The Specialist. Dani Sinclair

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СКАЧАТЬ she’s never even had a parking ticket.”

      “That’s a little too squeaky clean for me,” Brady muttered.

      “Not if she seldom leaves the house,” Penny pointed out.

      “Keep checking,” Mitchell advised, chomping on his unlit cigar.

      “Try going back to her college roommates,” Rafe suggested. “Maybe a roommate or a boyfriend had some connection to Rialto.”

      Humor sparked to life in Brady’s gray eyes. “Speaking of which, how’s the makeover coming?”

      The others around the table shared grins. Rafe rubbed his sore jaw and shook his head. “She’s a stubborn little thing, but I’ll give her an A for determination.”

      “Need a referee?” Cody offered.

      “You’re a pal, but there’s only going to be one outcome to this bout.” He felt the weight of her knife in his pocket. “I showed her a few moves yesterday.”

      Someone snickered.

      “Defensive moves,” he corrected. “I’m going to take her out back today and see how she does on the firing range.”

      “Better clear the ranch first,” Brady suggested. “No sense putting innocents in her line of fire.”

      “I think the only one in jeopardy here is Rafe,” Cody said with a wicked grin. “And we all know innocent isn’t a word we’d use to define him.”

      “Very funny.”

      “Putting an ambulance on stand by only seems prudent,” Jake offered. “Rafe here seems to be the one doing the learning—the hard way.”

      Rafe grinned good-naturedly. “Cute. I don’t think she’ll shoot me until she gets what she wants.”

      “Excuse me, but I thought the makeover was about looks,” Penny said.

      “One step at a time,” Rafe protested. “I’m doing the easy stuff first.”

      Two of the men chuckled.

      “Chicken?” Cody asked.

      “Absolutely. You ever tried telling a woman how to dress?”

      “I place a much higher value on my life.”

      “Exactly.”

      “All right folks, we’ve got a lot to do, so let’s get to work,” Mitchell ordered.

      “And speaking of work,” Penny added, opening her notebook, “Mrs. Skerritt called here again. Something about two other dates you are supposed to keep in mind?”

      Rafe groaned. Lydia could turn into a problem. Neither she nor her brother knew anything about Texas Confidential, and Rafe knew Mitchell wanted to keep it that way.

      “I gave her the number for the bunkhouse, so do check your messages, Rafe.”

      Jake stretched. “The joys of bachelorhood. Personally, I’m glad all I have to deal with nowadays are ornery cows, bad weather, construction crews, a wife and daughter.”

      Brady shared a smile with him. “Their day will come.”

      “Not a chance,” Rafe and Cody both vowed.

      “NO!” RAFE MOVED alongside Kendra, trying to ignore the tug of awareness he continued to feel every time he touched her. He positioned his hand along her arm to straighten her stance and her wide eyes blinked up at him from behind her big ugly glasses covered by safety goggles.

      Rafe shook off the distracting thought that she had very pretty eyes under all that glass. For one beat of his heart, he thought he glimpsed a recognizable spark of feminine interest before Kendra lowered her lashes and he stepped back from her.

      “Remember to squeeze the trigger,” he told her. “The object isn’t how fast you can pull it, but how accurately you can put a bullet in someone.”

      “I’m not planning to put a bullet in anyone. You want to do this?” Kendra demanded, stepping away from him and tugging off the safety glasses.

      “I already know how to do this,” Rafe told her. To prove it, he took the gun from her hand and finished the round, firing carefully into the target. He knew he was showing off a bit, but her disdain bothered him.

      Rafe wished he could stand further away from the utterly distracting scent and feel of Kendra Kincade. No matter that he kept his frequent touches impersonal, he continued to find himself aware of her as a woman.

      Kendra wasn’t particularly attractive and she definitely wasn’t his type. She had the sassiest mouth he’d ever seen on a woman. Still, there was something appealing about her. Something that got under a man’s skin.

      He’d thought the gun range would be less distracting than teaching her basic self-defense tricks that might require a lot of touching, but he’d been wrong. She had an uncanny way of reducing the great outdoors to closer quarters than the basement. If only he could stop noticing how good she smelled. The light, subtle scent wasn’t a perfume, yet it continually snuck up on him, reminding him that she was a woman.

      Rafe set the weapon on the shelf.

      Kendra raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t hit the head even once,” she pointed out.

      Stung, he glanced at the target. “I wasn’t aiming for the head.” Every one of his shots was within inches of where he’d wanted them. “And neither should you. The chest is a bigger target. Remember, if you shoot at someone, you’re trying to stop them from coming at you. You’re not a marks-man aiming for the kill.”

      Something flickered in her eyes. She quickly looked away. Before he could wonder about that look, the far-off rumble of thunder sent both their gazes skywards. Despite the sun directly over their heads, the sky was darkening quickly in the distance as rain swept in over the mountains.

      “Maybe Abby and Jake should be building an ark instead of adding on to their cabin,” she said.

      “Good point. I think I’ll suggest it. Let’s break and clean up for lunch. We can work out inside after we eat.”

      Kendra groaned.

      “Are you stiff?” She’d landed pretty hard a couple of times yesterday, but she never complained. As promised, she was a quick study. She already had a good grasp on quick releases and easy throws.

      “Not at all. I’m sure my bones creaked like this before I got here.”

      “That’s the spirit.”

      “Uh-huh.” She watched him gather up the equipment. “What’s the real reason behind all this training, Rafe? You don’t really expect me to use any of this, do you?”

      Before he could respond, his beeper went off. Rafe checked it and thrust the pile of equipment into her startled hands. “I’ve got a phone call. Can you bring this stuff?”

      He СКАЧАТЬ