He rolled her onto her back in a swift movement that took her breath away. He braced
himself above her, his hands to either side of her breasts. For a moment she just
stared up at him, his sleep-tousled hair and morning stubble making him even sexier.
“You’re so beautiful.” His face was intent as his gaze raked over her. “Waking up
with you is the best thing I can imagine.”
Before Kelsey could respond, he pulled down the rumpled peasant blouse and dipped
his head to lick first one nipple and then the other. She gave a little moan as she
reached for his cock, needing to feel its rigid warmth in her hand. In her.
Still bracing himself on one arm, Kade reached for her skirt and she released his
cock to move her hands to his shoulders. He pulled up her skirt around her waist and
his eyebrows rose when he saw she wasn’t wearing any panties. “If I’d known you were
naked beneath your skirt, I’d have taken advantage of you yesterday.”
Kelsey gave a soft laugh. “Well, take advantage of me now, cowboy.”
In moments he had sheathed his cock with a condom from the nightstand.
“Spread your legs wider for me, honey.” Kade held his cock, ready to penetrate her,
as she opened her legs as wide as possible.
In a single thrust he buried himself deep within her. Kelsey gasped and slipped her
hands beneath his arms to hold on to his back. As he moved in and out of her, she
dug her nails into his flesh and it seemed to spur him on. Harder. Faster.
Her senses whirled and everything blurred around her. Warmth pooled in her abdomen
and grew, larger and larger until her orgasm exploded within her. Kade continued pumping
in and out of her and then he came with a low rumble that sent aftershocks through
her.
With a sigh of contentment, he rolled onto his side, still locked with Kelsey, her
leg hooked over his thigh.
Kelsey snuggled against him, feeling as if she had the world in her hands.
After Kade got up to get ready for work, Kelsey dressed and joined him and his family
at breakfast. As she was picking at her slice of French toast, Kelsey’s thoughts turned
toward her feature, and to her interview with John Stevens.
Should she mention the recording to Kade? Or was it nothing? Maybe he’d think she
was overreacting, but her gut told her differently. She trusted her instincts—at least
when it came to reporting.
When he carried his empty plate to the kitchen, she followed. She slipped her own
plate into the dishwasher beside his. “Have a second?”
Smiling, he tweaked a strand of her hair. “Always for you, darlin’.”
“I interviewed John Stevens at his ranch a couple of days ago.”
Kade wrapped the strand of her hair around his finger. “I’ll bet Bull had something
to say. He lost a big chunk of cash due to illegal immigrants.”
Kelsey explained how she’d left the room when Stevens took a call, but she’d left
her phone on record, and how she’d transcribed her notes afterward. “His conversation
was in Spanish, but I understood a name. At least I think it was a name.”
As Kade raised one eyebrow, she continued, “I’m sure he was talking to someone named
Gordo.”
She winced as his finger tugged a bit too hard on her hair.
“Sorry,” he murmured, and caressed her scalp. But he looked distracted, like wheels
were churning in his mind.
He moved his hand from her hair and settled it on her shoulder. “Where’s the recording?”
Kelsey led him to the office and passed him the phone. While he listened to the one-sided
conversation, she chewed the inside of her cheek, wishing she’d taken Spanish instead
of French in high school.
“Mind if I borrow your phone to get the recording?” he asked when the recording stopped.
Kelsey hated to be without her phone, but she nodded. “Sure.” By the look in his eyes,
she didn’t think it would have mattered if she’d refused. He was taking it regardless,
so it had to be important. Very important.
“I’ll get it back to you this afternoon.” He slid the phone into his shirt pocket.
“See anything or anyone out of the ordinary while you were there?”
“No.” Kelsey started to shake her head, then paused. “Wait— when I was leaving, this
guy was driving a van loaded with people up to the ranch and he almost ran me off
the road.”
Kade narrowed his gaze. “What did he look like?”
“Early forties, Hispanic, handlebar mustache. Big guy.” The man’s image came easily
to her. “I remember because he swerved so close and I was angry that he almost hit
me.”
“Fits,” Kade muttered. “On the tape Bull was talking to someone on a cell phone who
was on his way to the ranch.” He gave Kelsey a quick kiss and headed out the door.
“Don’t mention this to anyone, all right?”
“Okay.”
But he was already gone.
When Kade made it to the Border Patrol station, he found his ASAC, Miguel Martinez,
at the water cooler. “Hey, Mikey. Got a minute?”
Miguel waved Kade to his office, then shut the door behind them. The man was below
average in height and had a slim build, but he had a presence that filled a room and
commanded respect. “What’s on your mind?”
Kade paced around the cramped office. “As you know, a couple of names keep popping
up. One is Gordo, the other El Torero. From the information I’ve gathered, Gordo is
head coyote, but Torero runs the show.”
Miguel scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “Just got in some surveillance
today. We think we’ve made Gordo—a guy named Jose Hernandez.”
Miguel gave Kade the description and Kade whistled through his teeth. “Good news and
matches what I came across.”
“As far as Torero...” Miguel shrugged. “Nothing solid.”
“I think I have a line on Torero.” Kade dragged his hand over his face and through
his hair. “I need surveillance set up on John Stevens.”
“The cattle baron and former sheriff?” Miguel dropped into his chair and looked at
Kade as if he’d lost a cog. “He’s funding the campaign for Eduardo Montano, the man
most likely to win the election for U.S. Congress. And Montano’s running heavily on
his immigrant platform.”
“I’ve got proof.” Kade sat down heavily in the seat across from Miguel.
Miguel frowned.
Kade ran over the recorded conversation. “The recording only has his side of the conversation,
but it was enough to convince me that Gordo was on his way across Sweetwater. And
when Kelsey Nichols was leaving the property, she saw a man who fits the description
you just gave me.”
With a sigh, Miguel said, “Doesn’t make sense. Stevens hates smugglers for what they’ve
done to his herd.”
“He’s been pretty bitter about it. Maybe he’s found a way to recoup some of that cash.”
Miguel shook his head. “What else have you got?”
Kade rattled off the rest of the information he’d gathered, including the scrap of
paper with Toro written across it and the toothpick among the garbage he’d noticed
when he found the dead informant. “Stevens’s nickname is Bull, so Toro could refer
to him. And the man’s always chewing on a toothpick.” He paused. “I’ve got a gut feeling
about this, Mikey.”
Miguel stared at the ceiling before returning his gaze to Kade. “I trust your instincts—they’ve
never failed you before. But we’ll need to keep this quiet. If it gets out that the
mayor’s being backed by a smuggler, all hell will break loose.”
Miguel pushed a frog paperweight along the edge of his desk. “Montano’s probably the
most popular man in this town. Hell, one of the most popular men in the whole damn
state. Loads of connections. Running for Congress.”
“Yeah, I know.” Kade stood and hooked his thumb in his belt loop. “But if Stevens
is our man, we need to put him away.”
Nodding, Miguel shoved the paperweight to the back of his desk. “No shit.”
Kade turned and walked out of the office, and almost ran into Sal. “What’s up,
compadre?”
Sal asked, falling into step beside Kade. “You don’t look like a guy who just spent
the weekend with one gorgeous woman.”
Pushing open the front door of the station, Kade stepped into the hot July sunshine.
“I think I’ve made El Torero.”
“Yeah?” Sal nudged the brim of his hat up and scratched his head. “Who?”
“John Stevens.”
Sal narrowed his gaze. “You gotta be kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Think we need to talk.” Sal checked his watch. “You up for some dinner?”
Kade shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ve got something I need to take care of.”
After he visited a jeweler in Douglas, Kade headed home, smiling as he thought about
Kelsey. He’d found the perfect ring to give her, and had left it at the jeweler’s
to be sized. He’d compared her ring finger to his pinkie, so he had a pretty good
idea of the right size. Now he just had to find the perfect time to propose.
Kelsey was still away at an interview when he arrived at the ranch. Kade took a quick
shower, then went in search of Trent and found his son in the windbreak. The boy was
digging in the rich soil beside the playhouse.
“Dad.” Trent jumped up and hugged Kade with his dirt-covered arms before going back
to his Tonka trucks and a giant mound of earth. “I’m building a city around a mountain
made of gold, and digging a swimming pool with the backhoe behind this stick house
that’s really made of gold, too. Wanna help?”
Kade crouched beside his son. “What do you want me to do?”
Trent pushed a bright yellow truck over to his dad. “You run the dump truck and I’ll
fill it with dirt that I dig up with the backhoe.” Memories of his own childhood came
back in waves as he spent time with his son. When he was a kid, he would dig in the
dirt, build forts in the mesquite bushes, or ride his bike. His biological father
had never taken the time to play with him, and by the time Kade was Trent’s age, his
dad was long gone.
The day Kade had learned Lorraine was pregnant, he vowed he would be there for his
child. As often as possible, he would attend Trent’s Little League games, school recitals,
4-H competitions, and birthdays. He would take him to the county fair, play catch,
and play in the dirt. He’d hoped to have more children—brothers and sisters for Trent—but
he’d never found a woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
Until Kelsey.
“Say, Taz. What do you think of Kelsey?” Kade asked as he guided the truck to the
mountain of dirt and dumped its load.
“She’s cool and lots of fun.” Trent used the little backhoe to dig more earth and
lifted it into the back of the dump truck when Kade pushed it into place. “When you’re
not here, sometimes she plays games with me and I show her all kinds of stuff.” He
looked up at Kade and squinted. “Can we keep her?”
Kade chuckled. “That’s a great idea. But I think that’ll be up to Kelsey.”
Trent jumped up and brushed his dirty hands on his even dirtier jeans. “Let’s ask
her.”
“Now hold on.” Kade grabbed the boy’s arms. “Don’t say anything to Kelsey, okay?”
“Why not?” Trent frowned. “I want her to stay here, with us.”
Kade paused, trying to think of a way to explain it to his son. “She lives where Aunt
Dara does, which is far away.”
Trent scrunched his eyebrows as he thought about that. “In San-frisco?”
“Yes, San Francisco. That’s Kelsey’s home,” Kade said, “and she may want to go back
there when she’s finished with her job here.”
Trent screwed up his face in thought. “We could ask her to stay with us.”
“What if she misses where she lives?” Kade pushed the dump truck toward a mound Trent
had piled up. “She might not like living here, so far from her home.”
“Oh.” Trent eased off his dad’s lap and stood. “What should we do?”
“Leave that up to me.” Kade patted Trent’s shoulder. “Kelsey’s supposed to be here
another week, so for now, promise that you won’t say anything about keeping her, yet.
Okay?”
His son had a dejected look. “If she leaves I’m gonna really, really, really miss
her.”
Kade stood and hugged his son. “Yeah. Same here.”
With the aid of Marnie Perez as interpreter, Kelsey spent the afternoon interviewing
two illegal migrant farm workers. The men explained how poor their families in Mexico
were and how the money they earned in the United States helped to keep their relatives
from starvation.
Kelsey learned from their point of view how badly the smugglers treated them, yet
the men were willing to accept it as a means to sneak into the United States and better
their families’ lives.
When she finished the interview, Kelsey thanked the men and Marnie and headed back
to the ranch in the waning light. The sun was setting low behind the mountains, crimson
and tangerine streaking across the western sky. Her customary energy had vanished
and she felt so tired that all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. Hugging
Kade.
While she drove, gentle warmth filled her as she recalled waking up in Kade’s arms
that morning. She couldn’t get enough of the man.
That was going to make it all the harder when it was time to go back to San Francisco.
Kelsey sighed and tried not to think about leaving him, but it was impossible. Less
than a week now. Just days until her flight was scheduled to depart from Tucson. Originally,
she’d considered changing her flight to stay and interview for a position with the
Tucson magazine. But now she wasn’t sure she could be that close to Kade and not be
with him.
One day at a time. She would cherish whatever time she had with him and then get on
with her life, no matter how lonely that life would be without him. It took some effort,
but she reminded herself again that she wasn’t ready for a permanent relationship.
Her heart and soul had been so badly bruised by her ex-husband and her hard-hearted
father that she couldn’t help think that Kade was too good to be true.
It was dark when she drove up to the ranch. Her pulse picked up when she saw Kade’s
truck parked in the driveway. A feeling twisted through her belly, as if she were
home. And that these people were family. The thought surprised her. No place had truly
felt like home since her family was taken from her.