Safe With A Stranger. Linda Conrad

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      From her spot snugged up close to the passenger door, Clare shrugged at Josh’s question. “Oh, nothing much.” What the devil could she say that didn’t make her sound nosy and controlling as hell? “It’s only that if you had kids, I would think you’d be much more sympathetic to why I can’t take a chance on losing Jimmy.”

      “I’m plenty sympathetic. I’m taking you two with me and I’m going to help you get away.”

      She narrowed her lips in a frown to keep herself from asking why. But she decided she had nothing more to add to the conversation. Maybe she’d already said too much.

      Josh must have guessed she wanted more information, because he kept trying to explain. “Look. When I said it was probably just as well that I’d never had kids, I was talking about how crazy my life is right now. I got busted out of the Rangers a few months ago and I haven’t put my feet back under me yet. I don’t have a job, no house and no ideas of what I want to do next. I have no clue where I’ll be for sure next week, let alone six months from now. What kind of life is that for a kid?”

      “None.” But she also took into consideration the fact that he looked to be about midthirties and he had never been married and didn’t seem too interested in having a family anytime soon, if ever.

      Clare’s slightly shaky—and definitely rattled—mind came to an instant conclusion. As much as this guy was hot and turned her knees to mush when he glanced her way, and as much as he had come to their rescue several times, he was not now nor ever would be the guy for her. She wanted a big family badly. Always had. There would be a lot more children coming into her life, she just knew it. And she needed a steady guy who wanted kids as badly as she did in order to get that family.

      Clare wanted a career, too, of course. She wanted it all. But didn’t women these days have a chance of getting it all? Gulping down a bubble of indecision mixed with apprehension, she tried to find some semblance of her old backbone. She and Jimmy had come this far. She would find a way out of the mess she’d caused. And then, when they were finally safe, she would also find a nice man who wanted a family. One who wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with her as they went through life together, working and raising kids. He had to be out there somewhere.

      Josh Ryan definitely didn’t qualify as the life partner she envisioned.

      He guided Lucille onto the Southwest Freeway and within twenty minutes they were miles out of Houston. The fast-food places and convenience store/gas stations gave way to big unbroken parcels of live oak and cottonwood, while the sun came peeking through a patch of early morning haze and lit their surroundings. Daylight. A new day. There had been a time last night when she didn’t think she would live to have another day with Jimmy.

      Cranking her neck, she glanced over her shoulder to check on the baby. He was still sleeping soundly. She had kept him up too late last night. Chalk one more mistake against her.

      Clare let her gaze wander from Jimmy’s seat to stare out the back window. Scanning the road behind them, she looked for any sign that someone might be following them. But she saw nothing out of the ordinary in the growing light of dawn. Just the usual early-morning traffic. Relaxing in her seat, she leaned her head back against the headrest. Maybe she could get a few minutes’ sleep herself.

      When she next opened her eyes, the sun was higher in the sky, pouring heat through the back windshield and raising the temperature in the pickup’s cab. Jimmy was making his normal morning waking-up-and-now-it’s-time-to-eat noises in the backseat. Clare looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was already nearing nine o’clock. They would have to stop soon for food and a change of diapers.

      She glanced out the windshield and noticed a gentle difference in the scenery. They were no longer on a main expressway but were traveling down a back country highway. The landscape and the vegetation passing by weren’t quite the same as before. But it didn’t look like West Texas scenery, either, the kind she remembered with its parched fields, cedars and hackberries hidden down in gullies and canyons. Instead, the view outside the truck’s window was more of a rolling landscape. She did recognize the mesquite, and some scrawny purple sage interspersed between rows of good raw land laid bare for planting. Those things had taken the place of the tall pines, willows and swampland feel of the countryside around Houston.

      Clare tried to recall what she’d heard about Zavala Springs. It wasn’t much. They area was known for one main thing, the huge Delgado Ranch. One of the largest cattle ranches in the world, the Delgado raised and fed cattle, horses and exotic animals. They also grew oil and gas wells in abundance. The headquarters for the Delgado were located in Zavala Springs. She’d never been there, but her father had gone many times to sell drilling supplies to the Delgado Ranch people.

      Clare let her mind wander over old memories of what her dad had told her, and then on to what she’d heard rumored in oil circles. Since she’d been a kid, she had known about the original Spanish land grant for the ranch belonging to a family named Delgado. But about twenty-five years ago, hadn’t the last Delgado died and left it to his son-in-law? Now what had been that new owner’s name, anyway? With a jolt, she remembered. The son-in-law’s name was Ryan.

      She jerked her head around to stare at Josh. It would be too much of a coincidence that he came from Zavala Springs and had the last name of Ryan if he didn’t belong to the same family that owned the ranch. Drawing in a breath, she stared at his camo pants and beat-up old Stetson, while at the same time listening to the wheezing noises of his fifteen-year-old pickup rumbling beneath her bottom. Clare figured he must be a distant cousin or a black sheep or something. This tough but regular guy just couldn’t come from the Delgado wealth.

      It wouldn’t matter to her one way or the other if he was rich, of course. That wasn’t anything she ever noticed about people or really cared about at all. No, wait. She amended that. If Josh was wealthy, it would mean another strike against him. She’d already done the wealthy lover thing once. Oh, yeah. His being one of the Ryans would just seal the deal for her—and not in his favor.

      She looked at Josh again and noticed the grim lines set around his mouth. They told the tale of long hours spent behind the wheel, driving straight through the night. Wealthy or not, СКАЧАТЬ