Rallying, Willie took a last wary glance at Ben and hustled toward the barn.
Sarah walked the few steps to the corral fence and placed one booted foot on the bottom rung.She noticed the gate was hanging off a broken hinge.Big Jim should fix that.“You wanted to talk?”
He stopped beside her.“That’s right.We need to make something clear between us.Today I gave you orders to stay inside the building where you were having your meeting and to text me when you wanted to leave.Told you not to go outside.”
“I disobeyed orders?”
“Correct.You can’t do that again.”
“I’ll try.Just remember, I’m not in the military.I’m not used to taking orders like you’re my commanding officer.”
“Doesn’t matter.You have to do what I say, Sarah.Like it or not, in the military or not, I’m in charge of protecting you now.You can make this easy on me, or difficult.Just remember, my life is at risk, too.”
Sarah didn’t like it, but he made sense.“Okay,” she murmured, and in that moment something between them lightened.
His expression eased.“You grew up here.”He spread his arms out, indicating the wild Montana countryside.“It’s a great ranch, but remote.So, I’ve been curious about something.How did modeling come into your life?”
She looked out over the alfalfa seedlings, just poking their green shoots up from the earth.“I never considered becoming a model.But one day, my girlfriends and I got all dolled up, drove into Billings to see a rock concert.We were nineteen.I wore a short skirt, lots of makeup, had my hair down.”
He nodded.
“We ate dinner first at a fancy restaurant we’d all saved up to afford.It was a real treat.A lady in a nice dress, of a better quality than I’d ever seen before, stopped by our table.My girlfriends and I were laughing about something or other, and this lady said to me, “Have you ever thought of becoming a fashion model?”
“Ah,” he said.“You were discovered.”
“Yeah, at the time, I didn’t know it.So, I said to her, “Um, no.I like my old blue jeans just fine.”My girlfriends cracked up.Me, too.I mean, who could take this strange woman seriously?”
He shrugged.
“She kept at me, asked my name.She said, ‘Hon, take my card.Come to New York.You’ve gotThe Look.’”
He met her gaze squarely.“You do.”
She glanced away.She didn’t like talking about her appearance.Not any longer.Those days were long past.In seconds, she realized she didn’t want to have this conversation.Turning away, she said, “I have to go prep for dinner.You’ll eat your meals with Big Jim and me now.”
He said, “Thanks.I’ll be installing cameras at the gate, the house, and the barn.Then I’ll set up a video feed connected to a hub at the house.And I’ll link it to my cell phone.”
Sarah left him to his work.Her modeling days were behind her, in the rearview, and even talking about them was uncomfortable.She wasn’t going to do it anymore.
****
Ben stood on a ladderand wired one of the surveillance cameras he’d brought with him to the ranch to the arching top bar over the gate.At the end of the long driveway, a man rode up on a bay gelding.
He came from across the field of the property next door.He was a big guy, at least as big as Ben, and he sat his horse comfortably.A pistol was holstered on his hip.Ben judged him as about his same age.His horse’s gait seemed a tad off.If he hadn’t apprenticed for a farrier when he was a teenager, he would have never noticed.
Reining in, the man studied Ben.“Afternoon.”
Ben saw that he didn’t get off his horse and offer a hand.“Afternoon,” he returned.“You the neighbor?”
“Travis Butler.”His saddle creaked as his horse shifted its weight.“You here to mind Sarah?”
“That’s right.Ben Paxton.”
Travis Butler eyed Ben’s new camera equipment.“Not sure that stuff’ll be necessary, Paxton.I’ve been watching over her pretty close.Don’t know what you can do that we aren’t already.”
Usually slow to anger, Ben felt a sudden spurt of annoyance.“How were you at stopping the threatening emails and phone calls she’s been getting?”
The other man’s face tightened.
