“No, not at this place. The bouncers keep everyone under tight control. At the Back Alley the police are the enemy-and everyone has cop radar.”
“So what’s the plan once we’re inside?” she said, getting the idea fast.
“You’re my old lady, and I’m muscle who’ll do anything for money. With luck, we’ll run into whoever hires for Trujillo. Then we can check for known associates and that might give us a lead to the kidnappers. The tribal police believe the kidnappers were local talent and I happen to agree.”
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said.
He gave her the once-over again. “Let me do the talking. There’s something about you…a gentleness, a softness…It makes you stand out.”
She gave him a long look. “How many butts do I have to kick before you’ll give me some credit, huh?”
He laughed. “Play the cards you’ve got. Stick with the naive look. They’ll underestimate you.”
“Did you…at the beginning?”
“I wasn’t sure what was on the inside, but I liked the packaging. Still do,” he added in a rich baritone voice.
His words had felt like an intimate caress. “And do you know what to make of me now?” she asked in a whisper-soft tone.
He said nothing for several long moments. “You’re getting under my skin, schoolteacher,” he said at last. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad, but it’s a fact.”
It was more John Wayne than John Keats, but his words gave her a powerful rush. Yearning…she understood that emotion better now than she ever had before.
They approached the bar, which was located on a narrow side street in east Farmington a short time later. Ranger took a parking spot close to the door as another car was leaving. “Take a good, hard look at the people inside. If you see anyone we might be interested in, let me know.”
Once inside, Ranger chose a table that allowed them to keep their backs to the wall and still get a good look into the room.
“I recognize the bartender, and he knows I’m not law enforcement. For a Jackson, he’ll answer a quick question or two.
“Order whatever’s on tap for me, and something for yourself, while I go over to talk to him.” His eyebrows rose as he added, “Think you can stay out of trouble?”
“If you can, I can. Just don’t make me have to come over and save your behind,” she added.
He laughed. “Okay, sweetheart. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
Dana watched as he joined the bartender, then struck up a conversation. Though deep in discussion, Ranger would glance back at her often, making sure she was okay, and the gesture-and its intent-made her feel good.
A waitress in tight jeans and western-style shirt came over to take her drink order.
“Dana, I thought that was you! I love your wig,” she said.
Dana shifted her gaze and recognized the pretty young woman instantly. Jenny Miller worked as a teaching assistant at the school.
“Shhh,” Dana warned. “Nobody’s supposed to recognize me.”
“Keeping a low profile after being kidnapped? I don’t blame you,” she whispered, sitting down on the chair beside her. “We were all told you’d had to take a leave of absence for your own protection. But if you don’t want to be recognized, I better give you a heads-up. Coach Martin is here hoping to hook up tonight. He’s always had a thing for you, and that wig might just turn him on.”
Dana groaned. “Just what I need.” Looking in the direction Jenny pointed, Dana saw Martin flirting with a busty blond waitress. “Oh, good! I think he’s already making his move.”
“That’s probably just the first girl of the evening for him. Stay in the shadows. I’m engaged now, so hopefully he won’t try to hit on me, but Martin seems to like going from one woman to the next…kinda like the guy you came with.”
“You know Ranger?” Dana asked.
She nodded. “Sure. Heck, half the women around here have made a move on him. He’s a lot of fun, and a good guy, but he’s definitely not relationship material. I dated him for a while two years ago, but it didn’t work out. Same old story. I was getting serious-he wasn’t,” she said with a sigh.
Dana hadn’t been prepared for the news, though all things considered, she should have expected something like this. Ranger was smooth and that usually came from experience. A man with his looks and confidence was bound to have more than his share of opportunities.
“But don’t worry,” Jen continued. “Even when he stops calling or coming around, he’ll let you down easy. Ranger’s decent about the whole thing. Once he knew I was starting to get serious, he ended it.”
“Who’s he dating these days?” she asked, unable to resist.
“Last I heard, he was seeing three or four women. One of them is Linda McFadden, the anchor for channel eight news.”
The local cable news celebrity, besides having a degree in journalism, had curves in all the right places. Her early claim to fame had been as New Mexico ’s selection for a national beauty contest. “If he’s interested in her…”
“You think he won’t take more than a passing look at you?” Jenny said, finishing Dana’s thought. She shook her head. “First, you’re as pretty as Linda, and a heck of a lot smarter. But Ranger isn’t attracted just by looks. He met Linda while dating Chloe Vargas, the weather girl.”
Chloe was Linda’s polar opposite, and went counter to the old stereotype of the “all looks and no brains” weather girl often seen on major news outlets. Chloe was plain-looking and her only noticeable curves were around her bottom. Yet her intelligence and humor gave her an on-air sparkle that was responsible for her having landed the job.
“As I said, Ranger likes women,” Jen said in response to Dana’s surprised look. “No, let me amend that. Ranger loves women ll sizes and shapes,” she said. Lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, she added, “He and I never made love, but I’ve heard from a woman who shall remain nameless that once you’ve been with him, no one else quite measures up.”
That was possibly the last thing Dana needed to know. Her imagination had been working overtime. Now it was on hyperdrive.
“My source says that Ranger definitely knows how to use what nature gave him…and then some.”
Dana sighed openly. Despite all the reasons against it, he’d always been a temptation. Now it would be worse. But she had to stay focused.
Jenny turned, hearing her name being called, and saw the bartender motion to her with a toss of his head. “I better get back to work,” she said, taking Dana’s drink order.
As Jenny hurried away, Dana spotted Martin across the room, deep in conversation with a stunning black woman who’d just taken a seat by the bar. When he looked up, Dana ducked quickly, pretending to be looking in her purse. When she surfaced again, she saw that he’d moved with his new friend to an area where the patrons were playing darts.
Dana smiled with relief, but a man seated by himself two tables down smiled back, thinking her gesture had been directed at him.
The man, with wavy black hair and a big gold chain clearly visible in the spot where he’d left two buttons of his shirt undone, grabbed his drink and sauntered over. “Why in the world would any man leave a pretty lady like you all alone?”
She glanced at Ranger, but he was still talking to the bartender. When she turned back, “Wavy Hair’s” hand was on the table, still holding his drink. She could see a pale stripe around the left ring finger of the wannabe Romeo.
Thinking fast, Dana reached into her purse and brought out her small notebook and pen, then looked him squarely in the eye. “I’m a reporter for the Farmington Journal. I’m doing a piece for our lifestyles section on pickup lines men use when stepping out on their wives.”
“Oh…well, I’m not married so I can’t help you. Good luck with the story,” he said, picking up his drink and moving away quickly.
She was still chuckling, sipping the rum and cola Jenny had delivered, when Ranger finally joined her. “What was that all about,” he said, picking up his glass and taking a deep swallow of beer.