Gray Wolf Security: Wyoming

by Glenna Sinclair

  This was the man who had the charm—and the balls—to ask her out.

  “I just accused you of sabotaging my ranch—stealing my cows!—and you’re asking me to dinner?”

  “I don’t make a habit of mixing business with my private life.”

  “You can compartmentalize the two things?”

  “Of course.”

  There was that charming smile again.

  Sutherland couldn’t stand it anymore. She climbed into her truck before she was tempted to fall under his spell. She was the owner of MidKnight Ranch before she was anything else, even a woman. She had to put the welfare of the people she employed and the ranch’s bottom line before all else.

  Dammit!

  Sutherland drove back to her own home in desperate need of a hot cup of tea and a few minutes of silence. Instead, she found Kirkland Parish waiting for her in her study, his face a mask of angst that warned her there was more she was going to have to deal with before she could have that tea.

  “The completion of the construction on the bunkhouse has been pushed back another week because of some permit the foreman had trouble getting.”

  “Another week?”

  “Which means we have nowhere to put the new operative for Gray Wolf when he arrives later this afternoon.”

  Sutherland groaned. A few months ago, she’d agreed to take on a satellite office of Gray Wolf Security when the founder and owner, Ash Grayson—a former squad member of the same Green Beret team her husband had been a part of before his death twelve years ago—made a proposition to her that meant new revenues that would keep MidKnight solvent for the foreseeable future. The running of MidKnight had never been easy, but it seemed lately that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, such as the massive hole someone had blown into their fence that caused fifty head of cattle to wander onto Bodhi Archer’s land. And she had a loan she’d taken out to cover other unexpected expenses that was coming due, a balloon payment she never would have been able to pay if not for Ash.

  But Gray Wolf was proving to be just as difficult as running MidKnight was.

  This was the fourth time the construction on the bunkhouse—the building where they intended to house not only the four operatives they planned to employ, but also the offices of the administrative staff—had been delayed. They’d had one case that had a few bumps here and there, but was completed successfully. They had leads on multiple other cases, but nothing was signed yet. It felt like Ash had been too optimistic about the amount of business they would get and he’d wasted the hundred thousand dollars he’d given Sutherland as seed money to begin this venture.

  “We’ll have to put him up in a motel.”

  “That’ll cost a significant amount of money.”

  Sutherland shrugged as she tossed her keys onto her desk and fell hard into her chair. “Do you have a better suggestion?”

  “Do you have space anywhere here? Maybe he could bunk with Hank.”

  She shook her head. “He’s only got one room, one bed. Besides, he’s had Jonnie staying with him since the Karl boy and his father broke into her house.”

  “What about here?”

  “There’s no space left.”

  “We could move Matthew in with us, if that would be helpful.”

  Sutherland smiled, grateful for the offer. But she’d had a small child once upon a time and she knew how demanding on a person’s time they could be and how nice it was to go to bed at night alone. She could only imagine how even more important that would be for a couple with the intensely loving relationship Kirkland and his wife, Mabel, clearly had. She couldn’t ask them to give up that privacy, even if it was really only a week.

  “Look who I found wandering around outside,” Mabel, appearing as though out of Sutherland’s thoughts, announced, gesturing for a young woman to join her in the doorway.

  “Eve?”

  Sutherland got up and went to the woman, offering her a friendly hug. The two women smiled brightly at one another, a great deal of affection flowing between them.

  “I haven’t seen you since the Fourth of July picnic!” Sutherland said. “How are you? How’s your mother?”

  “Mother is the same,” Eve said, sadness filling her expressive hazel eyes.

  Sutherland took her hand and squeezed. She knew that Eve’s mother suffered with Alzheimer’s Disease, a cruel disease that stole a perfectly healthy woman’s mind. And Eve’s mother, Rachel, was one of the kindest, smartest women Sutherland had ever known. She bought and ran her own motel when she was just a twenty-two-year-old single mother. When Mitchell—Sutherland’s husband—died in Afghanistan, Rachel was one of the first people to show up on her doorstep, a casserole in one hand and a shoulder to cry on the other side. She said she would have brought a bottle of wine if Sutherland hadn’t been four months pregnant at the time.

  She brought the wine a year later.

  “I… uh… I didn’t come here as a social visit,” Eve said, her eyes beseeching Sutherland to hear her out. “I was… well…” She pulled an envelope out of her back pocket and pressed it into Sutherland’s hands. “I’d pulled together as much money as I could. I don’t know what your fees are, but I’m a little desperate. I need to hire Gray Wolf.”

  Sutherland opened the flap of the envelope, a little shocked by just how much cash was inside. She held it out to Kirkland, her face a mask of bewilderment. Kirkland gestured for her to hear Eve out before speaking. After only a few months, he knew her well enough to know her instinct was to offer her friend and neighbor a huge discount—if not free services.

  Gray Wolf couldn’t afford that right now. But Sutherland knew very well that Eve couldn’t afford to part with that envelope, either. Her need must have been very serious.

  Sutherland pulled Eve gently to a chair and made her sit. She perched on the front of her desk in front of Eve, studying her face with as much compassion as she’d ever felt for this young woman.

  “Tell me what’s going on.”

  Eve stared down at the floor, a heavy sigh escaping between her lips.

  “You know there have been a lot of new people visiting the area, celebrities and wealthy people who, for some reason, have suddenly found interest in the area.”

  “I’m aware,” Sutherland mumbled, her thoughts briefly returning to her exchange with Bodhi Archer.

  “There is a developer buying up property all around the motel. They’ve already bought the gas station there and the drug store down the road. They’re in talks with the diner. And they’ve made multiple offers to my mother and me.” Eve looked up. “I’ve turned them down because Momma can’t leave that motel. She’d be lost… she barely remembers me most days, but she knows the motel, knows that’s her home.”

  Sutherland took her hands again. She didn’t say anything, just held her hands.

  Eve sighed. “They were polite at first, just making the offers, sweetening them each time I turned them down. And then they began posting online, going to places like Yelp and Reddit, telling lies about the hotel. My lawyer shut them down and we’re in the first steps of a lawsuit against them over it. So, then they started harassing my clients in the parking lot, at the diner. My lawyer again got an injunction and stopped that. But now they’re doing other things, coming on my property and damaging it. They somehow got into one of the rooms and trashed the furniture. They broke some windows. They threw eggs at the cars in the parking lot. And, just the other night, they were tipping over the vending machines. When Marko confronted them, they beat him up.” She shook her head. “It was bad. He had to have twelve stitches on his eye. And now my other employees are scared to come to work. Ramon quit. Alison won’t clean rooms alone. Sara calls in sick more often than not.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sutherland said, squeezing her hands.

  Eve sighed again, the sound breaking Sutherland’s heart.

  “I’m at my wit’s end. My lawyer says there’s not much we can do unless we can prove it’s them, but when I do manage to c
atch them and get the police involved, these people deny a connection to the developers. They’re most drifters or unemployed men the developers pay thousands to keep quiet. And now my customers are afraid to stay with us. Things are getting out of hand and if it gets much worse, we’ll go out of business and be forced to leave.”

  Tears filled Eve’s eyes. She looked up, beseeching Sutherland’s face again.

  “I can’t lose the motel.”

  “We won’t let that happen.”

  Kirkland came over to sit beside Sutherland.

  “We can set up separate security cameras that will feed directly into our computers that we can monitor twenty-four-seven. And we can send an operative to act as security on your property.”

  Eve hesitated, even though Sutherland could clearly see the hint of relief coming into her eyes.

  “I thought about hiring just a straight security guard, but I’m afraid the sight of someone standing outside at night will frighten people away. I want my customers to feel safe.”

  Kirkland smiled politely. “Gray Wolf specializes in subtlety. We can have our operative keep a low profile.”

  Eve shook her head again. “I really… I need this person to be almost invisible.”

  “What if he pretended to be your husband?”

  Kirkland and Eve both looked sharply at Sutherland. But then Mabel—whom everyone had forgotten was still standing just inside the doorway—put in her two cents on the idea.

  “That would be brilliant. As your husband, it would be perfectly normal for him to be around the motel twenty-four hours a day. He could make repairs, work the front desk, do everything an equal partner would do in a family owned business.”

  “Exactly,” Sutherland agreed. “We could come up with a simple cover story, tell people you met him over Tinder or something like that. Tell them it was a whirlwind romance… that’s been known to happen, especially out here.”

  Eve’s eyes brightened. “Do you really think people would buy that?”

  “Yes.”

  Eve was a single woman, living in the middle of nowhere in a town where she’d known all the eligible bachelors—all four or five of them—since they were all babies. She was running a business alone, taking care of her ailing mother. Not only would people in town believe it, it would solve a few rumors that had been swirling around her for years. And it wasn’t like there wasn’t precedent. There were several young women in the area who’d done exactly this over the last few years.

  Eve focused on Sutherland, clearly needing the support of someone she trusted. Sutherland squeezed her hands again.

  “It’ll be perfect. We just hired a new operative who’s due to be here any minute. No one in town has ever met him. We’ll send him over to the motel this afternoon, okay?”

  “And he’ll be able to keep the motel safe?”

  “He will,” Kirkland said firmly. “He’ll be reporting back to me daily. If things aren’t going well, we’ll do whatever it takes to keep these people away from you and your business.”

  Relief flooded Eve’s face then. “Thank you,” she gushed. “I can’t begin to tell you how much better that makes me feel!”

  “That’s what we’re here for, Eve.” Sutherland pulled her up to her feet and walked her toward the door. “You go home and get back to work. Let us worry about the rest.”

  She nodded, turning and nearly knocking Sutherland over with the hug she gave her. “Thank you,” she sighed against her ear.

  Sutherland watched her go, feeling that warm sense of belonging that had become something she craved since she came to live on MidKnight Ranch. And that wasn’t bad for a woman who was abandoned as an infant at a hardware store.

  “This’ll keep us going a while,” Kirkland said, counting through the cash Eve had handed over.

  Sutherland snatched it out of his hands. “We don’t add this to our coffers until we’ve successfully solved the case for her.”

  “That’s not how it works.”

  “That’s how it works this time.” She sealed the envelope and stashed it in her desk drawer. “You may know how to run things in Los Angeles, but this is how things are done in Wyoming.”

  Kirkland opened his mouth to argue, but his wife moved up close to him and subtly shook her head. Sutherland could see the frustration written all over his face, but he simply nodded.

  “I’ll go see what I can do to spur the construction crew along.”

  “Thank you.” Kirkland dropped a kiss on his wife’s head and disappeared. Mabel turned and regarded Sutherland for a long moment.

  “You look like you could use a cup of tea.”

  “You have no idea…”

  Chapter 2

  Grainger

  I pulled through the front gates of MidKnight Ranch, hoping Ash was right about this relocation and this woman who ran the place. When he first suggested I leave the job he’d given me in Santa Monica after only three months, it felt like a punishment. I hadn’t realized that he knew the details of what had been going on in my personal life these last few weeks. Then again, I guess I didn’t hide it well. After a while, the idea of leaving Santa Monica and the memories of the girl I’d gone there to be with started to sound like a good idea, especially when he told me that he thought I’d be a great fit on this ranch where he’d just opened a satellite office. I grew up on a farm in Illinois, so living on a ranch seemed like a great idea. I could use some time on the back of a horse.

  My parents wanted me to go home to Thayer. My buddies wanted me to re-enlist. My best friend just wanted me to disappear. I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, trying to control the anger that raged through me. Six years in the Navy, you’d think I’d have learned not to trust everyone around me. But it seemed safe to trust my best friend with my girl. What a fool I was.

  I pulled my old Bronco to a stop in front of the small gate that cut the front lawn of the main house off from the lane. It was an impressive place, that was for sure. Ash had said they were building a bunkhouse that should be finished by the time I arrived. He said they would have a room for me there. I was looking forward to having a little space to spread out, some space to call my own. I’d bunked with two of the other operatives at Gray Wolf’s compound in Santa Monica and, before that, obviously, I lived in tight quarters with the other members of my SEALs unit. Having some personal space that was just mine would be nice.

  I stretched as I stepped out of the Bronco. Eighteen hours behind the wheel—even broken up by a brief nap in Utah—had a way of making you feel parts of your body you didn’t know you had. I could really use a hot shower and a good meal. Maybe I’d get lucky and the lady of the house would invite me to stay for dinner.

  “You must be Grainger North,” a woman said when she answered my knock on the door. “We’ve been expecting you.”

  “Ms. Knight?”

  She giggled, tugging at her massive, cat covered t-shirt. “No, I’m Mabel Parish. I just help out a little around here.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Parish.”

  “Mabel’s fine. We’re fairly casual around here.”

  I inclined my head to indicate I heard her. She stepped back to let me in, then gestured for me to follow her.

  “Sutherland—Ms. Knight—is in the study with Kirkland and Hank.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about. I recognized the name Kirkland. Everyone in Santa Monica talked about the original operatives like they were gods or something. I’d even met most of them, minus Kirkland and Ash’s brother, David, though David hadn’t really been an operative. He’d been more like a technician from what I’d heard. A computer genius of some sort. Not really my thing.

  But I’d heard things about Kirkland that were impressive. His service was remarkable, but some of the things he’d done with Gray Wolf were pretty awesome, too. I heard he’d lived with a client who ran a pornography site. I wondered how that went, if he ever got a freebie out of her.

  If I was assigned to a porno sta
r… there would be no boredom on that case!

  “Just in here,” Mabel said, gesturing to a door on the right.

  “Thank you.”

  I walked into the room and suddenly felt like I was in the green room of some television drama. The two men were quite handsome, one tall and muscular with skin like melted caramels and the other a rugged cowboy with a teen icon’s face. But it was the woman who drew my attention. She had brown hair and eyes like jade, a willowy body and hips that begged to be used as handles. Beautiful. She was about ten years older than me and she had deep eyes that suggested she’d never be open to a fling.

  Too bad. We could have some fun together.

  “You must be Grainger,” the caramel-skinned guy said, coming toward me with his hand outstretched. “Kirkland Parish.”

  Parish. As in Mabel…

  I’d better be careful around here.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Parish.”

  He chuckled a little uncomfortably. “Please, call me Kirkland.’

  As with his wife, I inclined my head in agreement.

  “This is Hank Stratton, our only other operative at the moment. He also happens to be the assistant foreman here on the ranch. And this is our fearless leader, Sutherland Knight.”

  I nodded to the foreman, then quickly turned my full attention on the lady. She was even more beautiful up close. I had an urge to stroke her cheek and give her some line that would probably work on any woman but her. Instead, I offered an outstretched hand and a charming smile.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Ash told me great things about you and this new office here.”

  “He did the same with you. We’re glad to have you aboard, Mr. North.”

  “Grainger, please.”

  “Then, Sutherland.”

  The first name basis thing established, she gestured for me to take a seat in a chair near her desk. She perched on the front of it in a casual stance that told me this was a common thing for her. Kirkland perched beside her, the two of them looking me over like I was a knock off bag in a store window.