by Leann Harris
Trouble in Texas
Leann Harris
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following people for their generous help: Dr. Robert Haley, Dr. Charles Haley, Dr. David Pate, Renee Swartz. R.N., Carol Patwari, R.N., and Sally Myers, R.N., for answering all my questions about TB.
Louisiana State Trooper Steven Barrett, for helping me think like a cop. Also, thanks for the insight into steroid abuse.
Lt. David Davis, who always answers my odd questions.
Deputy Jeff Carter, for helping with the organization of the Brewster County Sheriff’s Department and the problems they face.
Nancy Glass, whose knowledge of Brewster and Presidio Counties, Alpine, Marfa and Marathon, cows and horses, and the flora and fauna of West Texas, was the most help I could ask of a friend and ex-roommate.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 1
“Is the Jeep ready?” Derek Grey asked as he strolled into the bay of the gas station.
“Yup,” the mechanic answered, yanking the rag out of his back pocket and wiping his hands. “You want to see the new spark plugs I put in, Deputy?”
“No,” Derek said with a sigh of exasperation. He’d grown up with Billy Mayer. But since he’d returned home to Saddle two years ago and taken the job of deputy sheriff, Billy had taken to calling him “Deputy.”
The warning bell sounded, indicating a customer was at the pumps. Billy looked around the open hood of the Jeep and his mouth fell open. “Would you look at that?”
Derek glanced over his shoulder and the sight that greeted him made him feel as if he’d been hit by an angry bull, knocking the air from his lungs and the sense from his head. Standing beside a vintage red Mustang was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. She was short by most standards, but among the ladies in west Texas she was average height, maybe five foot four or five foot five. Her jeans and long-sleeved shirt, although modest, couldn’t hide her shapely curves. Her strawberry blond mane was tied back with a ribbon, but wisps of hair danced around her face.
“I best ought to see what the lady wants.” Billy hurried around Derek.
“Remember you’re married,” Derek said loud enough for his friend to hear.
Billy grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “But there ain’t any harm lusting over the car.”
Derek shook his head at his friend’s behavior. He glanced again at the woman and all the male hormones in his body surged. “Quit acting like a teenager,” he grumbled as he turned to inspect the work Billy had done. He chalked up his strong reaction to the woman to the fact that he’d been under a lot of stress lately with his daughter’s flu and the endless complaints from ranchers about illegals on their land.
“May I help you?” Billy’s voice floated into the garage.
“Yes, fill it with premium, please.” The woman’s voice was strong and clear, yet somehow it reminded Derek of the pure, musical notes of his mother’s wind chimes. “I made the mistake of leaving Big Bend National Park without checking the fuel gauge.”
“That’s a deadly mistake out here, ma’am.”
She laughed, a throaty sound that made Derek’s blood heat in a way it hadn’t since long before his divorce. Involuntarily, his attention was drawn from the spark plugs to the female standing by the old gas pump.
“I know better,” she continued, “since I grew up in Midland. But having lived in Houston for the last eight years, I guess I forgot how far it is between gas stations out here.” A frown marred her lovely face, and Derek wondered what had brought on the cloud of worry.
Billy lifted the nozzle on the pump. “Your car take unleaded?”
“Yes, it does. I had it converted several years ago.”
He nodded and began to fill the Mustang with gas. The woman turned toward the station and must have caught sight of him, because her eyes widened in surprise. Caught staring red-handed, all Derek could do was nod, then go back to inspecting his engine.
“This is a mighty fine-looking car.” Billy patted the trunk. “Is this a ‘65 or ‘66 model?”
“Sixty-six.” The affection in her voice made Derek look up. She lightly ran her fingers over the fender as if the car held a wealth of memories. Oddly enough, Derek found himself envying the car.
“So you live in Houston? Do you like big-city life?” Billy asked.
Derek missed her reply.
“You work at a hospital?”
Silence answered the inquisitive mechanic.
“I saw the hospital parking sticker on the bumper,” Billy explained hastily.
“Yes, I work at the county hospital.”
“You a nurse?”
Derek smiled to himself. Billy Mayer had won the title of the nosiest human being in the county, and he was living up to his reputation.
“No, I’m a doctor.”
“A doctor? You? Why, you’re too pretty to be a doc.”
Derek winced. In addition to being nosy, Billy was twenty years behind on social issues. Derek braced himself for the lady’s comeback, sure she was fixing to tear a strip off Billy’s tough hide. After a long silence Derek peered around the hood of the Jeep. The woman stood by her car, her hands clasped behind her back, her gaze locked on the horizon.
She turned to Billy. “Being ugly wasn’t a prerequisite for medical school. Smarts were, but ugly wasn’t.”
A chuckle rumbled through Derek’s chest. The lady had class, because instead of nailing Billy’s hide to the door, she’d deflected his stupidity with humor.
“What kind of doc are you?” Billy wasn’t fazed by her comeback.
“I’m an emergency room physician. You want a résumé?”
Billy laughed. “Naw. I’m just curious. We don’t often get pretty d—uh—visitors through here.”
She mumbled a reply.
“Since it’s going to be several hours and hundreds of miles before you get to another gas station, let me make sure you’ve got enough water in your radiator and all the belts are in good shape.”
“Thanks. I don’t need to be stranded out in the middle of nowhere.”
Something about Billy’s offer bothered Derek. Billy was a good mechanic, but with this lady he was being too helpful. He gently put the hood down on the Jeep and walked out into the sunlight. The woman turned to him.
“Ma’am,” Derek greeted her. He felt awkward and a little guilty for eavesdropping on the conversation, but he’d been in the garage before she drove up.
Her gaze traveled over him from head to toe, setting off every nerve ending in his body.
She nodded. “Sheriff.”
The badge pinned to the shirt of his uniform must have given him away. “I’m a deputy sheriff.”
The instant she addressed Derek, Billy straightened, banging his head on the hood. Flushing, he hastily slipped his screwdriver into his pants pocket.
“Everything okay under the hood, Billy?” Derek asked.
A flush crept up Billy’s neck. “Looks good,” he mumbled.
A nagging feeling gripped Derek as he watched the woman pay for her gas and drive off. The feeling was heightened when Billy hurried past him into the garage without a comment on the doctor or her car. Derek followed him into the dim interior.
“Did you do something to that lady’s car, Billy?”
The mechanic jumped guiltily. “What makes you think that?”
“Your left eye is twitching. A sure
sign you’re up to something.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your Jeep’s ready.”
Derek paid the bill and climbed into his vehicle.
“Uh, Derek,” Billy called.
“Yes.”
“You might want to drive north of town, just in case someone’s stranded by the side of the road.” Billy disappeared inside the building before Derek could question him further.
“Damn.” The word exploded out of Derek’s mouth as he hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “I knew it. I knew Billy messed with that woman’s car.”
It was obvious to Derek why Billy had done what he’d done, only it wasn’t right, no matter how good his intentions were. After Derek hauled the lady back to town, he was going to clean Billy’s clock.
* * *
Alexandra slammed on the brakes, put the car into Park and glared at the red light on the instrument panel warning her the car was overheating. “I should’ve gotten a new, boring sedan,” she complained, turning off the ignition, “instead of keeping a cranky, temperamental contraption like you that requires constant love and attention. You’re worse than a husband.”
Immediately Alex regretted her outburst. Her little Mustang had seen her through a lot. It was her first car. She’d been so proud of her purchase because she’d bought the car with money she earned, without help or money from her father. He’d railed when he’d seen the fourteen-year-old car, and told her he’d buy her a new Mustang. But Alex had remained firm.
For her, the car had been an act of validation, proof that she was worthy of people’s respect and not just the spoiled daughter of a wealthy oilman.
Shaking off the old guilt, Alex got out of the car and rested her arms on the roof. In the distance the volcanic mountains stood nakedly against the endless blue sky. An ugly suspicion sprang to life. Her car had given her no trouble on the drive from Houston to Big Bend, then to Saddle. Why did the Mustang suddenly have problems? Had the mechanic done something to the car when he checked the engine? He’d acted jumpy when the deputy had called out to him.
Thinking back, Alex remembered the screwdriver Billy had hurriedly pocketed.
The suspicion sobered her. It showed her how her attitude toward people had changed over the past year. Before, she had always believed in the goodness of mankind. Not anymore. Not after the year she spent with the Red Cross in Bosnia; she’d seen firsthand what evil men were capable of doing.
Walking to the front of the car, she opened the hood and inspected the engine. Although she hadn’t done the restoration of the Mustang, she had helped her high school boyfriend work on it, and she at least knew how to change the oil. The problem wasn’t hard to find. A clamp holding a hose had worked itself loose and water was leaking from one end. She’d bet money that Billy had tampered with the clamp.
Her suspicions were strengthened when the deputy’s green Jeep drove by, did a U-turn and came to a stop beside her. He rolled down the window and removed his mirrored sunglasses. Alex’s stomach did a little flip as her gaze met his. Attraction, like the pull of the moon on the tides, flowed between them. She looked away, shaken by her reaction to this man.
“Something wrong with your car?”
As if you didn’t know, she thought. “Odd thing,” she said, raising her eyebrow, “suddenly my car overheated. One of the hoses worked itself loose.”
She wanted him to act surprised, shake his head, click his tongue in sympathy, but he didn’t. In fact, his dark brown eyes showed no reaction. “I’ll give you a ride back to town, then Billy can come out here and check out your car.”
Her mile-wide stubborn streak took control. She refused to go along meekly with this planned scam. “Thanks for the offer but I’ll wait here with my car. I don’t want anything to happen to it.”
He glanced at the car, at her and then at the surrounding land. “Ma’am, it isn’t safe for a lady like you out here. Not anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
His expression hardened. “It means that I’m only one man and there are lots of miles in this part of the county that I can’t cover. Things happen.”
Alex didn’t need him to enumerate the things. Numerous news stories had been done on the flow of people crossing illegally through Brewster and Presidio counties. The rising tide of violence because of drugs and weapons had the officials on both sides of the border worried. So it would be stupid for her to wait on the open road by herself.
“Your car can be replaced,” he warned her. “Your life can’t.”
His eyes held hers, and she read the worry in their depths.
She nodded. “You’re right, Deputy. It would be stupid for me to wait out here alone. And no one has ever accused me of being stupid.”
“Or ugly.” His mouth stretched into a tantalizing grin. The man was too handsome for her own good.
Alex’s jaw fell open as she realized he was teasing her. Obviously he’d overheard her exchange with the mechanic.
He shrugged. “It was hard to ignore your conversation with Billy.”
“You could’ve tried.”
His eyes twinkled with amusement. “I was there first, if you’ll remember. And of course, there’s the basic law of physics—sound carries. What could I do?”
She started to laugh, then remembered she didn’t trust this man. How did he know to come looking for her if he wasn’t in on the scam?
After locking the car, Alex walked around the Jeep. Derek leaned across the bench seat and pushed open the door for her.
“Thanks,” she said, climbing inside.
He took off his chocolate brown Stetson cowboy hat and extended his hand to her. “My name’s Derek Grey. I’m the deputy sheriff assigned to Saddle, as you already know.”
She stared down at the strong, masculine fingers and wide palm. “I’m Alexandra Courtland,” she answered, “the doctor.” His warm, strong hand swallowed hers. The contact of skin to skin sizzled through her, causing her heart to race.
He smiled, and the sexiest dimple she had ever seen appeared in his left cheek. Alex had the craziest urge to touch that charming dent.
He laughed, a deep rumbling sound that raised goose bumps on her arms. “It’s a pleasure meeting you, even under these circumstances.” He released her hand and put his cowboy hat on his head.
The attraction she felt for this man surprised and definitely annoyed her. He might be involved in something illegal, and she had no business being attracted to him.
“It was very fortunate for me that you drove by,” Alex said as she buckled her seat belt. “Do many tourists get stranded out here?”
He slipped on the sunglasses. “No, not too often.”
Of course, if he was in on the scam, he wouldn’t admit such a thing to her.
As they drove back into town a tense silence settled around them. All of Alex’s senses sprang to life and focused on the large male sitting beside her. He was a good-looking man with high cheekbones, a straight nose and generous mouth.
His Stetson hat covered wavy light brown hair but Alex remembered how a lock had fallen over one eye when he’d taken it off, giving him a certain disarming charm. Even if he hadn’t been dressed in his uniform, Alex would’ve known he was an officer. There was something about the way he carried himself that said he was the law.
“Billy’s a good mechanic. He should be able to fix your car.”
“I certainly hope so.” Because he’s probably the one who broke it, she added silently.
As they drove up to the garage, Billy strolled out of the office, wiping his hands on a rag. The deputy stopped his Jeep in front of the mechanic and climbed out.
“The doc had trouble with her car a couple of miles down the road. Would you go out and see what the problem is?”
Billy never met the deputy’s gaze. “Sure.”
Alex scrambled out of the Jeep. “Do you need the ignition key?”
Billy shook his head. “No, I’ll tow your car back here.�
��
He didn’t wait for a response but climbed into his tow truck and sped off.
The deputy shook his head, then turned to Alex. “It’s going to take some time for Billy to fix your car. Why don’t we go over to the diner and get something to eat while we’re waiting?”
It was a reasonable suggestion. So why didn’t she feel comfortable accepting it? Because she would have to spend more time with him, soaking up his masculine virility, that’s why.
Alex opened her mouth to refuse but her stomach growled, loud enough for him to hear. He gave her a disarming smile.
“Your stomach agrees with me.”
So did her hormones. Alex pursed her lips in frustration. “If I’m not here, how can I approve any repairs that need to be done?”
Derek looked down the single street that made up downtown Saddle. “He’ll know where to find you.”
Alex glanced at the signs on the few buildings. The post office, a feed store, a grocery store, Mabel’s Diner, the sheriff’s office and a small white building at the far end of the street that had no identifying marker. By the simple process of elimination, the diner would be the most logical place for her to be. “All right.”
“Get in and I’ll drive you to Mabel’s.”
Alex frowned at him. “But it’s only a few feet.”
“But if my Jeep’s parked in front of Mabel’s, Billy will know for sure where to find you.”
Her streak of independence and stubbornness, which her father called damned unattractive and unfeminine, surfaced. “I’ll meet you there. I need the exercise.”
His eyes narrowed and she felt his gaze roam over her. “Doc, everything looks in good shape to me.”
A mixture of outrage and unexpected, unwanted pleasure left her tongue-tied. With an abrupt nod she walked away.
* * *
Derek waited by the door to Mabel’s for Alex to join him. He couldn’t suppress a grin when he saw her prim expression. She was still miffed about his comment. She’d really be put out if she had any idea of the thoughts that had crossed his mind when he’d watched her shapely backside sway as she walked away from him.
He held the door open and waited for her to enter before him. She passed him without making a fuss about who should go first.
