by Claire Adams
The drive back to the ranch was silent again, but I didn’t feel like pushing Sarah any more. My thoughts were wrapped up in my past and what I hoped would be my future. When the Gordano trial was over, I was going to make changes in my life. I wasn’t sure what they were or how it would happen, but my old life could never be the same after my time at the Miller ranch.
As we pulled into the driveway, Sid Miller was standing there waiting for us. The look on his face seemed full of relief when we first pulled in, but then it quickly turned to anger. I had seen a similar look on the faces of fathers over the years when I had returned their daughters home from a date later than I was supposed to.
“Uh oh,” Sarah said under her breath. “He’s looks angry.”
I suspected Sid was angrier with me than he was at Sarah, but I couldn’t give that information out. Instead, I went along were her notion that her father was actually upset with her. Although, I wasn’t sure why she would think he was angry with her just for driving into tow.
Sarah climbed out of the truck and I grabbed the saddle out of the back and started to bring it into the barn. I didn’t want to make waves if Sid was angry with his daughter; I was going to stay out of it. If he was angry with me, I wanted to get out of sight as quickly as possible to avoid any sort of altercation of words when he explained how wrong I was for leaving.
“Garrett, I need a word with you,” Sid said loudly.
“I’ll take that,” one of the other ranch hands said as he grabbed the saddle.
“Sure.”
“In my office, please,” Sid said as he walked to the small building off to the side of his house.
My eyes caught Sarah’s and she shrugged her shoulders at me. I was clearly the one in trouble and not her, and I knew it was because I had left the ranch. There was no excuse and I shouldn’t have gone. Luckily nothing had happened. We simply went into the supply store and shopped around for a little bit and then bought the saddle and left. There had only been two people in the store that I had seen and neither of them seemed even the slightest interested in what I was doing. But I knew I was wrong and that was all that mattered, I took ownership when I made mistakes and this was certainly all my fault.
“I’m sorry, Sid,” I said quickly as I entered his office.
Sid picked up the telephone and dialed a number. He held his hand up for me not to talk while he punched in a couple numbers on the touchpad telephone. His lips were pressed tightly together and he was angry. Before that moment, I had almost believed that Sid never got angry. But I could see it in his face and even in how he was sitting in his chair, Sid Miller was not happy with me at all.
“Do you know what I’m doing right now?” he asked me sternly, but didn’t wait for me to reply. “I’m calling off the massive search for you that was ordered when I had to report that you and my daughter were both missing.”
Shit. I hadn’t thought about what it would look like if I was gone with his daughter. I felt bad at the mention of people out looking for me and instantly wished I hadn’t gone with Sarah into town. There was genuine concern coming from Sid and I realized that he wasn’t angry: he was scared. Sid had been scared that the people who were after me had found me and had decided to take Sarah with as they kidnapped me.
My gut twisted at the ideas that must have been going through Sid’s mind when he realized we were both gone. At first he probably thought we were riding horses or something else, but soon he realized we had both left the ranch and we hadn’t told anyone where we were going. The fear that started slowly had probably spread quickly the longer we were gone until he decided to report us missing.
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry that for the last hour I thought that a dangerous killer had taken my daughter and the stranger who I had agreed to protect? You’re sorry?”
My words seemed of little consolation, but I didn’t really know what else I could say. I was sorry. I wouldn’t do it again and I certainly appreciated all that he had risked to have me at his home and keep me safe while I waited to testify at the trial. My eyes looked down at the grown to avoid the deep gaze of Sid. I knew I had disappointed him and it felt just as bad as when I had disappointed my own father when I was younger.
“Sid, I don’t know what else to say. Sarah invited me to go with her to get a saddle and I said yes. I wasn’t thinking.”
I decided to leave out the part where I wanted to kiss her. I also didn’t mention that I totally knew I shouldn’t have been leaving the ranch and I just wanted more alone time with Sarah. The idea had seemed very harmless and our trip had been totally uneventful, I hoped that Sid would be able to forgive me.
“No, you weren’t thinking and you just put yourself and my daughter at risk. I don’t know who it is that you are testifying against, but they certainly could have followed you to Montana. You don’t think that the FBI is all that careful in their planning and dropping off of witnesses, do you? The only thing that was keeping you safe was that no one else in the state of Montana had seen your face because you were here on my ranch. Now you have risked your own safety and put my family at risk. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep you here any longer.”
His words cut through me like a dagger. I didn’t want to leave. I was comfortable on the ranch; I felt safe there. I had made the mistake and it was my consequences to live with; but I didn’t want to leave the ranch. As panic washed through my body, I had to think of some sort of plan that would convince Sid to let me stay on the ranch. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything except to give him a sincere apology and hope for the best.
“Sid, I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again. Please let me stay here. The trial has got to be getting closer and I’ll be gone then, but I like it here. I want to stay.”
Sid looked perplexed at the situation as he tried to decide if he was going to let me stay there or not. My odds weren’t looking all that great until Mrs. Miller poked her head into the office and offered her advice on the situation. Up until that very moment, I would have put all my money on the idea that Sid was going to get rid of me, but when Meredith looked in the door, she had a bright smile on her face, and I knew it was going to be all right.
“Sid, let the poor boy get back to work,” she said with a smile and then closed the door.
I smiled back at her and something in her eyes told me that she knew what was going on. Perhaps Sid had filled her in on who I was when he couldn’t find me and Sarah. Perhaps Meredith Miller had known who I was the whole time? But either way, her comment seemed to be enough to push Sid in the direction that favored me staying on at the ranch.
Sid loved his wife and he respected her opinion. It was clear that because she told him to let me stay on the ranch, Sid was going to cut me some slack.
“One more chance, kid. This is it; if there are any other incidents, I won’t wait around for an explanation. You’ll be shipped back to the FBI and they can find you another place to hide out until the trial.”
“I understand.”
“And help Sarah with that damn horse. I need to ride it out to the river next week a few times and none of the other horses are up for that long of a trek.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll do my best. But the animals don’t seem to like me all that much.”
“Stop letting them be in charge. In whatever you did before you got here, would you have let some kid off the street boss you around and bite you?”
I laughed at his analogy. Of course, I wouldn’t have; I was a strong, tough CEO.
“No, I wouldn’t have.”
“Then show the animals that you’re a strong leader. If you show weakness, they’ll bite you,” he said as he motioned for me to get out of his office. “And don’t ever worry me like that again.”
Chapter Six
Sarah
Garrett kept his distance from me after my father yelled at him. I didn’t really understand why my father had been so angry though. Certainly, he had taken a ranch hand into town before, so it w
asn’t that big of a deal for me to do the same. But sometimes there was no reasoning with my father; he just got it in his head that something wasn’t right and he went with it. My mother, on the other hand, she was much more reasonable.
“He’s a good guy, mom, I can tell by talking to him. Is father really afraid that I’ll get mixed up with a ranch hand? I thought he liked Garrett?”
“Your father doesn’t care who you like or don’t like as long as you’re safe.”
I waited for her to continue on and explain to me what it was about Garrett that made me unsafe. He was a hard-working guy; he actually worked harder than many of the men. But as the weeks went on and he avoided me more and more, I started to realize my father must have threatened him that he would lose his job if he was flirting with me or something. I really didn’t know what my father had said to him on that day when we returned from the store, I only knew that Garrett and I barely flashed smiles at each other when we passed throughout the day.
I had finally had enough and went to my mother to discuss the situation. I had to know what it was that my father knew about Garrett and why Garrett was then avoiding me. Just when I had finally come around to considering talking to him, Garrett was pulling away from me and not interested in talking to me.
“So what about Garrett makes me unsafe? Explain it to me, because I don’t get it.”
“Sarah, not everything in this world needs an explanation.”
“Well this does. Garrett’s been here a few months now, there’s only a half dozen men who have been here longer. Sure, he sucked at caring for the animals at first, but he’s gotten a lot better. So much better that Forest has him working as his second-hand man.”
“Sarah, I’m not going into this. Just stay away from the man if that’s what your father wants.”
“You know that Buckjoy likes him? A wild horse that only likes two men on this ranch: father and Garrett. How do I even know if Dad wants me to stay away from Garrett? He’s never said that to me.”
“Sarah, stop,” my mother said as she looked at me with a stern look.
I knew that the conversation was officially over at that point. Whatever I thought I felt toward Garrett wouldn’t matter at all because soon he’d be moving on and I’d still be at the ranch. Maybe my mother was just trying to protect me from a broken heart, but I knew she had to have her reasons if she was so unwilling to continue our conversation.
“I was going to invite Garrett to go riding with me out to the river. I don’t want to go alone and Buckjoy is one of the only horses that can make the trip out and back, besides Roxy. Can he come with me? It’s been weeks since we went into town.”
“I don’t know.”
“I was going to take some photos of the land up north of the river because father was looking into selling it. I think I could get a much better price than that man who is trying to buy it from father, although I really don’t think he should sell any of it. Would that be all right? Does Garrett have permission to be alone with me for a couple of hours if we stay on the property?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. You don’t have to ask permission to talk to the man. I just mean no more running into town with him and don’t fall in love with the guy. I don’t care if you’re alone with him.”
“Wait, what? Will father approve, too?”
“I’ll make sure he’s okay with it. But don’t go overboard. You both have jobs to do and riding out to the river can’t take away from the real work there is.”
“Okay,” I said as I hugged my mother. “So just to be clear, there’s nothing about Garrett that I need to know? There’s no reason that father would have told him to ignore me?”
“Your father didn’t tell him to ignore you. Maybe you just scare him away with your angry face.”
We both laughed; it was a bit of an inside joke that when I was thinking a lot my face looked really angry. My mother wasn’t the only one who thought I had an angry concentration face; my coworkers had said the same thing. They started to call it my resting bitch face.
My mother had always been the more levelheaded of my parents, there was no denying that. I went to find Garrett and see if he wanted to head out to the river early in the morning. Some sunrise photos would look amazing if my father was really going to sell that part of the ranch. Plus, I really had an urge to be alone with Garrett.
Over the previous several weeks I had found myself sneaking peeks at Garrett when he was working and would take his shirt off. I even said a little prayer that it would get hotter outside so Garrett would have to take his clothes off more often. His chiseled body had me all sorts of distracted and I hadn’t expected that to happen when I returned home. Garrett wasn’t only a handsome guy; he exuded self-confidence that was appealing as well.
Most of the men on the ranch weren’t very cute or self-confident, so Garrett stood out among them. He was out of place, yet seemed at home all at the same time. His smile alone made him stand out among the other ranch hands we had working for us at the time. I knew I should stay away from him; there was a gut feeling that Garrett wasn’t telling the truth about his past or maybe even more than that, but the attraction I felt kept pulling me toward him. I wanted to know Garrett more, I needed to know him more; there was no stopping me.
As I made my way around the big barn and toward the chicken coop, I saw Garrett standing in the corner with one of the hens staring him down. As much as I wanted to help him, I couldn’t resist stopping to see how well he was able to handle the hen. He hadn’t been bit since the pig incident and a good bite from a hen would give me something to tease him about later.
“No,” Garrett said firmly to the hen as he pointed at it.
I giggled at his sincerity and firmness with the animal. He looked amazing in his tight jeans and white t-shirt. His muscles bulged from his biceps and I could see sweat from under his tan cowboy hat. I knew he would notice me soon, but for the moment I liked watching him totally undetected.
“Do not come any closer. I’m just trying to clean out your coop so you can relax. You like me, you know you do,” he continued to talk to the animal.
The hen seemed to listen to him and stopped staring at Garrett and went back to walking around with the other hens. I had to laugh at his effort to tame the animal; at least he was making an effort and not just running around like he had done with the pig. Every day he learned from watching others or talking to my father, it seemed like Garrett was starting to actually enjoy working with us.
“You’re the hen whisperer, we should get you your own television show,” I said as I walked up to him.
“Your father told me to be firm with them,” Garrett laughed. “I’m sure I look ridiculous.”
He did look ridiculous talking to the hen, but downright delicious at the same time. As I moved closer to him I felt electricity between us. There was excitement because we hadn’t talked for so long and there was pure animal attraction, I couldn’t deny it. If I was the type of woman who bedded a man just for fun; Garrett Reynolds would have certainly been that man. I could only imagine how skilled he was in the bedroom and just how much enjoyment he would deliver to my body.
I shook my head to get the sordid thoughts to move on. I was just there to see if he could come with me to the river, nothing more and nothing less. I wasn’t the type of girl to just fling myself at a man and certainly not a man who could be gone at any moment. He was a traveler, he wasn’t a business man, he wasn’t a stable guy, Garrett Reynolds wasn’t the guy for me; or at least I kept trying to tell myself as I lusted after him.
“No, it looks like you’ve made a lot of progress with the animals the last few months.”
“Thanks, I really have been trying.”
“So I need to head up to the river early tomorrow morning. How comfortable do you feel you are with your horseback riding skills? Mother said you should come up with me.”
Garrett looked nervous almost instantly. I could tell whatever my father had said to him had scared
Garrett enough that he didn’t want to go against him in any way. In that aspect, Garrett was a good man for sure; a lesser man would have jumped at the opportunity to get me alone and wouldn’t have cared what my father thought. But Garrett respected my father, I could see it in the way the two of them talked to each other.
“It’s okay, the river is all part of our ranch and mother said it was all right. We need to take some photos up there.”
“I should go talk to your father first and make sure.”
“Oh come on, are you really that afraid?”
He hesitated for a moment and then looked at me as he tried to figure out what to say. His adorable smile had been wiped away and I felt bad for putting him in a position where he thought I was trying to trick him.
I took a step forward and was obviously within his personal space as I looked up at him and smiled mischievously. Suddenly, I felt the urge to convince him all on my own. Could I bat my eyes and get him to just say yes?
Garrett took in a deep break and I could tell having me that close to him had rattled him just a little. But he quickly composed himself and gave me just enough of a smile that I knew he was ready to play a little.
“So you’re trying to convince me to go with you?” Garrett said huskily as he leaned against the building.
“Yes,” I whispered.
I let my hand press against his firm chest and bit my bottom lip as I tried to seduce him. He was into it; I could see how his breathing quickened and how his body tensed up as he looked down at me. My breathing also quickened and I felt my resolve weakening at the power of his flirtation. Garrett was obviously much better at this game than I was.
“What if I wanted a kiss?” Garrett asked as he watched my lips closely. “That seems like a fair trade.”
Nervously I bit my lip as I contemplated his request. I wanted to kiss him. Damn I wanted to do more than just kiss him, but I was trying to avoid this man. My mind was trying to avoid him, at least, but my body kept longing for more and more time with him. I couldn’t resist; I couldn’t say no to such an offer without feeling regret.
