Im getting the feeling youre not too fond of our desert country. Without asking, he unhooked the canvas-wrapped canteen from his belt loop and handed it to her.
Ill never complain about another Minnesota blizzard again. Gratefully she took the canteen, twisted the cap and mainlined several gulps thirstily. The water was warm, but she didnt care. It was wet. Throat-drenching, sweet, soft, wet. Nectar couldnt taste any better. Thanks. You saved my life.
I think youd probably have survived a few minutes more, he said wryly. When she returned it, he recapped the canteen and clipped it back to his belt. You might want to remember, though, if youre traveling much around here, its wise to carry some water on you.
If it were a vacation choice, Id be in Alaska. The last time I remember being this miserable, I was laid up with the flu. This is supposed to be a healthy climate, huh? How many times have I read that you dont feel the heat because its dry heat? What a total lie. Even my fingernails feel roasted from the inside out.
Damned if she didnt win another irresistibly male grin. If you just got here, youre bound to have a little trouble adjusting to the climate.
She shook her head. Adjusting is not an option. Obviously youve never been a redhead or youd understandthe sun hates me. It was never anything I had a vote about. I dont suppose theres a way to air-condition the outdoors?
I dont believe so, he said dryly.
Well, then, its hopeless. Write me off as a city sissy, but I just dont think southern Arizona and I were ever meant to get along. Kansas mentally shook her head when he let out a deep, throaty chuckle. Shed never planned on running on so long, but darned if it wasnt working. All shed had to do was honestly admit how miserable she was and make a little fun of herself. The starch left his shoulders; the formal reserve disappeared from his expression. If humor and honesty softened him up, she mused, they might just conceivably get along. Shed never have been able to find common ground with anyone who didnt have a sense of humor.
You dont have to be here long, he consoled her.
Youve got that right. Ill only be here long enough to find my brother. But I cant... She lost the thought, diverted by the sudden flash and sparkle of something moving in the corner of her vision. Although ornithology had never been her hobby, she still knew enough to recognize a hummingbird. Shed just never seen one like this.
All kinds of trees and scraggly bushes bordered the trail, but unlike the emeralds and deep greens of woods in Minnesota, everything here was a sun-bleached and dusty dull greenwhich was probably why the bird riveted her attention. It was so startlingly bright and gaudy. Although it couldnt be bigger than the cup of her hand, the dizzy bird dove like a whirling dervish, swooping and spinning as if the whole sky were its playground. Its head and beak were dark, but the hummingbirds neck appeared to be wearing a collar of iridescent spangles in a glittering scarlet red that caught and reflected the sun.
Pax turned his head to find what she was looking at. Its Annas, he said.
You mean the bird belongs to someone named Anna?
No, I mean thats the name of the species. Annas Hummingbird. Calypte Anna. More than a dozen different species migrate to the canyon around this time of year, peaking around the month of May. Theyve got a name for the hummingbirds around herejewels of the sky.
Thats exactly how that one looks, as if it were covered in jewels. She shielded her eyes with a cupped hand. Do they all fly like that? Like drunk kamikaze pilots?
He chuckled. I strongly suspect theres a girl somewhere in the trees that hes trying to impress.
Ah. Hormones. The great equalizer in life. The one thing guaranteed to make fools out of every species in the kingdom, isnt it? She couldnt take her eyes off the beauty. Im afraid the daredevils gonna crash land and kill himself.
If any other bird tried that, he probably would. Pax hunkered down to gather his first aid and vet supplies. Instead of a traditional doctors black bag, he carried a hikers backpack. Critters are my business, but theres no explaining anything hummingbirds do. They break every natural law in the books.
No kidding? Like what?
Well...for one thing, the aerodynamic experts claim that the hummers wing and body structure should make it impossible to flybut theyre outstanding flyers. Theyre also the squirts of the bird kingdom, the tiniest in body size yet with the biggest wing spanbreaking another universal physics law about weight and body proportion. And any biologist can tell you theyre not anatomically built to hover, much less hover over flowers for long periods of timeyet theyre excellent at that, too. Hummingbirds may look tiny and fragile, but they have a long history of doing the impossible. They just do it their way, and to hell with everybody elses rules.
Kansas didnt look away until the hummingbird had disappeared from sight. Abruptly she discovered that Pax was standing beside her. He had packed up the supplies hed used on the raccoon, and the knapsack was strapped to his back, as if he were ready to leave. But not at that exact instant. At that exact instant, his eyes were focused on her face with a look of such concentrated speculation thatif it hadnt been broiling hotshe might have shivered.
What? she asked him.
Nothing. It just crossed my mind how often appearances are misleading. Something tells me youre not real fond of doing anything by anyone elses rule book, either.
Her cinnamon eyebrows feathered up. Hoboy, you couldnt be more wrong. Im not only big on rules, but what you see is what you get. I thought you already figured it outIm a city wimp. Gutless. Weak. Helpless anywhere away from my air-conditioning.
Yeah?
Oh, yeah. Which was how I was hoping to convince you that I seriously, honestly need help finding my brother. I just have no possible way to cope alone.
* * *
Pax checked in at the preserve office, then gave Kansas a lift in his dusty Explorer to the inconceivably long distance shed parked her rental car.
Thanks, she said fervently. When she hopped out, though, she didnt immediately leave, but crossed her arms in the open truck window on the passenger side. Seven oclock tonight, right? And you know where my brothers place is?
The lady, Pax thought, was relentless. She could wear down a monks resolve if she put her mind to it. I know where it is. Are you going to be able to find your way back to town okay?
Probably not. She grinned. But dont worry. No matter how lost I get, Ill be there and waiting for you at seven. And I really appreciate your being willing to help me. Thanks again.
She flew toward the shiny red Civic before Pax could correct herhe had not, precisely, agreed to help her. Hed only agreed to talk a little further about her brother. And when push came to shove, he couldnt exactly remember even agreeing to that.
His gaze roamed the length of herit didnt take long, not for a shrimp like her. Cute legs, but short. The color of her outfit was loud enough to wake a man from a sound sleep, and had some kind of sparkly appliqués on the front. The shorts and top hid nothing about her figureno fanny to speak of, even though there was a hell of a swish in her walk, and not much on the upper deck, either. Her hair was the color of fire, and the blaze of curls tangled every which way around her face, no order, no control. With that vanilla-cream skin, he guessed her nose would be beet red by nightfall. And why the Sam Hill shed be wearing long dangling earrings in the desert was beyond him.
There was no conceivable, justifiable, understandable reason why she had his blood pumping.
Pax had always liked women, and by thirty-two, hed had the chance to know his share. Tall, leggy women were his preference, but he set no special stock in physical appearance. Temperament was more important. He sought out the women who liked the outdoors as much as he did, who were easygoing, natural to be with, restful.
Kansas McClellan was as restful as a rattlesnake.
He waited until shed turned the rental car around before starting the Explorers engine. He had a call to make after thisJuan Gonzalezs placeso he couldnt follow her all the way to town, but he could at least make sure she was steered toward the right road in the right county.
Pax grew up with some outmoded, archaic values about men protecting women. Whether or not he had a tolerance for ditsy, scatterbrained redheads was irrelevant. That particular redhead looked as frail and fragile as one of the rare, delicate blooms on a cactus, and everyone in the area knew that Pax had a long history of volunteering to help people in trouble. His motivation had never been largess, but more making up for the rough beginnings hed had himself.
Without hearing more of the story, he wasnt sure he wouldor couldhelp with the problem of finding her brother. But hed suspicioned for some time that Case was dipping toward serious trouble. And he doubted that squirt of a lady could conceivably handle the kind of crowd her younger brother had gotten involved withnot without finding herself in some real danger.
She waved at him from the rearview mirror when she turned off at Hill Road. He watched her bump and bounce down the gravel road, driving way faster than was wise. Somehow he could have guessed she had a reckless lead foot. And for some reason he was again reminded of the hummingbirds who migrated to the canyons at this time of year; so tiny, so flashy and restless. But not at all as helpless as they appeared.
Abruptly he realized that his pulse was pumping adrenaline, as if some premonitory instinct were warning him to be careful about Kansas.
With a chuckle, he reached over to switch on the trucks radio. The lady was certainly interesting, but by no stretch of the imagination was she the kind of woman that he had ever been attracted to or involved with. Kansas was no danger to him. The thought was so humorous that he had to laugh.
Two
Kansas peered out the front window of her brothers place for the dozenth time: 6:50. Too early to worry that Pax wasnt going to show, yet her heart was still thudding with anxiety and nerves.
If Pax couldnt help find her brother, the world would not suddenly end. Kansas would find another way. She always had. But damn, right now she really didnt have a clue where else to turn.
Too antsy to sit still, she hustled into the bathroom to check her appearance. The mirror didnt reveal any noticeable difference since she checked five minutes ago. Her fresh-washed hair had been coaxed to look wilder with a judicious application of spritz. Exuberantly impractical bangles dangled from her wrists and ears. A filmy blouse covered a tank top, both tucked into her shorts with a jeweled belt. The blouse was emerald green and bright, but the fabric was as insubstantial as wind.
She lookedshe hopedlike a helpless city slicker, inept, vulnerable, flighty, impractical...and momentarily she felt a qualm of conscience. It wasnt exactly nice to try to manipulate a man with her appearance. Shed only caught one weakness in Paxa sense of honor as extinct as dinosaurs in most men. He had both a reputation and job that labeled him a rescuer. Never mind ethics. Her brother mattered more than any darn fool ethics, and if she looked like a woman who needed rescuing, it might up the odds of Pax being willing to help her.
Kansas slugged her hands into her shorts pockets, musing that the situation was downright humorous. She had a real bug about men who treated her like a helpless cookie. On the surface, it seemed the height of irony to be inviting the same response from Pax that drove her bananas. But life was more complicated than surface appearances, as Kansas had learned the hard, painful way.
Her mind inevitably spun back to the car accident. Shed been fourteen at the time, green-young, with a heart full of confident dreams about becoming a strong, athletic Amazon when she grew up. During those long months of recovery, it bit like a bullet to be a helpless invalid, hurt even more to be a dependent burden on those who loved her. En route, though, shed discovered the difference between real pride and false pride.
She was never going to be a physically strong Amazon in this lifetime, but that measurement of strength had never been worth poppycock. Real strengththe kind of grit and guts that matteredcame from accepting whoever, or whatever you were. Just because a woman was stuck looking like a physical weakling never meant she couldnt be tougher than steel on the inside.
When Kansas heard the knock on the front door, her hand flew to her stomach. A woman of steel, she told herself firmly, should not be having a problem with jittery butterflies.
She sprinted for the door. When Pax walked in, she abruptly remembered where all those butterflies came from. Him. The toughest woman on earth could hardly fail to notice that he was one hormone-arousing hombre.
Hed cleaned up before coming over, and was dressed casually enough in jeans and a chambray shirt, but two of her could tuck in his shadow. His jet black hair was still damp from a recent shower, yanked back in a ponytail with a leather thong. Her pulse suddenly galloped around an electric racetrack. It wasnt something she could help. Personally she thought a man with eyes that dark, that deep should come with a warning about high voltage.
Come on in. I appreciate your coming, she said cheerfully.
I told you I would. He strode in, his posture as rigid as an oak trunk, but his gaze traveled the length of her. It didnt take him twenty seconds to make the journey from her city-slicker outfit to her wild baubles to her carrot-top artsy craftsy hairstyle. He noticeably relaxed, with an amused smile for her sunburned nose. You look like you recovered from the heat this afternoon.
Thankfully it cools down around here at night. She told herself she wasnt irked. An easy, relaxed smile was exactly what she wanted from Pax. Flash and sparkle were clearly not his personal cuppa, which was absolutely fine with her. Shed never dressed and fussed to have him notice her as a womanshed put on a version of the dog to win his sympathy for her brothers cause.
And Case, of course, was the only thing on her mind. She suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around her chest. Ive got some wine and crackers in the living room, but to be honest, Id like to show you around first. I havent had time to really clean the place up, so almost everything is just like I found it when I got here yesterday. I think I can show you why Im so worried about my brother.
I dont know that I can help you with your brother, Kansas.
I know. I understand that. But Im really coming into this area coldI dont know anything. If nothing else, Im hoping you could give me some leads or ideas.
Ill try. His forehead suddenly creased in a frown. For starters, was the house locked when you got here? How did you get in?
Kansas could have told him that shed climbed on two suitcases and broken in by jimmying a window latch with a crowbar. But somehow she didnt think Pax would be too quick to aid a helplessly impractical city slicker if she confessed such resourcefulnessor her willingness to commit breaking and entering without a single ethical qualm. The house was locked, which reassured me at first. I mean, it seemed to indicate that Case planned to be away. But then I got inside...