“But you’re doing it under protest?”

  “Definitely.” He gave her a crooked grin. “This won’t be the first time I’ve done something under protest.”

  “I get the impression you don’t do much unless you want to.”

  “A misconception. We all have obligations that have to be met whether we want to or not.”

  Beneath his words an undercurrent of tension caused her to pause and study him. His strong profile gave her a sense of security. He was the right person to escort her. He would protect her from any natural threat, but who was going to protect her against him? There was something about him that enticed her to forget that her career was her life now, that she didn’t want any kind of relationship with a man other than friendship.

  Fifty minutes later Hawke drove into her driveway and parked his Jeep. “Who’s that on the porch?”

  “The mailman.”

  “It’s Sunday. Why is he delivering something on Sunday?”

  “Spoken like a cop, suspicious about everything.” Kit threw him a frown. “His sister lives across the street, and he visits her and her children a lot. He’s a wonderful uncle. When her husband died, he helped her buy her home.”

  “I get the picture. He’s a great guy.”

  “We’ve become friends,” she couldn’t resist adding. “We go to the same church. When I’m not here, Sean keeps any package for me and delivers it later after work or the next morning. I had one stolen off my porch a few years back.”

  When she left the Jeep and headed across her lawn toward the middle-aged man with white-blond hair, Sean spun toward her. “I was about to decide you weren’t home. I was going to leave you a note.”

  “Is that the book I’ve been expecting?” She hurried up the steps and took the package he held out for her.

  “It feels like one. I came by last night, and when you weren’t here, I decided to try again this morning after church. I missed you at the service. The sermon was especially good today.” Dressed in a short-sleeved white shirt, a red striped tie and black slacks, Sean smiled, displaying a row of straight, newly capped teeth that he’d told her he would be paying for years to come.

  “My car ran out of gas and—” she glanced toward Hawke striding toward them “—it’s a long story. Remind me to tell you about it one day.”

  When Hawke joined Kit, she introduced him. “This is Hawke Lonechief. Sean Sullivan.”

  The blond-headed man spied the Santa Maria Pueblo Tribal Police emblem on the side of the Jeep and asked, “You had trouble when you ran out of gas?”

  “Oh, not much. Just a couple of six-foot rattlesnakes.” Kit flipped her hand in the air before digging into her purse for her keys. “You’re welcome to come in. I’m packing.”

  “Packing?” Sean’s tanned forehead wrinkled.

  “Hawke has agreed to be my guide to the canyon. I’m staying with him and his mother at their ranch until we’re ready to make the trip, so I’ll be gone for the next couple of weeks.”

  “Do you want me to hold all your mail?”

  “Would you?”

  Sean nodded. “I’ll also look after the house as I’ve done before.”

  Kit touched his arm. “You’re such a good friend. If anything comes up, you can reach me at Evelyn Lonechief’s at the Santa Maria Pueblo.” Opening the door, she was aware of Hawke behind her, silent, appraising Sean. “I can put on a pot of coffee if you want to stay.”

  “No, I’m sure you have a lot to do. I’ll leave you two. I’ll be praying you stay safe, Kit.”

  As she entered her house, Sean left the porch. Hawke followed her inside with one last look over his shoulder.

  “How many people know about you looking for the Lost City of Gold?” he asked in a tight voice when she shut the front door.

  “Probably half of Albuquerque,” she said sarcastically while breezing past him toward the back of the house.

  “Half! Are you sure you didn’t announce it in the newspaper?”

  She whirled around and blocked his entrance into the kitchen. “For your information, Sean thinks I’m going on a hiking trip to see parts of New Mexico I haven’t seen. I haven’t told him about my research. The only people who know anything about what I’m looking for is Samuel, a research librarian at the college, and Zach. My next-door neighbor thinks I’m looking for a Spanish mission, the one you found.”

  “I’ve met your neighbor, but who’s this Samuel? Tell me about him.”

  “Are you going to be this demanding over the next several weeks?”

  “This is only the beginning. I don’t go into a situation without knowing as much of the facts as I can. What does Samuel know?”

  “Only that I’m looking at various Indian ruins around New Mexico with special interest in the northwest quadrant. I’ve never used the words Lost City of Gold with him, only Zach. What do you take me for?”

  “Someone who is in over her head and won’t admit it.”

  Kit turned her back on him, marched straight to the desk in the kitchen and tugged open the long drawer. Removing an address book, she walked into the dining room and flipped through the pages until she came to the name she needed. Then using her cell, she made a call. The drill of Hawke’s sharp gaze burned a hole into her back as she waited for Wes to answer his phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Wes, this is Kit. I’ve got a favor to ask. Can you give my finals this Thursday and Friday for me? Something came up unexpectedly, and I have to go out of town for a couple of weeks on a project I’ve been working on. Since part of the week is for studying, I just need someone to cover giving my exams.”

  “Sure. Anything I can help you with?”

  “No, I’ve got everything under control. I’m tracking down information on the paper I’m writing. The receptionist was making copies of the exam for me. She’ll have them.”

  “What do I do with the finals afterward?”

  “Have her open my office and put them on my desk. Thanks. I owe you one.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Wes said with a chuckle before hanging up.

  “A colleague at the college?”

  The sound of Hawke’s deep voice so close behind her produced a gasp from her as she swung around. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  The corner of his mouth tilted upward. “I wasn’t sneaking. I was walking.”

  “Make more noise next time. You’re too quiet when you walk.”

  “Sorry. A habit I developed when I was young.”

  “You must have been a joy to raise.”

  His grin grew. “The perfect son. Who is Wes?”

  “Just because you’re my guide to Desolation Canyon, that doesn’t give you the right to know everything about me.”

  “Wes now knows you’re going to be gone for a while, working on your paper. I think that gives me a right to ask you who Wes is.”

  “Why are you so suspicious?”

  “That’s my job to be suspicious. Remember I’m a cop.”

  “Did you give Zach and Maggie this much trouble last year when you helped them?”

  “No, because I know Zach can take care of himself.” He folded his arms over his chest, his gaze singeing her. “Who is Wes?”

  Anger inundated her. She would prove Hawke Lonechief wrong. Moving back into the kitchen, she dropped her address book back into the drawer and slammed it shut. “He’s a history professor at the college. I was his advisor. This is his first year teaching in the department. He’s become quite popular with the students.”

  “He doesn’t know what your paper is about?”

  “He’s been in my office. I’m sure he’s seen some of the books I’ve been reading. He may have a general idea. Why all these questions about what people know?”

  “Just a feeling. There are a lot of things that have happened to you lately.” Hawke rubbed his nape, a shadow darkening his eyes.

  “I ran out of gas. That has happened to me before.”

  “You have?”

  “Yeah, once when I was in graduate school I was supposed to meet the guy I was dating for dinner. I was delayed. He didn’t wait for me. In fact, he moved to the bar in the restaurant and started drinking, then decided to drive after that.”

  “What happened?”

  “He was in an accident. He walked away unharmed. The couple in the other car wasn’t so lucky. The man almost died.” The thought of her first serious relationship and how wrong she had been only reconfirmed in her mind the need not to depend on anyone else for her happiness. “Terry knew how I felt about drinking and lied to me. He pretended he didn’t drink alcohol. He said what I wanted to hear. I’m so glad I found out before we got any more serious.” She wasn’t about to tell Hawke that she had already become emotionally involved with the fellow graduate student and that his lie had cut deeply.

  “I’ve seen what alcohol and driving can do to a person personally on my job. Not a good combination.”

  No, it wasn’t. Her own experience as a child living with an alcoholic father was enough to convince her. But there was no way she would elaborate with Hawke. Over the next several weeks she would be giving him more control over her than she ever had with another human being since she was a child.

  The sound of Hawke clearing his throat pulled her away from her memories of a time she didn’t want to revisit. She blinked and focused on the man before her.

  “I’d better pack my bag.” She hesitated, for some reason unable to move from in front of Hawke. His look held her captive as though he had roped her to him.

  “Yeah, I want us to start today.” He took a step toward her.

  Although he invaded her personal space, she held her ground, still trapped in the snare of his gaze. “I haven’t been exercising a lot lately.”

  “That’s about to change.”

  Another foot disappeared between them. Her pulse beat jumped.

  “And while you aren’t working out, I want you to explain about your research.”

  “I can do that.” Her words came out in a breathless rush.

  Strains of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro blared through the sudden silence. Finally noticing just how close he was, Kit quickly backed away as Hawke stuffed his hand into his pant pocket and pulled out his ringing cell phone.

  While talking, he turned away, walked to the sink and stared out the window. The muscles in his arm holding the phone bunched. “So you aren’t sure how it happened?” A long pause, then Hawke finished with, “Fine. We’ll pick it up tomorrow. Thanks, Bud.”

  “What’s wrong?” Kit asked, tension rolling off Hawke although his voice had remained calm.

  “Bud said the rock that hit your tank had to be big to make the hole it did.” He snapped his cell closed and slipped it back into his pocket. “Did you feel or hear anything while driving to Black Horse Pass?”

  “No, not that I remember…”

  “I don’t like this one bit. Have you considered someone might be trying to stop you from going into Desolation Canyon?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  One of Kit’s delicate eyebrows arched. “Besides you?”

  Standing in her kitchen, Hawke laughed. “Yeah, besides me.”

  “No, not really. We’ve gone over this. I’ve made sure it isn’t common knowledge.” She tilted her head to the side. “Do you think we have a problem? That someone is after me?”

  “Probably not, but it pays to be cautious. I don’t want you to tell anyone else where you’re going.”

  “Should I call Sean and ask him to keep quiet about what I’m doing?”

  “It wouldn’t hurt. Otherwise when you don’t show up again at church, he might say something, and before long everyone will know.”

  “Fine, I’ll pack and give him a call in the bedroom. I shouldn’t be too long.”

  “I’ll wait out on the porch for you.”

  As she headed toward the hallway, he escaped outside. Leaning into the wooden railing, he stared down at the flower bed.

  He’d almost kissed her in the kitchen. For a few seconds the fire in her eyes had appealed to him and sparked something deep inside him—until he had banked it. He couldn’t afford to become emotionally involved with anyone, especially someone like Kit who intrigued him.

  Then why am I taking her to the canyon?

  He shouldn’t have given in to his need to protect. But deep down he’d known when he’d seen her curled up on the boulder with a rattlesnake nearby that he would guide her to Desolation Canyon—if she were alive. He just hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself or her. Now he was trapped into doing something he knew was a big mistake.

  “Hi. It’s Hawke, isn’t it?” Kit’s neighbor stopped at the bottom of the porch steps, shielding his face from the glare of the sun as he looked up at Hawke.

  “Yes. Marcus Perry?”

  “I wasn’t sure if she would be coming home or what after her guide was in that accident. Is she okay?”

  Hawke nodded, studying the man standing on the sidewalk.

  Marcus shifted from one foot to the other. “I look after the flowers out here.” Marcus mounted the first two steps. “Actually I’m the one who planted these for her—” he gestured toward the bed below “—to give her house some color. She has a black thumb and can’t keep anything alive for longer than a week.”

  Hawke’s glance strayed from the yellow and red roses along the front of Kit’s house to Marcus’s multiple gardens next door. “You must spend a lot of time in your yard.” That was the only place Hawke had ever seen him.

  “I tinker around my yard occasionally, but I don’t have the time I wish I had.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I have property I manage, and I write self-help books.”

  “Anything I’d recognize?”

  “Do you read self-help books?”

  “No.”

  “Then I doubt it.” Marcus smiled when the front door opened, and Kit emerged from her house. His gaze zoomed in on the piece of luggage she carried. “Going somewhere?”

  “Away.”

  “Of course. When will you be back?”

  Kit’s gaze slanted toward Hawke. “I’m doing some research, so I’m not sure. I’ll call you and let you know if I’m going to be gone longer than a week or so.”

  Marcus considered Hawke for a long moment, then looked at Kit. “You don’t need to worry about anything here. I’ll take care of your flowers out here and anything else as if it were mine.”

  “Thanks. You’ve got my cell number if you need me. If you can’t reach me on it, I’m staying with Hawke’s mother, Evelyn Lonechief, at Santa Maria Pueblo.”

  Hawke took her bag and started toward his Jeep. There was something about Marcus Perry that bothered him. He’d been to Kit’s twice and both times he’d talked with her neighbor. Did he do more than watch her house when she was gone? The thought unnerved him. He might not be interested in her work, but the man could be interested in the lady. When they returned from Desolation Canyon, maybe he should snoop around and run a check on her neighbor.

  Five minutes later after saying goodbye to Marcus, Kit settled into his Jeep. “I never worry when I’m gone. Marcus takes looking after my place seriously.”

  “He does?” Hawke backed out of her driveway and glanced toward the man being discussed.

  Marcus stood on the sidewalk in front of Kit’s house, observing them. Hawke lost sight of her neighbor when he turned the corner at the end of the block and headed toward Interstate 40.

  “Your neighbor is…interesting.”

  “He and Sean have been a big help to me. Between those two, I feel quite safe. I’m grateful Marcus works from his home. He’s the one who called the police when someone broke into my house. Thankfully nothing was taken because he scared the person away. The next day he was there to fix my busted door and put dead bolts on every entrance.”

  “Do you have an alarm system?”

  “I do now. I got one right after that. The same company monitors Marcus’s house. In fact, a lot of the people on the street. He knows the owner. Marcus has quite a bit of property around Albuquerque and that company always does his security.”

  Hawke gripped his steering wheel so tightly his arms hurt. He forced himself to relax. Since he hadn’t slept more than an hour the night before, he was tired. The added stress only made him wearier. And he was positive he would need all his strength over the course of the next few weeks.

  * * *

  Several days later every muscle protested the walk from the barn to Hawke’s house, but there was no way Kit would say a word to him. He was waiting for her to tell him that she wanted to give up, that there was no way she would be in any kind of condition to hike to the canyon in a few days.

  “Now I realize why John didn’t show up for work this morning.” With an effort, she managed not to wince with each step although it was next to impossible not to limp just a little.

  “I gave him the day off. Since we were going to do his jobs I saw no reason for him to come and watch us work. He hasn’t had a day off in a while.”

  “And you got free labor here in the form of me.” Kit tapped her chest and regretted the movement of lifting her arm to execute it.

  “I was right there alongside you while you mucked the stalls and repaired the fences.”

  “You nailed while I carried the lumber to you. You took the wheelbarrow out of the stall after I shoveled the dirty hay into it. Not what I would call equal duties.”

  “Are you complaining?” He gave her a raised eyebrow as he stared down at her.

  “Oh, never. I did it gladly.”

  His laughter infused the silence of dusk. “Sarcasm. From you? I’m surprised.”

  “Then you don’t know me very well.”

  He paused, causing her to come to a stop. “True. I don’t. Maybe we should remedy that since we’ll be spending quality time together in a few days.”

  “Sarcasm. From you?” She started forward, eyeing the six steps up to the kitchen door. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem unless a person had run to the top of a mesa then back down again.

  “Actually in this case, I’m serious. We’ve been so busy the past five days that we haven’t had much time to just talk.”