Desperado Dad

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“Can I have one egg and a little of Ricky’s milk?”

“Yes, but…”

“Then stand aside, woman, and watch a master at work.”

Manny busied himself, frying the bread over her open-flamed stovetop while Randi set the table. As he worked, he went over in his head the events that had brought him to this point.

What the hell had happened to this mission, anyway? His Operation Rock-a-Bye assignment had been to go undercover in Mexico until he ingratiated himself with a group of undocumented immigrants making their way to the border. He’d picked a group with several small children, and although they’d never fully trusted him, he’d been able to keep track of them through their travels. Even when they’d hooked up with a particularly nasty band of coyotes, dangerous men hired to bring them across the river, the little group of Mexican nationals continued to allow his shadow to fall on their campsites.

Manny had hoped that once they’d crossed the border he could manage to get them to confide in him, give him the critical information he needed to infiltrate the smugglers gang. He’d heard that this particular group of immigrants knew of children taken from their homeland and spirited to the U.S. Around a campfire one night, he’d even overheard a disagreement about one family receiving money in exchange for a baby.

When the illegals he’d befriended crossed the Rio Grande and broke into smaller bands, he followed one family who moved alone into the interior of Texas with their coyote. What Manny hadn’t known, or even guessed, was that the coyotes they’d hired were also members of the baby smuggling ring.

He’d discovered the truth too late.

And that was when this whole assignment had fallen apart. He didn’t know what to do to put it right again. He only knew that some things would forever be wrong, and that the last thing he needed was an innocent civilian like Randi in the middle of the investigation.

He flipped the bread out of the pan and onto the plates she’d already loaded with scrambled eggs. “There you go.”

She sat down at the worn-out looking wooden table next to the stove and took a bite. “Mmm. It’s good.”

Manny thought she looked good enough to eat herself. In the past hour, he’d quit thinking of her as a frail little waif and started appreciating her firm, lithe body and the sexual energy coming from every pore.

“Don’t sound so surprised. If you’d had some cornmeal, I would’ve really made you a treat.”

Randi smiled at him before she took another bite of food. Manny watched as her full, pouty lips covered the fork. She slowly pulled the empty tines back again, moaning in satisfaction as she swallowed.

With her sensual sound of pleasure, his libido went on full alert. Suddenly he could think of nothing but tracing those silken lips with his own, dipping his tongue into that ripe mouth and tasting her, and having her taste him in return.

He could feel the sinew in his muscles tense up. When he saw her flick that rose-tipped tongue over slightly parted lips to clean off any crumbs, it was all he could do not to use his own tongue to follow hers. He had to swallow hard to keep the groan, rumbling deep in his chest, from escaping his throat.

Watching her, being this close to all that femininity was pure torment. Desire had never hit him in the middle of an assignment. Why now?

He spun around to see about Ricky, who still slept in the basket on the kitchen counter. He tried hard to remember that all of this was just another mission.

“Aren’t you going to eat? It’s delicious,” she asked.

“Uh, yeah,” he managed through a clenched jaw. “I just wanted to check the baby. He’s awfully quiet.”

“I plan on changing him and seeing if he’ll take a little more milk as soon as we’re done. I want to let him sleep as long as possible. Please come sit down and eat. I thought you said you wanted to talk.”

Talk? All of a sudden the whole concept seemed beyond his comprehension.

Manny squeezed his eyes shut and drew a steadying breath before he turned around to face her. “Right. While I eat, why don’t you tell me why a pretty young girl is living out here all by herself? Why hasn’t some nice cowpoke swept you off your feet by now?”

Randi must have recognized a sidestepping dodge when she heard one. “Wait a minute. I’ve already been through one interrogation. I’m not saying any more until you tell me about yourself. Who is Ricky to you? And what were you two doing on the low-water bridge road in the middle of a storm?”

Manny’s mind tried to come up with a plausible lie, but he was too wiped out to concentrate. Besides, from some deeply buried spot inside him, a strong voice demanded that he not lie to this woman. But why she caused such a powerful internal command stumped him.

As long as he’d been in this job, his conscience had never once stopped him from fabricating a story. Why did he hesitate now? When he’d been a much younger man, he’d even spun a few stories not in the line of work—for the pretty ladies.

Of course, he hadn’t told white lies like that for quite a number of years. Hadn’t needed to really. Lately, the women with whom he’d had relationships didn’t need to be persuaded. They’d been just as happy as he had to spend a few hours together away from the storms of life and then move on, with no regrets and no looking back.

So what was so different about Randi? Even in his exhausted state, Manny knew what the problem was. The look in her eyes said she wanted forever. Oh, she probably would deny it, and might not even know it about herself, but Randi was not the kind to have a fling or a casual relationship. The truth of that was written all over her.

In his business “forever” could be no more than a heartbeat away.

Manny beat back his budding desires, and decided to fudge with half the truth. “I can’t tell you everything you want to know, Randi.”

When she rolled her eyes and set her chin, he knew he’d have to give up a morsel of the story—something to settle her fears at least. “Really. Just believe that I am a lawman, and I’ve been undercover on assignment. Even telling you that much might jeopardize years’ worth of work, but for your own safety, you must trust me.”

In the flickering glow of the lamplight he saw her eyes had turned pale green. They widened with shock before they quickly narrowed in disbelief. “Trust you? I don’t even know you. First you interrogate me like I’m some kind of criminal, then you put a gun in my face, and now you tell me to believe you’re undercover? You expect me to just quietly let everything slide and accept it?” Randi stood, swept up both their plates and strode to the sink, effectively rejecting him as she turned her back.

Without facing him, she demanded at least one straight answer. “What about Ricky? Why was he in the van with you, and where are his parents?”

Manny sighed and absently rubbed at the ache in his shoulder. She must accept knowing only part of the story. All of it would be too much for her right now. The whole truth might also be very dangerous.

“I wasn’t in the van, Randi. I was chasing it. Ricky had been…taken…by the man driving.”

“Taken? Like in kidnapped, you mean?” She spun to face him, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

He nodded and watched her expression, fascinated by such open emotion. Manny could see her making connections and piecing together the frayed ends of what he’d told her. She was too damn bright, he finally decided.

Being too smart could get her killed. He’d rather keep the nastiness of this whole situation from touching her.

“If you were chasing the van, where was your car? I didn’t see another vehicle on the road.” She only hesitated a fraction of a second. “And what happened to the van’s driver?”

“My bike slid off the side of the road when I stopped to help. I’m not positive about what happened to the driver…except I think he must have been thrown out when the van went over. I doubt he escaped alive, but as soon as the storm subsides we’ll find out.”

Randi made a strangled, hiccupy sound and moved to Ricky’s basket. “Oh, my God.” She bent to pick up the baby and held him closely to her chest.

“Don’t ask me any more,” he mumbled. “Tomorrow, when the storm clears, we’ll notify the sheriff about the accident and the driver. I’ll find my Hog, and Ricky and I will be on our way out of your life.”

Randi closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against Ricky’s hair.

Manny watched closely while Randi changed Ricky. She coaxed the boy into taking a little more milk while Manny rinsed the dishes in cold water and stacked them in the sink. Her ancient, hot-water heater wouldn’t start without electricity. He wondered why she didn’t have an emergency generator like most ranches did these days.