Page 30 of Lone Star Rescue

“If Malley doesn’t get back to me soon, I want to do that trip to San Antonio to try to find Buckner myself.”

It could end up being a waste of time if the man was truly dodging them, but she needed to see him. Of course, she also needed to do the death notification and question Dani’s stepfather.

Her sigh must have alerted Rafe that her day already felt too jammed-packed because he stood. For a moment—one heart-racing moment—she thought he was going to pull her back into his arms for what would no doubt be a mistake hug.

Or another mistake kiss.

But instead, he went to the toaster, put the two pieces of toast on a plate and set them on the counter. “Unless your eatinghabits have changed, I seem to remember you preferring a light breakfast.”

“Or no breakfast at all,” she said.

He nodded. “You like to fuel up on coffee all morning, but you might need a carb boost.”

“You might need one as well.” She picked up a piece of toast and held it out for him.

For some reason, their gazes locked, and Bree could have sworn that actual heat speared out between them. That caused her to sigh again.

It caused him to smile.

Oh, she so did not need that sex-on-the-counter grin from him this morning. Not when her body was urging her there was something a whole lot better than a carb boost. A Rafe boost would work so very well.

His ESP must have kicked up again because he leaned in and brushed a kiss on her mouth. “Playing with fire,” he drawled, doing another touch of his lips to hers. “Running with scissors. Tearing tags off mattresses.”

She laughed. Which, after looking at him, was what he’d intended. Rafe knew this was indeed a distraction that could hurt the investigation.

Heck, it could hurt everything.

And this was his attempt to rein it in. She wasn’t sure he was successful, but at least the kiss hadn’t gone full-blown. Even if it had though, it wouldn’t have lasted long because her phone rang.

Bree was hoping it was Detective Malley, but she didn’t recognize the number on the screen. She answered it though and put it on speaker. “This is Sheriff O’Neil,” she said.

“Sheriff, I’m Addison Kreppner, the forensic anthro. I’m guessing Rafe is with you, so I can brief you both at once.”

“He’s here and listening,” Bree assured her, and judging from the fact the woman had used his given name, that likely meant they knew each other.

“After studying the remains and the DNA, I don’t believe this body is a match for Tessa Wainwright,” Dr. Kreppner said in a no-nonsense tone.

That knocked some of the air out of her, and Bree had to take a moment to steady herself. Even though she had known this outcome was a possibility, it still came as a shock. A good shock.

“Tessa’s alive,” Bree muttered.

“I can’t say one way or another on that,” the doctor commented. “But I’m positive these are not her bones. The height is off for one thing, and neither this woman’s shoe nor clothes’ sizes match Tessa’s. Ruby got me that info,” she added. “She asked Wade to go through Tessa’s closet. Tessa wore a size six shoe and size four dress. This woman, a size eight shoe and approximately a dress size of ten.”

That was indeed a big enough size difference to indicate it wasn’t Tessa.

“But there is a familial match,” the doctor tacked onto that after a short pause.

“Familial match?” Bree had to shake her head. “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means this woman you recovered from the grave was related to Tessa’s father. I’m guessing this is his child. Or if he had an identical twin brother, it’s possible it could be Wade’s niece.”

“Tessa didn’t have any sisters,” Bree muttered, and she looked at Rafe for confirmation of that.

He nodded.

But a child of Wade’s twin was possible. Still, Bree couldn’t recall Tessa ever mentioning a close uncle or cousins.Just the opposite. Tessa had often complained about not having a big family and being an only child, something that hadn’t gotten a lot of sympathy from Rafe or Bree since they both had younger siblings.

“Do you have an estimate for how long the woman’s been dead?” Bree pressed.

---