Once A Ranger

But Tony didn’t want to raise Sterling’s suspicions by overstaying his welcome. “If you’re sure?”

Will smiled. “Positive. I’ll see that this lady arrives safe and sound.”

“Okay, I’ll tell Lorraine you’re on your way.”

Lola waved him off as she started telling Sterling a story about the time she’d met an Arab prince.

Tony turned and followed the path to the studio, catching up to Kat on the way. She stood in the path, gazing up at the sky.

“What’d I miss?”

“Bats.” Her voice was tinged with awe. “You can see them in the moonlight.”

“What’s so fascinating about bats?”

“We don’t have many in Phoenix. It amazes me that things can change so much only a hundred miles from the city. I saw a red-tailed hawk this afternoon.”

“You need to come to Texas then. We have more hawks and bats than you’d ever believe. You grew up in Phoenix? Let me guess—you were a rebel in high school?”

She shook her head and started to walk down the path again. “No way,” she said over her shoulder. “I was president of the chess club, then did a stint in debate. The science club, too.”

He caught up to her in two strides. “You? A nerd?”

“I preferred to think of myself as an intellectual.”

“A fiery intellectual then.”

“Save the compliments for someone who cares.”

“Ouch. I was sincere.”

Her tone was light when she said, “That’s what all the bad men say. Where in Texas are you from?”

Grasping her arm, he pulled her to a stop. “Shh. See, over there under that cedar tree? It’s a mama javelina and her baby out for an evening snack.”

“Wha— Oh, I see,” she whispered. “They’re so dark I almost couldn’t make them out—smaller than pigs I’ve seen at the fair. How sweet.”

“Yes, but those mamas get mean if you get too close to the babies.”

They started walking again and the javelinas trotted off into the brush.

“You never answered my question about where you’re from. Are there javelinas in Texas?”

“I was born and raised in San Antonio. And yes, we have javelinas, too.”

“You’ve never wanted to live somewhere else?”

He shrugged. “My family’s there, my friends…. And an ex-wife.”

“Why am I not surprised you’re divorced? How long were you married?”

“Sixteen years.” He glanced around as they walked. “No kids, though.”

“Did you want kids?”

“Enough about me. Have you been married? Want kids?”

She hesitated, then gave him a withering glance. “Don’t bother trying to get me to talk about myself so I’ll let my guard down. I’m not interested in you, so sharing my history would only be a waste of time.”

“Ouch. Prickly much?”

She snorted. “Only with assholes.”

He threw back his head and laughed. Damn, he enjoyed sparring with her. She tried so hard to compensate for her vulnerability. He’d already figured out that her family and babies were sore topics for her.

The baby thing wasn’t hard to figure out. He could almost hear her maternal clock ticking from a couple feet away.

What was it about her family she didn’t want him to know? Tony filed the question away for future reference.

“Laugh all you want, just leave me alone. I’ll wait for Lola.”

CHAPTER FIVE

KAT COULD NOT BELIEVE Tony’s arrogance.

He’d called her prickly simply because she didn’t fall for his obvious come-ons. Because she saw through him and understood he was the type of man she should avoid.

Sixteen years? A man married that long should seem solid enough. Except that Tony hadn’t said he’d been faithful for all that time. Or that he’d been a decent husband.

Take her dad, for instance. She remembered her mother yelling at her father after his return from a business trip to Vegas. She’d been sorting his laundry and found a slip of paper with the name and phone number of a woman.

It was only the second time Kat had heard her parents fight. They’d announced their divorce a short time later.

A familiar sense of loss hit her hard. Her eyes misted as she wondered if that fight had marked the end of their family as she’d known it. And wondered why the memory had been buried all this time….

“Dear, is everything all right?”

She turned to see that Lola and Will had caught up with her.

“Oh, um, yes, everything’s fine. I…got something in my eye. I’ll be along shortly.”

“We don’t want to leave you out here by yourself, do we Will?”

He glanced at the studio, then grinned. “No, we don’t.”

That’s when Kat remembered they hadn’t even eaten dinner yet.

“I’ll be fine. It’s perfectly safe out here. You two go along, I’ll be there in a minute.” She stepped off the path to let them by.