Ill Take Forever

that. Have you ever tried it?' Kyle asked.
    'No. Have you?'
    'Yes, once or twice in college. Experiments. I was brash, a know-it-all, then.'
    Jenny glanced at him with a small, tight smile; she didn't see much change.
    'I didn't like it, and quit. I don't like to feel out of control.'
    'No, you like to be in control.'
    'All the time,' he agreed.
    Jenny nodded, she couldn't imagine him any other way.
    'Continued use causes problems. You can see lots of old winos, but you never see an old drug addict.' His voice grew bitter, his face closed.
    'What will you do now?'
    'Set up round-the-clock surveillance. Find out who owns the land. Run background checks on those likely to be involved if we can get a lead. Find out who's behind this.'
    'And Naomi?' Jenny couldn't resist asking.
    Kyle slanted her a grin and rose, holding his hand to help her to her feet.
    'Continue on that line, as well. That's the retail side, this is the wholesale side. Maybe the same group is running the whole damned show. Maybe she’s the link, channeling the weed to the city. Lots to discover yet.'
    Jenny turned as they started up the hillside, drawing back farther into the woods, leaving the meadow behind them. When they reached a cleared, flat, rocky area, she turned to Kyle.
    'Want to eat here?'
    'Fine.'
    They shared the sandwiches and sodas she had brought, sitting on a light blanket she had packed. Shasta gnawed on the bone Jenny had carried for him, content in the hot sun.
    They talked desultorily about other times and friends. Jenny told Kyle about her life in Palmer, answering his questions when he raised them, questioning him in turn.
    'And you never married?' she asked at last.
    'Nope, too much going on. This life would be too much to ask of a wife. The uncertain hours, the long time away on assignments,' he said.
    'Not to mention the risks, the dangers,' she murmured, wondering again who the picture was of. If not a wife, a girlfriend?
    He shrugged. 'And you? I hear Johnny's been dead over a year. Will you look to remarry one day?'
    Jenny gazed over the rocky hillside to the distant blue haze over the ridges of the far ranges. 'I thought at one time never again; while being married is nice, the pain of losing is too great.'
    'And now?'
    'Who knows?' Who knows, she repeated in her head. If things had been different, if things were different, she might have loved Kyle Martin.
    As the day grew warmer, and the talk died, Jenny shrugged out of her button-up shirt. She wore a tank top on beneath it. She turned her face up to the sun, glad for its warmth, the peace in the clearing.
    Kyle opened his shirt, laying back on his arms for a moment, then sitting up to rub his injured shoulder. Taking off his shirt, he used it as a pillow for his head, lying down in the sun.
    Jenny looked at him. His chest was broad and muscular, his arms and shoulders showing a strength and fitness that had been hinted at beneath his shirt. The angry red gash high on his left arm showed where the bullet had penetrated. She winced, again imagining the pain and anguish it had caused. There was one other scar on his body, faded now, obviously an old one, low on his chest. The gun protruded from the waistband of his jeans.
    How could he constantly put himself in danger? Didn't he want to put that behind him and find a safe profession? She frowned at the thought of another incident that would injure him. How much longer could he do it? Did government agents work until they were sixty-five and retire? Would he move on to something else? Or stay in the fieldwork of DEA, craving the excitement and satisfaction when drug traffickers were caught?
    Her eyes moved up to his head, his brown hair ruffled and blown by the hike, his eyes slits, watching her look at him. She flushed in confusion, and looked away, afraid the interest she felt was reflected in her face.
    'Want to make love here in the sun?' he asked softly, his hand trailing fire down her arm, his warm fingers closing over hers.
    She looked around. They were alone, just the two of them on a deserted hillside.
    'What, you, me and Shasta?'
    'Shasta has his bone, he won't bother us.'
    Jenny licked her lips, her heart tripping in excitement. She turned to look at Kyle. Shasta stopped gnawing and raised his head towards the woods, a low growl in his throat.
    Kyle sat up, looking where the dog focused.
    'It's only a deer,' Jenny said in disgust. 'He did that last time, too.'
    Kyle turned and pushed her back on the blanket,