by Marin Thomas
“What did you find out there?” her mother asked.
“A little girl,” Lucy answered.
“Is that true, Cal?”
“I’m afraid so. Bravo seems to think the girl’s tied to the human-smuggling case he’s investigating.”
“Is she okay?”
“Physically she seems okay,” Lucy said. “Tony’s got her at the station and they’re trying to track down her parents.”
“Thank God she wasn’t harmed.” Sonja sank into the chair in front of the desk. “What will people think of us when they learn young girls are being transported across our property and sold into prostitution?”
Lucy left the room, her parents’ voices fading as she walked out the front door. Feeling edgy, she decided to take her frustrations out on the mechanical bull at Maria Bravo’s trailer.
* * *
“THIS IS A nice surprise,” Maria said when she got out of her car.
“Hi, Maria.” Lucy hopped off the bucking machine and pulled the plug. “I hope you don’t mind that I came out here to practice.”
“Of course not. I brought home half an apple pie from work. Will you have a piece with me?” She entered the trailer, leaving Lucy little choice but to accept her invitation.
“Have you spoken with Tony today?” Lucy closed the door behind her.
“No.” Maria hung up her waitressing apron. “Did something happen to him?”
“Tony’s fine.” At least he was when she’d last seen him.
“What’s going on?” The older woman washed her hands at the kitchen sink and served the pie.
“Tony and I discovered a young girl hiding in the mine.” Before Maria asked, Lucy added, “The girl’s fine.”
“Was she abducted from Mexico?” Maria asked.
“Tony believes so.”
Maria placed the dessert plates on the table. “I hope they track down the men responsible before another girl is harmed.” She motioned for Lucy to sit down. “I imagine your parents were upset to learn about the illegal activity on their property?”
Lucy didn’t want to discuss her parents. Since she’d arrived at the trailer park she’d been ambushed by memories of the few months she and Tony had been a couple before their abrupt breakup. “It’s going to be difficult when Tony leaves.” Face flushing, Lucy quickly amended her statement. “For you.”
“Yes, it will be.”
“Would you consider relocating to San Diego to be closer to him?”
“I can’t afford to live in California, and my friends are here.” Maria spread her arms wide. “This might not be much, but it’s home.”
Taking a fortifying breath Lucy asked the question that had nagged her since she’d learned Tony planned to transfer to the border patrol office in San Diego. “Is there more to Tony’s leaving than a job promotion?” She really wanted to know if there was a woman waiting for him in San Diego.
“I’m guessing there are too many bad memories here for Tony,” Maria said.
No one could outrun memories. Lucy had learned that lesson after Michael had died. Not a day went by that his image didn’t pop into her mind or she didn’t hear his voice in her head.
“He can’t forgive himself for leaving Michael at the bar that night.” Maria sniffed.
“It wasn’t Tony’s fault—” Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. “Michael drank too much.”
Maria flashed a sad smile. “He understands that, but Michael was like a brother to him and Tony feels he should have protected him.”
The apple pie Lucy had eaten congealed in her stomach, making her nauseous. Michael had phoned from the bar that fateful night and asked her to pick him up, but Lucy had refused, insisting he call their father for a ride. The impact of her actions went beyond her brother’s death and she worried that nothing she did would ever make amends for the pain and sorrow others continued to struggle with.
“I better get going.” Ignoring Maria’s startled look, Lucy carried her plate to the sink then walked out the door and drove away as if the devil himself chased her.
Concentrating on the road, Lucy blocked out thoughts of Michael and the past. When she neared the site of her brother’s accident her foot hit the brake and she pulled onto the shoulder. She gripped the wheel until her knuckles ached, fearing that if she let go, she’d get out of the truck.
Forces beyond her control beat her down. She grabbed her cell phone and started walking. One step at a time, she marched through the desert, keeping her attention on the horizon. She walked. And walked.
Then walked some more.
The late-afternoon sun scorched the top of her head and singed the skin on her arms as the dry dusty air strangled her. She kept walking. Sweat ran down her face, dripped between her breasts and dampened her armpits. Suddenly an invisible energy grasped her arm and jerked her to a stop.
“Michael?” she whispered in a choked voice. She’d visited this area several times after the accident, hoping her brother’s spirit would tell her that he forgave her. Where was his voice now when she needed to hear it most?
The ringing of her cell phone jarred her out of her trance. “Hello?”
“What the hell are you doing out there?”
Tony? Lucy turned and spotted his truck parked behind hers on the road. From this distance the vehicles looked like toy cars. She must have walked at least a mile into the desert.
“I’m taking a walk.”
“It’s 104 degrees.”
Not in the mood to spar with him, Lucy disconnected the call and hiked back to the road. By the time she made it to the truck, her T-shirt was soaked through and her hair was plastered to her head.
Tony handed her a water bottle.
“Thanks.” She guzzled the cool liquid.
“I was on my way to speak with your father when I saw your truck.” He shook his head. “Are you nuts?” He motioned to the empty water bottle. “Walking aimlessly in the desert without water?”
“I wasn’t going far.”
“Are you having a nervous breakdown?”
She laughed.
Tony shoved a hand through his jet-black hair. “All this nonsense—”
“What nonsense?”
“Bull riding. Walks in the desert.” He removed his sunglasses and squinted at her. “Ever since you came back from college you’ve been on a mission to…”
“Go on. Say it.”
“To bring Michael back from the dead.”
First her father, now Tony accused her of not being able to let go of Michael.
“You’ve got to move on, Lucy.”
“Like you?”
“Like me what?”
“You can’t stand the thought of living here anymore because Michael’s gone, so you’re running away to San Diego.”
Tony couldn’t defend himself against Lucy’s charge, because she was right. He was on the run, but he didn’t care about the demons chasing him. He cared about leaving Lucy behind, still struggling with her brother’s death.
“I come out here to talk to Michael.” She glanced over her shoulder. “My parents still haven’t spread his ashes and this is the only place I can go where I feel a connection to him.”
He hated seeing Lucy suffer but how the hell could he stop her pain short of bringing Michael back to life? “Was he out there today?”
“Yes.” The soft sigh that drifted from Lucy’s throat drew Tony closer. He cupped her face and brought her mouth to his, pausing to allow her a chance to pull away. Her eyelids fluttered closed and her lips parted.
“You frustrate the hell out of me, Lucy.” His breath mingled with hers a second before he kissed her. Forget slow and easy—too much emotion and history stood between them. He swept his tongue inside her mouth and drank in her sw
eetness. Tony had kissed plenty of women in his lifetime but Lucy was like no other… Her taste…her scent…reached deep inside him and tugged at his heart.
She clutched his uniform sleeve and flattened her breasts against his chest. No sense trying to hide that he didn’t want her. He nudged her closer until her hips bumped his erection. She smelled like warm woman, a hint of perfume and the tang of sweat—earthy and sensual. If he hadn’t been on duty he would have hauled her into his truck, driven into the desert, stripped their clothes off and made love to her regardless of the consequences.
When his fingers touched the curve of Lucy’s breast, common sense intervened and he stepped back. Was he insane—kissing her on the side of the road where anyone could drive by and see them? “I’m sorry. I was out of line.”
She pressed her fingers against her lips.
“I’ll follow you back to the ranch.” He climbed into his truck and waited for Lucy to get into hers.
Once she pulled onto the highway, he kept several car lengths between their vehicles. His thoughts switched to Nina, the little girl they’d found at the mine. Tony’s coworker, Carmen Dobbs, had gotten the girl to talk. Nina claimed her cousin had also been abducted, as well as other girls from their school. Tony’s number-one priority was to find those girls and reunite them with their families.
* * *
TONY TRAILED LUCY up the porch steps and into the house. He hadn’t set foot inside the Durangos’ home since before Michael had died. Not much had changed from the last time he’d stood in the foyer. The family portraits still hung on the walls. The same heirloom umbrella stand sat in the corner next to the antique grandfather clock. Then Tony’s gaze landed on a framed photo that hadn’t been there before—Michael and Chicken on a Chain, the bull he’d ridden in Prescott that had vaulted him to the top of the standings.
“Dad?”
Cal Durango stepped from his office. His neutral expression turned into a glower when he spotted Tony. “What are you doing in my house?”
“Tony’s here on official business,” Lucy said.
“What happened to you?” Durango motioned to Lucy’s disheveled appearance.
“I’ve been practicing my bull-riding skills,” she lied.
The scowl on Durango’s face deepened and Tony waited for the older man to explode. Instead, he nodded to the paperwork in Tony’s hand. “I assume your boss sent you here with a warrant to search my property.”
Michael’s father was a man used to calling the shots and he didn’t like not having a say. Tony placed the forms on the foyer table. “It’s a court order allowing border patrol agents access to your property for surveillance purposes.”
Cal walked closer. “Lucy said you found a girl hiding in the mine today. What’s her story?”
“Her name’s Nina. She was abducted while walking home from school in Nogales, Mexico.”
“Were there other girls?”
“Yes.” Tony refrained from giving any more details, because he didn’t want Durango using his power or political connections to interfere with the investigation. “I can’t share any information about the case other than we’d like you and anyone working for you to steer clear of the area near the mine for a while.”
“Your boss had better keep his men out of that mine.”
Only Cal Durango would worry about people stealing his gold dust. “We won’t be going into the mine.”
“Tell your boss I want to be kept in the loop.”
“Yes, sir.” Tony would be more than happy to leave Romero the chore of briefing Durango on the investigation. He left the house, his gaze bouncing off Lucy as he walked out the door.
“Tony, wait.” Lucy stayed on the porch. “Where’s Maddie?”
“I left her at the station with Nina.”
“When you get tired of her, I’ll pick her up from your apartment.”
“Maddie’s not staying with me. They don’t allow pets.”
“Then where—”
“My mother’s.”
“Your mom doesn’t mind?”
“She likes the company.”
Lucy fidgeted and Tony worried she wanted to discuss the kiss he’d much rather forget.
“I spoke with Shannon earlier today and asked where I could find a real bull to practice on. She told me to contact P. T. Lewis, who runs Five Star Rodeos.”
“I’ve ridden a few of the bulls that ended up at P.T.’s ranch.”
“So…”
Tony knew where Lucy was going with the conversation and he wanted no part of it.
“I called P.T. and spoke with his foreman, Clint McGraw. He said I could ride Curly, the same bull Shannon used to practice on.”
Tony was aware of Cal Durango watching him and Lucy through the front window. “You’re not going to change your mind about this rodeo fundraising gimmick, are you?”
“No. I just wanted you to know that I’ve got everything figured out,” she said.
“You figure out yet how you’re going to keep from getting killed?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Fine, my ass. Tony hopped into his truck and shut the door before he said something he couldn’t take back. As he sped away, Lucy’s image in the rearview mirror grew smaller. She wasn’t going to give in and find a different way to raise money for her business, so Tony was left with no choice but to intervene and help her. Her safety rested squarely on his shoulders whether he wanted the responsibility or not.
When he got home tonight he’d give Five Star Rodeos a call and find out when Lucy intended to practice on Curly. She wasn’t getting within ten feet of a bull unless he was there with her.
Chapter Eight
Late Friday afternoon, Lucy slowed the truck as she turned onto Star Road, which led to the Five Star Ranch. The end of April had arrived and that meant Lucy had only two weeks to get ready for the first rodeo in Ajo. She drove along the dirt track, noting the group of horses standing in the shade of a mesquite tree—the once-fierce bucking broncs now idling away their days in leisure.
The road led to a low-lying ridge, then zigzagged up an incline. Lucy stopped the truck at the top of the ridge and took in the view. Miles and miles of desert stretched toward the horizon. At the base of the ridge sat a barn and several corrals near a hacienda-style home. As she drove closer to the house, she admired the giant saguaros guarding the walkway to the front door and the mesquite trees dotting the land between the barn and corrals.
She parked next to a pickup and got out.
“Howdy.”
The greeting came from behind her. A tall cowboy and a teenage cowgirl dressed in jeans, a Western shirt and a cowboy hat walked toward her.
“Lucy Durango.” She held out her hand.
“Clint McGraw. This is my daughter, Lauren.”
“Nice to meet you, Lauren.” Lucy shook the girl’s hand.
“P.T. left early this morning to pick up a horse.”
“If this isn’t a good time…”
“We rigged up a bucking chute in the corral.” He nodded to his daughter. “My daughter knows the drill.”
“I’ve ridden a bull before.” Lauren grinned.
“Do you still ride?” Lucy asked.
“No. It’s an exciting sport, but one rodeo was enough for me.”
And Lucy had not one but three bull rides to survive.
“Curly’s snoozing in the barn. I’ll fetch him and put him in the corral.”
After Clint walked off, Lucy spoke to Lauren. “Where do you go to school?”
“California. I live with my mom during the school year there and spend the summers here with my dad. I’ll be a freshman at Sacramento State this fall.”
“Congratulations. What do you plan to study?”
“I h
aven’t decided.” Lauren nodded at the ranch house. “P.T. wants me to major in business so I can help him run his rodeo production company, but it’s so dang hot here all the time.”
“Arizona does have its advantages, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Cowboys.” Lucy laughed.
“I don’t think cowboys can handle me.” Lauren removed her hat and a long, neon blue ponytail fell down her back. “I’m not your typical cowgirl.”
“I would have given my father a stroke if I’d done that to my hair when I was younger.”
“My dad’s pretty cool. He lets me be me.”
Envy stabbed Lucy. If only her father would show that kind of support. “So, you’ve ridden bulls before.”
“Yep. When Shannon Douglas competed in Five Star Rodeos last summer, one of her friends broke her wrist and I took her place.”
“Were you scared?”
“Heck, yeah. But if I had the chance to do it again, I would. It’s such a rush. Kind of like the feeling you get on a roller coaster.”
Lucy had ridden several amusement park rides in her lifetime but she doubted even a roller coaster compared to the thrill of a rodeo bull.
“Why do you want to learn how to ride a bull?” Lauren asked.
“I’m doing a fundraiser and asking people to pledge money for each second I stay on.”
“What are you raising money for?”
“I own a business called the Pony Express.”
Lauren snapped her fingers. “I’ve seen the van driving through town.”
“It’s a free taxi service for cowboys who’ve had too much to drink at the bars and need a ride home.”
“Cool.” Lauren shielded her eyes from the sun and stared over Lucy’s shoulder. “We’ve got company.”
Lucy’s pulse gave a little leap of joy when she recognized Tony’s truck. He parked the black Dodge next to Lucy’s truck and Lauren let out a wolf whistle when he stepped into view. “Wow. He’s no ordinary cowboy.”
“No, he’s not.” Lucy smiled. “He works for the border patrol.”
“He can patrol my borders any day.”
Not if Lucy had anything to say about it.
