Chapter 8 #2
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear you say so.” She practically bounced with each step she took, her ponytail swishing. “That means a lot coming from you.”
“Coming from me?”
She halted only a few feet away and stuffed her hands into her front pockets. “Compliments from you always mean more because you dole them out so carefully.”
She could have just said it like it was—that he was stingy with praise. But of course, she naturally put a positive spin on almost everything.
“You ready to go into town?” he asked.
“Can you give me thirty minutes to change and freshen up?”
Even though the delay would alter the evening schedule he and Isaac had crafted down to the minute, Dustin could adjust. He’d had to for other clients who were a lot more entitled and a lot less polite about it than Silver.
While she went up to her room, he scanned the list of top suspects he and Isaac had narrowed down over the course of the past twenty-four hours. He hadn’t yet shown the list to Silver, because she’d only try to get him to cross off half of the people on it, if not all of them.
Franklin. Although Franklin had always been a cool kid back when he’d vacationed at Healing Springs Ranch, all the notes that had been subpoenaed from the law office handling Upton St. James’s estate revealed that Franklin hadn’t gotten the level of control over Upton’s investments he’d been hoping for.
Dustin couldn’t rule out the possibility that Franklin was trying to scare Silver into relinquishing more of her control to him.
Beryl. Dustin had kept her on the list of suspects even though his gut feeling was that she truly did care about Silver more than herself.
The surveillance camera had shown her going to the mailbox at an odd time last evening.
He hadn’t questioned her about it, didn’t want her to know he was watching.
But it meant he couldn’t rule her out as a suspect. Not yet.
Paula. The chatty housekeeper had arrived for work in the early afternoon. Although she was friendly and seemed harmless, they hadn’t been able to find much history on her, which was odd. The biggest red flag about her was that the threatening letters had started shortly after she’d been hired on.
Nolan. The young ranch hand was new, hired only two months ago. He had a shady past, had been in trouble with the law, and had lied about his criminal history on his application to work at the ranch.
Tobias. The older ranch hand was a longtime employee of the ranch, had been working there well before Silver had taken over. Apparently, he had initially resisted Silver’s changes, hadn’t wanted to shift the focus to therapy, and hadn’t approved of building the new barn.
Linda. The therapist worked part-time and had excellent credentials. But her ex-husband had worked for one of Upton’s law firms until a year ago when he’d been fired. It was possible the ex had a vendetta against Upton and had enlisted Linda to help even though they were no longer married.
Parker. Even though Silver didn’t think her ex-boyfriend had a financial incentive for pressuring her for millions of dollars, Isaac had uncovered evidence Parker had massive gambling debts he didn’t want his family to know about.
Gideon. The guy from the one-time date was also a strong possibility and probably at the top of Dustin’s list. In scrolling through the police’s video surveillance of the area over the past two weeks, a white Chevy truck with jacked-up wheels had been spotted cruising around on multiple occasions.
A quick search of the license plate number had confirmed the truck belonged to Gideon.
As Silver stepped out of the front door of the house onto the wide, covered porch, Dustin closed his notes.
He and Isaac had come up with a solid list so far.
But they were still investigating all the clients who came out to the ranch as well as the other therapists and assistants.
The truth was, everyone was a suspect until proven otherwise.
They couldn’t trust anyone or let down their guard until they uncovered who was behind the threatening letters.
Silver started down the steps and began to cross toward him. She’d changed into a sleek red dress that fit her body like a silk glove. With each step she took, it glided against every elegant curve of her body as if quietly tantalizing him.
The neckline dipped low enough to reveal a slight swell of cleavage. She’d fashioned her dark hair up into a messy bun, leaving her shoulders exposed. And the simple gold pendant necklace she wore only brought attention to the long stretch of her neck.
As if that wasn’t enough, she had on heels that showed off her legs again up to her mid-thigh, where the hem of her dress hugged her body. Then there was that horseshoe tattoo. The one that made him want to trace it before letting his fingers skim the rest of her ankle and wander up her leg.
He swallowed hard. Shoot. Why did one woman have to be so dang beautiful?
“Oh no,” she said as she drew closer and skimmed him from his head down to his toes. “You can’t wear that.”
He glanced down at his T-shirt, jeans, and boots. “What’s wrong with this?”
Her long lashes framed her vibrant eyes. “You need to try to blend in tonight. I don’t want everyone knowing you’re my bodyguard.”
“EPA.”
She waved a hand as though the terminology didn’t matter.
It didn’t really, and he wasn’t sure why he’d corrected her other than to find something about her to fault so that he didn’t turn into a giant brainless teddy bear.
“Did you bring a suit?”
“I have some dress clothing.” He always brought nicer stuff just in case.
“I don’t mind waiting a few minutes while you change.” She pressed her lips together, smoothing out the red lipstick she was wearing—the same red as her dress.
“You’re already late for your salon appointments.”
“Don’t worry, I rescheduled them.”
“What?”
Again, she lifted her lashes, revealing guileless eyes. “For next week. They were fine with that.”
He frowned. “You should have told us.”
“I thought you’d be happy since you didn’t really want me going there anyway.”
She had a point. Even so, she had to keep him and Isaac involved in her schedule. “From now on, run changes past me or Isaac first, okay?”
“Okay.”
He released a tight breath.
“So you’ll change?”
He swept his gaze around the ranch yard.
Most of the employees who commuted had left for the day, and Tobias was the only one outside the barn, fiddling around under the hood of the UTV.
Even so, Dustin was on duty and couldn’t leave her unattended for even a second. “I can’t leave you here by yourself.”
“Then I’ll come with you.” She started toward the outer set of stairs that led to the apartments on the second floor of the large barn. Although she probably didn’t mean to sway her hips, they swayed anyway, probably because of her heels. And of course, it was difficult not to notice.
With a growl of frustration—mostly at himself for his weakness—he stalked forward, passing her so that his gaze wouldn’t be tempted to stray where it shouldn’t.
He led the way into the furnished apartment he was sharing with Isaac.
He grabbed a pair of khaki chinos, a white dress shirt, and loafers from his suitcase, glad the clothing wasn’t too wrinkled.