Safety in Numbers

She gazed at him for a long moment, taking in the handsome chiseled features, the spark of the early-morning sun on his hair and the guileless blue of his eyes. “Then to answer your question, no. Nobody has contacted my father about selling because they probably know that won’t ever happen. And no, nothing strange or suspicious has happened to my father.

“One thing all those dead ranchers had in common was either no children or family to take over their ranches, or kin that weren’t interested in ranching. My father has five sons and me. Killing him wouldn’t get anyone any closer to owning this place.”

He frowned thoughtfully. “But, I would think if this corporation planned a community of condos and town houses, they’d want this land.” He cast a gaze around. “It looks pretty prime to me.”

“I don’t know what the intentions of MoTwin were where our land was concerned. I can’t begin to guess what was in those men’s heads.”

They reached the stables and walked inside, where the horses in the various stalls greeted their presence with snickers and soft whinnies.

As she walked toward where her horse, Spooky, was stalled, she paused at each of the other stalls to pet a nose or scratch an ear. She tried to ignore Chase’s nearness, but it was darned near impossible.

The man seemed to fill the stable interior with an unsettling presence that even the horses felt. They sidestepped and pawed the ground with an unusual restlessness, as if catching the scent of a predator in the air.

“Tell me about your other brothers,” he said as she greeted her black mare with a soft whisper. “Your father mentioned they’d all be here for dinner tonight. I’d like to know a little about them before then. Dalton has mentioned them in the past, but never went into specific details.”

“Tanner’s the oldest. He’s thirty-five and as you know married to Anna. Zack is thirty-one and married to Kate. He’s running for Sheriff. Clay is thirty and just married Libby, who also has a little girl named Gracie. Then there’s Joshua. He’s the baby at twenty-five and he’s dating my best friend, Savannah. You met her yesterday at the café;.”

He nodded, his eyes dark and enigmatic. “Do you all still work for the family business?”

“We did, but things are changing. Tanner was actively running things before he met and married Anna. They’re now building a house and he’s involved in that and not working so much right now. As I mentioned, Zack wants to be sheriff and it looks like he’s going to get his wish. The man who’s working as sheriff right now has plans to retire.”

She scratched Spooky behind the ears, finding it much easier to focus on the horse’s loving, brown eyes than Chase’s cold blue ones.

“Joshua still works for the business and so do I, but for the last couple of months things have been rather slow.” She gave the horse a final pat on the neck. “We should probably head back to the house for breakfast.”

“So, what do you do in your spare time?” he asked as they made their way to the house.

“I occasionally do some volunteer work, but most of the time I keep busy around here. Running a ranch the size of ours requires lots of work.”

“Dalton mentioned to me last night that you don’t date. Why not?”

She stopped walking and held his gaze. “First of all, my brothers don’t know everything that goes on in my life. Just because they don’t know what I’m doing doesn’t mean I’m not doing it. And secondly, it’s really none of your business.”

She didn’t wait for his reply, but instead hurried toward the house, needing some space from the man, his endless questions and the hot lick of desire just looking at him stirred inside her.

It was just after ten when Chase sat in the passenger seat of Meredith’s car. She’d mentioned at breakfast that she was heading into town to run some errands and he’d asked if he could hitch a ride with her. He could tell the idea didn’t thrill her, but she was too polite to tell him no.

He’d told her that while she ran her errands or whatever, he’d hang out at the Wild West Protective Services office with Dalton.

He’d known most of the information she’d told him in the stables before he’d even asked the questions, but he’d hoped she’d give him something that would either exonerate or condemn somebody guilty.

The Wests might never have made the FBI radar if it hadn’t been for a couple of anonymous tips that had come in pointing a finger at the family. He had no idea if the tips were valid or not. It was his and Kathy’s assignment to find out.

“You asked me about my family earlier,” she said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had existed between them since they’d gotten into the car. “Tell me about yours.”

As always, when Chase thought of what little family he’d had, a knot of tension twisted in his chest. He reached up and touched the slightly raised scar that slashed through his eyebrow, then dropped his hand.

“There’s not much to tell. It’s just my mother and me. My father died a couple of years ago. He was a miserable man who gambled away his money, then drank and got mean.”

It was a partial truth. His mother had died when he was five and his violent, drunken father had raised him until Chase turned sixteen and left home. Whenever Chase thought of his family he got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. God save him from people who professed to love him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But your mother seems very nice.”

He grinned. “Kat…Mom is a jewel. She left my father when I was ten and we have a great relationship.” This was the cover story they’d concocted, a blend of half lies and half truths. Kathy was a jewel, not as a mother but as a partner.

“She stepped into dangerous territory this morning.”

Chase looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”

“She took over Smokey’s kitchen.”

“That’s bad?”

She smiled and in the genuine warmth of the gesture she was so stunning that the blood in Chase’s veins heated. “That’s grounds for a firing squad. Smokey has always been fiercely territorial about his kitchen.”

“What’s his story? He’s not part of the family, right?” Although Chase had no idea what financial benefit Smokey Johnson might get from conspiring with MoTwin, he knew that not all motives revolved around money.

“He’s family. He might as well have been born a West,” Meredith replied. “He worked as the ranch manager for years, then took a nasty spill from a horse and crushed his leg. He was still healing from that when my mother was murdered.”

“That must have been tough on everyone.” He watched the play of emotions that crossed her features, a flash of pain, a twist of anger, then finally the smooth transition into a weary acceptance. She’d be an easy mark at cards. She didn’t have much of a poker face.

“From what I understand, my father was devastated. He and my mother had one of those loves that you only read about in novels. They were best friends and soul mates and Dad crawled deep into his grief. Smokey stepped in to help with all of us kids and he never left. He’s a combination of a drill sergeant and a beloved uncle.”

She pulled into a parking space in front of the Wild West Protective Services office. She shut off the car engine and unbuckled her seat belt. “Why don’t I meet you back here around noon and we’ll head back to the ranch.”

“Why don’t we meet back here at noon and I’ll buy us lunch at the café;?”

She looked at him in surprise. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he countered. “It’s not every day I get the opportunity to buy lunch for a pretty lady.” He watched her, fascinated by the pink blush that swept into her cheeks.

“I guess it would be all right to have lunch before we head back,” she replied.

They got out of her car and she murmured goodbye, then headed across the street. “What are you doing, Chase,” he muttered to himself as he watched her walk away.

Once again, she was dressed in an old flannel shirt and a pair of worn jeans. She intrigued him. She acted and dressed like a woman who didn’t much care about a man’s attention, and yet the blush that had colored her cheeks had spoken otherwise.

She was unlike any woman he’d ever been around before. Most of the women he dated were girly girls, high-maintenance savvy singles who cared even less about a committed relationship than he did. Meredith West blushed like a woman who wasn’t accustomed to compliments or attention.

He watched until she disappeared into a storefront, then he turned and went into the Wild West Protective Services office.

“I don’t care how difficult the client is,” Dalton said into the phone receiver as he raised a hand in greeting to Chase. “You do what you have to do to make this right. You know how to do your job, just do it and try not to make people angry.” He hung up the phone with a groan. “I think sometimes it’s easier to have a boss than to be one.”

Chase sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk and grinned at his friend. “As one who has a boss instead of being one, I’d argue the fact with you.”

Dalton laughed and leaned forward in his chair. “How about one night you and I make plans to shoot some pool and drink a few beers?”

“Sounds good to me,” Chase agreed. Maybe knocking back a few brews would get thoughts of Meredith West out of his head.