“Okay, big bro,” Katie reached out a hand and put it on his chest. “He gets it.”
Douglas took a step back and stood up straight using his hands to smooth over his shirt front. “It’s a free country, Duval,” he snorted, “I can talk to your sister.” He swung out his hand and Duval considered knocking it down. “She’s a big girl. If she didn’t want to talk to me, she could have told me to go away.”
Air filled his lungs in a rush and again he was reminded of what his mother called ‘getting a full head of steam.’
It made sense since Douglas’ head was full of air.
Duval opened his mouth to tell the idiot a thing or two when Katie beat him to it.
“I already asked you to leave me alone.”
Douglas seemed to lose all of his bluster and when he tried to brace his hands on his hips one bumped into his gun belt and he reflexively pulled his arm up, making him look like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. “I was just… I was being…”
“A jerk,” she nodded, her dark curls bouncy around her head. “I could see your expression change when you heard my brother’s name. You might think you’re smooth or… whatever-”
Duval smiled at the tone of her voice.
While Katie usually had their mother’s sweet as pie lilt to it, when she was taking Douglas down at the knees, she had more of his snarl and bite to it.
He was damn proud of her.
“But now that my brother is here, you need to back off.”
Douglas leaned back for a moment and then he moved back in, lifting his chin in defiance. “What? You think your brother’s going to… to what? Kick my ass for talking to you? This,” he jabbed a finger toward the ground, “this is the office of the Texas Rangers. He wouldn’t dare do it.”
Duval took a step forward.
Even though he was behind Katie at that moment she knew him and put her arm out to stop him from moving forward, but she also used her other hand to poke on Douglas’ chest. “I told you to leave me alone, in the nicest terms, I might add. After you ignored that I sat there, listening to you blather on because that was better than me drop kicking you into the wall.”
Douglas looked affronted.
Duval wondered how many people were getting an earful, but he didn’t have to look around to see. The bank of windows around the conference rooms worked like a mirror.
There had to be a dozen Rangers watching the unfolding scene and given the height and shape of the two men at the end of the line, Fox and Blue were there, too.
A laugh, if the sound could be called that, burst from Douglas’ lips.
“Please, Miss King.” Douglas shook his head. “I appreciate your warning, but I am a highly trained Texas Ranger. I don’tbelieve that you,” he reached out and touched a finger to her shoulder, “could put me into a wall.”
Duval felt Katie’s mood shift like a seismograph feeling the subtle movements of the earth under their feet.
One moment she was gazing at him as if he was a bug on the wall, but when he touched her with his finger, that was the proverbial last straw.
His dainty, his description and hers, little sister reached out and put her hand on his forearm, the put her thumb on a pressure point and depressed his skin until she found it.
He went from a smile to a pained grimace in what felt like a second.
“Ahh…”
“It’s not putting you into a wall, but it is direct pain compliance, Ranger Douglas.”
“Ahhh…”
Douglas made the decision to turn and look at him and Duval shook his head.
“What are you looking at me for?”
Douglas gestured at Katie’s hand on his arm and opened his mouth to speak.