“That’s part of the problem. There’s three of us, and these three access points are miles and miles apart. There’s no way we can keep this under control without some surveillance equipment. I’m not simply talking about something we can use to watch suspects. There’s literally no security on this property at all. Who lives like that?”
Storm shifted on the sofa. “There are still people who believe there’s no crime in the South, no need to lock their doors at night. We know better.”
Jackson had seen too much ugliness in these parts to trust the good nature of people so completely. He wasn’t paranoid. He didn’t see threats everywhere he turned, but he had sense enough to take basic precautions out here in these hills. He didn’t understand why Aja hadn’t.
“I’m on my way back to the main house to figure out some solutions to this. Until we can get something set up, we will have to do security rounds ourselves. We’ll each take turns on watch out there at night until I can come up with a better solution. Hopefully Ms. Everett will be agreeable to whatever I propose.”
Colton belted a hearty whip of laughter into the air. “I don’t see the lady rancher being agreeable to too much of anything when it comes to you. You seem to know exactly what to say to insert your foot in your mouth when talking to her.”
Jackson couldn’t deny it. “Since you’ve got jokes, Colt, you’ll be first up for guard duty tonight. Better get your nap in now. Your shift starts at zero hundred. You can report back to the main house at oh six hundred.”
Colton’s hard blue eyes sparked with fire and Jackson smirked in satisfaction. They might have been friends for years, but no one knew how to piss Colton off better than Jackson. A fact he was most proud of now.
He folded the map back up and handed it to Colton. “I’ve got an extra one in my truck. I’ll see you two tomorrow.”
* * *
Aja checked on the pot roast in the oven. When she placed the large roasting pan on top of the range, she questioned her sanity for making such a massive roast. Sure, Jackson was tall, broad, and built like a lumberjack. But that didn’t mean he ate like one too.
She picked up a serving spoon and basted the brown specimen of roasted perfection with a healthy amount of drippings from the pan. “Too late to worry about the portions now. Whatever we don’t finish tonight, I’ll serve as leftovers for lunch tomorrow.”
“Aja, I wanted to talk to you about—”
She turned toward Jackson as he stepped into the kitchen from the back door. He closed his eyes and inhaled a long, deep breath through his nose. “God in heaven, that smells good. What is it?”
She was too busy staring at the hungry need etched into his face to answer him immediately. But when he called her name, she quickly snapped out of the brief fog. “Pot roast, mashed potatoes, and Aunt Jo’s honey carrots.”
His approval shone in the wide smile that graced his full lips. “Do I have time to wash up before dinner?”
“Yeah, the roast needs to rest for a few minutes before it’s served. You’ve got plenty of time.” She turned back to basting the roast with a vengeance, hoping her fixation would keep her from thinking about the titillating things Jackson could do with soap, water, and a washcloth upstairs in the shower.
She waited until she heard his footsteps above her head in his bedroom to scold herself. “What the hell is wrong with you? He’s not the first good-looking man you’ve ever eaten a meal with.” She’d spent a good portion of her adulthood around attractive, wealthy, powerful men who wore tailored clothes that fit their carved bodies with precision. Why did a Texas Ranger with dusty jeans and boots make her mouth water and her mind wander to places it had no business going?
Too afraid of where her own line of questioning would lead, she took the coward’s way out and set the table instead.
When she was done, she turned around to rinse her hands in the sink as the loud creak of the back stairs filled the air, signaling Jackson’s descent. “You can get started while I slice up the rest of the roast for leftovers.”
“You spent all this time cooking, and you’re not even going to eat while the food is hot? That doesn’t seem fair.”
She turned around to answer him, but again, her words wouldn’t flow. He stood in between two chairs at the counter, his chest covered in a fitted black cotton T-shirt. She wasn’t certain if it was designed to stretch so tightly across the expanse of his upper body or purely a result of Jackson stuffing all that hard, corded muscle under the fabric. Whichever the case, he looked tastier than the meal she’d prepared. If there were anything that was unfair, it was the temptation the image of this man covered in simple cotton stoked inside her.
“Aja, please do that later. Eat with me?”
She watched him pull out the chair next to him and pat the back, motioning for her to sit.
Suspicion filled her senses like bad cologne at a mall perfume shop. Her eyes narrowed into small slits, and she folded her arms as she glared at him. Maybe he had a get-into-your-enemy’s-good-graces plan too.
“What’s wrong?”
His brow furrowed as he looked back and forth before settling his vision on her. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You’re being too nice. I’ve known you less than thirty-six hours. You haven’t been all that kind during that time. Why are you being so considerate now?”
He laughed, an honest chuckle that rumbled in the air, easing the suspicion pulling at the edge of her thoughts. He threw his hands up in surrender, broadening his smile as he looked at her with those maple-colored eyes, making her wish she could be the one giving up instead. “I thought I was supposed to be the mistrustful one. I’m the law-enforcement agent.”
She shook her head. “I’m from Brooklyn. We’re mistrustful by nature. I’m also a lawyer. Suspicion is part of the training. So come on with it. What are you really up to, Jackson Dean?”
He put his hand down and held the edge of the counter in front of him. “Nothing bad, but I would like you to eat with me. It’ll give us a chance to discuss some important things about your ranch’s security.”
She relaxed, walking around the counter and taking the seat he’d pulled out for her. “Next time, don’t bury the lede. You could’ve simply said you wanted to talk.”
“Yeah, but it was way too much fun watching you go into bullshit-radar mode.”
She gave him as much side-eye as she could muster and went about placing food on her plate. When she finished, she was about to grab her napkin when she saw Jackson bow his head. She followed in kind, smiling as he said a simple blessing over the food. Hmmm. A man who pulls out chairs for women and says grace? If he wasn’t such an asshole most of the time, he might actually be a nice guy. Forgive me, Lord. But you know it’s true.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
He was midchew when she spoke, holding up his finger as the muscles in his jaw flexed with each movement. “This is really good. I mean, it tastes like you maybe know a little more about country cooking than your New York City pedigree suggests.”
“I could always take it away if it’s not to your liking.” She stretched her hand out as if she would take his plate. “I think we’ve got some peanut butter and jelly around if that’s more to your tastes.”
He blocked her hand by placing his thick forearm on the counter. “Touch my food and you’ll draw back a nub.” Aja laughed, pulling her hand back. He took a few more bites, washing them down with a healthy chug of the sweet tea in his frosted mug before he grabbed his napkin to wipe his mouth. “Honestly, the food’s great. I haven’t had a roast this tender in a while. Thanks for going through all the trouble.”
“No trouble.” She took a sip from her mug. “Cooking and baking are stress relievers for me. Whenever a case was giving me trouble back in New York, I’d stay up all night cooking or baking, or both, until I worked the problem out in m
y head. Our associates loved it whenever I was working on something problematic. They knew the food would always end up in the staff kitchen.”
“These attacks on the ranch really have you worried, don’t they?”
She blew out a weary breath. “Until someone burned down the barn, I thought it was about running us off the land, not physically harming us. Even the tampering with the scaffold… I thought someone was simply attempting to stop us from working on the ranch. Now, I’m not so sure. Not knowing is the stressful part.”
“I think I have a way to take care of some of that worry for you.”
“How?”
He reached for his frosted mug, allowing his finger to glide around the lip of the cup. “I want to take a few measures to improve the security on the ranch.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
He moved his mostly empty plate to the side and turned to face her. “On the tour, I spotted at least three access points where anyone who wanted to enter the ranch undetected could. I think you need to get better, electrified fencing to keep people out. I also think you need to add surveillance cameras all around the property. This place is enormous; there’s no way any one team can monitor it completely. Having cameras will give you eyes all around the ranch.”
She took a deep breath and leaned back into her chair. “I’m not opposed to any of the things you’ve mentioned. I know, as a proprietor, I must have cameras somewhere on the property anyway. But right now, while we’re still closed, it seems almost voyeuristic. I don’t want to compromise Seneca’s and Brooklyn’s privacy.”
“This isn’t about their privacy, Aja.”
She understood why he didn’t see it that way. When you’d never had your freedom taken from you, it was hard to see why someone wouldn’t want to be watched constantly. “For nearly ten years, Seneca and Brooklyn have lived in cages, having their every move monitored by a camera or an authority figure. I promised them they wouldn’t have to live like that here.”
“Integrity is very important to you, isn’t it?” He cocked his head to the side as if he were trying to gauge her answer simply by watching her.
“I know most people think lawyers are inherent liars, and the truth is, I’m not all that certain I disagree with that notion. But I try to be as honest as I can. My word is all I really have in this world. Breaking it always costs me something valuable.”
“Is your integrity worth more than their lives? Could you carry the burden of knowing you could’ve protected them but didn’t act in time?”
Her heart rate sped up, each beat a heavy thud in her chest. She closed her eyes, taking deliberate breaths to calm down. He doesn’t know. He couldn’t. A few more breaths and reminders, and she got her pulse under control.
“No,” she murmured. “I don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt. How do you suggest I handle this? Eli Bennett has everyone in this town running scared; getting local help is almost impossible. You’ll have to find someone out of Fresh Springs to do it like I did with this second contractor. It’s the only way I could get a replacement construction crew out here in time.”
“Why do you think the town is scared of Bennett?” Jackson asked. Concern marred his smooth features, and her fingers twitched to touch them. Determined to keep her actions appropriate, even if her thoughts weren’t, she tapped her fingers on the counter instead.
“The town hasn’t done anything against us specifically—not anything actionable anyway. They just never seem to be available for service when it comes to Restoration Ranch. Contractors, landscapers, hell, even takeout. There’s never anyone in the area when we call. Except for Earl, I always have to go outside the town for skilled labor. I can’t prove it, but either an entire town is scared of my money, or maybe they’re scared of someone who doesn’t want them to take it.”
He scratched at his beard as he took in what she’d said. “You think Eli is threatening them?”
“He’s sleazy enough that I wouldn’t put something like that past him,” she replied.
“Well, Jennings and Gleason are going to his ranch tomorrow to talk to him. We don’t have enough to bring him in for official questioning, but we can show up on his doorstep and see if he’ll talk to us.”
She waved a dismissive hand in the air, hoping to get off the topic of Eli. She’d had a lovely meal. There was no need to sour her stomach talking about that piece of filth.
“Back to my security. How do you plan to get someone out here big enough to handle my problems and not blow your cover?”
“I know someone,” he answered. “My dad’s security firm handles emergency jobs like this all the time. Your contractors are coming in soon; they could work in conjunction, get everything up and running in a quick and efficient fashion. If you’re all right with me calling my father, that is.”
He sat next to her, eyes wide with expectation, waiting for her to agree. All it took was her softly whispered “Okay” for him to pull his phone from his back pocket and connect the call. One simple gesture to begin the process of securing the property and for her to break another promise to the people she’d pledged her friendship to.
While he talked on the phone, Aja slid away from the counter and stood at a nearby window, looking out into the darkness on the other side of the glass pane. Was it her destiny to hurt the people she wished to love and protect? Would she never know the peace of being able to keep her promises and keep those she cared about safe at the same time? Because to date, she’d never managed to do both simultaneously.
Chapter 8
“We can make it out there first thing in the morning. Are you sure this woman understands…”
Jackson’s attention drifted from the voice coming through his phone to the woman standing in front of the kitchen window. Her shoulders drooped like she was weary, exhausted from carrying the twin invisible weights perched there.
“Jackson, did you hear what I said, boy?”
The sharp ring in his father’s voice pulled his attention from the sad picture Aja made and back to his phone. “I’m here. She owns a ranch in Hill Country; I think she can handle whatever this will cost. First thing in the morning should be fine for a consult.”
“All right. Kip and I will see you at nine.”
“See you then.”
Jackson ended the call and slid his phone back into his pocket. He cleared his throat, hoping the sound would draw Aja’s attention away from the darkness outside. “They’ll be out at the start of business tomorrow to speak with you and gets pictures of your land.”
“That’s fine.” The soft utterance dissipated into the air. Her usual voice, as he knew it, was full and rich. Like her presence, it resonated across a room, pulling everyone in, forcing them to focus on her whether or not they wanted to. But the way she stood so still, shutting the world out with her silence—it didn’t feel right. Not to mention, the unexpected meekness in her voice made him ache, and not in a pleasurable way. This is all wrong.
He rubbed a hand over his face. She was still standing there, weighed down by her worries with her hands wrapped around each upper arm as she held herself.
This wasn’t fear. This was vulnerability. There was something almost breakable about her as she stared out into the night. And as he watched her literally fold into herself, the need to protect her scratched at him from somewhere deep inside.
Protecting those around him wasn’t a foreign concept to Jackson. He was a lawman, someone sworn to protect the public. But what Aja stirred in him wasn’t anything like his trained reaction to professional situations. No, this ran deeper. It was rougher, calling to a baser need in him.
This thing clawing at him from the inside tested his will. It made him stand rooted to the floor. It made him clench his fists to keep from reaching out for her. He let a long, frustrated breath escape. He was literally battling against himself, trying not to answer
the burning desire her vulnerability sparked in him. And for the life of him, he couldn’t understand why.
He walked over to her, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder. There was no reason to touch her, other than he thought it would make her feel better. Second-guessing himself, he withdrew but the gentle press of her hand stopped him.
She barely touched him; a minor twitch of his wrist, and her hand would be dislodged. But he stayed, tightened his grip on her shoulder, letting them both know he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I can see you beating yourself up over this. No one will invade their privacy. Not much anyway. There’ll be no surveillance devices in their private dwellings. This is all to protect your business from harm and liability. As the proprietor, you must make this ranch safe.”
“I know. But it feels wrong not to inform them of it beforehand.”
“You can blame it on me if it makes you feel better. No one else has to know.”
“I would know,” she whispered.
She turned around to face him. He glanced at her shoulder where their hands still mingled even with the change in position and thought how right that idea seemed. The two of them tangled together, touching everywhere at the same time.
“It’s bad enough I’m keeping the truth of who you are and why you’re here from them. I can’t add this on top of it. I’ll tell them I’ve decided to add cameras to the property. I may as well. It’s not like they won’t notice them as they go up.”
“You can’t tell them about the cameras. They won’t notice them; they’ll be hidden. The fencing and the added security personnel they’ll notice, but we need the cameras to be kept quiet.”
“You still suspect them?”
“This is standard protocol, Aja. It’s not about suspecting them. It’s about keeping everyone on this ranch safe.”
She breathed a heavy sigh, the weight of this new burden clearly becoming increasingly difficult to carry. “I don’t like lying to them, Jackson. This is their home too.”
Jackson Page 6
