Defender

“It’s such a shame,” Mandy said. “Sari and Merrie are two of the sweetest kids I’ve ever known. I was hoping they’d meet someone, get married, have families. I should have realized that Mr. Darwin would fight against that to his last breath.”

“Surely he wants an heir from them, to carry on the line, to inherit what he has.”

She bit her lower lip, hard. “I asked him that, once. He said that he wasn’t sharing his fortune with anybody, and no men were going to trick his daughters into marriage so they could live like kings.”

Paul felt his face tauten. “What if they fell in love?”

“Fat chance,” she replied. “They aren’t allowed to go anywhere that they could meet men. Sari wasn’t even allowed to go to a graduation party. Neither was Merrie. He keeps them under lock and key. They’re only let out to go to school for the most part, although Sari has a little more freedom now. But whether you know it or not, they’re watched every second they’re away from here, even at school.”

“What?”

“I didn’t think you knew that,” she said, walking back toward the house. “He has a couple of men trail behind them when they’re not here. Supposedly it’s to make sure nobody tries to abduct them for ransom. But it’s really to make sure they don’t get involved with boys. Merrie tried to go on a date once…” She let that thought trail away. “It’s getting chilly out here!”

“Wait.” He moved between her and the door. “Merrie tried to go on a date…?”

She looked up at him with real fear. “I can’t say. You can’t ask. Please! You’ll cause problems that you can’t imagine. He’s not…normal.”

“Why do you stay?” he asked.

“Because I’m all they’ve got. It isn’t much, but sometimes I can head off trouble.”

He drew in a long breath. “I thought it was a peach of a job when I first got it. More and more, I think I made a huge mistake.”

“The girls don’t think so. They’re both very fond of you. So am I, but you know that.” She chuckled.

“I know that.” He smiled gently.

“Video cameras in the house,” she said, shaking her head. “I’d have been afraid to open my mouth.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t have been so bad,” he said facetiously. “There’s a community college with a theatrical department,” he teased. “We could have asked somebody to write us a script, and we’d have performed it at every meal. He’d have gotten bored watching it all the time.”

She burst out laughing. “Now, there’s a thought!”

“Send Isabel out, could you? I need to talk to her.” He grimaced. “Just in case he put a bug in that I didn’t find, it’s safer out here. I’ll sweep the house again later.”

“I’ll do it. Want Merrie, too?”

“Just Isabel,” he said, smiling.

“Okay.”

* * *

He paced between the light from the house and the distant fence and ranch gate that led to the stables. He was uneasy. He didn’t like being under surveillance, and he didn’t buy Darwin Grayling’s explanation of why it was necessary. He wondered if Darwin had learned about Sari’s visits to Paul’s room. He knew Mandy hadn’t sold him out, but what if there were other cameras and bugs that Paul didn’t know about? He was going to make a thorough search later.

The back door opened. Sari came out, wearing a long blue-checked dress with a white blouse under it. The garment covered her from neck to ankles, but it fit in just the right places to give Paul an uncomfortable ache. She had pert little breasts and a narrow waist that led down to softly curving full hips and long legs. Her reddish-gold hair was piled on top of her head, curling wildly down from a ponytail clip, and her blue, blue eyes twinkled at him in the pale light from the house.

“Mandy said you wanted to talk to me. Are we going to get bulletproof vests issued? Maybe a gun?” she teased.

He shrugged. “Beats me. I feel like some of those guys used to on a show called Candid Camera. That’s before your time, tidbit,” he added with a grin.

“It is not. I watch it on YouTube.”

He shook his head.

“Don’t knock it,” she chided. “All the best programming is on YouTube. I can watch shows from fifty years ago. I can travel all over the world in somebody’s backpack,” she added with a chuckle. “I was just touring the Incan ruins in Peru.”

“I’d love to see that,” he mused. “I never miss an archaeological special on TV.”

“Me, neither,” she agreed. “I used to think I’d get to see the sites in person one day, but Daddy says it’s too dangerous to let us travel outside the country.”

“It probably is,” he said noncommittally.

“So, what do you want to talk to me about?” she asked. She cocked her head. “Are you going to ask me to run away with you and live in sin somewhere in Kansas?”

He was disconcerted. “Why Kansas?”

“Well, it’s probably the last place on earth Daddy would think to look for us,” she sighed. She tilted her face up to his. “Sure you don’t want to run away with me? We could get jobs working in a convenience store and live on doughnuts and Slurpees.”

He burst out laughing. “Honest to God, Isabel…!”

“I like it when you laugh,” she observed, smiling. “You almost never do.”

He sobered. “It doesn’t really go with the job description,” he said. He studied her quietly. “Your father has had me update all the security systems. He had the dining room bugged and you were on camera wherever you went that was in sight of the doors, except to the head.”

“The who?”

He scowled. “The head. Sorry. The bathroom.”

“You said it was wired?” she asked worriedly.

He nodded. “I wiped the recordings.”

Sari was catching her breath. She’d been sitting on Paul’s bed…

“I wiped everything,” he repeated. “Just in case there were bugs in other places besides in the dining room. I couldn’t be sure.”

“Why was everything wired?” she wondered.

“I’m not sure. He gave me some pretty wild reasons. But the only security cameras left are the two at the front and back doors and the ones on the outside. So you can still come bouncing into my room and sit on my bed in your pajamas.” He grinned. “As long as I make doubly sure he hasn’t put any hidden cameras or bugs up there.”

“Oh, dear.” She glanced at him. “Imagine if Daddy saw that on YouTube,” she mused.

“Then imagine me lying in a dark alley with parts missing,” he returned.

“He wouldn’t dare,” she said simply. “I’d avenge you.”

“Your allowance is a little over a hundred dollars a month. I think guys in ninja suits cost a bit more than that,” he mused, his dark eyes twinkling.