by Becki Willis
Luck was on her side. From where she sat, gathering a moment of silence, she could see the smaller children playing tag in the yard, their faces filled with happiness as they ran and squealed and laughed. She could not see the makeshift bandstand, but strands of a lively bluegrass tune danced along on the breeze. The weather was surprisingly mild for the fourth day of July. It was almost a perfect day, the kind she had never known as a child. And it would be perfect, she thought wistfully, if only…
If only Travis were here. If only she knew who that woman truly was, and who and where her real mother was. If only someone had not tried to kill her. If only every day could be as simple and joyful as this one.
If only. Kenzie closed her eyes, savoring the sweetness of the sounds around her, suffering the salty sting of ‘if only’. A melancholy tear trickled down each cheek as she swung slowing back and forth.
“I came here to see your smile, darlin’, not your tears.”
Travis. Eyes still closed, she imaged she could hear his voice beside her. If only she could feel his arms around her. If only.
“Kenzie?” This time, the imagined voice was closer, more concerned. And, she suddenly realized, not imagined.
“Travis?” Her eyes flew open.
And there he was, all six-foot, four-inches of him. He was dressed casually in jeans and a plaid western shirt, no badge in sight. The cowboy boots and hat were standard; the haggard look on his drawn face was not. Already lean and raw-boned, he had lost weight in the twenty days since she saw him last. His cheeks were gaunt, his dark eyes weary. For once, his face was not scraped clean; the beginnings of a scraggly beard shadowed his angular jaw. By his own rigid standards, his blond hair was long.
If possible, the rugged, rogue look was even sexier than the dignified Ranger look. Kenzie’s gut clenched and released, sending tingles throughout her body. Her heart bounced all over the place and finally landed in her throat, tangling with her breath.
“What-What are you doing here?” she managed to whisper. She stared up at him, drinking in the sight of him with hungry eyes.
“We had a date today, remember?”
Her eyes traced his movements as he took the seat beside her. The swing sagged and groaned beneath his added weight. With his long, powerful legs stretched out before them, he set the swing back into motion. Kenzie’s eyes lingered on his knee. The night they made the date, she had sat on that knee…
She averted her face, struggling to get her emotions under control. When she faced him again, her green eyes were snapping. “You also promised to call a week ago. But since I never talked to you, I had no reason to believe you’d keep your word.” She knew it was a low blow; Travis was a man of honor and integrity, and he prided himself on being dependable. But he had hurt her, and she wanted him to feel some of that pain now.
He took the insult without flinching. “I did leave a message,” he offered in quiet defense.
“Right. Two sentences.” She looked away again. “And another broken promise.”
“Kenzie, I know you don’t understand.” His voice was more solemn than usual, more weary. “And I have no right to ask you to forgive me. But there’s one thing I want you to know. I wanted to call you. In my mind, I dialed your number a thousand times.”
“Then why didn’t you? Three times, Travis. You’ve been gone almost three weeks, and you’ve only called me three times.” She tried to keep the anger in her words, but she suspected they slipped out on a note of heartache.
“I’ve been -”
“Don’t you dare say you’ve been busy!” she stormed, rounding on him with a pointed finger.
His dark eyes moved from her finger to her face. Their expression warmed as they roamed over her, and she struggled to keep up the momentum of her anger. When his gaze lingered on her lips, she forgot to breath. She almost missed the frown that darkened his face. “How did you get the bruise on your forehead?” he asked, reaching up to tenderly touch the blue mark.
Kenzie flinched. Not because it hurt, but because his touch was like a bolt of electricity through her veins. Just one simple, innocent touch and her blood was already humming. Distracted by the warmth in his eyes, she murmured, “I hit it on the roof of my car.”
“How’d you manage that one?” he asked with an amused smile.
His rare smiles always played havoc with her senses, and today was no exception. She looked away from the tempting sight and forced herself to focus. “You were going to explain why you haven’t called? And you weren’t going to use the word ‘busy’.”
“Swamped? Snowed under? Are those allowed?”
“Everyone is busy these days, Travis,” she retorted. “Other people with very demanding jobs have somehow managed to call me, certainly more often than you have.”
“Meaning Mr. Sweetie Pie, of course.” His tone turned bitter.
“There are all these amazing inventions these days,” she said breezily. “Telephones. Text messages. Airplanes. When you really want to talk to a person, there are ways it can be achieved.”
“He came here?” His words sounded low and tight. They sounded hurt. Kenzie was not looking at him, but she imagined that he was clenching his jaw.
“He was worried about me.”
“Has the blue car been following you again?” he asked sharply.
“No.”
“What aren’t you telling me? I know there’s more, I hear it in your voice.”
Kenzie sighed in resignation. “You’re going to find out, anyway. I’m surprised Hardin has managed to keep it from you this long.”
“What are you talking about, Kenzie?”
“When I got off the phone with you, I topped a tall hill going just a little faster than I should have. By the time I got to the bottom, I realized I didn’t have any brakes.”
“What? On a brand-new car? How does that happen?”
“Apparently the age of the brakes don’t matter when the lines have been tampered with.”
“What? Someone cut your brakes? And you’re just now telling me?” he bellowed.
She winced at his angry outburst. “It took a few curbs and lawns, a half dozen flower beds and one cute little lattice gazebo to stop me. Well, that, and a tree.”
“A tree? Were you hurt? Is that what happened to your head?”
“Yeah, but that didn’t even show up for a couple of days.” She gingerly touched the bruise in question. “Along with a dozen or so aches and pains. And no, I wasn’t hurt. But my new car didn’t fare so well. My insurance agent is about to have a coronary. He says that even if the company doesn’t drop me, he wants me transferred to a different agent.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Kenzie?” His voice was less angry now, more pained.
Her answer was simple. “Because you never called back.”
The truth settled between them with savage aplomb. His voice was heavy with regret as he said, “Kenzie, I was -”
“I know,” she whispered wearily, interrupting him again, “you were busy.”
“Yes. But that’s not what I was going to say. I was going to say I was undercover.”
Her eyes snapped up to his. Without having to ask, she knew the mission was dangerous. That explained the weary look in his eyes, the haggard expression on his face. The new rugged beard and shaggy hair.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It was her turn to ask the question.
“I didn’t want you to worry. You have enough going on right now without worrying about me. I’m sorry, darlin’, I called you every chance I got, but I couldn’t blow my cover by calling home.”
She could not hold his gaze. Riddled with guilt, she dropped her eyes to her hands, lying idle in her lap. “Your reasons are so much more gallant than mine,” she admitted in a raw voice. “You were trying to protect me from worrying. I-I wanted to punish you for hurting me.”
“Hurting you has been my punishment,” he told her in a low voice. “It’s tearing me up, thinking you may hate me for leaving. I
don’t sleep at night.”
“I don’t hate you,” she assured him. “And you need to sleep.” She bumped her shoulder against his, trying to lighten the mood. Already her heart felt lighter, knowing he had at least wanted to call. “You have dark circles under your eyes.”
“They go with my new biker persona.”
“You?” she hooted. “A biker?” She tried to picture Travis in a do-rag and leather jacket, with chains and gloves and full biker gear. The image was as hilarious as it was sexy. “That, I would love to see!”
“I prefer horses over bikes any day.”
“So what’s your road name?” she grinned, still imagining him on a bike, long legs tucked up to his ears.
“How did we get into this conversation?” he scowled.
“Aw, come on, tell me your road name. What’s it going to hurt?”
“You don’t need to get mixed up in any of this, Kenzie.”
“Mixed up? You’re four hours away. I just want to know what they call you.”
While he hesitated, she leaned forward just a bit, bumping her shoulder against his chest. She lingered there, grinning up at him. “Come on, Ranger, tell me.”
He finally relented. She was simply too hard to resist. “Stix.”
Recklessly flirting with him, she leaned back and raked her eyes over his long, lean body. “I can see that,” she murmured. Moving in close again, she teased, “Hey, Stix, if you ever need a motorcycle mama, I’m your gal. You should see my tuck.”
Travis looked at her skeptically. “How do you know about the tuck? And about bikers in general?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know!” Her mood had completely changed, suddenly playful and happy, now that Travis was near.
“I’m serious, woman, what do you know about bikers? Some of them can be a rough crowd, you know. I don’t like the idea of you being mixed up with them.”
“Yes, but some are simply weekend warriors. Or better yet, just waxers. Completely harmless.”
“And you know this lingo, how?”
Kenzie laughed at his stern look. “Relax, Stix. I did a shoot on a bike club once. I learned all sorts of interesting tidbits and lingo. And yes, they were a club, not a gang.”
When she started to pull back away, she found his arms had come up around her. “Where do you think you’re going?” he grumbled, keeping her close.
All pretense fell away. Kenzie drew in a shaky breath. Her lungs filled with the enticing smell of male musk and spicy cologne and, yes, she thought, a touch of leather; the seductive and alluring essence that was uniquely Travis. It filled her lungs as a burst of desire filled her senses. Her heart overflowed with love.
Pushing herself closer against him, she lifted her face to his. “I’ll go crazy,” she whispered, “if you don’t kiss me right this minute.”
He had no smart comeback. He simply did as she requested. One arm snagged low around her waist, the other hand pressed against her back to keep her close as he lowered his mouth to hers. Soon his fingers found their way into the messy curls that fell from her bun as the kiss deepened and she melted into him.
“Too long,” he muttered into her mouth.
Someone was calling her name. Kenzie groaned when she recognized the voice. She blatantly ignored the intrusion, much more interested in how Travis’s hair, longer now, brushed along his collar and tickled her fingers.
“Kenzie, it’s time to eat,” the voice called. “I brought your plate so we can get in -” The man carrying the empty paper plate stopped mid-sentence as he turned the corner and found her sharing a heated kiss with the lanky Texas Ranger. “Oh. Pardon me,” he said stiffly. He turned away before they could untangle themselves from each other’s arms.
“Who was that?” Travis muttered.
“Mike? Mark? Maybe his name was Matt. The mayor’s son, I think. Or maybe he was the Governor’s nephew,” she decided. “No, the nephew’s name was Shawn.” She shrugged, sitting away from him to straighten her blouse. “I’ve met so many people today, I’m having trouble keeping them straight.”
“I’m sure you’ve met all the men, anyway,” he said dryly.
“Well, you know how I collect shoes,” she smiled sweetly. It was an insult often tossed between them. He complained she collected men like most women collected shoes; she admitted that she had always had a thing for heels, her insult clearly aimed at him.
To her surprise, he merely laughed. The sound was rich and indulgent, and it melted into the empty cracks of her heart and soul like warm butter.
“Come on, Stix, I’ll let you buy me lunch,” she said, pulling on his arm as she got up from the swing.
She knew his demeanor would change when they stepped from the semi-privacy of their porch swing. In retrospect, she realized others could have seen their kiss, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention. Most headed toward the tables to get in line. But this was the first time she and Travis were being seen together among friends and colleagues, and she doubted he would make a scene. Private and decorous - and, she had discovered, a bit bashful - Travis was not the sort of man prone to public displays of affection. If what they shared could even be described as a relationship, he would probably want to keep it hidden for as long as possible. Kenzie led the way toward the gathering crowd, wondering if she would even see him for the rest of the afternoon. Just sitting with her might be too big of a statement for her prim and proper Texas Ranger, she thought with a sigh.
Pleasure washed over her when Travis stepped up close behind her, slipping his arm around her waist. His hand settled on her hip, low enough to be a statement of familiarity. Seeing her surprised expression, he offered her one of his heart-melting smiles. “I’m considering your offer. I might need me a motorcycle mama, after all.”
And just like that, the day was perfect.
***
It was close to midnight when Hardin kissed his fiancé goodnight before tucking her into the car. He used the opportunity to whisper a reminder that if they were already married, they would be going home together.
Travis followed the sisters back to their apartment in Austin. Once there, he insisted on checking all the rooms. Even though the women came home to an empty apartment every single day, it was nice having someone show such concern.
“Where are you staying tonight?” Kenzie asked him.
“I’ll probably go back to Hardin’s, or maybe out to my ranch.” He shrugged as he looked around the room, satisfied that all was safe. His eyes, however, lingered on the wall where he had collapsed after mobster Raymond Foto stabbed him and left him for dead some seven weeks ago. He absently rubbed the lingering scar slashed across his chest.
“No, you’ll stay here,” Kenzie decided. She saw the way he rubbed his chest and she shivered, recalling the awful scene in her mind. There had been so much blood. And it was then, while she tried to stop the flow of crimson, that her guard had slipped and Travis Merka invaded her heart.
“That’s okay, it’s only an hour to either place.”
“Or it’s five minutes to a pillow here.”
He looked over her shoulder to the couch. His feet would hang off the end, but he would be near her. He had slept on the couch plenty of nights when he and Hardin had first protected the sisters, before the showdown with Foto. “Thought I was through sleeping on that thing.”
“You are.”
He eyed her warily. They both knew where he stood on starting a sexual relationship with her. No matter how much he wanted her, he lived by a strict code of honor.
“We slept together all those nights on the road - with the covers between us, of course - and your honor remained intact,” she teased him. “We can do the same here.”
He wavered for a moment longer, until she smiled her irresistible smile. “Come on, Stix, you don’t really want to get back on that bike for an hour.” Keeping in character for his cover, he had to leave Nacogdoches on his motorcycle, even if it meant a four-hour trip on his Harley.
Wh
ile he went out to get his duffle bag, Kenzie told her sister they would have a guest for the evening.
“Purely innocent,” she assured her twin. With a wicked grin, she added, “His rules, not mine.”
Makenna smiled indulgently. “I’m glad to see you so happy.”
Embarrassed by the sappy feeling gushing from her heart, Kenzie shrugged it away. “I’ve always loved the Fourth of July. I think it’s the fireworks.”
Her sister laughed aloud. “I’m sure it is, just not the kind in the sky!”
Kenzie quickly changed into her nightclothes and waited on the couch while Travis did the same. The lights were dim as she savored the memories of the day and studied the picture in her hand. Her happiness today would be complete, if only she knew the truth about her mother.
The day, itself, had been magical. More than just having the attention of the man beside her, it was the overall sense of family that she treasured, the sense of belonging. With no family to call his own, Travis considered the Kaczmareks his family, just as Kenzie did the Reagans. And after a full day in their company, mingling among them in their warm and gracious home, Kenzie felt she had a place among Hardin’s family, as well. The sense of home and country had been strong. Kenzie remembered very few Fourth of July celebrations as a child, and certainly none as wonderful as today. Long before the fireworks display began, it was the best holiday she could recall. The bright bursts of color lighting up the night sky could have been coming straight from Kenzie’s heart; each ‘ooh and aah’ from the crowd could have been a contented murmur from her soul.
Travis came from the bathroom quietly, immediately spotting her in the dark. “What are you looking at?” he asked. “It’s too dark to see.”
She did not need light to see the image of the photo; it was engraved on her heart. Tucking the picture away, Kenzie patted the couch beside her. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow,” she promised. “Talking about it will make me sad, and right now I’m happy. Let me savor the feeling for a little longer.”
