Chapter 2
NOELLE
For some reason, she expected him to take her to a laboratory or a morgue or something.
She did not expect to take a nice long drive out to a rural area with ranch fencing.
Her eyes were closed at first. When she opened them, she sat back against the seat and sighed. “It’s so beautiful out here.”
She didn’t hear anything in the cab of the truck besides a song playing over the speakers that sounded like, “Brad Paisley?”
“Mmm hmm.”
She turned to look at the Ranger and got a good look at his profile.
It was just as beautiful as it was inside the museum and the half a dozen other times she’d looked at him since.
The man was just that gifted.
Her gaze moved down from his face, along his neck, and down to his shoulder and along his arm.
The whole time she was looking at him, she was humming along to the song on the radio.
“Interesting?”
“Hmm?”
He repeated his question, adding more this time. “Is it interesting?”
She bit into her lip as she got down to his hands holding the steering wheel of the truck. “What is?”
“Whatever you’re looking at?”
She flicked her gaze up to his face.
He wasn’t looking at her, but she had a feeling that he could tell what she was looking at.
She smiled feeling as awkward as she’s ever felt.
“I just… I get fixated on anatomy, bones, really. The underpinnings of what most people see.”
He nodded and leaned toward the wheel slightly. “I get it.”
Did he?
She didn’t really know, but she was taking it at face value for the moment.
There really wasn’t a reason for him to lie to her, except to make her feel better.
And that was at least polite, right?
The car slowed and she heard the distinctive tick tick of a turn signal.
She sat back against her seat and looked at the world outside of the truck.
They weren’t turning onto a road.
They were turning into a driveway.
The fence and wooden sign bridging over the driveway looked like hundreds of other signs that she’d seen throughout her life.
This one said KING.
King.
Like McCrae King?
She turned to look at him. “Is this your house?”
He smiled and slowed the truck just beyond the sign. “Not mine. I grew up here, but I don’t live here now, although my mother grumps about it. This is an official request from the Texas Rangers.”
She nodded, slowly.
“At your family’s house.”
She watched him draw in a breath.
“I’m sorry,” she shifted in her seat, “it’s just a little… worrisome?”
“Worrisome,” he smiled at the word. “I haven’t heard that word in a long time.”
She frowned. “Is it a little old fashioned?”
He shrugged. “It’s just… different.”
She half scoffed and half snorted. “That’s the story of my life. Being different.”
“If you’re not comfortable coming up to the ranch, I can have another one of my team come out to meet us.”
Team.
She nodded. Not to agree with his offer, but just because she was processing.
He lifted his radio and spoke into it.
“West? I’m in the drive. Could you send someone out to the driveway to meet us?”
“Sure. Jack was on the way out to with Blue to grab some lunch for everyone. They can meet you in the drive.”
“Thanks.”
Noelle bit into her bottom lip. “Sorry for causing you trouble.”
He shrugged and put the radio hand piece back into the holder. “No trouble. I can see how it might seem a little… worrisome.”
He turned and smiled at her.
And she found herself, a little stunned.
“You’re not making fun of me.”
He shook his head. “I think I like the word. If I start using it around my team, I think they’ll wonder if I got hit in the head.” His smile broadened. “Yeah, I really like that word.”
He picked his phone up off of the dash where he’d left it and keyed in the password.
She smiled slightly.
If she had a face as beautiful as he was, she’d use facial recognition to open her phone.
He opened up an app and turned the screen to her. “Here. I can show you what we’re looking at in the field.”
What we’re looking at… The words replayed in her head as she reached out for the phone.
Ranger McCrae put the phone in her hand and sat back in his seat.
It only took a heartbeat for her to see what he was talking about.
There was a skull.
And a skeleton attached to it.
Tangled up in dirt and roots.
It looked like the ground it had been buried in had split open.
No, not split open.
It looked like the ground had spilled it out like an overflow of water in a pitcher.
This wasn’t someone who had been laid to rest.
This was a person who had been hidden.
And the ground around the body had decided enough was enough.
“You found this on your property?”
He was quiet and she turned her head to look at him.
He was nodding.
“It became part of our ranch about forty years ago, before I was born.”
She gestured at the screen of the phone. “Can I… Can I touch the screen without messing it up?”
He gestured at the phone in her hands. “Feel free. This is just a photo I have of it. We’ve already had people out to the scene to document the original find. We have a team excavating the scene to collect evidence.”
She nodded and used her fingers to zoom in.
She was looking at the photo on the flat screen, but in her head she was adding layers of muscle and flesh. Cheekbones lifted the image of a face. Lips formed over teeth.
A chin rounded out the bottom of the image.
Narrowing her gaze she searched for signs of ethnicity. Race could help her make better guesses at skin tone, eye color, hair color.
The eyes…
The eyes were always her first place to start and the last place before she finished.
Skulls were fascinating, but it was when the dark ocular cavities looked back at her with eyes, she felt unsettled in a way.
“So this is the skull expert?”
Startled, Noelle looked up and stared at the woman outside her window.
To say that she was beautiful was a horrible understatement.
Inky dark hair and a pale complexion was already a contrast, but her features were stunning. There was a modern edge to her expression, but the components of her face reminded Noelle of a pre-raphaelite painting.
Something moved the seat back behind her and in the rear-view mirror, she saw Officer McCrae lean in.
“This is Noelle Garcia. She’s the anatomy artist.”
Anatomy artist.
She’d heard worse.
“Sweet.”
Noelle turned her head to look at the woman at the window.
The ranger reached her hand in for a shake. “I’m Ranger Morgan. Jaclyn Morgan.”
Jaclyn.
Noelle smiled and took her hand. “You’re Jack?”
The ranger grinned. “That’s right. Jack.”
Noelle had been stunned by her appearance at first, but now she knew she liked her.
A man walked up behind Jack and Noelle was shaken by his appearance.
“Is there anyone on your team who isn’t drop dead gorgeous?”
The man behind Jack looked back at her confused. “Excuse me?”
Jack snorted a laugh and with her forearm still on the open window ledge she stepped back to look at the man behind her. She gave him a light, reassuring pat on his chest before turning back to look at her.
“That’s Blue. Ranger Bonner. His a damn good ranger, but he’s also a little… sweet.”
Ranger Bonner frowned at Jack. He had a very earnest look that put Noelle at ease.
The man kind of reminded her of Brendan Fraser in the film Dudley Do Right. Or that guy from When Calls the Heart. “Jack Thornton.”
Both Blue and Jack looked at her.
Without thinking overly much, Noelle used the phone in her hands and opened the first browser she found. She typed in a search. And when the images came up she turned it around for the two rangers at her window to see.
Blue frowned, but Jack grinned from ear to ear. “Look at this, Blue. She’s got you pegged.”
“Pegged?” Blue looked decidedly uncomfortable. “What-”
Jack rolled her eyes and pointed at the phone screen. “She’s right on the money with the visual reference. He’s got the same strong jaw and aw-shucks good looks.”
Jack leaned on the window frame and looked in. “What do you think, Duval?”
Things seemed to slow down to the speed of an ancient glacier.
A hand covered hers.
Large.
Warm.
Strong.
She felt his touch against her forearm.
And the warmth of his body near hers.
She’d never felt anything like it.
His laughter shook her from her introspective thoughts.
“She got you good, Blue.” He moved back and she felt a strange shiver along her forearm as if the temperature had dropped more than few degrees. “Spot on.”
Jack gestured at Noelle and she looked at the other woman. “West said you were a little worried about coming onto the property.”
Noelle opened her mouth to explain, but Jack seemed to wave her off.
“No worries. I get it.” She lifted her chin toward the driver’s seat. “Duval can be a little intense. Like Arnold in the Terminator. So much brawn and not a lot of personality.”
Noelle leaned back at the matter-of-fact comment from the other ranger.
Behind her, she heard a suffering sigh. “Thanks, Jack.”
She winked and leaned both of her forearms on the open window frame. “My pleasure D-101.”
Noelle laughed a little. D-101 instead of T-101.
“I’m sure she’ll warm up to you… eventually.” Jack smiled at her. “Do you want me to take you up to the dig? We can send Blue and Butthead to get lunch.”
Noelle heard a low curse at her side.
Nervous that she’d caused a problem between co-workers, Noelle interjected. “I’m fine with Ranger McCrae.”
Jack’s smile revealed two rows of shining white teeth. “I like you, Skull lady.”
Noelle couldn’t help but let her know that “I like you, too.”
With that, Jack leaned back and tapped her hands on the window frame. “Okay, Ranger McCrae,” she wrinkled her nose, “you have been cleared to take Skull lady to the site.”
She lifted a hand and made a salute.
Noelle could tell by Blue’s strained expression and the tension at her side that Jack had struck a nerve with both men.
She had a feeling that this situation wasn’t new or unique.
As far as she was concerned, Jack’s attitude lightened her own mood.
“Alright. Alright,” The man beside her grumbled. “Back away from the car so I can take her up.”
Jack stepped back and held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, big man.” She took another step back and stumbled.
Noelle reached her hand out, but it didn’t make a bit of difference.
Blue caught Jack before she could do much more than stumble back a step.
As the truck pulled forward, Noelle looked out the window toward the two rangers.
She saw the way Blue held Jack, one hand on her back, the other around her waist.
Noelle smiled to herself.
Those two were definitely more than teammates.
Sitting back in her seat she looked over at the ranger sitting beside her.
“What?”
Startled she blinked at him.
Maybe he’d seen what she’d seen?
“What are you looking at me like that for?”
Ah… She smiled. Maybe he didn’t.
Noelle put her hands in her lap and bit into her cheek.
Interesting… She told herself. Very interesting….