Kara Lennox - In This Together

“Whoever lived here sure could cook,” she said after a few hasty bites had dampened the worst of her hunger. She slowed down so she could appreciate the subtle spices and tangy tomato sauce. “Is there more of this?”

“This isn’t enough?”

“For later, I mean.”

“Oh. Yeah, there’s a whole pan.”

“Tell Daniel he can take his time meeting your demands.”

When he looked at her like she’d gone raving mad, she shrugged. “I’m kidding, of course.” She toyed with a broccoli floret. It wasn’t as good as the fresh stuff Cora always served at Daniel’s table, but with a little bit of lemon butter on it, it wasn’t terrible. “So what’s going on? Did you talk to Daniel?”

“I didn’t have his number. I called Project Justice. Figured they’d get him a message.”

She took that news with some alarm. “Depends. Who’d you talk to?”

“Celeste. The dragon lady?”

“Oh, I know who Celeste is,” she said grimly.

“You don’t think she’ll get word to Daniel?”

“She might. Or she might try to launch some kind of pseudo-SWAT-team rescue on her own. You never know about Celeste. I took a road trip with her once to Louisiana. Made the mistake of letting her drive.”

Travis laughed. “That bad?”

“She wanted to stop at a bayou crossing and look for an alligator because she needed a new pair of boots. And she wasn’t kidding.”

“She doesn’t strike me as a fool. She’ll do what needs to be done.”

“I wish I shared your certainty. When will you know?”

“I gave Daniel twenty-four hours to leave an answer on my voice mail. All he has to do is convince me he’s looked into the case.”

“That’s it? He just has to say, ‘Travis, you’re right. There’s been a miscarriage of justice. I’m going to make everything right for your brother’?”

“That’s a start. I also demanded proof he really has looked into the case. He’ll have to provide a detail that’s never been released to the public.”

“Not to blow holes in your plan, Travis, but Daniel can learn every detail about that case, inside and out, in about ten minutes. He has teams of researchers who can get the information in front of him so that he can provide the details you want.”

“That’s good. That’s all I’m asking for. That, and his word that he’ll take on Eric’s case, that he’ll assign investigators and give it his best shot. I understand Daniel is a man of his word.”

“Well, he is that.”

“I believe once he looks into it, he’ll see what I’m talking about. He’ll see Eric really was railroaded by an overzealous D.A. and a gutless defense attorney.”

“You do realize Daniel is married to the Houston D.A., right?”

“I know. The trial took place well before she took office.”

They fell silent for a few minutes. Elena finished up her soft drink. The cola was cold and sweet. She didn’t normally drink soft drinks because of the sugar; she’d forgotten how good they were.

“Doesn’t it bother you that even if you free your brother, you’ll take his place in prison?”

“Eric’s life is worth saving.”

“And yours isn’t?”

“Believe me, I don’t want to toss my life away. But Eric is my little brother. I promised our mother I would take care of him.”

The emotion in his voice was impossible to miss. He loved his brother. How could Elena continue to think of Travis as a villain when he was so devoted to his family?

She quickly changed the subject. “Why are you hanging here, watching me eat?” she asked when she was done. She blotted her mouth with the napkin.

“Actually, I’m keeping an eye on you. That plate is pretty heavy, and I haven’t forgotten the damage you did with a wrench.”

“Not to mention the knife and the fork,” she pointed out. “The knife is rather dull, but a fork in your jugular would hurt a lot more than the wrench did.”

He actually turned pale as his hand went protectively to his throat. Clearly this man hadn’t ever taken anyone hostage before. He didn’t know the first thing about it.

If she actually believed her life was in danger, she would use any means available—knife, fork, fingernails, teeth. But she didn’t. And she wouldn’t.

“Before Daniel makes a single concession, he’s going to want to know I’m alive. How are you going to prove that to him?”

“I’ve thought of that. I’m going to have you record a message for him. I’ll send it to him as a text attachment.”

“You can do that?”

“What, you think I’m too stupid to master some pretty basic cell phone functions?”

“Stupid? No.” That wasn’t the word she had in mind. A little crazy, maybe. “It’s just that...you said you had trouble with the Project Justice online form. I assumed that meant you weren’t very...you know, tech savvy.”

“I’m not when it comes to computers and...typing.” He shuddered as he said the word. “But voice recordings—that, I figured out.”

That seemed a little strange to Elena. The first thing most people figured out with a new phone is how to send a text or take a picture. “You can read and write, though...right?”

“Not my strong suit.”

She thought back to his difficulty with the form. “Do you have a learning disability?” she couldn’t help asking.

“Dysphasia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, attention deficit disorder... Take your pick. Counselors have labeled me with all kinds of big words over the years. Including ‘just plain pigheaded.’ So who the hell knows?”

No wonder the computer application had defeated him. But why was she concerning herself with that? Travis had a cell phone! It was probably in his pocket right now. Yes, she could see the rectangular outline on his thigh. His taut, muscular thigh. Dios, the man had a good body.

Elena had spent most of her youth around men who engaged in intense physical labor, day in and day out, either cutting sugarcane or working in the oil fields. All of her male relatives and family friends were strong and muscular. But Travis gave new meaning to the term “hard body.”

How humiliating to have to admit that she found her kidnapper handsome. And sexy. And how strange that, in the span of a couple of hours, she’d gone from terrified to... Well, she wasn’t afraid of him. He might be a desperate man, but deep down he was gentle, and he wasn’t going to hurt her.

“Tell me about your brother,” she said. “We’ve got some time to kill. Since I am a pawn in your little power play, I’d like to know why you are so positive that your brother is innocent.”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “Because he’s my brother. I practically raised him. As kids, we were together constantly. When the state wanted to split us up into different foster homes, we kicked up such a fuss that they found someone who would take both of us.”

Foster care. It sounded like he didn’t have an ideal childhood, then.

“Don’t go looking at me like I’m some sort of charity case. It wasn’t like that. Our mom was a good mom. But she went through a rough patch when she didn’t have a job. We were in foster care for only about six months.”

“So you were very close to your brother when you were children. But people change, you know.”

“I’m still close to him. I spent a lot of time with him and Tammy. Eric loved her and MacKenzie more than anything in the world. He would have died for either of them without a second thought. There is no way he killed her, under any circumstances. No way.”

Elena’s heart ached for him. Whatever faults he had, Travis did love his brother. That was apparent.

“I believe you,” she said softly. “But Project Justice requires more than belief, because it takes more than that to get a case overturned.” Although Elena didn’t work directly for Project Justice, she’d learned a thing or two about how the foundation operated just from being Daniel’s assistant. “There has to be some kind of evidence that’s been overlooked or ignored—like a witness that was never interviewed or physical clues that weren’t properly analyzed—that sort of thing.