by Leann Harris
“How’s the baby?” Rafe asked. Sometimes, it was hard for him to believe he had this warm, loving family.
“Cranky. Derek’s with her now. He’ll be ready for me to take over, but I think I’ll work a little here at the clinic before going home.”
“Are you sure Derek’s had chicken pox?”
“Yes. And what about you, Rafe? Did you have it?”
“You better know I did. It was a miserable two weeks for me.”
Alex laughed. “If you need anything else, call.”
“You got it.”
April looked at herself in the mirror. The gauze dress flowed around her legs, soft and sensuous, making her feel pretty. Not wanting to call attention to the bruise at her temple, she had left her hair loose, falling around her shoulders.
She wasn’t wearing makeup, but she had purchased a tube of lipstick at the grocery store and had applied the soft rose color to her lips.
The dress needed something to set it off, but she didn’t have any jewelry.
What would Rafe think? He’d spent the day alternating between his office and the barn. She had the distinct feeling that he’d been trying to avoid her, a gesture she should have welcomed after the scorching kiss they had shared last night. But her heart wasn’t buying any of her logical reasons. She wanted to talk to him, touch him, kiss him. He was the only solid thing in her bleak world.
Her face flamed at the thought of being wrapped in his arms, enjoying the feel of his lips, his body pressed intimately against hers. For some unknown reason, Rafe’s strength didn’t frighten her. She didn’t question that she was safe with him. It was a belief she didn’t want to examine too closely—why she felt that way with Rafe, but nervous with other lawmen.
“Get a grip,” she murmured to her reflection in the mirror. “These feelings you’re having aren’t meant to be. You need to concentrate on recovering your memory.”
With that last admonition, she nodded to herself, then opened the bedroom door.
Rafe was waiting for her in the living room. His back was turned to her as he looked out at the scenery, giving her a moment to observe him. He was dressed in a white cowboy shirt, tan slacks, and boots. His dark hair was a stark contrast to the shirt. He was so handsome that he took her breath away.
He turned and his gaze traveled over her, much as hers had him. When his eyes met hers, she read approval there. And interest.
“You’re lovely in that.” He nodded to the dress.
Her hands went to her neck. “It’s kind of plain, but—thank you. For the dress and the compliment.”
He held up his hand. “Wait a minute. I’ve got something to dress up that outfit.” He disappeared down the hall. Several minutes later, he returned with a small purple pouch. He opened the draw string and shook out a silver-and-turquoise, squash-blossom necklace. It was a beautiful piece of work.
“Oh, Rafe, that is incredible,” she breathed, running her fingers over the individual pieces.
“This was my mom’s pride and joy. Turn around,” he commanded her.
She looked at him. “Surely not. You need to save that for your future wife.”
“I wouldn’t have let my ex-wife near this.”
“But—”
“Turn around, April. Wear it tonight for me.”
Her eyes held his for a moment, then she turned around and swept her hair out of the way.
The necklace was heavy when he placed it around her neck. His fingers quickly closed the clasp, then lingered for a moment at the base of her neck, setting off fireworks up and down her spine. When he stepped away, she turned.
“How does it look?” She glanced down at the unique piece.
“My mom would be delighted that you’re wearing it.”
Her fingers ran over the cool metal. The weight of the necklace was reassuring.
“There’s something else here, too,” he said, digging down into the pouch again and pulling out matching earrings. They were for pierced ears. He looked at her ear lobes. “I think you can wear these.”
He handed them to her. April hurried into the bathroom, cleaned the earrings and put them on. The woman who stared back at her from the mirror had eyes that shone with excitement and smiled in delight at the picture she made.
Guard your heart, the thought flashed through her brain. You don’t know anything more today than you did last night. Be careful.
April’s fingers touched the necklace, and she knew then that she was losing the battle to stay uninvolved.
Rafe turned on his truck’s radio to a station in Marfa that played country and western.
April hadn’t said too much after she’d come out of the bathroom, but she had glowed with pleasure. The necklace had been left to him by his mother with instructions to give it to his future wife. When he’d seen April standing there, looking like an angel, he’d known that the necklace was perfect for her tonight. Too bad he had all sorts of other feelings about April that he shouldn’t be having. Damn, why couldn’t he keep his feelings where they belonged—out of this situation?
“Most everyone from around this area, for at least fifty miles, will be at Dick’s barbecue. We’re celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It’s a time we can see each other after the winter, and before the rough work for spring begins. You should be big news at the barbecue, since the article appeared in the newspaper this morning,” he added, glancing at her.
“I was hoping that we might have gotten a call today.” From her tone, it was obvious that April was disappointed with the lack of reaction thus far.
“Don’t worry about that. People don’t get their newspapers until they come into town to pick up their mail. It might take a couple of weeks for everyone in the county to see that article. Sometimes word of mouth is the most effective tool. That probably hasn’t changed in a hundred years. Of course, how that information gets out—telephones, computers, faxes—that has changed.”
He noticed April’s fingers sliding over the necklace.
“I’m trying to be calm about this,” she said, “but I’m nervous. It’s like riding a roller-coaster. The wait nearly kills you.”
He glanced at her. “You remembering, April?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You’re right. How would I know what it feels like to be on a roller-coaster, if I hadn’t been on one before?”
“Can you remember anything about the roller-coaster you were on?”
She closed her eyes, and he could see her trying to conjure a picture of the place where the coaster was. It was frustrating not to be able to do something for April. All he could do was wait.
“It overlooked a lake of some kind. And it must’ve been an amusement park.”
“Good. Can you see any signs around the coaster? Or maybe some sign in the distance when you were on the ride?”
She was quiet for a long time, then said, “No.” Her voice sounded discouraged.
“Each bit of information that occurs to you, April, is another piece of the puzzle to your past. Don’t be discouraged. More and more of the picture is coming together. Maybe in the next few days, there will be enough to lead us to your identity.”
“How can you be so positive?” Her question was a plea for reassurance.
“I’ve worked with less and still made identifications.” He’d also had more, but come up short. But he wouldn’t mention that to her. There was no need to worry her any more.
He pulled off the county road and turned onto the gravel drive that led to Dick’s large ranch house. He noticed her hands folded in her lap, her knuckles were pale.
“I met Dick nearly 12 years ago when I first moved out here. He was my uncle’s friend. Helped me learn the cattle business. Growing up in the valley, I didn’t know too much about cattle. I knew about picking grapefruit and oranges and other seasonal fruit and vegetables, but herding cows is mighty different from what I was used to.”
That brought a smile to her lips. “Picking grapefruit?”
“Sure. When the grower needs to get the grapefruit off the trees, he’s hiring. Doesn’t matter if you’re a skinny kid, all arms and legs. Hey, but it pays. Of course, my mom made me go to school, then I could join the picking crew after school. Fortunately for me, the crew foreman let me come late and just paid me for what I picked. That’s when I discovered that education was the way out. My mom had been telling me that, but—” He glanced at her and smiled. “Well, let’s just say I was hardheaded. The best way to teach me was the school of hard knocks.”
“So you’re telling me you are stubborn?”
“My mom used to call me a—” a frown crossed his brow “—donkey is probably the closest translation.”
Her laughter rang through the cab, doing all sorts of things to his blood pressure. He wanted to hear her laugh more.
“So how did you end up out here?”
“I told you, remember?”
“Oh, yes, your uncle left you the ranch.”
“It was no problem to get reassigned out here. Unfortunately, when I took over the ranch, I didn’t know a thing about ranching. My uncle had this contrary bull. He didn’t much care for me. And he didn’t want me messing around in his love life.”
“So what did you do?”
“Are you really interested or just being polite?” he asked her.
“I was just wondering how you overcame the problem. Obviously, you couldn’t draw your gun and tell that bull you were a Ranger and to behave.”
He laughed. “I never thought of that. But with that bull, it wouldn’t have mattered.”
“So how did you deal with the situation?”
“Well, Dick told me how to redirect that stubborn critter, so that bull was fixated on the female and didn’t give a snort about me. Hormones are powerful things.” He grinned.
And right now, he thought, he could truly sympathize with that bull.
Chapter 7
There at the base of the mountain stood the ranch. Cars were parked haphazardly in front of the main house. Rafe found a parking space and helped April out. They had decided that since her ankle was feeling better, she would leave the crutches behind. As he led her toward the main door, they heard voices in the backyard. Feeling April’s hesitation, Rafe smiled at her and pulled her hand onto his arm.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
She nodded.
He didn’t bother with the front door, but walked April around the house to the patio.
“Hey, Rafe, good to see you,” Dick called out. He hurried to the new arrivals’ side. “And you brought the mystery lady.”
April smiled at the older man. “Hello. It’s nice to see you again.”
“It was an interesting article in the paper this morning. Have you heard anything as a result?” Dick asked.
“Not so far. But, as I was explaining to April, it sometimes takes a while for folks to read their papers, with their work and all. Sunday’s usually read-the-paper day for most ranchers.”
“Well, I can take care of the neighbors who are here.” Dick turned and cleared his throat. “I want y’all to meet a local celebrity that we have in our midst. If you don’t know, Rafe found our mystery lady on the farm road near his ranch. She was without a car and had been caught in one of the flash floods we had a couple of days ago. She doesn’t know who she is. Rafe wants to know if anyone was expecting company, or maybe she’s a relative visiting family. So, if you know anything about her, come up and speak to Rafe.”
“Also,” Rafe added, “we’re looking for April’s car. If you see it, call either me or Derek.”
“What kind of car?” Sal Melvin asked.
Rafe raised his eyebrow and stared at Sal. “Now, Sal, if the lady can’t remember who she is or where she came from or how she appeared on my land, what makes you think she’d remember the kind of car she drove?”
Laughter rumbled through the crowd. Sal smiled sheepishly. “Hadn’t thought about that.”
“Does anyone else have a question?” Rafe look around.
“When did you find her?” a woman asked.
“I found April on Thursday morning.”
The woman nodded.
“I thought you didn’t know who she was,” a man in the crowd yelled.
“We don’t. My wife named her April,” Derek explained.
There were murmurs throughout the room.
Rafe made it a point throughout the evening to introduce April to everyone at the party. No one was expecting a visitor. Nor did anyone know of anyone coming for a visit. Oddly enough, April seemed at ease with everyone but Derek. And when Wes Clayton arrived at the party, April stiffened visibly.
It was obvious that April disliked sheriffs. The question that nagged him was why? If she’d had personal trouble with a sheriff or saw a sheriff doing something wrong, the best person to go to in the state was a Ranger. And that gave the situation an entirely different spin: police corruption.
“Well, that was a waste of time,” April sighed as they drove away from the party. “We don’t know anything more now than we did before.”
“Sure we do. I told you before, April, that a lot of good police work is eliminating possibilities.”
“I know, but—”
“You were wanting a magic bullet, huh, and to know everything about yourself.”
“It can’t hurt to hope.”
“I wonder if you’ve always been impatient.”
“Wouldn’t you be if you were in my shoes?”
He thought about it for a minute. “It’s hard to know. Maybe we can come up with another way of identifying you.”
That caught her interest. “How?”
“Well, remember me telling you that sometimes I work with bodies?”
She grimaced. “Yes.”
He immediately regretted the manner in which he’d started his explanation, but had to continue. “We look for identifying marks on the body. So, do you have any scars?”
April thought about it. When she’d showered last night, she’d noticed a small scar on her abdomen. “There’s a small one on my stomach.”
He looked at the area she mentioned. “Where?”
She pointed to the area to the right of her navel. “It’s right here.”
“What does it look like?”
“It’s a couple of inches long. It’s not very big. I wondered about it last night.”
“Well, I know just the person to call and ask about it.”
She frowned, then turned to him. “Your sister?”
“She’ll know. Is it an old scar?” he asked.
“I think so. It wasn’t pink. The skin around it was tan.”
Her words conjured up mental images that he didn’t want to have. “Were there any other marks or scars?”
She frowned. “Well, I couldn’t see everything. There might be something on my back, but someone would need to check for me.”
Oh, he didn’t think so. So far, he hadn’t been able to disassociate himself enough from the case to look at things logically and without emotion. If he looked at April’s back, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his objectivity. No, maybe he ought to call Alex and ask her if she had noticed any other marks on April. And then Alex could also identify the scar on April’s stomach.
The instant they were in the house, Rafe walked to his office. Turning on the light on his desk, he picked up the phone and dialed Alex’s home phone. April trailed behind him, lingering at the doorway. He noticed her unease but motioned her further into the room.
“Hi, sis,” he said when Alex picked up. “I missed seeing you at the party.”
“The baby’s not contagious anymore, but I didn’t want to leave her. The mother in me won out over the logical side of my brain.”
“I understand. I need to ask you something. When you examined April the other day, did you notice any scars or distinguishing marks on her body?”
“Umm, let me think. There was a scar on her stomach. But other than that—oh, Rafe, t
hat’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of it? That scar tells us a lot.”
“How’s that?”
“That little scar probably came from some kind of laproscopic surgery. It’s a specialized surgery that’s only done at the larger hospitals in the state. You could fax a copy of a picture of April and a description of the scar to the bigger hospitals and have them put it up in the doctor’s lounge, and see if any of the surgeons recognize her.”
“Thanks for the information, Alex. I’ll do that tomorrow morning.” When he hung up the phone, he looked at April, who was hovering nearby.
“What did she say?”
Rafe explained. “I’ll take a picture of you with my camcorder, then use the program I have to convert it to a picture in my computer. Faxing it to the hospitals won’t be a problem.”
April’s eyes were wide. “I’m impressed with your technological knowledge.”
“It’s still a lot of legwork. Checking out leads, calling a dozen different numbers to trace information.”
They spent the next hour putting together the pictures and text that Rafe wanted to fax to the hospitals. When the package was ready to go, Rafe dialed the Ranger headquarters in Austin and faxed them the information. The Rangers would put out an alert on her. If anyone ran across information on a woman fitting April’s description, they would know where to find her.
April watched in rapt attention as Rafe faxed the hospitals in San Antonio and El Paso.
When the last fax was sent, Rafe leaned back in his chair. “Now, we wait.”
A yawn caught April by surprise. “Oh, my, I’m more tired that I realized.”
He grinned. “The last couple of days have been eventful for you. It’s to be expected.”
“You’re right. Good night, Rafe.” Her soft voice caressed him, making him want things that couldn’t be. She reached up and took off the squash-blossom necklace, then the earrings, and handed them to him. Her fingers brushed his hand. “Thank you for the privilege of wearing these. I know your mother must’ve been proud to wear such a beautiful set.”
His gaze held hers. “Good night, April.”
