Stone Cold Texas Ranger

She finally walked from the little opening of the hallway toward the table that acted as the eating area.

She had visible bags under her dark eyes, and her hair was a tangled, curly mass. The smell of smoke drifted toward him even when they were yards apart.

“The soup will keep if you want to take a shower.”

“I don’t suppose there’s a washer and dryer around here, is there?”

“Actually, there is in the hall closet. As isolated as this cabin is, my sister isn’t one to do without the modern conveniences of life. We’ve got a good generator and plenty of appliances.”

She glanced at him then, some unreadable expression on her face. She scratched a fingernail across the corner of the old wooden table that had belonged to his grandparents decades ago. Lucy might be all up in the modern conveniences, but she had a sentimental streak that ran much deeper than his.

“Are you close with your sister?”

There was something in the way that she asked the question... Something that gave him the feeling he got when things on a case weren’t fitting together the way he thought they should.

There was something this woman was hiding. Even if she had nothing to do with The Stallion or Herman, there was something going on here. He needed to figure it out.

“Well, our careers make it pretty hard for us to spend time together, but we like each other well enough. Do you have a sister?”

Her downturned gaze flicked to his and then quickly back to the table again. There was something there. Definitely.

“We were very close growing up. But...”

“But what?”

“She’s...” Natalie swallowed. “Gone.”

And he was an ass. Her sister had died, and he was suspicious of this woman, who probably still had painful feelings over it. “I’m sorry,” he offered, surprised at how genuine it sounded coming out of him.