The Specialist

“Yep! Come on, Kendra! Slim says I can take Sugar Cube out for a walk today.”

“Uh, maybe I’d better not leave until I see Ms. Archer.”

“Penny will find you when she’s ready,” Abby assured her.

Casting a look through the empty doorway where Rafe had disappeared, Kendra reluctantly stood. “Well then, thank you for inviting me.” Maybe the grilling could work both ways. She’d like to hear Abby’s opinion of the disturbingly impossible Rafael Alvarez—and the unknown woman he was breaking a date with.

“SO WHAT’S your take on the Kincade woman, Rafe?” Mitchell demanded, looking around the conference table at the assembled members of Texas Confidential.

“She’s got spunk. And I suspect she could give stubborn lessons to a mule. We need some factual information on her.”

“Do you think she’d go through with her threat?” Jake asked skimming a hand over his short, dark hair.

“Maybe. I’m more concerned that she might do something foolish if she’s left on her own. I don’t think she’s faking her hated for Stephen Rialto, though I’d be a lot more comfortable if I knew why.”

“Maybe he had her boyfriend or a lover killed,” Cody suggested.

Mitchell frowned. “She wouldn’t explain?”

“I seem to make her nervous,” Rafe admitted with a shrug.

There was a discreet shuffling of feet and a couple of not-so-hidden smirks.

“Imagine that,” Penny murmured.

“Charm’s starting to fail you in your old age?” Brady asked with a grin.

Rafe faced his fellow agents with a self-deprecating smile. “I prefer to think that my charms simply overwhelm the poor woman.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Oh, brother.”

Mitchell put a stop to the teasing. “We have to decide how to handle her. If she knows as much as she implies about our operation she could be a problem.”

“On the other hand, if she’s as good with a computer as she claims, she could be an asset,” Brady put in.

“Or she could be someone whose job it is to infiltrate us,” Penny pointed out.

Jake frowned. “She’s with my wife and daughter.” And there was still a touch of almost awed pride in those words. “Abby may be able to learn something from her.”

Mitchell turned the silver lighter over and over in his fingers. He turned to Penny. “Find out if we can get any information out of Washington, D.C. yet,” he ordered. “In the meantime, we’ll string her along. We’ll keep her here until we have more information. It’s possible we can use her.”

“There’s a problem with that,” Rafe said. “Even if she’s as good with a computer as she claims, there’s no way I can bring her along as my assistant. You know the sort of people Rialto surrounds himself with. Young, attractive—”

“Oh, listen to that ego,” Cody teased.

“No,” Mitchell said thoughtfully, tapping a thumbnail against the lighter. “In this case, Rafe’s right. In the past five years Rialto has only hired female staff with a certain ‘look.’ Ms. Kincade doesn’t fit.”

“Exactly,” Rafe agreed.

Mitchell set the lighter on the table. “So fix it.”

“What?”

The other agents began to snicker.

“Do what’s necessary to make her fit in. Clothes, hair, whatever.”

“Me? Why me? Penny—”

“Hey, I have enough to do around here. Glamorous women are your department, Rafe,” she said archly.

“You know they are merely substitutes while I wait for you, darlin’.”

“Well while you’re waiting,” Mitchell growled around the end of his unlit cigar, “take care of Kendra Kincade.”

“Now wait a minute, how am I supposed to do that?”

The others began gathering their stuff in preparation for the end of the meeting.

“This isn’t funny, guys.” They ignored him with wide smirks. He rounded on Penny. “I’m at least going to need a feminine point of view here.”

“Not mine,” she said firmly. “Why not ask the widow, Lydia?”

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. “Now there’s a lady who knows how to fill out a dress.”

Penny snorted. “Bear in mind that Lydia’s favorite shade of yellow definitely won’t suit Kendra’s coloring,” she pointed out coolly. “Also, Kendra doesn’t have Lydia’s abundantly obvious charms.”

Jake nudged Brady and muttered, “This could get interesting.”

Mitchell surveyed them in silence. Rafe knew when he was licked. With an exaggerated sigh, he acquiesced. “All right. I’ll see what I can do. When should I start?”

“Right after I meet with Ms. Kincade,” Mitchell said. “Forgo your outside duties so you can stay near the phone lines. Our information says Rialto’s appointment secretary is supposed to call the candidates today or tomorrow to set up interviews. Penny will continue to pose as your assistant, but they might ask to speak to you. I want you around if that happens.”

“Does this mean I get to hang out down here and chase Penny around the conference table?”

Penny fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Be still my foolish heart.”

“What about the roundup?” Cody interrupted.

“Slim’s hired plenty of extra help,” Mitchell promised.

“In that case,” Cody said, “maybe I’ll give you a hand after all, Rafe.”

“You will report to Slim and find out if he needs someone to ride herd on any of the new men,” Mitchell said sternly.

Cody’s lips tightened at the rebuke, but he remained silent as the meeting broke up.