sculptures and paintings depicting the history of the century-plus-old ranch. It was not the formal type of sitting room she would have expected in the home of such a wealthy family. Instead of being a showcase, it had a livedin look, which had instantly put her at ease.

After passing through a short foyer, Lex guided her onto a long concrete porch with huge potted succulents and wicker furniture grouped at intervals along the covered portico. Somewhere in the middle, Geraldine Saddler sat in a fan-backed chair, sipping from a frosty glass.

When she spotted Christina and her son, she smiled brightly.

“I see Lex found you ready to come down,” she said to Christina. “Would you like a margarita or a glass of wine?”

“A margarita would be fine,” Christina replied.

“I’ll get it,” Lex told her. “Just sit wherever you’d like.” He released his hold on her arm and headed to a small table where Cook had organized glasses, a bucket of ice and several choices of drinks.

The moment Lex left her side, it felt as though the tornado that had been traveling beside her had now moved safely away. At least for the time being.

Drawing in a slow breath, she took a seat directly across from Geraldine and smoothed the hem of her skirt across her thigh. She’d hardly gotten herself settled when Lex returned with her drink.

“Thank you,” she murmured quietly.

“My pleasure,” he said as he took the seat next to her. “And be careful with that thing. Cook pours in a lethal amount of tequila. You might want to drink it slowly. Not everyone can handle liquor like my mother,” he added teasingly.

Geraldine scowled at her son. “Lex! You’ll have Christina thinking I’m a sot! I only have one or two of these in the evenings and sometimes none at all!”

“Yeah, but one or two of those things would kick my head right off my shoulders,” replied Lex.

Although he spoke in a joking tone, Christina was inclined to believe he was being more or less truthful. The sip she’d taken from her own glass was like a cold jolt of lightning. Her father would love this, she thought wryly. But then, she had to give the man credit. He’d not touched alcohol in five years and was getting his life in order again.

Christina smiled at her hostess. “It’s delicious.”

She could feel more than see Lex watching her.

“So tell me about being a private investigator,” he prompted. “Have you always done this sort of job?”

She turned her gaze on him, then wished she hadn’t. He had such a raw sex appeal that each time she gazed squarely at his tanned face and beach-blond hair, she felt her stomach clench, her breath catch.

Stop it, Christina! You’re not a teenager. You’re a thirty-three-year-old woman who understands firsthand how a good-looking man can wreak havoc on a woman’s common sense.

“No. I was twenty-two when I first went into law enforcement for the San Antonio Police Department. I remained on the force there for four years. Then I had an offer for an office position with the Texas Rangers. I worked there five more years before I finally decided I wanted to go into business for myself.”

He casually crossed his ankles out in front of him, and from beneath her lowered lashes, Christina followed the long length of his legs with her eyes, all the way down to the square toes of his boots. If there was ever a complete description of a Texas cowboy, Lex Saddler was it.

“So what made you interested in law enforcement?” he asked. “Did you follow a relative into that profession?”

Christina might have laughed if the reality of her family situation hadn’t been so sad. Her father had fought his own demons while trying to work in a family business that he’d had little or no interest in. And then there was her mother, who had flitted from one man to the next in hopes of finding happiness. No, her parents had lacked the dedication it took to work in law enforcement.

“None of my relatives have been in law enforcement of any sort. I just happened to find it interesting. I decided I wanted to spend my time helping folks find lost loved ones. Most of my cases consist of missing persons.”

His brows arched slightly. “Well, my father is hardly missing, Christina. He’s in the Sandbur cemetery. Along with the other family members that have passed on.”

Her chin lifted a fraction. “I said I work mostly on missing-person cases, Lex. I didn’t say I worked on those types of cases exclusively.”

Geraldine eased forward in her chair. “Unfortunately, my daughters Nicci and Mercedes couldn’t be here this evening. But they’re agreeable to what I decide, and Lex has promised to keep them informed. They, like Lex, have had doubts about their father’s death. But none of them wanted to voice them out loud.”

He grimaced as though the whole subject was something he didn’t want to ponder. “Well, hell, Mom, we’ve all had our doubts. But I want to believe the police. They concluded that a heart attack contributed to his drowning. The police and county coroner made a ruling. Why can’t you accept their findings? What can Christina do that they’ve not already done?”

Geraldine swallowed down the last of her drink and set her glass aside. “I’ll tell you what. She can look into all the weird things that were going on just before your father died.”

Lex drew his feet back to him and sat up in his chair. “I was living right here at home at the time, and I don’t recall anything that weird going on. Dad was a little stressed out, but we all get like that at one time or another,” he reasoned.

Geraldine sighed as she darted a glance at Christina, then her son. “Lex, when Paul’s accident happened, I tried to tell you and your sisters that all had not been right with your father. Something was troubling him. I tried to get him to tell me what was going on, but he always gave me evasive replies and danced around my questions. That was totally out of character for Paul. I have no idea if his odd behavior had any connection to his death, but now with Wolfe wanting me to become a part of his life, I need to know what your father was doing and why. I don’t want anything from the past to hurt Wolfe’s chances for the future.”

Lex was clearly disturbed by his mother’s remarks, and for a moment, Christina expected him to jump to his feet and stalk off the porch. Instead, he thrust a frustrated hand through his hair.

“Surely you can’t think that Dad was doing anything wrong!”

The older woman held her palms upward in a gesture that asked her son to understand. “Lex, I believe your father was an honest man until the day he died. But something was going on in his life that we didn’t know about. That’s why I’ve hired Christina. To figure it all out.”

This seemed to trouble Lex even more, and he left his chair to pace back and forth in front of his mother. “Damn it, Mother, I understand that there are loose ends to Dad’s life that you’d like to have explained. But I can’t see the point in digging up something that is just downright painful. It won’t bring Dad back. Nothing can. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see if Cook has supper ready.”

Before Christina or Geraldine could say a word, he left the porch and entered the house.

With a weary sigh, Geraldine dropped her head in her hand. “I’m sorry, Christina. Before I hired you, Lex tried to dissuade me. He believes it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie. But now that you’re here…he’ll accept my choice to find the truth. Just be patient with him.”

Despite her calm demeanor, Christina could see that the woman was upset by her son’s reluctant attitude.

Rising from her chair, Christina moved close enough to lay a reassuring hand on the matriarch’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Geraldine. I’m sure your son is a reasonable person. He’ll eventually understand that you and your whole family deserve to know the real truth of Paul’s situation at the time of his death.”

Smiling wanly, Geraldine nodded. “I’d better go have a talk with him. I want him to be sociable when he comes to the supper table. You might not believe it, but Lex is actually a very charming guy.”

Oh, I believe it all right, Christina thought dryly. But he was clearly a strong-minded guy, too, and she wondered what it was going to take for Geraldine to draw him around to her way of thinking.

Patting Geraldine’s shoulder, she said, “If you don’t mind, I wish you’d let me talk to him. I think I know what he needs to hear, and it might be easier coming from an outsider instead of a relative.”

With a grateful smile, Geraldine gestured toward the front door of the house, and Christina took off with a hurried stride. She wanted to find Mr. Cowboy before he had a chance to etch his mindset in stone.

Inside the house, Christina headed straight to the kitchen, and even before she pushed through the swinging doors, she could hear his voice echoing off the low-beamed ceiling.

“—she’s doing! It’s a hell of a thing to see the mother I’ve always admired so wrapped up in a man that she can’t see how she’s upsetting the rest of the family! I—”

Not wanting to be an eavesdropper, Christina took a deep breath and pushed on into the room. Lex immediately heard the sound of her footsteps and whirled away from the tall, black-haired woman working at a huge gas range.

Surprised, he stepped toward her. “Are you looking for something?” he asked.

Giving him her best smile, Christina walked over to him. “Yes, I’m looking for you.”

For one brief moment a sheepish look crossed his face, telling Christina that in spite of his quick exit from the porch, the man apparently possessed enough innate manners to be embarrassed at the way he’d behaved.

“I’m sorry I left the porch so abruptly, Christina, but I’m—not in the mood to discuss this thing about Dad right now.”

Still smiling, she shrugged. “I think we should. Otherwise, none of us will enjoy our meal.” She glanced over his shoulder at the woman standing at the range. Before she’d arrived at the Sandbur, Geraldine had told her a bit about Hattie, known to most everyone as simply Cook, including the fact that she was seventy-two and had worked on the ranch for nearly fifty years. Clearly, she was a part of the family, too, so Christina didn’t see any reason not to speak freely in front of her. “And from the smell of this room, I can’t wait to sample Cook’s dishes.”

Picking up on Christina’s comment, Cook said, “This young lady has some common sense, Lex. Not like those tarts you associate yourself with. You’d better listen to this one.”

Tossing Cook an annoyed glare, Lex reached for Christina’s arm. “All right. Come along and we’ll step out back.”

On the opposite wall of the kitchen, they passed through a paned glass door and onto a large patio covered with an arbor of honeysuckle vines. The scent from the blossoms was heavenly, but Christina could hardly pause to enjoy it. After several long steps, Lex turned to face her.

“Okay, say what you feel you need to, and let’s get this over with.”

Refusing to allow his bluntness to get to her, she put on her most composed face.

“First of all, I’ve known your mother for only three weeks. But after the first conversation I had with her, it was obvious to me that she loved her late husband very much—that they had a very special relationship. If it took me only a few minutes to recognize that, I wonder why you can’t see it after—” Her brows arched inquisitively. “What? Thirty-five years?”

“Good guess. But my age has nothing to do with this.” Glancing away from her, he paused, then spoke again. “Listen, I’m not doubting my mother’s love for my father. But now—well, I’m having a hell of a problem with these motives of hers. Especially the part about Wolfe Maddson.” He planted a stare directly on her face. “The cause of my father’s death should have nothing to do with their relationship, and I resent that she thinks it does.”

The man wasn’t annoyed, she realized; he was hurting. He believed his mother was betraying him and his father’s memory. And Christina wasn’t altogether sure that he was wrong. If she were in his shoes, she couldn’t say she would be behaving any differently. But her job was not to judge, but to follow the wishes of her client.

“Look,” she tried to reason, “it’s important to your mother to have the truth—whatever that truth might be.”

He moved closer and the scent of the masculine cologne clinging to his clothes mingled with the honeysuckle above their heads. She wondered if it was scientifically possible for scents to make a person drunk. What else could be making her feel so light-headed?

“Sure,” he said wearily. “It’s easy for you to stand there and make a pitch for Mom’s plans. It’s just business to you—you have no idea what it’s like to lose someone as we did.”

Christina kept reminding herself to keep this man’s words impersonal. He couldn’t possibly know that his comments were evoking tragic memories, whirling her back twelve long years ago, when she’d sat staring out a dark window, wondering why her little brother had not yet arrived home. At that time he’d been eighteen, and she’d wanted to believe he was at a party and enjoying it too much to leave his friends.

“So the truth of the matter isn’t important to you?” she asked in an oddly hoarse voice.

She could feel his eyes traveling over her face.

“If you’re going to give me the old truth-will-set-me-free speech, then please don’t waste your time,” he said, with faint sarcasm. “I know what the truth is.”

“Well, I don’t,” she muttered, then turned on shaky legs and headed back toward the house.

Behind her, Lex stared at her retreating figure. Seeing her so upset had brought him up short. He’d never meant to hurt her and he desperately needed to make her understand that. Quickly he caught up to her as she was about to enter the house and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Christina, what’s the matter? You’re the one who wanted to talk this out.”

Her face was suddenly a picture of amazement, and Lex found himself mesmerized by the rich copper color of her hair, the dark blaze in her eyes and the moist purse of her lips.

“Talk, not yell,” she shot back at him. “I’m your mother’s guest, not your whipping boy.”

Boy? With her cheeks flushed and her eyes blazing like that, there wasn’t one tiny particle about her that was remotely boyish. In fact, he’d never seen so much sensuality bundled up in one female. And he’d never felt himself reacting so strongly. Then the meaning of her words sank in, and Lex found himself feeling faintly ashamed of his behavior. Maybe he had been out of line.

“If that’s what you think I was doing, then I apologize. I was just trying to make you see that digging up the past seems fruitless to me. And even a little unhealthy. Dad is dead. Nothing will change that.”

Without warning, she suddenly stepped closer. So close that he could smell her musky rose perfume, count the freckles on her upturned nose.

Her blue eyes challenged his. “You’re probably thinking that I don’t understand what you’re feeling. But believe me, Lex, I do. Twelve years ago, my little brother disappeared without a trace. And since that time, every day I wish for the truth and someone—anyone—to help me find it.”

Stunned by her revelation, his grip on her shoulder eased just enough for her to turn away from him. But before she could open the door and step inside, he caught her by the forearm.

“Wait, Christina. Please,” he added softly.

Slowly, she turned back to him, and he was struck hard as he caught the watery shimmer in her blue eyes.

“I think we’ve both said enough,” she said in a choked voice.

He grimaced ruefully. “No. I’m sorry, Christina. Really sorry.”

She bent her head and instinctively he gathered her to him in a gentle hug. “If I sounded callous a bit earlier, forgive me. I didn’t know you’d lost anyone. I mean, I didn’t stop to think—except about my own feelings.”

She pushed out a long breath, and he closed his eyes as it skittered warmly against the side of his neck.

“This—you and I—is going all wrong, Lex. Maybe my coming here—asking you to work with me—is asking too much of you,” she said. Then easing herself away from the circle of his arms, she opened the door and left him standing on the patio.

Chapter Two

By the time Lex gathered himself enough to go after her, Christina was already heading back to the front porch and his mother.

Fortunately, he caught the woman before she reached the foyer and, with a hand around her fragile wrist, led her stiff, unyielding body over to a chesterfield couch.

“No matter what you think of me at this moment,” he said as he eased down beside her, “I can’t allow you to go out there and tell Mom the two of us can’t work together.”

One copper-colored brow arched upward. “Give me one good reason not to,” she requested.

“I don’t want to hurt her. Not for any reason.”

Approval flickered in her eyes, and Lex was surprised at how good the sight of it made him feel.

“I’m glad you’re putting her feelings first,” she said.

“I promise you, Christina,” he said, “I always care about my mother’s feelings. I just…this whole thing about digging into Dad’s death is hard for me. But I promise to help you in any way I can.”

Her hand reached over and covered his, and Lex had the greatest urge to lift her fingers to his lips, to taste her smooth skin. But he didn’t. He could already see that she was intelligent and strong-minded, not the sort of woman he could easily charm into a brief, pleasant beguilement.

“Thank you for that, Lex,” she said quietly and started to rise.

Lex caught her by the hand, causing her gaze to lift to his. The direct connection jolted him in a way that felt totally odd. Being with Christina Logan was making him feel like a teenage virgin, which was a bit ridiculous. He’d made love to many attractive females before. There wasn’t any reason for Christina to be raising his pulse rate just by looking him in the eye.

“Just a minute, Christina. I—” He passed his thumb along the back of her hand and momentarily savored the feel of her creamy skin. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your brother. I can’t imagine what it must feel like—the not knowing about him.”

She let out a heavy breath, and from the shadows that suddenly crossed her face, Lex could plainly see the emotional toll the tragedy had taken on her.

“The not knowing is the worst part,” she admitted.

The need to help her, to ease her grief somehow, hit Lex in a totally unexpected way, and for a brief second, the feeling staggered him. “I’d like for you to tell me about him sometime,” he invited.

“Sometime, I will.” Smiling wanly, she pulled her hand away from his grasp and rose to her feet. “I think now we’d better join your mother before she begins to wonder where we’ve gotten off to.”

The next morning Christina was sitting in a small office located on the west side of the house. Information regarding Paul Saddler’s case was stacked on the floor in countless cardboard boxes and plastic storage containers. But at the moment she wasn’t digging through any of it. Instead, she was on the phone to a friend.

Olivia Mills was a criminal lawyer, an associate of the San Antonio firm of Mills, Wagner & Murray. Several years ago, when Christina had stumbled onto some information that had proved a client of Olivia’s innocent, the two women had become fast friends. And when Christina had decided to go into the private investigation business, Olivia had encouraged her to get an office in the same building as the firm’s. As a result, Christina picked up many of the investigative jobs the firm often required.

“So tell me about the place,” Olivia urged. “Is it anything like you expected?”

Christina settled back in the leather desk chair. “Not exactly. It’s much larger than I imagined. If you drove forty miles in any direction you’d probably still be on Sandbur land. In fact, the ranch is organized into two divisions. The one with the house and working ranch yard, where I’m staying, is called the Goliad Division, and the western half of the property is the Mission River Division.”

“Incredible. What’s the house like?”

“Grandeur, but comfortable. It’s a two-story hacienda and so large that I couldn’t begin to count the number of rooms it has.”

“Sounds like a lot of old money.”

“It is. But these people are very unpretentious and laidback, Ollie.”

“That would be a relief for me.”

Yes, it was a relief that the Saddlers weren’t snobs. But maybe it would have been easier on her state of mind if Lex had been a snooty sort of person, she thought. Picking up a pencil, Christina began to doodle in a small open notebook. “So far they’ve treated me very nearly like family.”

“Lucky dog,” Olivia replied. “None of this sounds like work to me. I’ve always wanted to visit a big working ranch—just to see if those cowboys look as good in the rough as they do in pictures.”

Christina bit back a sigh. She should be thanking God for this cushy job, which had virtually fallen into her lap, but this morning she wasn’t at all convinced that she should be here. Not because she doubted her ability to find the cause of Paul’s questionable death, but more because of the impact Lex Saddler was having upon her. She couldn’t get the man out of her head.

“Believe me, Ollie, this case is not exactly simple. I’m going to have my work cut out for me.”

“So you don’t know how long you’ll be staying on the ranch?”

She began to draw a horse, then a man wearing a pair of chaps. “No longer than necessary. I want to wrap this thing up as quickly as possible.”

There was a long pause, and she could hear a frown in Olivia’s voice when the other woman finally spoke.

“Is anything wrong? I’ve never heard you talk this way before. Normally, you’re happily willing to invest whatever time it takes to wrap up a job.”

Christina glanced at the open door to the office while wondering if any of the maids or family members might be within earshot. To be on the safe side, she lowered her voice to nearly a whisper. “Ollie, I’m just not comfortable here. Ms. Saddler’s son is not at all what I expected. In fact, he’s been—quite a shock.”

“Oh?” Olivia sounded intrigued. “What’s wrong with the man?”

Christina pressed the fingertips of her right hand to her forehead. She’d hardly gotten four hours of sleep last night, and the lack of rest was already catching up to her. “If you don’t count single, sexy and flirtatious as problems, then he’s okay. I thought he was going to be a businessman, Ollie. And he is—but he’s not exactly the desk sort. He’s a cowboy. He wears boots and spurs and gets sweaty and dusty just like the other cowhands.”

Olivia chuckled. “My, oh my, that sounds like a handful of assets to me.”

Christina rolled her eyes. “You would think so. But I’m trying to keep my mind on business.”

The other woman let out a disapproving groan. “You always have business on your mind. Maybe this—what’s his name?”

Christina smiled in spite of herself. “Lex. His name is Lex Saddler.”

“Maybe this Lex will remind you that you’re a young, beautiful woman ready for a new man in your life.”

Christina didn’t know if she’d ever be ready for another man, but she wasn’t going to waste time rehashing the old argument with her dear friend.

“I’ve got a ton of work to get started on, Ollie. I’ll see you later in the week. I think I’ve got a handle on your missing witness, so I might be able to give you his definite whereabouts then.”

“Great. We’ll talk more when you get back to the city. But before you hang up just remember this—Mr. Lex Saddler isn’t a police officer.”

Christina grimaced. Olivia ought to know there wasn’t any need for her to bring up good-time, no-commitment Mike. A woman didn’t ever forget a mistake like him.

“As if that makes any difference,” Christina said dryly, then quickly told her friend goodbye and folded the cell phone together.

In the back of the house, Lex was in the kitchen, dancing Cook across the tiled floor as an old country song played on the radio.

“What are you doing here in the kitchen again?” Cook, demanded. “You’ve already had your breakfast. You should be down at the cattle pens.”

He twirled the aging but agile woman beneath his arm. “Yeah, I should be. Matt had to pull Lester off the fence building crew to take up my slack ‘cause I’ve got other duties this morning,” he said with a grimace. “I’ve told Mom that I don’t want her fretting over Dad’s case, so I’m going to be dealing with it and Ms. Logan. And this morning, she needs my assistance.”

Cook’s sly smile spread her ruby-red lips. “Ms. Logan, eh? Well, that ought to make you a happy man. So why aren’t you smilin’, and why are you wastin’ time in here with me?”

He grinned. “What man wouldn’t want to start out his day dancing with his sweetheart?”

She snorted. “I’ve known plenty.”

Lex chuckled. “Then they weren’t worth knowing.”

Cook pinched his shoulder. “Be serious and talk to me.”

Her order came just as the song ended, so he led the woman over to a long pine table bracketed with benches made of the same wood. After she was seated, he poured two cups of coffee and carried them over to the table.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush, Hattie, I’ll come right out and say that I think Mom has slipped a cog. Or that damned senator has brainwashed her!”

Clearly disgusted with his analogy, she said, “What are you talkin’ about? Geraldine is as sharp as a tack.”

He eased down next to her. “Hattie, when she first talked to me about hiring a private investigator, I wasn’t wild about digging into Dad’s death. But I could see the whole thing was important to her, so I went along with her wishes. If Dad’s death wasn’t an accident, then we need to know it. But last night…well, I got the impression from Mom that she’s doing all of this just to prove to Wolfe Maddson that the Saddler family doesn’t have any hidden skeletons that could come out and hurt his political career. I’ll tell you one thing, Hattie. If that man thinks my mother has to present a clean background to him before he’ll walk down the aisle with her, then he’s gonna be knocked on his ass, and I’m going to be the one doing the knocking!”

Impatient with his attitude, Cook merely looked at him and shook her head. “So what if that’s Geraldine’s motive? You can use this opportunity to prove to Wolfe Maddson that your father was the honorable man everyone believed him to be. It’ll make the man see that if he plans to keep your mother as happy as Paul did, then he’s got big, big boots to fill.” Her features softened as she laid a hand on his shoulder. “Besides, it won’t be no skin off your hide to work with a pretty thing like Ms. Logan. She seems awfully sweet to me.”

A wry grin spread slowly across Lex’s face. “Yeah. But you’ve always told me that too many sweets were bad for my health.”

Patting his cheek, she gave him a wink. “Yes, but that’s the thing about you, boy. You like being bad.”

Five minutes later, as Lex walked out of the kitchen and headed to Christina’s temporary office, he thought about Cook’s comment. Like the rest of his friends and family, she considered him a ladies’ man, a guy who worked hard but played even harder. None of them understood that most of his flirtatious behavior was just a cover, that his frequent dates were only attempts to fill the lonely holes inside him.

Both his sisters were married now. Nicci, the oldest, had a new daughter, and Mercedes, his younger sister, had announced a few weeks ago that she and her husband, Gabe, were expecting their first child. All three of his cousins also had loving spouses and growing families. Lex was the only unmarried relative left in the Saddler and Sanchez bunch, unless he counted Cook, his mother and his uncle Mingo. But who knew? By the end of the year, even the old folks would probably have lifelong partners.

What are you whining about, Lex? If you wanted to be married that badly, you wouldn’t be so particular. You’d settle for a woman you liked, a woman who’d be a good wife, instead of waiting for that one precious love to come along and wham you in the heart.

Pushing those pestering notions out of his head, Lex knocked lightly on the open door, then stepped into the room.

Christina was sitting behind a large oak desk, blackrimmed reading glasses perched on the end of her nose as she studied a paper filled with typed text.

Lifting her head, she smiled at him. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, yourself.” Moving over to the desk, he leaned a hip against the edge. “Cook tells me you’ve already had breakfast.”

She glanced at a small silver watch on her left wrist. “About an hour ago. What about you?”

He smiled with amusement. “About three hours ago.”

Laying the paper aside, she leaned back in her chair. Lex couldn’t prevent his eyes from drinking their fill. She was dressed casually this morning in an aqua-colored shirt and a pair of jeans. Her fiery hair was pulled into a ponytail, which made her look more like twenty-three than thirty-three, the age his mother had disclosed about the private investigator.

“You must be an early riser,” she commented.

“It’s a rancher’s necessity,” he told her. “If he plans to get things done.”

She smiled wanly. “And I’m going to assume that you’re a man who gets things done.”

Was she making fun of him? It didn’t matter. She was a city girl. She didn’t know about his sort of life. Or him.

“When I try,” he drawled. He pointed to the paper she’d been reading. “Is that something about my father’s case?”

She nodded. “It is. But it’s nothing from your father’s personal things. I’ve not started going through them yet. Before I drove down from San Antonio, I gathered some general information about the company he worked for—Coastal Oil. It’s a huge conglomerate now. They’ve expanded several times during the past few years.”

The button just above her breasts had been left undone, and if he angled his head just right, Lex could see a tiny silver cross dangling in the shadowed cleavage. Strangely, the sight was both erotic and prim. Like a good girl hiding a naughty tattoo.

“I don’t know of any oil company nowadays that isn’t making a killing. Yet that wasn’t quite true eleven years ago. Coastal Oil was close to going bankrupt.”

Her expression thoughtful, she said, “The economy ebbs and flows on cyclical tides. Could be that was simply a downtime for raw crude. Or perhaps the problem was poor management.”

“Yeah. Or corrupt management,” Lex replied.

Her brows arched. “Why would you make a remark like that? Do you know for a fact that someone was stealing from the company?”

“Not at all. I was just speculating. Nowadays white-collar crime seems to be rampant.”

The curiosity that had been marking her face swiftly disappeared. “That’s true.”

Feeling restless now, Lex walked over to a window that looked out upon the ranch yard. At the moment, he could see Gabe, the Sandbur’s horse trainer, down at the horse pen, riding a red roan filly. The animal was trying to get her head low enough to buck, but the man was doing his best to change her mind. His brother-in-law was a genius with horses. And women, too, apparently. He’d certainly made Lex’s sister Mercedes happy.

Lex glanced over his shoulder at Christina. She’d removed the glasses from her face and was eyeing him with easy anticipation. Just to look at her, Lex found it hard to imagine her working on a police force, putting herself in dangerous situations.

“What makes you do what you do?” he asked.

“My brother. When he disappeared, the police were useless—or so it seemed. I truly believed that I could do better. Later, after I finally learned how things really worked on the police force, I could see that finding a missing person wasn’t as simple as I’d first imagined.” She leaned forward and folded her hands together on the desk top. “Working with the Rangers was more than great—it was the chance of a lifetime to garner the experience I needed.”

“Why didn’t you stay there?”

One slender shoulder lifted and fell. “Because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life sitting behind a desk.”

Lex gestured toward her. “Looks like you’re still sitting behind one.”

She appeared faintly amused as she rose to her feet and walked over to a wall lined with book-filled shelves. Lex hoped she stayed there. If she drew near him, he’d be able to smell her rose-scented perfume. He’d want to look at places he shouldn’t and touch even more. He’d find it damned hard to remain a gentleman.

“But you see, I can get up whenever I want,” she pointed out. “I don’t have a superior telling me what to do or how to go about doing it. If I need to bend the rules a bit, I can take that risk, because I’m the only one who might get hurt.”

Where was all her confidence coming from? Lex wondered. Or was it more like determination? The question lingered in his mind as his gaze wandered discreetly down her slender curves. Most of the women he’d dated were attractive, but none of them were nearly as interesting as Christina. He realized there were many things he’d like to ask her, but they were all so personal, he decided he’d better keep the questions to himself. At least, for a while.

“You obviously like being your own boss,” he stated.

She glanced at him and smiled, and Lex felt a spurt of desire as he watched her pink lips spread against very white teeth. She was like a field of spring wildflowers. A man couldn’t ignore all that vibrant color.

“Don’t you?” she countered.

Her assumption made him chuckle. “If you think I’m the boss around here, you’re mistaken. Matt Sanchez, my cousin, is the general manager, but even he doesn’t consider himself the head cheese of the Sandbur. No one does. We’re family, and we work as a unit—makes us stronger that way.”

His words sent an odd little pain through Christina’s chest. To be a part of a family, and to have that family whole and strongly webbed together with love, was all that she’d ever wanted. But her parents had never known or learned how to love themselves, much less each other or their children, as deeply as they should have. They’d split apart when she and Joel had been young teenagers. Then to add to that messy wound, Joel had gone missing, ripping away what little family she’d had left.

To hide her dark, unsettled thoughts, she quickly pretended an interest in the books in front of her. “Anything whole is always stronger than something divided.” She darted a glance at him. “You’re a lucky man, Lex Saddler.”

He didn’t say anything to that, and though her head was turned away from him, she could feel his thoughtful silence, his warm gaze traveling over her.

“So where do you plan to start this morning on Dad’s case?”

Bracing herself, she turned to face him. “Right now I have copies of the police and coroner’s reports, so-called witness depositions and general information about the company Paul worked for. Your mother has given me pertinent data as to where Paul grew up, how they met and a general idea of their marriage, especially around the time that he died. For the next couple of days, I’m going to delve into all that.”

“So what do you need from me? I mean this morning.”

No doubt he was itching to get outside, and she couldn’t blame the man. From the few open spaces between the live oak limbs shading the window, sunshine was streaming through the panes of glass, slanting golden stripes across the hardwood floor. Out on the lawn, dew glistened on the thick Saint Augustine grass while mockingbirds squawked angrily at a pair of fox squirrels. It was a lovely morning. One that needed to be taken advantage of.

She looked at Lex speculatively. He was a man who needed to be doing. Sitting and talking about the past would only make him tense again.

Smiling tentatively, she walked toward him. “I’d like for you to take me on a horseback ride.”

Chapter Three

Like an idiot, Lex felt his jaw drop as he stared at the lovely woman in front of him. He’d been expecting a taped question-and-answer session or, at the very least, to help her go over stacks of his father’s personal papers.

“Riding? For pleasure?”

She laughed softly. “Why, yes. That’s the only sort of riding I’ve ever done. Don’t you ever ride across the hills just for the sake of riding?”

He stroked a thumb and forefinger against his chin. “Not since I was about ten years old. After that, I got on a horse to go someplace or to herd cattle. And as for hills, the only kind we have around here are fire-ant hills.”

Dimples appeared in both her cheeks, and Lex felt the middle of his chest go soft and gooey. What was the matter with him? he wondered. A woman’s simple smile had never affected him this way.

“Well, perhaps this morning you could pretend you’re herding cattle, and we could talk a bit about your father’s case along the way? It’s a shame to waste the sunshine, and I’d enjoy seeing some of the ranch.”

She was making spending time with her easy, Lex thought, way too easy.

“Then you’ve got a date.” He glanced at her strapped sandals. “Do you own a pair of boots? Not the kind you wear down a fashion runway, either. The cowboy kind that will hold your feet in the stirrups?”

“I do. Give me five minutes to change. Where shall I meet you?” she asked.

“In the kitchen. Cook will give us some cookies and a thermos of coffee to take.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to ride for fun,” she reminded him.

Feeling unexpectedly happy, he laughed. “I’m a quick learner.”

Ten minutes later, the two of them were out the door and walking toward an enormous white wooden barn. At the nearest end, and along one side, wooden corrals separated groups of horses, some of which were munching alfalfa hay from portable mangers.

Inside the barn, Lex saddled a gentle mare named Hannah for Christina and, for himself, a paint gelding called Leo that he most often used as a working mount.

While he readied the horses, Christina used the time to look around the inside of the cavernous barn. Besides the outside horses, there were at least thirty stalled inside the structure, and though she was far from an expert on horse flesh, she recognized without being told that some of the animals were worth a small fortune. Their stalls were pristine, and their coats, manes and tails groomed to perfection.

A number of wranglers and stable boys were already hard at work, and she could easily see why the Sandbur was one of the largest and wealthiest ranches in the state of Texas. But whether that wealth had played into Paul Saddler’s death was yet to be seen.

“We’ll take them outside and mount up there,” Lex told her. “Can you lead Hannah?”

“Sure. I’m not a complete greenhorn around horses.” He handed Hannah’s reins to her, and as they headed toward the open barn door, the gray mare fell into obedient step behind her. “One of my best childhood friends owns horses and keeps them stabled at the edge of the city. We’ve ridden together since we were small girls,” she told him. “Only lately, I’ve gotten out of practice. She has to fly back and forth to California to care for her ailing mother.”

He glanced over at her. “That must be stressful. What about your mother? Does she live in San Antonio?”

Christina caught herself before she grimaced. Frowning at the mention of her mother wouldn’t make a good impression. Especially to someone like Lex, who obviously adored his mother. But he could hardly know the sort of life that Retha Logan had lived. He couldn’t know that in her fifty-one years of life, she’d already gone through six husbands and was now working on her seventh.

“No, she lives in Dallas.”

“You see her often?”

“Not too often. She stays busy, and so do I.”

“What about your father?”

His questions were simple and something to be expected. Even so, they made her feel very uncomfortable. Especially when she was the one who usually did the asking, not the answering.

“He still lives in San Antonio,” she conceded. “You see, my parents divorced when my brother and I were teenagers. So it’s been a long time since we were all together as a family.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Thankfully, they’d reached the open yard in front of the horse barn, and Christina halted her forward motion. “Can we mount up now?”

“I’m ready,” he agreed, allowing Leo’s reins to dangle to the ground and turning toward her. “Let me help you.”

“Won’t your horse run off?” she asked, with dismay.

“No. He understands what I want him to do.”

“Smart horse.”

He chuckled. “That’s the only kind we raise here on the Sandbur.”

Christina stood to one side as he slipped the bridle reins over Hannah’s head.

“Put your foot in the stirrup, and I’ll give you a boost,” he said.

His boost turned out to be a hand on her rump, pushing her upward, but when she landed in the seat of the saddle with hardly any effort at all on her part, she couldn’t be cross with him.

As he swung himself onto the back of the paint, she said, “I suppose that’s a technique you use to help everyone into the saddle.”

He laughed under his breath, and Christina realized she’d never heard a more sexy sound.

“Well, just the women. None of the men around here need help getting into the saddle.”

Women. No doubt he had girlfriends in the plural, she thought. He had that rakish, devil-may-care attitude that drew women like bears to a beehive. She ought to know. Mike had been a charmer deluxe, the smoothest-talking man she’d ever run across. Still, that shouldn’t have been any excuse for her to go on believing his gaff for four long years. Once she’d finally smartened up and left, she’d vowed to never believe anything a smooth-talking man said without some sort of action to back it up.

Lex nudged his horse forward, and Christina quickly drew the mare abreast of Leo. As they moved away from the barn, he pointed in a westerly direction.

“The river is that way, and that’s where my sisters love to ride,” he said. “But the trail is rough. We’ll go north today and travel the road that leads to the vet’s house. Maybe later, after I see how well you can ride, we’ll go to the river one day.”

Christina had only suggested getting out this morning because she’d believed it would be a way of getting Lex to relax and talk more freely about his father. She’d not been thinking about future days or spending any more casual time with this man. But now that they were riding along, their stirrups brushing, the wind at their back and a crooked, contagious grin on Lex’s face, she could very easily imagine doing all this again. It was a dangerous thought…especially since it seemed so tempting.

“I promise not to hurt Hannah or myself,” she assured him.

Forty minutes later, they reached a small stream with a low wooden bridge. On the other side of the little creek was a small house shaded by oaks, a barn and a network of cattle pens. Before they crossed the bridge, Lex suggested they stop for a break. After dismounting, he tethered their horses to a nearby willow tree and pulled the thermos of coffee and plastic-wrapped cookies from his saddle bags.

“Is that the vet’s house?” Christina asked as they took seats on the side of the bridge.

“Yeah, Jubal and his family live there. He’s our resident veterinarian. I don’t think any of them are home at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet them all later. Angie has a teaching degree, but for now she’s staying home to take care of their daughter, Melanie, and baby son, Daniel.”

Another real family, Christina thought wistfully. The Sandbur seemed to be full of them, reminding her just how unsuccessful she’d been in finding a man to love her and give her children.

“Sounds like a nice family.”

“They are,” he agreed, then handed her the bag of cookies. “Here. I’d better warn you that you can’t eat only one. They’re too good.”

After a breakfast of eggs and biscuits, she wasn’t the least bit hungry, but after one bite of pecans and chocolate chips, she couldn’t resist eating a whole cookie and wistfully eyeing those that remained.

He took a short drink from the thermos cup, then passed it to her. For some reason, drinking after the man felt very intimate. As Christina sipped the hot liquid, she felt her cheeks grow unaccustomedly warm.

“So your father was a rancher, too,” she commented after a few moments of easy silence had passed.

He picked up a tiny piece of gravel and tossed it into the shallow water. “For most of his early life—before he went to work in the oil business. And even after that, he helped here on the ranch as much as time allowed. Even to this day, I don’t know half as much about cattle as he did. He was a very intelligent man.”

There was love and pride in his voice, and Christina wondered how it would feel, to know her father had lived an admirable life. She was very proud that Delbert Logan was now staying sober, holding down a good job and taking care of himself, instead of expecting someone to take care of him. Still, she couldn’t help but envy the relationship Lex had clearly had with his father.

“That’s what I keep hearing.” She smiled at him. “It’s obvious that you were very close to him. Did he spend much time with all his children?”

“As much as possible. My sisters were very close to our father, too. But whenever he was home on the ranch, he and I were practically inseparable.”

“So you were living here on the ranch at the time of his death?”

He nodded grimly. “I hadn’t been out of college long and had moved back home from Texas A&M. God, I’m just thankful he got to see me graduate.”

No doubt, Paul Saddler would be proud of his son if he could see him now, Christina thought. Lex appeared to be a man who loved his family deeply and was dedicated to doing his part to keep their ranch successful.

“So what made your father decide to go into the oil business, anyway?”

Lex shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure. I was still in grade school when that happened. I think it was a time when cattle prices had sunk to the bottom of the barrel, and Dad decided he’d be more help to the ranch if he brought in outside money. You see, he’d graduated college with a chemical engineering degree and had always planned to work for one of the chemical plants located on the coast. But then he met my mother, and after they married, he decided that ranching would make him just as happy.”

“Hmm. So he went to work at Coastal Oil out of necessity?” she asked.

Lex nodded. “But I think after he’d been with the company awhile, the money and the benefits became too good to leave. Plus, he was getting something out of his degree. And then there was always the thought of a nice retirement check, which gave him more incentive to stay.”

She handed the thermos cup back to him. “Did you personally know the three friends Paul worked with? The ones who were with him the day of his accident?”

He poured more coffee into the metal cup. “Yes. They seemed to be okay guys, I suppose. Mom has always loved to throw parties for a variety of reasons, and these guys would always attend—until Dad died. After that, they never came back to the ranch. Guess they thought it might bring up bad memories for Mom or something. I thought it was a bit odd, myself.” He looked thoughtfully over at her. “Have you read through their testimonies?”

She nodded. “Yes, but I’m not putting too much stock in them. Most eyewitnesses are very unreliable. They don’t accurately recall what happened, even though they swear they’re sure about what they saw. And the ones that seem to remember every tiny detail are usually lying.”

“Oh. Do you think Dad’s friends accurately described what happened that day?”

“I don’t yet know enough about them or the case to form an opinion.” She gave him an encouraging smile. “Can you tell me more about them?”

His expression thoughtful, he gazed out at the open range dotted with gray Brahman cattle. “They were Dad’s work buddies, not necessarily friends of mine. But I recall a little about them. Red Winters was a big, burly guy. A bit obnoxious, always telling crude jokes. He thought he knew more than everybody, including my dad. Which was a joke. Red got his job because of who he knew, not what he knew. Harve Dirksen was sort of the ladies’ man type. Tall, dark, good-looking, and he knew it. About a year before Dad died, he was going through a messy divorce. I guess Mrs. Dirksen had gotten tired of his cheating. But in spite of their personal problems, they were always devoted friends to Dad. If he needed their help for any reason, they’d be there for him.”

“What about the third man, Lawrence Carter?”

“The epitome of a nerd. Physically weak. Smart at his job, but socially backwards. He’d always been big in playing the stock market and had a degree in business along with being a chemist. Like I said, he was smart, but Red always bullied him around. I remember Mom mentioning that Lawrence had a sickly son, but I don’t know what came of that. You might ask her about it. But I’m pretty sure his wife left him, too, sometime after Dad died. But his luck turned around eventually. All three men came into a small fortune about a year after Dad died.”

Christina looked at him sharply. “Oh? How did that happen?”

Lex shrugged. “Dumping a bunch of company stock right before the value crashed. Just good timing, I suppose. A lot of stockholders lost all their retirement investments. Some demanded an investigation, but nothing criminal was ever proved.”

The wheels inside Christina’s head were clicking at a fast rate, but she didn’t voice her thoughts aloud. She needed much more time and information before she could share with Lex any of the ideas she was entertaining. Instead, she said, “Well, could be the men were just savvy traders. Sometimes it’s hard to tell a good businessman from a thief.”

“Yeah.” He rose from his perch on the bridge and offered a hand down to her. “We’d better be getting along. If you’re ready, I’ll show you the family cemetery before we head back to the ranch. It’s a little west of here, but not too far.”

“I’d like that.”

She closed her fingers around his, and with no effort at all, he tugged her to her feet. The sudden momentum tilted her forward, and she instinctively threw her hands out to prevent herself from falling straight into his arms. They landed smack in the middle of his chest, and she found her face only inches from his.

“Oh! I—I’m sorry!” she said breathlessly. “I lost my balance.”

As she started to push herself away, she realized that he had a steadying hold on both her arms.

“No need to apologize,” he said, with a grin. “I’m just glad you didn’t teeter over into the creek. You would have probably taken me with you.”

She desperately wished he would release his hold on her. Standing this close to him was creating an earthquake in the pit of her stomach. Everything about him smelled like a man, felt like a man. And everything inside of her was reacting like a woman.

“That wouldn’t have been any fun,” she said, trying to keep her voice light.

“Oh, I don’t know. Might be pleasant to have a little morning swim together.”

The suggestive drawl of his voice clanged warning bells in the back of her head, and she quickly jerked away from the clasp of his hands. “I—uh, we better head on to the cemetery.”

Christina walked off the bridge, and as she rapidly headed toward the waiting horses, she sensed him following closely behind her.

Once she reached Hannah’s side, the touch of his hand on the back of her shoulder drew her head around. As she met his gaze, she felt her breath lodging in her throat.

“Christina, are you okay?”

The softly spoken question caught her off guard, and for a moment she wasn’t sure how to answer. “Why, yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

His brows pulled together in a frown of confusion. “Because I saw something on your face back there. You looked at me like you were scared and wanted to run away.” He gently touched his fingertips to her cheek. “You’re not frightened of me, are you?”

Totally disconcerted, she looked at the leather stirrup dangling near her waist, the ground where one of Hannah’s hooves was stomping at a pestering fly, at anything and everything but him. “That’s silly. Of course I’m not afraid of you.”

Her heartbeat hammered out of control as he moved closer and his hand slid lightly up and down the side of her arm. “You don’t need to worry about me, Christina. I would never hurt you or any woman.”

No. She figured this man would die before he’d ever lay an angry hand on a woman. But there were countless ways to cause another person pain, and she wondered how many women in his past had cried themselves to sleep at night, waiting for a call, waiting to hear him say, “Honey, let’s spend the rest of our lives together”. She’d experienced firsthand some of the ways a man could hurt a woman, and she wasn’t up to getting another dose of education on the subject.

Forcing a teasing smile to her face, she lifted her head and met his gaze. “The only thing I’m worried about is convincing your mother that I don’t need you hanging at my side eight hours of the day.”

That obviously surprised him. “You don’t?”

“No. I always work alone. It’s better for my concentration that way. If I come across things I need to ask you, I’ll make notes and get to you later.”

The relief on his face was almost insulting.

“Well, I do have plenty of work that can’t be done by anyone else but me,” he admitted. “And anyway, I’m not very good at putting puzzle pieces together. Now my sister Mercedes is a different matter. She worked as an intelligence gatherer for the military.”

Christina nodded. “Yes. Geraldine told me. But she’s pregnant with her first child, and Geraldine doesn’t want to put any undue stress on her—especially with such dark matters. And your other sister, Nicci, has her days packed full with being a doctor and caring for her family. And your mother is incredibly busy, too. So that leaves you. But I don’t expect you to drop everything and alter your life just because I’m here.”

His gaze was almost suspicious as it roamed her face. “Are you giving me this reprieve for other reasons?”

Forcing a light chuckle, she turned her back to him and reached to untie Hannah’s reins. “Reprieve? You make it sound like spending prolonged time with me would be a prison sentence.”

“That’s a ridiculous notion. You must realize that you’re a very attractive woman. I’m sure you’ve never had a man complain about spending time with you.”

No, she thought dismally. Mike had never complained about spending time with her. Especially while they’d been making love. He’d just never wanted to make their time together into something permanent.

Glancing over her shoulder at him, she said, “You’d better get to know me before you say that.”

“I plan to,” he promised. Then reaching for her arm, he helped her back into the saddle.

During the next week Christina rarely saw Geraldine Saddler. The ranching matriarch was an extremely busy woman, spending most of her waking hours working on some sort of charity project or overseeing the actual running of the ranch’s daily activities. It was as common to see her dressed in jeans and chaps, driving around in her old Ford truck, as it was to glimpse her leaving for San Antonio in a sequin and satin cocktail dress. She was a woman to be admired, and Christina envied her children for having such a strong, respected mother, a mother who viewed loving a man and raising his children as the most ultimate blessings and responsibilities in her life.

As for Lex, she’d been meeting with him in the evenings, after supper, to go over details of the investigation. So far she couldn’t have asked for him to be a more perfect gentleman. And he’d even helped her begin to see inside the person who’d died in the gulf waters off Corpus Christi. She had to admit that Lex wasn’t the problem that she’d first expected him to be. But her reaction to him was definitely a problem. A huge one.

She’d hoped that the more she was around the man, the more she’d be able to control her racing heart and quell the ridiculous heat that colored her cheeks and warmed every inch of her body whenever she was near him. Trouble was, the more she tried to fight the attraction she had for the rawhide-tough rancher, the stronger it seemed to grow.

That fact hit harder than ever later that evening, as she left her room to go to dinner. Halfway down the staircase, she met Lex coming up. He was dressed very casually in jeans and a short-sleeved polo shirt. The moss-green color set off the tawny-blond streaks in his hair and the dark tan of his arms. She drank in the sight of him like a parched flower soaking up raindrops.

“There you are,” he said, with an easy smile. “I was just coming up to fetch you.”

“Oh. Have you been waiting?”

“No. Mom is away for the evening, and I wanted to see if it was okay with you if we had our meal in the kitchen. I hope you’re going to say yes, because I’ve already sent Cook home.”

“Of course it’s okay with me.” In fact, Christina was happy about the change. Even though the dining room of the Saddler hacienda was very beautiful, she preferred a smaller, cozier setting to eat her meals, especially when there were only two people present.

“Good.” He wrapped an arm through hers and began to escort her down the remaining stairs and in the general direction of the kitchen. “Would you like a drink first? Since Mom’s not here, Cook didn’t make margaritas, but I can shake something up.”

Just the scent of him, the touch of his hand and the smile on his face were shaking her up. Much more than a splash of tequila. She wondered what he would think if he knew that. “Actually, I don’t normally drink anything alcoholic.”

He glanced her way. “If having it around bothers you, you should have told us.”

Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t expect people around me to be prudes, and I even drink spirits occasionally—you saw me drink a margarita the first evening I was here. But my father is a recovering alcoholic. Each time I take a sip, I think of what he’s gone through.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. How is your father doing now?”

She gave him a tentative smile. Talking honestly about Delbert Logan was something new for her. As a young girl, she’d often lied to her friends so they wouldn’t know about her father’s condition. Later on, as she’d grown into womanhood, she’d avoided talking about him altogether. Now, she sometimes had to remind herself that her father was becoming a different person. For the first time in her life, she could speak proudly of him. “He’s not had a drink in over five years, and he’s working at a good job. I never thought he’d find the determination to turn his life around, but he has. And that makes me very happy.”

By now they were in a hallway that led to the kitchen, and when he paused and turned to her, she was suddenly reminded that the two of them were entirely alone in the big house.

“I’m glad for you, Christina,” he said, with a gentle smile. “And I apologize if I was prying. You didn’t have to tell me all that about your father. You could have told me to mind my own business.”

The idea that he understood how difficult it was for her to talk about her father’s problem suddenly made it all very easy, and she gave his arm a grateful squeeze.

“It’s all right,” she quietly assured him. “It’s nice to be able to say good things about my father. I only wish my mother could get herself on a better track.”

“What does that mean?”

She urged him to keep walking toward the kitchen, and as the two of them strolled along, she said, “It means that my mother is nothing like yours. She’s been married six times. Who knows? The next time I call her, it might be seven.”

“Whew! And I was concerned about Mom marrying a second time.”

She sighed. “Your mother is a steadfast saint compared to mine.”

“What’s up with your mother and all the marriages?”

Christina shrugged. “She’s looking for something to make her happy,” she said wearily. “Unfortunately, she believes she’ll find it in a man.”

“Ouch. You sound very cynical. Do I need to apologize for being male?” he teased.

She tried to laugh. “No. Just never compare me to my mother. I’m not a man hunter.”

“That’s not true,” he countered as they reached the swinging doors of the kitchen.

Halting in her tracks, she turned an offended frown on him. “I beg your pardon?”

“You are hunting a man,” he explained. “Your brother.”

She visibly relaxed. “Oh. Yes. But that’s different.”

Taking hold of her hand, he passed his thumb softly, sensuously over the back of it. “So what you’re trying to tell me is that you’re not looking for a husband?”

Her head bobbed jerkily up and down as a nervous lump thickened her throat. They were walking on treacherous ground, and the fact that there was no one around to interrupt them made her even more wary. “That’s right. Setting out to deliberately find a spouse is…well—”

“Unromantic?”

“Yes. Love doesn’t happen by design.”

The dimples in his cheeks made Christina wonder if he was finding her attitude very amusing, or if he was simply enjoying this intimate exchange with her. Either way, her heart was fluttering so madly, she wondered what was keeping her from fainting.

“And you think love is an important ingredient for marriage?” he asked.

Just hearing him say the word “love” was enough to steal Christina’s breath. Which made her feel like even more of an idiot for reacting so strongly to this man. “It’s the essential ingredient. Now, do you think we can go in to our supper? This conversation is ridiculous.”

His smile slowly turned suggestive. “The conversation might be senseless, but this isn’t.”

Christina was trying to make sense of his words when she suddenly found his hands on her shoulders and his head lowering to hers. Stunned by the idea that he was about to kiss her, she mentally shouted a warning to herself to turn her head, to step back and away from him. Yet her body refused to obey the signals of her brain. Instead, she felt her chin lift and her lips part before the totally male taste of him shattered her senses.

Like a merry-go-round moving ever so slowly, Christina stood stock-still, her breath stuck somewhere in the middle of her chest as his lips made a soft, thorough foray of hers.

Heat rushed through her body, setting off tingling explosions along her skin, behind her eyes, even in the tips of her fingers. Mindlessly, she began to kiss him back, began to want and need the connection to continue.

She was drifting to some sweet, heavenly place when he finally lifted his head. The shock of the separation instantly jerked her back to the reality of the dimly lit hallway and his serious face lingering just above hers.

Licking her burning lips, she hauled in a hoarse breath. “Maybe you ought to explain what that was all about.”

With a forefinger beneath her chin, he closed her mouth, then traced the curve of her upper lip. “You might not be looking for a man, Christina, but I’m looking for a woman. And I’m trying to figure out if the woman I’m looking for is you.”

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