Chapter Sixteen
At that moment, a buzz sounded. In his pocket, Ben’s cell phone demanded attention. He took it out to look at the screen.
“It’s Rio,” he said to Sarah. Putting it to his ear, he listened, and after a moment, grinned. “That’s fantastic. Congrats, man. Give those babies a kiss for me and tell Becca I’m proud of her. Sarah’s right here.” He handed the phone to her.
“The babies are born?” she cried out, forgetting all about her body’s traitorous and elemental response to Ben.
“Brock and Cannon,” Rio replied proudly. “Mother and babies are doing well. The father, not so much.” He chuckled.
“How long was the labor?”
“Seventeen hours. All I want to do is sleep. I think Becca’s in better shape than I am. She’s a wonder, my wife.”
“Oh, Rio, I’m so happy for you. When you’ve all gotten some rest, I’ll make a trip to see you and the boys.”
Hanging up, Sarah smiled at Ben. “I’m an aunt now.”
“Congrats to you, too.”
Movement from the driveway drew both their attention.
Riding up the drive, Travis Butler sat his gelding’s gently rolling gate as though he were born to the saddle.
Beside her, Sarah felt Ben tense. “What’s he want?” he said. “And how’d he get in?”
“We gave him the gate code long ago. We have his, too.”
As man and horse approached, the animal’s shod hooves made a slow clop clop clop on the driveway.
Smiling, she greeted her neighbor. “Hi, Travis.”
Dismounting, he stood beside his horse and held the reins. He touched his hat with two fingers. “Sarah. Good to see you.”
He cast an irritated glance at Ben. “Paxton,” he said.
Stiffly, Ben nodded.
“Heard about the trouble in town.” Butler focused on Sarah. “You all right?”
“Yes, but that poor woman, Annie Smith, needed stitches. I feel just awful.” She hugged her elbows. “As though it’s my fault.”
“It’s not.” Travis studied Sarah. “Seems like by now your hired hand could have taken that guy out.” He cut his gaze to Ben.
Ben’s expression soured. “Seems like,” he emphasized his Texas drawl, “you’d have prevented the press from gettin’ past the front gates this morning. Thought you’re watchin’ out for Sarah.”
“While she’s on the ranch, I do,” Butler returned. “She wasn’t here.”
Like big-horned rams during the rut season, the two faced off. Sarah sensed that matters between them were in imminent danger of escalating.
Subtly putting herself between them, she stepped around to the horse’s nose and stroked it. “How is your spring forage holding up for the stock?”
“Still green,” Butler said, “from all the winter rain. Gonna be a good year. We’re still expecting a few late calves.”
“We are, too,” Sarah said.
“Bet you could use a break.” He spoke to her as though Ben had evaporated into the ether. “Want to get dinner? Say tomorrow night?”
She heard Ben mutter something beneath his breath.
Was Travis really asking her for a date right in front of Ben?
She felt like a cow between the two snorting rams. Travis Butler was her long-time neighbor.
He was safe. She’d told Ben there could be nothing romantic between them.
This would send that message loud and clear.
Besides, it was just dinner. She’d shared meals with Travis before. She said, “I’d like that.”
“Pick you up at seven.” With that, he thrust his foot into the stirrup and threw his leg over the saddle. Giving a last cool glance at Ben, he reined his horse back down the driveway.
Watching the other go, Ben scowled. He said, “You know that this hired hand has to go with you, right?”
“Travis won’t take me to Mountain Wood, don’t worry. We’ll go to a neighboring town, I’m sure. I’m armed, and he will be. I think I’ll be okay.”
“You will be okay.” He looked down at her. “Because I’ll be there. With you.”
“No.” Her chin took on a stubborn tilt. “This is my life. And you won’t be going.”
****
That afternoon Sarah wanted to stir around her kitchen making dinner, and so Ben took up residence where he could see her in the small living room.
Working his laptop and cell phone, he spent a couple of hours taking care of business matters for his Texas company.
As usual, there were a number of fires to put out.
In only a few days, the new men were due to arrive at Paxton Security and the office was in an uproar.
“We really need you here,” Marge, his secretary, told him.
“We have fifteen files on these guys and are running our usual redundant background checks on them all, but we’re having computer glitches.
It’s slow going. Our IT guy is busy in the server closet sussing out the problem, and I can hear him swearing from here.
Meanwhile, the yard supervisor is getting in new equipment to accommodate the extra personnel, However, he’s having difficulty in finding places to put it all. We’re running out of room!”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “The company’s starting to bust at the seams. We could use another building.”
“Did you know that two of the new guys are bringing their trained dogs? Ben, where are we going to put them?”
“Dogs?” His brows went up. “I didn’t know, but that’s great. I’ve wanted to add security dogs for a long time. You’re right, though. We’ll have to figure out the logistics. We’re not set up for animals.”
He promised to stay in touch and then phoned Rio.
“I haven’t been to the office today,” Rio said, yawning. “I’ll go in tomorrow.”
“No, stay home with Becca,” Ben said. “She’ll need you now.”
“I know. I’m not gonna lie. Things are in turmoil in the office. The advent of the new guys due in has turned the place upside down.”
“Crap. It’ll be a lot worse once they arrive.” Ben tapped a pen on the table.
“How are things going up there?” Rio asked. “Have you found that asshole yet?” A baby wailed in the background.
“No.” Ben felt it prudent not to mention the escalating violence and decided for now to keep that under his hat. “But I’m stuck to Sarah’s side.”
Rio chuckled. “How’s that working out for you?”
Ben scratched his chin. “She’s got your ornery streak, all right, but not nearly as bad.” He glanced into the adjacent kitchen and saw an aproned Sarah stirring something on the stove. “Listen, handle things as best as you can. I’ll be back when this jerk is thrown in jail.”
Ben disconnected and felt the pressure of his growing business missing its linchpin: him. When he wasn’t there, things often went to hell, even with the capable Rio left in charge. Adding to the mix were the births of Rio’s children, and his absence as well.
Ben rubbed his forehead. So far, except for the attack on Annie, the perpetrator threatening Sarah had taken no false steps, but he would. Criminals always did. He just hoped it would be soon.
Again, he glanced into the kitchen, saw Sarah dip a spoon into a sauce and taste it. Delicious scents of cooking ground beef and bubbling tomato sauce filled the house. She set the spoon aside and added more herbs.
Light from the window fell on her face. Her profile was flawless, and her head-on look was flawless .
.. and her sideways look was ... well, she was perfect all the way around.
Her beauty notwithstanding, Sarah was tough and bright.
She took care of her dad, the ranch, and did everything she could for the townspeople.
Their devotion to her was obvious. He liked her more every minute they spent together, and he’d only been there two nights.
What would he feel like after spending more days with her? Or weeks?
Or nights in bed together?
Abruptly, he found he really wanted to have that time. He wanted to with a desire approaching desperation.
She wasn’t just a person—albeit a wildly attractive one—to protect anymore.
A glow from within seemed to animate her.
She was unique. Alive. Nothing bad could be allowed to happen.
So tomorrow night when that asshat Travis Butler arrived to take her on a motherfucking date, yeah, he’d be right there every step.
At dinnertime, Sarah served homemade spaghetti sauce over pasta, a green salad, and fragrant garlic bread. “You’re an amazing cook,” Ben told her and meant it. She was incredible.
The next day he spent shadowing her as she performed chores around the ranch. She helped Willie build the chicken coop, so he pitched in. She made certain the alfalfa field was properly watered, so he wrangled the watering system. She wanted to varnish the front steps, so he grabbed a paintbrush.
As evening approached, she disappeared into her room. She showered and changed into a sundress which showed off her tanned arms and slender shape. She did her hair in a loose messy bun at her nape, leaving several silky tendrils escaping to dust her shoulders.
Seeing her emerge from her room, Ben felt the green monster rise up and take a massive crunching bite. He didn’t like to think he hated anyone, but in that moment, he truly hated Travis Butler.
Sarah had prettied herself up for another man. That stung. He wanted her to freshen herself, do her hair, wear a nice dress for him. All those things a woman did when she wanted to please a man, he wanted that for himself.
He wanted her. Nothing new there. He gazed at her hungrily.
Carrying only a small handbag, she said to Big Jim, “There’re plenty of leftovers in the fridge for you and Ben to warm up for your dinners.” She dropped a kiss on Jim’s cheek and waved casually to Ben.
He watched as Butler pulled up to the driveway in a four-door sedan, got out to open Sarah’s door, and make a U-turn.
Ben waited only a moment to grab his rental truck’s keys. Sarah didn’t want him along, but that was tough. She was his charge and by damn, he’d go. She didn’t have to know everything.
As the tail end of Butler’s sedan disappeared down the driveway, Ben hopped in his truck. He waited, out of sight, until they’d passed through the gate and it closed behind them. Then he followed.
Because there were few vehicles on the road and dusk was descending on the evening, the road was open, which meant Ben had to keep more concealing distance between them than he liked.
Butler’s sedan was a good hundred yards in the lead when out of nowhere, Ben saw a big, double-cabbed pickup truck with enormous tires suddenly pull onto the road.
The windows were tinted dark and gleaming, like the eyes of a hunting beast. The oversized fiend advanced on the car in front with all the intent of Saharan lion pursuing a gazelle.
Alarm bells blared.
Stomping on the accelerator, Ben gripped the wheel.
As the truck in front left the shoulder, the huge rolling tires kicked up blinding clouds of dust, obscured his vision. Because he didn’t want to rear-end either vehicle, the cloud forced him to slow.
“Shit!” He waited precious seconds for the air to clear. Then he heard it—the violent slam of metal against metal. At last, the wind blew enough of the dust away. He sucked in a breath.
The monster truck had pulled to the left side of Butler’s car, riding on the shoulder, and it deliberately side-slammed into the sedan’s left passenger door. Butler’s sedan veered off the road and into a ditch, where it came to a violent stop.
Ben’s breath caught in his throat.
Sarah!