Tex Appeal (14 page)

“T
WO DOWN
and one to go,” Alan said as they climbed into Macy’s SUV.

After fastening her seat belt, Macy glanced in her rearview mirror and watched Cade moving with that long-legged stride of his toward his black SUV—which was not so coincidentally parked right behind hers. He’d not only followed her to prize-winner number two’s place, but he’d also joined the crew members and watched the filming of the segment.

She was sure that Alan saw him too. But he didn’t say a word because she’d set up a rule on the ride to the shoot. There was to be no mention of Cade Dillon.

With a frown, Macy shifted her attention back to the street and turned her key in the ignition. “They had to do three takes.”

“Not because of you,” Alan said. “That young couple was camera-shy. It wasn’t until the third take that you warmed them up.”

“I forgot to give them the champagne and candles during the first take.” The winners of “Brunch in Bed,” a cute couple in their early twenties, lived in a third-floor apartment in downtown Austin. They’d filmed on the front stoop of the building, and the segment itself had lasted less than five minutes. All she had to do was unpack each of the three courses and hand them over to the couple while giving instructions on how to store or reheat.

“Director Danny would have reshot it anyway. The two kids were stiff as puppets.” Alan patted her hand. “You did great.”

She had
not
done great, and the person responsible for that was now sitting behind the wheel of his big black car waiting to follow them. Twice during the filming she’d lost her concentration because she’d felt Cade’s presence in the area behind the camera, watching her just as she could feel his eyes on her now. Her skin literally prickled with the sensation. She scowled at the image in the side-view mirror.

“Looks like He Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned is going to follow us.”

“Watch it.” Macy infused all the warning she could into her tone.

Alan raised both hands. “I’m following the rule.”

“I’m going to ignore him,” she said.

“Him?”

She shot him a narrow-eyed look. “Okay, we’ll suspend the rule.”

“Ignoring Ranger Hunk is going to be a challenge.” Alan shifted his sunglasses from the top of his head to his nose as she pulled out into traffic. “Because I don’t think he’s going to ignore you. Would you pull into that drive-through over there? I’m starved, and you should be too. It’s after two.”

Taking advantage of a lull in the oncoming traffic, Macy turned left into a drive-through lane. Alan ordered across her at the speaker, adding her usual large fries and cola to his green salad and yogurt. Then she inched the SUV into the pay-and-pick-up line. “He ignored me for two months and I was doing fine.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I was.”

Alan raised both hands, palms up. “Okay. I was just imagining the dark circles under your eyes.”

“The only reason he’s here is because he wants Elton Leonard in jail. It’s a testosterone thing. A Ranger always gets his man.”

“Or his woman. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s over you.”

“Oh, he’s over me.” The problem was that she wasn’t over him. All he’d had to do was brush his finger over her forehead and heat had shot right down to her toes. That hadn’t changed. All he had to do was touch her and she wanted. It was just that simple. Just that terrifying.

“I don’t think so,” Alan said.

“That’s because you’re so happy with Martin that you see everything through rose-colored glasses.”

Alan slipped his sunglasses off and gave them a close inspection. “Nope. My glasses are amber.”

“Ranger Dillon thinks I’m in danger. He’s just doing his job.” She was not going to allow herself to think anything different. She’d let herself hope the last time Cade had walked into her life. Never again.

“He’s also worried about you. So am I. I told him about your almost too close an encounter with that taxi on Friday. He doesn’t think it was an accident. He believes Leonard was behind it.”

“Dammit.” Macy rested her head against the steering wheel as her stomach knotted. She didn’t want to be reminded of those few terrifying seconds when she’d been teetering on that curb, her arms flailing, while she’d watched that taxi race toward her. Someone
had
pushed her. For three days she’d tried to convince herself that she hadn’t felt that hard impact right between her shoulder blades, but she had.

“I believe it was Leonard, too,” Alan said.

“Why me? My life is going along just fine—I don’t need this. Why did I have to be in that alley at just that precise moment when that billionaire bank robber was changing out of his disguise? Five minutes later or five minutes earlier and I wouldn’t have either Leonard or Cade Dillon in my life.”

A car behind them beeped its horn.

“If your little pity party is over, we can pick up our food now.”

With a sigh, Macy raised her head, inched forward to the take-out window, and dug money out of her purse. Alan reached to take the bags of food while she stored the change carefully in her wallet.

“Here.” He passed her the cola he’d ordered for her. “Drink some of this. You’ll feel better.”

Macy grabbed the paper cup and took a long sip through the straw. Sugar and caffeine always made her feel better—temporarily. Hopefully, the magic combo would clear her head. Then she could decide what to do about Cade Dillon. It was becoming crystal clear to her that she had to have a plan. The ignore-him strategy wasn’t working. Try as she might, she could not control her reaction to him. Her mind and body were not in sync where he was concerned. Right now her body was all primed to repeat the experiences of two months ago.

“Here’s part two of Dr. Alan’s prescription.”

Macy took the fry he offered and ate it while she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. The line to turn out of the fast food restaurant was nearly as long as the one at the pickup window. Cade hadn’t placed an order, but he cut in behind her now. The man was sticking to her like glue. Annoyance streamed through her. As she pulled forward to the exit, she saw that the traffic on the street was pretty heavy, and a sudden thought occurred to her.

“I’m going to give him the slip.”

“Macy.” There was a world of warning in Alan’s voice. “You know what usually happens when you give in to one of your impulses.”

She shot him a grin. “It’s petty and probably childish.”

Alan wiggled a fry at her. “May I add dangerous?”

“You may.” She snatched the fry. “But it will be worth it just to put a dent in his arrogance. The man thinks he can disappear for two months and then just stride back into my life and throw his Texas Ranger weight around.”

Macy concentrated on the traffic. If she judged it right, she just might be able to leave Cade Dillon behind in the dust.

A minute later, an opportunity presented itself. She shot into the center lane and pressed her foot down hard on the accelerator.

Her spur-of-the-moment plan hit its first obstacle when the traffic light one hundred yards ahead of her turned yellow. For a split second as the SUV ate up fifty yards of the distance, she considered flooring the gas pedal. But the cross street boasted six lanes of traffic with a wide grassy median—not the best situation for running an about-to-turn-red light. With a sigh, she pressed her foot on the brake.

The pedal depressed straight to the floor and her SUV hurtled into the intersection.

“Macy!” Her drink and bag of French fries went flying. Alan braced both hands against the dash board.

“No brakes. No brakes.” Macy wasn’t sure she said the words aloud or if they were just part of the little chant repeating itself over and over in her head. Panic skittered up her spine as her foot futilely pumped up and down on the pedal. In spite of the angry blare of horns, she cleared the first two lanes of traffic. But beyond the median, she could see the cars already moving. If she didn’t do something, she was going to hit a sweet little yellow convertible dead-on.

At the last minute, she wrenched the steering wheel to the left and prayed that she could merge into the lane behind the sunny little car. Her tires squealed, searching for traction, then her car went into a spin. She tasted fear as they clipped the fender of the convertible. The collision only added momentum to the spin. Horns blasted, more tires screeched. Metal screamed against metal as she sideswiped a van.

Macy gripped the steering wheel, straining against the pull of the seat belt. Still, she couldn’t prevent the SUV from going into a skid and shooting up onto the median. For one terrifying moment, she was sure the car was going to barrel across into a lane of oncoming traffic. Using all her strength she jerked the steering wheel to the right. The SUV tilted crazily to one side, then settled and leapt forward. Macy swallowed hard.

Her best bet was to keep the car on the grass until it lost momentum. Her SUV mowed down two saplings, a flower bed and a small hedge before finally meeting its match in a concrete planter the size of a hot tub.

Then the air bags inflated and Macy’s world went black.

T
RAPPED
two cars behind the traffic light, Cade could do nothing but watch as Macy’s car shot into the intersection and headed on a collision course with three lanes of cars. Fear shot through him as he willed her to turn the wheel.

“Good girl, good girl,” he muttered, then swore when her car sideswiped a convertible and went into a spin.

All hell broke loose after that. For Cade, the experience was like watching the end of a car chase in an action movie. Except it was real. Horns blared, tires screamed. Macy’s SUV bounced off a minivan and shot onto the median. For one endless second, it teetered wildly. Cade was sure it would topple over and slide into a lane of oncoming traffic. He simply stopped breathing.

Then her vehicle plowed forward on the median. “Good girl,” he murmured. Macy Chandler could keep a cool head in a crisis. He spotted the concrete planter just an instant before the SUV slammed into it. Steamed poured out of the engine, and fear iced his veins.

He had to get to her. The light turned green, but with several disabled cars still blocking the intersection, it took Cade several minutes before he could negotiate his car onto the median and follow the path Macy’s had taken. The extra time allowed him to imagine several scenarios. Alan got out of the car first, then Macy. It was only then that some of his panic abated.

By the time he finally reached her, she was sitting cross-legged behind the SUV with Alan beside her. Cade noted the handkerchief she held to her nose and the bloodstains on her T-shirt, and his stomach clenched. Squatting down in front of her, he gripped her free hand in his. “You’re hurt.”

“The air bag gave me a bloody nose. That’s all.”

Cade shifted his gaze to Alan. “You all right?”

“My nerves are shot, but I fared better in my encounter with the air bag. She’s pretty shaky.”

Who wasn’t? Cade studied Macy’s face again. She was alive. And miraculously uninjured. “Reaction is setting in.”

“I could go for some caffeine and sugar,” Macy said.

“FYI—your drink is presently decorating my slacks. You’ll be getting the dry-cleaning bill.”

“Don’t I always?”

The banter between Alan and Macy did more than their assurances to ease some of Cade’s fear and allowed room for a spurt of anger.

“What in hell made you try to run that light?” he asked.

“I didn’t.”

“She was trying to give you the slip,” Alan said.

“Rat fink.” She shot a look at Alan, then returned her gaze to Cade. “I didn’t try to run the light. I considered it, but it was too risky. So I put on the brakes, and they didn’t work. They were fine in the drive-through, then suddenly there was nothing there. I tried pumping them, but it didn’t work.”

Sirens sounded from a distance, and for the first time, Cade glanced beyond Macy and Alan to the SUV. Steam still rose from the hood. “Do you take care of your car?”

Macy’s chin lifted. “My livelihood depends on that car. It’s only six months old, and I had it in for service last week.”

“Wait here.” Cade’s anger only increased as he rose and edged his way to the front of the SUV. But this time—if what he suspected was true—he was angry at himself. Just behind the front left tire, he lay down on the grass and slid his head and shoulders beneath the car.

What he suspected was definitely true. Elton Leonard had managed to make another attempt on Macy’s life, this time right under Cade’s nose. Easing himself out from under the SUV, he took two deep breaths before he rose and strode back to Alan and Macy. The first police cruiser was on the scene. The man driving the yellow convertible was talking to two officers and gesturing in Macy’s direction. One of the officers started toward them.

Macy glanced up at him. “He’s going to arrest me, right?”

“Not unless you cut your own brake lines,” Cade said.

H
ANDS
on hips, Macy paced back and forth in her living room. It had taken more than an hour to fill out the accident reports and arrange for her SUV to be towed to a garage. Cade had spent most of that time on his cell phone. However, at one point he’d taken a break, made his way to a nearby convenience store and brought back cold drinks. Hers was a sugar-and-caffeine laden cola and Alan’s was an iced green tea.

The gesture had been so sweet. Stopping short, Macy frowned. It simply would not do to dwell on the fact that the tall, tough Ranger Dillon had a softer, sensitive side. Closing her eyes, she pictured a large neon sign reading The Man Dumped You! There. That was what she should be dwelling on.

Satisfied, she resumed pacing. When they were finally allowed to leave the accident scene, Cade had dropped Alan off first—but not before assuring her assistant that he would be spending the night at her house and that a couple of other Rangers would be on surveillance outside.

Alan had been relieved. She hadn’t been. The idea that Cade would be spending the night inside her house had set off a whole new mind-over-body struggle inside her. Macy summoned up the image of the neon sign again.

So far Cade had been very professional. When they’d arrived, he’d escorted her into the house and checked out all the rooms. Only then had he left to check in with his partner, Nate Blackhorn, who was parked outside.

She was the one who was having trouble remaining professional. Neither she nor Cade had spoken on the short trip from Alan’s place to hers. She hadn’t looked at him either, but her entire body had been intensely aware of him. She hadn’t been able to breathe without inhaling his scent. And whoever had said that the sense of smell was the most evocative when it came to memories was dead on.

Sitting there beside him, her mind had drifted back to the first night he’d driven her home. It had been the day after she’d chosen Elton Leonard out of a lineup. Cade had picked her up that morning and taken her to his office. They’d spent the entire day—twelve hours plus—going over the testimony she would give at Leonard’s trial.

Up until that night, their relationship had been entirely professional—unless you counted the fact that every time she came in contact with him, her whole body had gone into a meltdown.

All day long she’d assumed that he was indifferent, that the intense attraction she was experiencing was one-sided. That assumption had gone up in flames—literally—when he’d parked in her driveway, sworn under his breath and kissed her right there in the front seat of his car. Macy closed her eyes as heat began to build inside her.

In her entire life she’d never experienced a kiss like that. Each little detail was etched indelibly in her mind. The moment his mouth had covered hers, all the longing, all the need that had been building up in her during that endless day had exploded. She’d fisted her hands in his hair to keep his mouth from leaving hers.

His taste—she’d never before experienced a flavor so dark, so rich. His hands—she’d never imagined the kind of sharp-edged pleasure those wide, rough palms could send through her system. Her heart—she’d never before felt it pound that hard. The beat had been primitive.

He’d pulled away at one point to mutter something about going inside, but she’d said, “Right here. Right now.”

And he’d obliged her. He’d more than obliged her. Just thinking about it turned her knees to jelly and she had to sit down abruptly on the arm of her sofa. Later, when they’d finally made it into the house, they’d never gotten to the bedroom. They’d made love right here. The images tumbling into her mind had her shooting to her feet and striding across the room.

She had to get a grip. If she continued to stroll down memory lane, she was going to jump Cade Dillon the instant he walked through her front door.

Remember, he dumped you. Remember, he dumped you.
Moving into the kitchen, she grabbed another cola from the supply she kept in her refrigerator, snapped the top open and took a long drink. She’d always considered herself a practical, organized woman. There’d been two other men in her life. When they’d dumped her, she might have faltered for a bit, but she’d picked herself up and gone on. Both of those men were history.

Moving to the window, she looked out at the lawn where Cade stood talking to his partner. The problem was, Cade wasn’t history. Try as she might she hadn’t been able to get him out of her system. She still wanted him. Badly. There. Maybe admitting it was half the battle.

Cade Dillon was different for her. Why was that? She studied the two men talking on her lawn.

She’d met Nate Blackhorn on the same day that she’d first met Cade. The two of them had a lot in common. They were both tall with broad shoulders and narrow hips. They both had that slow way of talking and walking and that slight Texas drawl. Plus, the two of them had that Ranger thing going for them. If you ever got in trouble, you’d want these men on your side. The biggest difference was in their coloring. While Cade’s hair was a tawny kind of lion’s-mane brown, Nate’s dark hair and bronzed skin testified to the fact that he was part Cherokee.

Nate was standing near his car with his back to her while Cade faced the house. She felt it the moment that he glanced at the window and his gaze collided with hers.

What was she going to do about him?

“E
ARTH
to Cade Dillon.”

“What?” Cade tore his gaze away from Macy to find his partner grinning at him.

“You wink out on me every time you look at that pretty little woman of yours. It’s kind of cute.”

“She’s not my woman.”

“She’s your something. You haven’t been the same since you met her.”

Cade frowned at Nate. “Right now she’s a job.”

“Uh-huh. That’s what she was supposed to be on your first go-around with her. Take it from me, you can’t go back once you’ve crossed that line into intimacy.”

“You’ve been watching
Dr. Phil
again.”

Nate laughed. “Look, you’ve been keeping me out here, going over the same instructions for the last fifteen minutes. I don’t need Dr. Phil to tell me you’re stalling. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to go in there.”

Cade sighed and glanced back up at Macy’s house. One of the reasons that he and Nate worked so ably together was that they knew each other very well. “The problem is, she should be a job…but she’s not. Hell, I don’t what she is. I just can’t seem to shake loose from her. But right now her life is in danger. That has to be our priority.”

Nate’s grin faded and he put a hand on Cade’s shoulder. “You’ll handle that part. We’ll have her under surveillance 24/7. If Leonard makes a move on her, we’ll have him.”

Cade met Nate’s eyes. “I don’t like the fact that we’re using her as bait.”

His friend shrugged. “Not out of choice. Leonard is responsible for that part. Can you think of a quicker way of catching him?”

“No.” Cade wished he could.

Nate patted his shoulder. “I’ll be out here in front. Cal will be circling the block. All you have to do is figure out a way to get through the evening with Ms. Chandler.”

Cades sent Nate a glare. “You’re getting way too much of a kick out of this.” Then he picked up his duffel and the bag of food that Nate had brought and strode toward the house.

“Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do,” Nate called after him.

B
Y THE TIME
Cade walked into the living room, he had a speech prepared. He’d intended to set Macy’s mind at ease by explaining the security measures he’d put in place and to assure her that for the time being, she had nothing to fear from him on a personal level.

But seeing her standing there in the fading light with blood still on her T-shirt and grass stains on her jeans sent the words out of his mind and every detail of the accident flooding in. For those few endless moments when her car had gone into that crazy spin, he’d been sure he was going to lose her. Even now the images triggered emotions he couldn’t put a name to. And he couldn’t say a word.

“We need to talk,” she said.

They were on the same page there. Usually he’d have had no trouble doing just that, but Macy was the one person in the world who seemed to have the power to tie his tongue up in knots.

She waved a hand vaguely and moistened her lips. It was that small gesture that told him she might be feeling just a little of what he was feeling. Some of his tension eased as he lifted the shopping bag.

“Why don’t we talk over linguine?”

“You brought linguine?” Surprise was what he read in her eyes as she shifted her gaze to the bag.

“With red sauce. I had Nate order it.” Satisfied that he was able to string several words together that time, Cade improved his odds of carrying on a coherent conversation by moving away from her and into the kitchen.

He’d made the decision to keep their relationship professional when he’d seen those cut brake lines. More especially since she’d become the bait they were using to catch Leonard. It was his only rational choice. Neither of them could afford the distraction of renewing their affair while Leonard was on the loose. Besides that, he wanted to give her time—to give himself time—to figure out what they were going to do about what had happened and what was happening again between them.

“Alan told me you’d had a total food intake of one french fry today.”

“The rest of my order bit the dust on the floor of my car.”

He unpacked the shopping bag, opened the containers and set them on the island countertop. “Where do you keep the silverware?”

“I’ll get it.”

Cade located wineglasses and opened a bottle while Macy set the places. Within minutes they were seated across from each other digging into the meal.

Macy twirled pasta around her fork. “This was a great idea.”

“I have them occasionally.” Cade broke off a chunk of garlic bread and handed it to her. “Alan told me you rarely cook for yourself. Why is that?”

She shrugged as she scooped up more pasta. “I need a break from the work.”

He sipped his merlot and discovered that he enjoyed watching her dig into the food. “So, what do you eat if you don’t cook?”

Her eyes flashed with humor. “Sometimes takeout, but mostly junk food. Alan’s always after me to be more careful about what I put into my body. I keep fruit around.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Usually. There’s probably some yogurt in the fridge. And I have a stash of chocolate for emergencies.”

She paused to eat more pasta, then added, “Why are you so interested in my eating habits?”

“Curiosity. There are lots of things I don’t know about you.”

This time it was wariness that he saw in her eyes. “That’s really for the best since our relationship is going to be temporary.” After setting down her fork, she began to turn the stem of her wineglass. “We should have that talk now.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been going around and around in my head about this.”

“This?”

“Us. What happened between us two months ago was a mistake. Obviously, we both agree on that point. And now we’re spending time together again—in close proximity. So I think it would be best if we laid down some ground rules.”

“Okay.” Cade sipped his wine. Her tone was cool and polite, just as it had been that morning. He wondered why he so much preferred her in spitfire mode.

“What happened then was then.” She took a sip of her wine, then folded her hands together. “This is now. Once you catch Leonard, we’ll go our separate ways again.”

“Why would you think that?”

Her gaze narrowed, and he saw for the first time that she wasn’t quite as cool as she wanted him to think.

“Experience. You left without a word, and I haven’t heard from you for two months.”

“My priority was to track down Leonard. I blamed myself that he skipped town. If I hadn’t been so involved with you, I might have prevented that. For the past two months I’ve been following his trail across most of Texas.” It was the truth, and Cade absolutely hated the fact that his tone had become defensive.

“I understand perfectly.”

Her smile made him grit his teeth.

“And now you’re back because Leonard’s back and since I seem to be his target, I realize that you have to stick close to me. I’d be a fool to object to that. I just don’t want it to interfere with my personal or professional life.”

Cade drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Understood. I’ll do my best to see that your business isn’t affected. While you were talking to the police, Alan briefed me on your schedule for the next week. Nate and Cal, another man from the office, will be staking out the house and following us in case we need backup. Clearly, Leonard is somehow watching you. I’m hoping that they may spot him at some point. If that happens, we’ll move in to take him, and all this will be over.”

“Good. I’m also hoping that we can handle the personal side of our relationship in an equally professional manner. Just because we got caught up in something…something very irrational that made us act like greedy, giddy teenagers, doesn’t mean we have to allow it to happen again. We’re both adults with career obligations, and we can control our…urges.”

Annoyance streamed through him. They sure as hell hadn’t been able to control their urges two months ago. One of the many places they’d made love was on the kitchen floor just a few feet away from where they were sitting. Cade barely kept himself from mentioning that fact. Instead, he reminded himself that she was only saying what
he’d
intended to say when he’d come in the front door.

So why did he have a sudden
urge
to grab her and kiss her until she was boneless?

“Since I don’t have a guest room, you’ll have to sleep on the couch. I’ll bring down some blankets and towels. You can use the downstairs bathroom.”

Cade set his glass down. “Do I get a chance to offer some input here?”

“Sure.” She blinked. “Of course.”

“On the topic of controlling our—what did you call it? Oh yes,
urges
—I just want to say that we
are
going to make love again. However, I’m willing to wait until Leonard is behind bars.”