Page 3 of A Ranger for Christmas
“I hear you’re mighty good.” His face softened, but avoided a smile.
“So I’ve been told.” She burrowed chilled fingers into the pockets of her jacket.
“I’d like to run an idea by you.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m on a case.” Ah, so Merida hadn’t mattered much after all.
Pride piqued, her voice was more clipped. “Maybe you could call my assistant, Kyle, and make an appointment. Like I said, I must get these presents picked up. I’ll have plenty of time after the holidays.” Truth was, she had plenty of time, but his blatant dismissal of that night had her digging in mental heels. Stubbornness, she’d been told, was her greatest asset and her worst fault.
“Now would be better than later.” Steel coated the words barely softened by a slight smile.
She glanced up, conscious of the difference between her diminutive height and his six-foot-five frame. To appear a bit more intimidating, she tilted her chin and raised a brow as if staring at a tardy student. “I don’t imagine you as a student of ancient languages.”
Amusement danced in his gray eyes at her attempt to claim command of a situation he’d owned before he’d uttered the first word. “You’d be surprised what interests me, ma’am.”
“Are you trying to be clever?”
“Wouldn’t know how to be clever if I tried.”
False modesty didn’t ring true. “What do you want?”
“Got a research question for you.”
“Regarding?” He wasn’t the relaxed man with the easy smile she’d met in Mexico. This man was harder, tougher, the kind of man who didn’t seek out anyone without an express purpose.
He glanced from side to side and dropped his voice a notch so that only she could hear. “I’m not here to interfere in your personal life. I’m working on a drug case. It’s the same case that took me to Merida. A drug dealer has developed a code that’s been used to communicate information about an upcoming shipment, and no one can break it.”
She drew cool air deep into her lungs. “And you want me to break the code?”
“I’d have asked you in Mexico if you’d let me get to know you better. I figured we’d talk more at breakfast.”
Color warmed her cheeks. “Breakfast.”
“You vanished into the jungle until a few days ago. I never forgot you, and it’s taken me this long to track you. Like I said, you are a hard woman to find.”
Chapter 2
Friday, December 19, 7:40P.M.
Lucas had hunted down Marisa. He’d tracked her to Mexico and now here. She wasn’t sure if she was upset or pleased. “I see.”
“No one has figured the code out so far. It’s made up of dots and dashes and pictures. We think perhaps Mayan or Aztec, but no one can read it.”
“There are glyphs?”
“Say again?”
She unzipped the folds of her jacket to show him her T-shirt. “Like this?”
His gaze dropped, lingered. “I suppose so.”
She zipped up her jacket. “Why didn’t you talk to the folks here at the university? I’m not the only one who could have figured this out.”
His gaze met hers. “We had Rangers interview the professors here. None could help us out.”
Despite the situation’s awkwardness and the ticking toy clock, her interest flickered. “Do you have it with you?”
