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opposite side of the table. His eyes zoomed in on her as he removed his white cowboy hat and put it under his seat. She fought the urge to squirm and wrenched her gaze away from his.
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    After going through a list of items on the agenda, Hank closed the folder in front of him and looked toward Daniel. “I understand the Texas Rangers have some concerns and wanted to express them today at this meeting. You’ve got the floor, Daniel.”
    Hank, too, had been good friends with his father. Actually, Daniel knew half of the members personally. He hoped that would help him talk them into the changes the Texas Rangers proposed.
    Daniel rose, chancing a look toward Melora. She’d been avoiding eye contact the whole meeting. At the moment, she stared down at the paper before her. What are you hiding?
    He cleared his throat and turned his attention to Hank. “We’ve looked over the plans for the celebration and feel we have to recommend that it be toned down in scope. We think a more intimate celebration will give anyone bent on causing trouble less opportunity to disrupt the event. It’ll be easier to keep an eye on the crowd with a smaller function. We’re concerned that with the vice president and the governor attending there could be problems with security, especially in light of the letter in October alluding to bad things happening if the celebration wasn’t canceled and then the anonymous phone call Hank received a few weeks ago threatening problems. It doesn’t appear the person has given up, and we haven’t been able to locate him.”
    Everyone began talking at once. Hank held up his hand. “This has been in the planning stages for years. We can’t all of a sudden change plans. What kind of message would we be sending to others? That we can be intimidated? No!” Hank brought his hand down flat on the oak table. “This is Texas and this celebration is important to the state, especially to San Antonio.”
    â€œBut we celebrate the Alamo’s anniversary every year. We can make this one smaller and have a bigger one next year.” Daniel looked pointedly at each member of the committee, lingering on Melora for a few extra seconds.
    â€œCelebrating the 176th anniversary doesn’t have the same kind of ring as the 175th anniversary.” Rodneyfrowned. “And what if we have a threatening letter next year? Do we just cancel the celebration altogether? No, just like the United States doesn’t give in to terrorists, we won’t give in to this blackmail. Beef up security. Find the person responsible for the threats.”
    A few others interjected their thoughts. One was in favor of scaling the celebration down while two others weren’t.
    Frustrated, Daniel surveyed each member’s face and saw resolve not to buckle under any pressure—except for Melora and the woman next to her. Melora’s gaze connected with Daniel’s for a brief moment, and he saw understanding in those green depths. The visual link stirred feelings of protectiveness in him.
    â€œI think you know how this committee feels, but we’ll put it to a vote. All in favor of keeping the celebration as it’s planned now, raise your hand.” Hank surveyed the people at the table. “Eight to two. It looks like we’ll leave it as is.”
    Daniel gave Melora a smile for her no vote and sat.
    â€œWe expect you and the other Rangers to make the celebration as safe as possible.” Hank directed a hard look at Daniel, then Anderson. “And we don’t need knowledge of the letter and phone call getting out. They were both vague, nothing concrete. I don’t want the press to get hold of them and build up the threat to more than it is. You know how they can be. Understand, Rangers Riley and Michaels?”
    â€œYes, sir,” both he and Anderson said.
    â€œGood. Since we’re getting closer to the anniversary, we’ll convene in two