Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  But before it opened more than an inch, he heard someone softly calling his name. “Cisco? Are you awake?”

  He dropped the lamp and wrenched open the door at the sound of Sunnie’s voice. He’d been the one to be surprised, but he still had an open opportunity.

  Grabbing her bodily and pitching her onto the bed, he leaned over to reach in his coat pocket and came up with the handcuffs all in one move. She’d missed those.

  Sunnie shrieked. The backpack and plastic sacks in her hands went flying. Before she could recover and scramble off the bed, he flung himself at her. Sitting astride her body, Cisco tussled with the tiny woman. She was a lot stronger than she looked, he thought for not the first time.

  But within seconds he’d managed to subdue her enough to cuff one of her hands to the old iron bedpost. Backing off and flipping on the overhead light, he paused and stared down at her while she continued to struggle with the cuff.

  What a magnificent woman, with that perfectly glorious body and majestic spirit.

  Checking the curve of her breasts as her chest heaved and her breathing came in pants, Cisco found himself leering through the shadows at the shapely female waist and hips. He forced his gaze away.

  What brought that on? he wondered. He might be a lot of things, but he didn’t lust after a near stranger he’d just cuffed to a bed. How long since he’d had sex, anyway? A couple of months? Four? Maybe longer than that.

  He’d been busy. Too busy to remember or care.

  Looking at her flushed face and deadly glare, he couldn’t even remember when or if he’d ever seen a woman he’d wanted more. The idea was a stunner. His body was tight with desire for someone he normally wouldn’t have looked at twice.

  His regular sexual partners were more the type who knew what they wanted and knew how to get it. They were sensual in a blatant way. Hot-tempered, yes, but also warm and open and happy to walk away alone in the end.

  Sunnie had all this incredible physical energy. That alone made him wonder about her staying power. She also tended toward quick-tempered, and he knew that could be a turn-on at the right times. But the sudden somber and bleak looks perpetually marring her beautiful face should’ve left him cold. Instead he was having a difficult time not picturing her naked and responding with all that power underneath him.

  “Where’s the weapon? What’d you do with it?” He folded his arms and fought to keep his voice steady.

  She eyed him with a suspicious but level look. “The gun? Is that why you attacked me? Jeez. You took ten years off my life. Why couldn’t you just ask?”

  He didn’t like her avoiding the question, so he bent to pick up her backpack. “Let’s see what we have in here.”

  Dumping the contents on the end of the bed, Cisco smiled as water bottles toppled out along with lacy thong panties, chocolate bars, a cotton T-shirt and…his .38. He checked the cylinder, then the clip, made sure it was loaded and locked. When he was satisfied, he shoved the weapon in his waistband at the hollow of his back.

  “You want to tell me why you found it necessary to steal my .38?” He edged closer to her. “And why you left me here alone without a word?”

  She was still panting hard from her struggles, and the sounds of her heavy breathing once again stirred something within him that he’d been trying to avoid. He would rather not notice anything physical about her at all.

  “I went to buy food,” she muttered. “I thought you might be hungry. And you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you.”

  Food? Now that she’d mentioned it, he could smell fast food. Hamburgers and French fries, if he didn’t miss his guess. Checking around, he spotted the takeout sacks she’d been carrying, now strewn around the floor and on the bed.

  “So you took the .38 to protect yourself in case the bad guys caught up to you while you were out there alone?”

  She leaned her head back against the wall and narrowed her eyes. “Sure. Why else?”

  Wisps of her long ebony hair partially obscured his view of her eyes, so he couldn’t see how the falsehood affected her expression. But he heard the lie clearly in her voice.

  Picking up one of the plastic sacks off the floor, he inspected the contents. Finding cold soft drinks inside, he calmly pulled out a Diet Coke, jerked open the tab and offered her the can.

  “Nice of you to think of me,” he said wryly.

  Sunnie grabbed the can with her free hand, shoved aside the hair from her face with the back of her hand and drank deeply. She must be thirsty after their wrestling match, he thought guiltily. And not too proud or scared to accept the offer of quenching it. Good for her.

  “You have a terrific way of showing appreciation,” she ground out after swallowing. “How about uncuffing me?”

  He bent to pick up another sack. “In a bit. Let’s eat and do a little talking first.” Pulling up the chair, he sat just out of her reach.

  “You’re keeping me cuffed? But I’m not armed. I’m no threat to you.”

  “You might not be armed, but you could well be a threat. I want some straight answers first.”

  She was shooting major nasty looks in his direction. Maybe food would help both of them.

  Peeking into the bag, he found items wrapped in opaque paper. “What’s this? I thought I smelled hamburgers.”

  “There’s another sack with the hamburgers and fries. That one must be the Navajo tacos. I bought them for me.”

  “Tacos?”

  Holding out a hand, Sunnie smirked. “Fry bread, refried beans and cheese, Naakaii.”

  Cisco handed her the sack. “What’d you just call me?”

  “Naakaii. One of the Mexican Clan people. I thought it was only fair to call you that after you called me ‘my dear’ in Spanish. Clearly you have a Mexican-American heritage. That makes you Naakaii.”

  He found the bag containing hamburgers, sat back down and dug in. “Which you could’ve picked on by my name alone. But I’m more interested in talking about what’s going on around here.”

  “Find someone else to talk to. And don’t call me your dear again.”

  Dios mio but she was bright and sharp. A real handful. He’d have to watch what he said.

  Sunnie blinked and tried to focus on Cisco. How had he moved fast enough to put her into this position and cuff her to the bedpost? She’d thought herself a small but quick opponent, capable of taking on men almost twice her size. It was a question of mind over matter.

  Her mind must’ve suddenly gone blank when his body had crushed hers down on the bed. For sure, the heat and closeness had driven all matter from her head.

  Staring into eyes that had turned the color of icy steel, she even managed to lose track of what was being said. The look in his eyes was suddenly suggesting he would like to trade the metal cuffs in for silken bonds. His expression had turned hot. Kinky. Tempting.

  For a minute the idea made her nearly hyperventilate. Then she shook herself back to her senses. She tugged once again at her wrist, moving the locked cuff up and down on the skinny bedpost and rattling the metal.

  “It would be a lot easier to eat if I could use two hands,” she muttered while glaring daggers in his direction.

  Cisco silently shrugged and chewed off another bite of his hamburger.

  Hell. She was too hungry to sit here like a lump, so she took one more sip of Diet Coke and unwrapped a taco. Maybe she could better think of a way out of her current predicament on a full stomach.

  She fumed and ate, considering the idea of trust. The guy was a jerk. Admittedly a sexy, gorgeous one, but a jerk nonetheless. Still, her gut instincts were continuing to tell her that he could be trusted, though he’d done not one thing so far to earn it.

  Finishing his burger, he tossed the paper wrapping into the lopsided open trash can sitting in the corner of the room. “Let’s start our discussion with Skinwalkers, shall we?” he asked smugly as he popped the few last French fries into his mouth. “You said it was Skinwalkers chasing us. You want to
explain that remark?”

  “Well…” she said, stalling for an idea. “According to legend, Navajo Skinwalkers are…”

  “Skip the lecture, sugar. I’ve read up on Navajo legends. And I know something of the origin of the Wolf Clan, those evildoers in Navajo life who are capable of changing form from human to animals with superpowers. I know that the story about Monster Slayer killing many evils but skipping Greed, and then Greed finding parchments that showed him how to change form, is a tradition that’s as old as the Navajo tribe.

  “But I’m not buying the idea we were being followed by spooks that go bump in the night. Try again.”

  She was fresh out of stories and ideas. Like it or not, Cisco Santiago was going to have to accept the truth.

  “You may think you know about Skinwalkers,” she began. “But until you’ve spent enough time in our vast territory or have seen one and experienced the damage they can do, you know nothing at all.”

  “And you have?” he broke in. “You’ve seen one?”

  Nodding, Sunnie tried to block the pictures of their victims from entering her mind. The images threatened to drive her back to debilitating sadness, so she kept talking. “Unfortunately I have. What you don’t know about the Skinwalkers is that a few years ago a Navajo man versed in witchcraft arose out of seemingly nowhere to form a new Skinwalker cult. He’d learned the secrets to changing over and began recruiting an army of followers.

  “Once he had a big enough group gathered, he became the Navajo Wolf and trained them on how to manipulate people—to confuse and frighten the Dine. The idea being to gain power and money. His army learned their lessons well. The Skinwalkers use mind control, disease, pain and deception—the whole bag of evil tricks warned about for centuries in the Dine oral traditions.”

  Cisco had been studying Sunnie carefully as she’d said her piece. Over the many years of tracking people down he’d learned to read emotions and lies in a person’s eyes, even when they were trying hard to disguise their thoughts.

  Her eyes told a more fascinating tale than her fanciful words. At first she’d been squirming, trying to get out of the inevitable discussion. Then he’d seen the sadness overpower her. A bleak depression quickly captured her entire being as she’d given in and told her story. She believed every word she’d spoken.

  There was something even more expressive behind those eyes, too. He didn’t know what. Not yet.

  But he was starting to believe her story. At least, he believed that she believed it. “So you really accept that a screwball cult is trying to control the modern Navajo nation by shape-shifting and witchcraft? Have you ever seen one of these guys changing over?”

  “Not actually in the act of changing, no,” she replied. “But I have certainly experienced the full fury of their animal personae. It’s chilling. Deadly.”

  “And you’re positive they drive SUVs around the reservation, trying to kill or capture strangers. You said they didn’t know you exist, so I imagine you believe it’s me they were chasing. Why me?”

  The look in her eyes turned dark again, determined instead of sad. “I was hoping you would tell me that. Why were you following a Skinwalker vehicle out in the remote desert in the middle of the night?”

  “Was I? How do you know for sure that young Navajo man in the SUV was a Skinwalker? He looked normal to me.”

  “Uh…”

  “Might as well spill it, míja. It couldn’t be any worse than what you’ve said already.”

  “Maybe you’re right about that,” she answered quietly. “There’s a secret society of good medicine men in Navajoland dedicated to destroying the Skinwalkers. They call themselves the Brotherhood. Early on, the group learned that Skinwalkers emit a high-pitched buzzing sound when they’re in their animal personae or when an attack is about to take place.

  “That SUV you were following was buzzing louder than a swarm of killer bees. I’m surprised you didn’t have to cover your ears.”

  Had he noticed the vibration? Perhaps he had and shrugged it off as just another strange sound in the black desert night. Cisco sensed Sunnie truly believed everything she’d been saying about these Skinwalkers. Was he beginning to believe her stories, too?

  He should ask her why she’d been out in the desert herself and, for that matter, who she’d been gunning for when she’d accidentally shot him. But there was something else, another question nagging at the back of his mind.

  “Are you a member of this Brotherhood deal?”

  The question brought a half smile to her lips. “Not me. They must be medicine men, shaman of the Navajo nation. No females.”

  “So who is a member?”

  Her expression turned wary, unsure. He couldn’t blame her for being reluctant to answer. For all she knew, he might be a spy for the bad guys.

  Digging into his pocket, he withdrew the key to the cuffs and unlocked them. “Sorry about the cuffs. I couldn’t think of any other way to pin you down. I’m not one of them—you know I’m not. I’m not even positive I believe they exist.”

  She rubbed her wrist and made him cringe thinking he might’ve hurt her. “I know you’re not a Skinwalker. But I’m not sure what—or who—you are.”

  Cisco didn’t want to talk about himself or the real reason bringing him to the reservation just yet. But he couldn’t help pressing her for a little more information.

  “Is Hunter Long a member of the Brotherhood?”

  “Yes.” She’d said it with no fanfare, no hesitation. “And Dr. Ben Wauneka and Junior Gashie, too.”

  “Why were you so quick to admit that? Haven’t you considered the possibility of putting those men in a bad position by identifying them?”

  “The Skinwalkers already know the names of most of the Brotherhood. I can’t think why anyone else would care.”

  The unsaid questions hung in the air. Why do you care, Bounty Hunter? What’s it to you?

  Cisco silently picked up the sacks with remnants of her tacos, pitched them and the empty soda can in the trash. He wasn’t going to answer those questions. At least not until he got a better handle on the situation he’d stumbled into.

  And not until he had a good reason to trust in her and to fully understand those odd, sad expressions.

  Chapter 5

  S urprised he’d unlocked her handcuff, Sunnie suddenly felt a lot more tolerant of the man. After all, it had been her bullet that had grazed his head. He’d been chased and interrogated, and she’d taken his gun. So far, he wasn’t having the greatest of days.

  “You want anything else?” Cisco asked as he loomed above her. “There’s another hamburger and a couple of sodas left.”

  She shook her head. “But you look tired. You need your rest. I’ll move and give you back your bed.”

  Holding up a hand, palm out, he said, “I’m not crazy about the idea of waking up again and finding you and my .38 long gone. There’s no way of locking the door from the inside, is there?”

  “I won’t leave again without waking you up. I promise.” She hopped off the bed. “I’ll sit in the chair and keep an eye on you like the doctor said. I have no intention of sneaking off.”

  He placed a couple of fingers at his temple and rubbed, seemingly unable to hold off the grimace of obvious pain. “Are you married?”

  “What? No. Why do you ask?”

  “Engaged? Dating someone special?”

  The questions brought back the bleakness and depression, quickly swamping her with unwanted emotions again. But over the last six months she’d learned to bury them. Quickly and efficiently.

  Lifting her chin, she stared at him. She wasn’t about to explain herself to this arrogant stranger. At the same time, she had already given a thought or two about his romantic status, too. Out of idle curiosity, of course.

  His questions gave her the open door to ask her own. “I don’t do entanglements anymore. I was engaged once. It didn’t work out well. I won’t go there again.

  “How about you?” she added bef
ore he could disengage. “You married or otherwise entangled?”

  He shook his head. “No time.” Then he studied her for another second. “No real inclination, either.”

  As much as she was glad to learn that, she schooled her expression and her words not to let him know. “Why the questions?” He could be lying about himself, but she didn’t really think so. Cisco could be a lot of things, but he didn’t strike her as a liar.

  “Just curious,” he mumbled. “Don’t want any big lug of a guy showing up to beat me to a pulp over this next suggestion.”

  He swiped a hand across his mouth. “How about if we sit on the bed together? We’ll talk and that way we can each keep an eye on the other.”

  Did she dare let him get that close? “You don’t trust me enough to fall asleep again?”

  “About as much as you trust me, I imagine.”

  The two of them faced each other in an uncomfortable standoff. But as he studied her closely in that sensual, intimate way he’d done before, it was apparent she was the one sweating the silent scrutiny the most.

  “You don’t trust yourself, either, do you?” he asked with true insight. “Look, just sitting on the bed together doesn’t mean anything. I swear I won’t make any moves you don’t want me to make. We’ll even stay on top of the spread, fully clothed.”

  He was right. And then some. She trusted him more than she trusted herself. If he’d wanted to hurt her, he’d had ample opportunity. Plus, he needed her nursing skills for at least a few more hours.

  She wanted to stay with him. Find out what he knew. There was a lot about him she wanted to learn. The guy was complicated, much more than she’d originally thought. He must have some knowledge of the Skinwalkers, even if he didn’t know it. He might be able to help her get another line on the Wolf.

  But she also didn’t want to stay with him. Not that close, anyway. Her mouth watered at the very sight of the lean, tough body and those deep granite eyes. Could she manage to keep her head and also keep herself from giving away how much she wanted that in-your-face power hovering over her once more? Next time they wrestled, her preference would be to inflame, not subdue.