Jose was a wealth of information. The springs they had found were mostly temporary, due to the adequate spring moisture that year. If they had arrived a month earlier, they would have found deep snow in the mountains and if they came a month later the desert would be dry and hot. It wasn't any skill on her part that brought them there at the perfect time. It was pure luck. Unfortunately that luck had turned to bad when they observed the drug deal. And yet, they had escaped. Was that luck or combined skill?
She glanced up to find Jose watching her. His neck turned red. "Are all women from Arkansas so…um…independent?"
No doubt independent wasn't the first word that came to his mind - maybe stubborn, stupid or even tenacious. Still, his question brought to mind the two women in the hotel lobby in and her immediate question of whether they represented the women of Arizona.
She shrugged. "I suppose people are the same no matter where you go. Some are more, independent - stubborn or whatever you want to call it. I think I've merely reached my limit in tolerance. They have threatened me, my husband and my children. As Alex would say, that makes it personal."
He slowly nodded, comprehension in his expression. "You have had enough and you're not going to take any more."
She smiled. "Something like that. I'm slow to anger, but when I get there, I tend to do something about it."
He laughed. "You and Alex are much alike."
They were much alike in many ways. Jose simply hadn't known them long enough to see it. She had been attracted to Alex from the first day she saw him, but it wasn't merely his good looks. He was kind, gentle and most of all, confident. It was that confidence that was getting him into trouble now. To Alex, coming up against a mere two men sounded like even odds. Unless she missed her guess, though, one of those men had been the one who captured them. It was the only reason she could imagine him going after them. Alex was only concerned with one of those men. Hopefully the law would catch him before Alex did. Alex was strong, fast and a quick thinker, but that man would make two of him. There would be no such thing as a fair fight between them. The man had him bested in size, but Alex would fight fair and that man wasn't going to. Surely Alex knew that. It was hard to guess what Alex would do to the man. He had never been in a situation like this before. Hopefully, whatever he did would be legal.