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A flash of panic shot through Dana. “Oh, no. She’s waiting and I’m not even ready.”
She raced into the bathroom, reached for the bar of soap and began scrubbing up as best she could. There were a few basic cosmetics in the medicine cabinet, and she kept a clean shirt or two in the back room. That would have to do.
But as she rushed to get ready, knowing that an interminable lunch and her mother’s caustic wit awaited her at the Pink Petticoat, only one thought pounded through her brain.
He’s back.
* * * *
ZACH HAD KNOWN ALL his life about how stubborn women could be. He hadn’t realized how young they started.
Surrounded by a dizzying melee of hearts on flocked wallpaper, ruffly tablecloths, lacy wall decorations, and a good two dozen women, he thought longingly of the barren park at the edge of town. He’d figured on going back out there with some take-out sandwiches from the Cattleman’s Café.
But one glance at the lacy pink curtains and pink-bowed teddy bears in the windows of the Pink Petticoat Inn, and Katie had planted her little feet on the sidewalk and refused to budge. “There!” she’d announced. “I wanna go there!”
Given the fact she’d never wanted anything so much in all the time she’d been with him, he couldn’t have said no if she’d asked him to do cartwheels up to the door.
He scanned the tearoom when he and Katie entered, noting windows and exits and the patrons seated inside. and requested a corner table as he always did, feeling comfort in having his back to the wall. The cautious habits lingered, even here.
A flurry of whispered conversation telegraphed that everyone present was well-aware of a stranger’s presence—a stranger all the more noticeable for being the only man in sight, save for an old rancher sitting with his plump wife near the front.
One woman had glanced his way, her eyes widening with sudden recognition. Then she scowled and pointedly turned her attention back to her menu. Something about her seemed so familiar...
In her early sixties, she wore a severe gray suit that did nothing to complement her angular body. Since glancing his way, she’d checked her watch twice, her rising agitation apparent in the stiffness of her spine and the rapid tapping of her fingertips on the tablecloth.
She had to be Dana’s mother.
A pretty, middle-aged redhead came to a stop at his table, a pencil poised above an order pad. “Hi, I’m Cindy. Are you ready to order?”
Zach ordered the usual glass of milk and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Katie—all she’d ever eat except for ice cream—and a steak sandwich and salad for himself.
Cindy jotted down the order. “What a beautiful little daughter you have there.” She reached out to stroke Katie’s bright curls, but the child jerked away in alarm. Cindy’s cheeks turned pink. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare her!”
Some women at the next table gave him a suspicious glance, and he knew they were thinking the same thing he did: someone had been physically abusive to Katie. But they were figuring it might be him.
The thought of anyone laying a hand on this child in anger made his stomach clench. It also made him wary.
To cover his tracks, he’d used only cash on the way to Fossil Hill. En route, he and Katie had stayed one night at a crumbling, mom-and-pop motel unaffiliated with any nationwide chains on the edge of a small town.
El Cazador’s identity was still unknown, but it didn’t take much guesswork to assume he’d been nailed during one of Zach’s undercover operations and now wanted revenge. Which operation, Zach couldn’t guess. Somehow the guy had tracked down Zach’s real name. But did he know Zach had been undercover DEA, or he still think Zach was a lowlife drug dealer?
If the former, that information could blow the covers of agents still on related cases.
Yet, Zach now faced three months of healing until he could go back on duty and pursue this case. Three long months of trying to attract as little attention as possible, so no one could show up in the dead of night and catch him unaware.
If Katie’s fearful reactions triggered any sort of social services investigation of her situation, inquiries could possibly lead the guy to Fossil Hill...and put her at risk.
“We were in an accident recently,” he said smoothly, just loudly enough for nearby patrons to hear. “Doctors, nurses—anyone in a uniform still frightens her.”
He’d used that excuse several times, letting people assume he referred to a car wreck on the drive north from Dallas. He’d prayed that Katie’s shyness would preclude any hint of denial in front of others. Each time, she’d dropped her gaze and sort of closed in on herself, just as she had when he’d said she could call him “Daddy” until her mother returned.
She’d never once used the word.
“I’m so sorry,” the young woman gushed. She glanced at the splint on his arm and seemed to take his words at face value. “Were either of you badly hurt?”
Shaking his head, Zach shifted his gaze to the newspaper he’d picked up at the drugstore, hoping she wouldn’t pry.
“Would you like to color, sweetie?” At Katie’s brief nod, she withdrew some crayons and a coloring book from a deep pocket in her apron and set them on the table, then turned and headed for the kitchen.
