She held so tight to her chair, Anderson thought she might snap the wood. “Say that again?”
“I need to go undercover, here on your compound, twenty-four-seven, for the next few days. I’ve been assigned to find out anything I can, based on the information the suspect taken into custody gave us. Which wasn’t a whole lot, by the way. But if we couple that with your recent vandalism, I’d say something’s going on here and we’re on the right track.”
She put one hand on the table then moved the other over her tousled ponytail. “So when you say go undercover, you mean you want to stay here and pretend to work for me while you’re watching this property?”
Hadn’t he just told her that? “That’s it, yes, ma’am.”
“Stop with the ma’am stuff, okay?”
“Okay, ma—” He smiled. “Okay, Jennifer. I noticed you have a bunkhouse for volunteers. I can stay there.”
“We aren’t using it right now, but yeah, you’d better believe you’ll stay there. I don’t like people underfoot.”
Anderson could tell that. Her whole stance practically shouted for him to go away. “Are you here alone after hours?”
“I have the part-time helper you saw earlier—the kid who comes in after school. And a rotating list of volunteers. And we have a local vet who comes by about twice a week. Our work hours vary according to the animals’ needs, of course.” She shrugged. “But yes, for the most part, I’m here alone after hours. Just me and Roscoe there.”
He noted the sadness and the resolve tracing through her eyes. “I’m sorry about what happened to your daddy in the Amazon. My mom used to watch his local show on one of the cable channels.”
“Thank you.” Jennifer looked down at the wooden table. “My father loved what he did and he taught me to feel the same way. I’m planning to honor his dream of making this place into a full-fledged exotic animal haven, with lots of hands-on teaching. You know, children touring the place, volunteers being able to educate people on endangered animals and how to protect them. We can learn a lot from nature and that was my dad’s greatest hope.
“He wanted people to respect nature and abide by the laws set up to protect animals and he was well on his way to becoming known the world over for his work, but…now it’s up to me. He left me a little money and I used part of it to buy up the acreage behind this place. Like I said earlier, I’ve already started clearing that area so we can build a better-equipped pen for the gators. I guess the drug runners beat me to it, but that—and a little vandalism—won’t stop me from building my alligator preserve.”
Anderson saw the passion and the sincerity in her eyes. She would work hard to complete her father’s dream. And she might even do that at the risk of everything else, including her own safety.
“I think that’s mighty admirable of you. And I don’t want to interfere with that. But…you need to be careful. The people we’re dealing with are ruthless and determined. They’ll stop at nothing to keep moving drugs through Texas.”
And he couldn’t even tell her the worst of it—that the group pulling the strings was allegedly compiled of some prominent Texans calling themselves the Lions of Texas and they wanted to open the border between Mexico and Texas. Ridiculous, since it would require changing federal law and make their drug running all that much easier. “These people are powerful, Jennifer. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I think I do,” she replied, getting up to take their cups to the sink. “Whether I like it or not, you’re empowered by law to be on my property. I can’t interfere with a Ranger case, and I can’t allow vandalism on my property, but I have to tell you I don’t like it one bit. And…I don’t expect you to interfere with my work while you’re here. I have to get that alligator pond built. The boys need more room and more fencing, for their protection and for the protection of people touring this place. I have all the proper licenses and permits, and I have non-profit status. I could lose that if I’m not up to code.”
“I understand. I’m not here to shut you down or disturb your work. And I don’t blame you for being a tad agitated, but I have to do my job.”
“And I have to do mine, all bad guys aside. But you need to know something about me, Ranger Michaels. I don’t back down easily.” She whirled at the sink and gave him a level stare. “And…I know how to use just about every weapon known to man. My father taught me to take care of myself. So don’t worry on my account.”
Anderson nodded and refrained from suggesting that she shouldn’t be so bold and brave in this case. But he knew that wouldn’t do any good right now. He could tell she wasn’t too keen on having him around. “Point taken. Now, if you could show me to the bunkhouse, I’ll get settled in and report back to my captain that I’m here.”
“Okay,” she said, wiping her hands down her pants. “We’ll get you situated, then you can come back for supper. I made some chili earlier and you’re welcome to share it.”
“Thanks.” Anderson was hungry and he did need to talk to her about what she did around here, her routine, the people who came and went. Might as well do that over supper. “We can go over some things. I’ll explain how I’ll go about my work and what you need to do to help me.”
She grabbed a set of keys off a peg by the door. “Sounds fair, since I have to protect and care for my animals. So I intend to go over my rules with you and I expect you to abide by those rules at all times. Think you can handle that, Ranger?”
Anderson put on his hat and tipped it toward her.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She didn’t frown at the exaggerated answer as he’d expected. Instead, she grinned and pointed toward a side door. “Right this way, sir.”
Anderson smiled as he watched her prancing in front of him, her old Frye boots clicking with each step.
He’d sure have his work cut out for him, trying to run down a cartel and trying to keep this woman safe at the same time. It might turn out to be a lot harder than he’d planned. And a whole lot more interesting.
TWO
The man sure came prepared.
Jennifer watched as he lugged in a laptop, digital cameras, a recorder, a set of high-powered binoculars and a set of various flashlights. Not to mention the 12-gauge Remington shotgun, the Ruger Mini-14 automatic rifle and the slick, black pistol peeking out from his shoulder holster. And all the while his star-shaped silver badge, forged in the Ranger tradition from the cinco peso—a Mexican coin—winked over his heart at her each time his jacket fell open.
Even though he was dressed like any Texas man might be, Ranger Anderson Michaels wore the badge well and fit the bill from the top of his tan hat to the bottom of his Tony Lama boots. Jennifer watched as he purposely and meticulously placed his equipment on the shelves near one of the three bunks in the long, lonely room.
Forget the equipment inventory or the fact that she seriously needed to renovate this place. She rather liked surveying the man. Tall and built—nice. Crisp curls of wispy dark blond hair cut close to his head—nice. Wrangler jeans with a knife-pressed crease over rich brown no-nonsense boots—impressive. White button-down shirt with a hint of Western stitching around the collar and cuffs—sigh. And a brushed-suede, burnished-tan sportscoat that looked adorably worn in all the right places, especially over the broad shoulders—double sigh.
And each time he shifted his arms to put away some thing, she also saw the gun holster underneath his jacket.
“I guess I’m settled in.”
Jennifer lifted her head to find Anderson staring at her with those golden-brown cougar eyes and immediately