Tex Appeal (13 page)

Cara Summers

To Dawnelle Jager—my colleague and very good
friend. You gave unconditional love and support
when I needed it most. You’re the best!

“T
URN
and face the camera, Macy.”

Recognizing the director’s voice, Macy Chandler did exactly that. She knew him only by his first name—Danny. She’d met so many people from the TV station in the past week that first names were about all she could manage, and right now, thanks to the lights aimed at her from several directions, she couldn’t see any of them. Danny and the rest of the crew were dim shapes crammed into the space beyond her food-prep island.

“You aced the first segment,” Alan murmured. “One down and two to go.”

Her assistant and very best friend, Alan Garner, stood in the shadows to her immediate right, looking cool and elegant in spite of the heat from the lights.

“FYI—I heard one of the crew say that you’re a natural.” Alan had been her own private cheerleader since their junior-high days. As Macy checked the ingredients he had laid out for the next dish, he began to hum “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”

Immediately, her nerves began to settle. Everything
was
coming up roses. Her personal chef business, Some Like It Hot, had been steadily gaining a reputation in the Austin area, and three weeks ago, Kate Sinclair, editor of the “Sex in the Saddle” column in the
Austin Herald,
had called and asked her to provide the prize for a Valentine’s Day contest. The newspaper’s corporate owner, Deep in the Heart Communications, was sponsoring Valentine’s Day promotions in its papers in three Texas cities—Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The goal was to increase circulation. Each city had to create its own contest and the staff at the paper that received the most entries was going to receive a bonus.

When Kate Sinclair had proposed her idea of offering three separate prizes—“Brunch in Bed,” a “Pleasurable Picnic,” and a “Sexy Supper,” Macy had jumped at the idea. Kate had also contacted a local TV station and convinced them to join forces in the promotion. The TV station had agreed to film Macy preparing each recipe, and the paper was publishing them to increase circulation even more.

That, in a nutshell, was how a TV crew had ended up in her kitchen on a hot Sunday morning. The televised segments of the “Pleasurable Picnic” airing during the past week on
News at Noon
had been so popular that the contest entries for the remaining two prizes had flooded the
Herald
office. Everything had happened so fast that Macy had an urge to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. But the TV lights were real enough. So was the trickle of sweat running down her back.

“Give us that five-hundred-watt smile, Macy,” the director said.

Once again, Macy did what she was told.

“Quiet. Ready on a count of five.”

“Wait!” A pretty young makeup woman stepped into the lighted area, dabbed powder on Macy’s nose, then disappeared into the shadows.

“On five,” the director reminded every one. “One, two…”

There was nothing to worry about, Macy told herself. Hadn’t she practiced the preparation of each dish over and over again with Alan as her test audience? And the asparagus was the simplest course for her “Brunch in Bed.”

“Don’t forget to tell them about the French bridegrooms,” Alan whispered.

“Three, four, five.”

“Why asparagus?” Macy winked into the camera. “And well you might ask. Isn’t that the veggie you used to try to get the dog to eat when you were a kid? But there are several reasons to include asparagus on our ‘Brunch in Bed’ menu. For starters, because it’s finger food, and there’s nothing quite as sexy or seductive as feeding your lover.”

She picked up a piece of asparagus. “But first you want to eliminate the tough ends. Just bend the vegetable.” She snapped the stalk in two. “Now you break all the others where they snap naturally.” While she talked, she spread the asparagus on a foil-lined cookie sheet, then drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with chopped chili peppers.

“Now we come to the second reason for asparagus. It will give you and your lover a chance to play with your food and to learn how that can stimulate all of your senses.”

As she demonstrated how to “play” with the asparagus by using her hands to toss it in the oil and spices, Macy continued, “Of course the best reason to include these little green stalks in any seductive brunch is their reputation as the most erotic vegetable. Nineteenth-century French bridegrooms were required to eat several courses of them on their wedding nights because of the power of asparagus to arouse.” After popping the cookie sheet into the oven, she turned and once more winked at the camera. “And you thought you had to depend solely on oysters.”

There was laughter and a round of applause from the crew as the director called, “Cut.”

R
ANGER
Cade Dillon stopped short in the doorway of Macy Chandler’s kitchen. It took him a moment to absorb the TV crew and the lights, another to figure out that a cooking show was being filmed. The sharp stab of fear that had caused him to sprint up the front walk gradually eased.

His partner, Nate Blackhorn, had told him that Macy had been appearing on the
News at Noon,
but he hadn’t expected to find a TV crew filming in her kitchen. Her front door had been wide open—anyone could have walked in. He had. So could Elton Leonard, the eccentric and slick bank robber Cade had been chasing for the past two years. He could have been too late.

Cade quickly scanned the crew standing elbow to elbow in Macy’s small kitchen. Behind the island, two people were deep in conversation with Macy, blocking her from his view—a short balding man with a long ponytail who Cade didn’t know, and a taller man he recognized as Macy’s assistant, Alan Garner. Alan was tall, blond and handsome, and Cade knew that he was in a long-term relationship with his partner, Martin. Cade purposely didn’t look at Macy; instead, he shifted his attention back to the crew. Only when he’d satisfied himself that Leonard was not present did he lean back against the doorjamb.

Elton Leonard was back in Austin. An informant had spotted him in the area three days ago, the same day Cade had received another anonymous e-mail—PS, This is Austin.

Cade had been receiving the cryptic e-mails—sometimes a country-and-western song title, such as “PS, This is Austin,” and sometimes an old saying—ever since Leonard had jumped bail and disappeared from Austin two months ago. The gut instinct Cade had honed in his fifteen years as a Texas Ranger told him that Leonard’s return spelled big trouble for Macy Chandler.

Before Leonard’s arrest, the media had dubbed the unknown perpetrator of a string of Texas bank robberies “Clyde without Bonnie,” thus romanticizing the exploits of one of the most elusive criminals Cade had ever run into. In the beginning, Cade had been the only one who’d suspected that Elton Leonard, a reclusive and purportedly brilliant heir to a fortune in Texas oil, was “Clyde.”

Leonard wasn’t a large man, and in his rare public appearances, he wore glasses and projected the image of a rather harmless nerd. But Cade had learned that one of Leonard’s talents was his almost chameleon-like ability to shift himself into different personas. When he donned a disguise, he practically
became
another person.

Leonard’s other characteristic—the one that was going to lead to his downfall—was his arrogance. He had a vast collection of cars and he’d used them to make his getaways. Twice a witness had gotten a partial plate number, and both times Cade was able to link the numbers to one of Leonard’s cars. It hadn’t been enough to make an arrest, but it had certainly pointed a finger.

In Cade’s opinion, robbing banks was a game to Leonard—a way of proving that he was smarter than the police and the Texas Rangers, a way to demonstrate that he was above the law. But his last bank robbery in Austin hadn’t gone so well. First off, he’d shot and killed a bank guard, and then Macy Chandler had spoiled his fun by pulling her catering van into an alley behind the bank just in time to see Leonard exit the building, change out of a disguise and drive away. Because she’d thought the behavior odd and more than a little suspicious, she’d noted the license number. Leonard had once again been driving one of his own cars. Later Macy had picked him out of a lineup, and Leonard had been charged with armed robbery and murder. Cade had made the arrest.

“Ready everyone?” The short, ponytailed man Cade figured for the director backed around the island.

“Give me a moment.” A cameraman moved closer to Macy, and Alan Garner rearranged some dishes on the island counter. One of the crew members adjusted a light.

Thanks to Macy, Elton Leonard had run out of luck. His team of top-flight attorneys hadn’t been able to prevent the indictment. If the billionaire hadn’t jumped bail and disappeared, he’d be behind bars right now. And if Cade hadn’t been distracted by sleeping with his star witness, Macy Chandler, Leonard might never have succeeded in skipping out of Austin.

“Ready on five,” the director said. A hush fell over the room.

That was why Cade had kept his distance from Macy Chandler for two months—so that he could do his job. The attraction they’d felt and acted upon had been too intense, too consuming. She’d interfered with his work which was getting Leonard behind bars.

That’s what he’d told himself night after night when Macy had filled his dreams until he ached.

“One, two.”

He’d given the same explanation to his partner, but Nate wasn’t buying it. He had told Cade flat-out that he was running scared from the only woman who’d ever gotten past his guard.

“Three, four, five.”

Macy winked and aimed her smile at the camera. For the first time, Cade fastened his gaze on her, and once he did, he simply couldn’t look away. Time seemed to slow. The people around him seemed to fade and the air grew thick. He had to remind himself to breathe. It was the same reaction he’d had on the day she first walked into his office.

She looked just the same as the picture he’d carried in his mind for the past two months—tiny, blond and radiating as much energy as Disney’s Tinkerbell.

Experimentally, he shifted his gaze to her hands and studied her precise movements as she used her fingers to crumble butter into a bowl of flour. That’s all it took for him to recall just how those strong hands had felt moving over his skin. His own hands itched to touch her again. His gaze shifted unwillingly to her mouth, and desire clawed its way into his center.

He drew in another breath and released it. Okay. Nothing had changed. Staying away from her hadn’t gotten her out of his system, so what was he going to do?

Certainly not what he’d done two months ago when he’d let his adolescent hormones rule. He hadn’t even managed to keep his professional distance for twelve hours. And once he’d given in to the temptation to kiss her, he simply hadn’t been able to stop. The first time they’d made love had been in the backseat of his SUV. It had been crazy and fabulous. And—once he’d been able to think more clearly—terrifying.

She wasn’t even his type. She was barely five-one and slight. He knew for a fact that the counter she was working at had been built to accommodate her diminutive size. In the glare of the lights, her hair was caught between red and gold, and she wore it nearly as short as a boy’s with spiky bangs across her forehead. For practical reasons, she’d explained to him. She had no time to fuss.

In Cade’s opinion, there wasn’t any need to fuss. She had a natural prettiness—if you liked petite blond cheerleader types. Problem was he never had. He preferred long hair on a woman and he’d always leaned toward taller, leggier and more amply proportioned brunettes. In his experience, blondes were very high-maintenance, and in his line of work, he didn’t have time for high-maintenance. Women had always occupied a peripheral place in his life, the only exceptions being his mother and two sisters.

Once again, Macy looked into the camera and, Cade could have sworn, directly at him. The punch he felt low in his gut was powerful and in that instant he wanted her mindlessly. It wasn’t until she broke the connection that he remembered to breathe.

Okay. To borrow a phrase from Yogi Berra, it was going to be déjà vu all over again. And he simply couldn’t let that happen. Macy’s life could be at stake.

M
ACY WAS
halfway through the chocolate chip scones when she experienced a prickle of awareness that began at the base of her neck and radiated everywhere. There was only one person who had ever made her feel that way: Cade Dillon, the man who’d…No. She was not going to go there. She had a show to finish.

Gathering all of her powers of concentration, Macy focused on her mental script, the one she’d performed several times for Alan, but the feeling of sensual awareness only increased while she filled mini paper muffin cups and highlighted the history of chocolate for her audience. After all, no Valentine’s Day meal would be complete without chocolate.

When the segment was completed, and the crew finally turned off the lights, Macy wasn’t surprised to see the tall, lanky Ranger Dillon leaning against the kitchen door frame. Of course, she’d known that their paths would cross again. Billionaire bank robber Elton Leonard was still on the loose. Even though he’d killed a bank guard, the media was still romanticizing his story, referring to him as “Clyde” and hyping the way he was leading the Texas Rangers on a merry chase across Texas.

She’d told herself that she was prepared for her inevitable meeting with Cade Dillon. She’d also convinced herself that when they did meet, the irresistible sexual attraction that had flared between them would have faded. But the intense awareness that she’d always felt in his presence certainly hadn’t. And why should it when she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him? Or wanting him. There hadn’t been a night since he’d left when she hadn’t dreamed of what he’d done to her, what they’d done to each other in the three days that they’d spent together.

Try as she might, she couldn’t prevent herself from studying him for a moment. He looked the same—broad shoulders, narrow hips, long legs. She managed not to look at his face. But there was no need since his features seemed to be etched permanently into her mind. His eyes were smoky gray and very intent. He had the face of a warrior—tough, with sharp-edged cheekbones, a strong chin, and a mouth—

“Great job!” Director Danny brought her back to the present by gripping her shoulders and air-kissing both her cheeks. Then he glanced at his watch. “It will take us about half an hour to set up the cameras at winner number two’s house. So you’ll have a little time to pack up the food. Need some help?”

“No, we’ve got it covered,” Alan answered for her.

“See you,” Danny said, giving them a little finger wave as he left the kitchen.

Then in a low voice only she could hear, Alan said, “FYI—Ranger Hunk is here.”

“I know.” Macy barely breathed the words. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cade walking toward her. Not that she needed to see him—she could feel him. She drew in a deep breath. She could deal with this. After all, she’d just shot her second TV cooking show. She’d picked up five new clients since the first TV segment had aired. “I can handle him.”

“I’ll just bet you’d like to handle him,” Alan murmured. Then he started humming “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” again.

“No way,” Macy muttered under her breath, pushing down the urge she had to bolt from the kitchen. No way, no how. Macy Chandler didn’t run.

“Ranger Dillon.” Alan stopped humming to nod at Cade. Then he turned to Macy. “I’ll just start loading the car.”

As Alan left, Macy stiffened her spine and summoned up her brightest smile. “What can I do for you, Ranger Dillon?”

“I want to talk to you about Elton Leonard.”

“Okay.” He was here on business. That was crystal-clear in the coolness of his tone, the flatness in his eyes.
Good. Keep it professional. Pretend that you’ve never touched that body or learned its pleasure points. And ignore the little band of pain tightening around your heart.
“If you’ve come to tell me you’ve arrested him, I’ll definitely do the good-citizen thing and testify at his trial.”

“I haven’t arrested him yet.”

Her brows shot up. “Then why are you here?”

Cade regarded her steadily. The coolness of her tone annoyed the hell out of him. She might have been talking to a stranger. Surely she must be feeling just a little of what he was. Unable to resist, he reached out to brush a strand of hair off her forehead. Her sudden step back and the flush that rose in her cheeks pleased him. The fact that his throat went dry as dust didn’t.

“You haven’t answered my question. Why are you here?”

If her tone had been cool before, it was icy now.

“Leonard is back in Austin. You’re the only person who can testify that he robbed the First Trust Bank. If he eliminates you, the D.A. will probably drop the charges. Then he’s a free man, and he can resume his old life.”

“You think he intends to kill me?”

“He killed that bank guard to keep from getting caught.”

She lifted her chin and clasped her hands together on the counter. “And you’re telling me this because?”

Her eyes were steady on his, but Cade noted the rapid beat of the pulse at her throat and the whitening of her knuckles. The tough outer shell she projected was something he admired about her.

The day she’d come in for the lineup, she’d been so cool and composed watching the men file in, and she’d picked Leonard out right away. No one who hadn’t been studying her closely would have noticed that her hands had trembled when she’d clasped them together. Her knuckles had been white that day too. Her air of bravado was all the more attractive once you caught glimpses of the vulnerability that lay beneath.

Something inside Cade softened and he nearly reached to take her clasped hands in his. “It’ll be all right, Macy. I’ll put you into protective custody until I can catch him. I have a safe house all set—”

“Whoa.” She raised a hand. “Stop right there.”

The sudden heat in her eyes nearly had
him
backing up a step.

“No way, no how are you putting me into a safe house.”

“Macy, listen to reason.”

“No, you listen to reason, Cade Dillon. I have a business to run, clients to please—and I have another TV show to shoot on Tuesday.”

“Take a break. Give me a week, two at the most and you can film your show then.”

“Are you kidding? The corporation that owns the
Austin Herald
—you’ve probably heard of them—DITH. They’re running these big Valentine’s Day contests connected to their ‘Sex in the Saddle’ columns in Houston, San Antonio and Austin. And the papers are all competing with one another. The
Austin Herald
has a very good chance of winning.”

Cade hadn’t heard of the corporation, but he’d heard his sisters and his mother discussing the hugely successful column.

“Three sexy meals from Some Like It Hot are the grand prizes here in Austin. Even a busy Texas Ranger with bank robbers to chase must be aware of the importance of Valentine Day—you know, the big February holiday—candy, flowers, romance…”

Pausing, she cocked her head to one side. “Well, maybe not. But the shows can’t be postponed. Besides, thanks to this contest my business is on a roll. I’ve booked five new clients since the first TV segment aired this past week. And every day Alan is taking calls asking if we’ll do takeout. He says we ought to change our name from Some Like It Hot to Aphrodisiacs to Go.”

Cade felt his own temper begin to rise. “Your TV appearances also make it very easy for Leonard to stalk you. He’s not the romantic figure the media has painted him. In the two years I’ve been tracking him, I’ve been able to create quite a profile. Among his other sterling qualities, he has an ego the size of Texas, and you’re the one who brought him down. For the sake of his pride alone, he’ll come after you. And he’s already killed once.”

For a few seconds, silence hummed between them.

Macy spoke first. “Excuse me. I could use a cold drink.” Whirling away, she strode to the refrigerator and pulled out a can of cola. “Want one?”

“Sure.” Cade had to move fast to prevent the can she tossed at him from slamming into his chest. “Look. This is serious. With your face on TV screens, you might as well have painted a target on your back. I half expected to see Leonard in the crowd in your kitchen.”

“So?” She took a long drink of her cola. “What’s the problem? If Leonard
had
been here, you could have arrested him. Your precious case would have been closed.”

Cade tightened the reins on his temper. “Macy—”

Alan stepped through the doorway and cleared his throat. “The car’s loaded.”

Neither Cade nor Macy spared him a glance.

It was Macy who broke the silence. “Good day, Ranger Dillon.”

She set her empty can on the counter, then sailed past Alan and out of the kitchen.

“She’s pissed,” Alan said.

Cade set his cola can down next to hers. “I’m a trained investigator. I got that much.”

“I couldn’t help overhearing part of your conversation. You’re pretty sure that Leonard wants to get rid of her.”

“Yeah.” Cade met Alan’s eyes and narrowed his. “What is it?”

“Maybe it’s nothing, but the day before yesterday—Friday—we’d just finished shopping at a fresh-air market. It was crowded, lots of jostling. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but Macy got shoved into the street. A car missed her by inches.”

Cade’s stomach clenched. He hadn’t gotten back into Austin until yesterday. Macy could have been already injured or—

“You think it could have been Leonard?” Alan asked.

Cade met the man’s eyes steadily. “Yeah.” Once again Elton Leonard was a few steps ahead of him.

“You’re not going to get her to go into a safe house.”

“No.”

“Is protecting Macy and catching Leonard the only reason you came back?”

Cade didn’t speak. It wasn’t a question he’d fully answered for himself yet.

“I thought so.” Alan gestured for Cade to follow as he started toward the door. “One thing you ought to know. You hurt her. She’s recovering. She’s had some practice snapping back from the jerks who’ve dumped her, but I was worried about her this time.”

Turning his head, Cade studied Alan. “Jerks—in the plural?”

“Yeah. Number one was a star quarterback at UT. She was captain of the cheerleading squad. It was quite the romance until he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. He told her that he had to put his career first for a while. He didn’t think he was good marriage material, and he didn’t have time for a serious relationship, blah, blah, blah. But it didn’t hurt his image at all while he was still at UT to have a piece of eye candy like Macy on his arm.”

From outside came the sound of someone leaning on a horn.

“Still pissed,” Alan commented. As they exited the house, Cade spotted Macy in the driver’s seat of her silver SUV. She didn’t glance his way.

“Jerk number two was a wannabe country-and-western star. They were engaged until he got offered a record contract. He left her behind too, with the same excuses that jerk number one gave her. Then you came along.”

Cade stuffed his hands in his pockets as they made their way to the street. “Jerk number three?”

Alan shrugged. “If the shoe fits…”

Cade was uncomfortably aware that it did. His predecessors’ excuses were pretty much the same ones he’d made to himself every time he’d thought of calling Macy during the last two months. His career
did
come first. He
had
been avoiding any kind of serious relationship for a long time, after seeing up close and personal what a career as a Texas Ranger had done to his parents’ marriage. They’d divorced ten years ago.

And his partner, Nate, had been right on target, as usual. What he’d felt for Macy had spooked him. The intensity of their lovemaking, the depth of that connection had triggered feelings that he’d never felt before. So he’d run.

Alan stopped and turned to face Cade when they were still about fifteen yards from the car and pitched his voice so that it wouldn’t carry. “I’m sharing all this with you so that before you start thinking of burning up the sheets with her again, you’re aware that Macy has already had enough frogs in her life. She’s due for a prince.”

“I’m not intending—”

Alan raised a hand. “Puh-lease. When I walked into the kitchen a few minutes ago, the temperature was so high that it’s a wonder the appliances didn’t melt. Anytime the fire’s that hot, the moths will return to the flame.”

Cade watched as Alan joined Macy in the SUV. But what he was seeing in his mind was a couple of moths being incinerated by a flame.