6 #2
“So do I.” He crossed his arms, and the movement pulled his T-shirt tight enough to make her look at a point somewhere over his shoulder for her own dignity. “You are here to shadow me. I am your source. You ask me questions. You do not interview anyone else about me unless I agree to it.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t wander into private areas without permission.”
“Of course.”
“You don’t record anyone without telling them.”
“I don’t do that anyway.”
“You don’t use ranch staff as background sources.”
Her jaw tightened. “I heard you.”
“You’re expected at Luke’s table every night until the article is finished.”
That startled her. “Every night?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because this is not a hotel. And because Luke and Edye want eyes on how things are going.”
“And you?”
“I’ll be there too.”
Her pulse moved again.
Ridiculous.
“At dinner?” she asked, because apparently she had lost the ability to follow basic conversation.
“Yes.”
“Every night?”
“Most nights.”
She nodded once. “Fine.”
“When the article is done, you let me, Luke, and Edye read it.”
“For factual accuracy and boundary concerns,” she said.
His eyes narrowed faintly. “If we approve, you submit it to your boss. If we don’t, you try again.”
Talia stiffened. “That makes it sound like you have approval rights.”
“I have the right to protect my life and this family from a piece built on deception.”
Her mouth closed.
He took one step closer.
Not enough to crowd her.
Enough to make her aware of him.
Very aware.
“I agreed to this because I’m done letting the Windgate name speak for me,” he said. “I did not agree so you could dress up the same old story in prettier sentences.”
Talia held his gaze.
“I’m not here to write the same old story.”
“No,” he said. “You’re here because the first plan failed.”
The words hit.
Her pride rose fast. “You don’t pull punches, do you?”
“Not with people holding pens.”
That stung because it should.
She looked down at the recorder case in her hand.
“I deserved that.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes snapped back to his.
He was not smiling.
But he was not cruel either.
“I don’t plan to keep making you pay for it,” he said. “But I’m not going to pretend it didn’t happen.”
Talia breathed slowly.
“That’s fair.”
“I know.”
She almost laughed.
Almost.
He glanced toward the bunk. “You have half an hour to get settled.”
“Half an hour?”
“Yes.”
“I just drove in.”
“You said you’re ready to work.”
“I am.”
“Good. Half an hour.”
She stared at him. “You’re serious.”
“Very.”
“What happens after half an hour?”
“Come to Luke’s office. I’ll be there. After that, you follow me while I work.”
“In these boots?”
His gaze dropped to her feet.
For a second, his face gave away nothing.
Then he said, “They’ll do for today.”
She looked down. “They’re new.”
“I can tell.”
“That obvious?”
“Yes.”
“Are they wrong?”
“They’re clean.”
“I haven’t had a chance to dirty them yet.”
“You will.”
There was something in the way he said it that made the air between them shift.
Not flirtation exactly.
A challenge.
A promise.
A warning.
All three were unacceptable.
Attraction is irrelevant, she reminded herself again.
Gordon’s gaze lingered on her face for one beat too long, and she had the unsettling sense that he knew exactly what she was telling herself.
Then he stepped back.
“Half an hour,” he repeated.
“Gordon.”
He paused at the doorway.
She had no idea what she meant to say.
Thank you?
I’m sorry?
Please tell everyone not to look at me like I tried to rob their house?
Are you always this difficult?
Instead, she said, “I know I handled this badly.”
His expression changed, but only slightly.
“Yes,” he said.
Talia exhaled. “That was not the part where you were supposed to agree so fast.”
“You said you wanted honesty.”
“No, you said you wanted honesty.”
“I did.”
She held his gaze. “Then honestly, I’m embarrassed. I should have approached this differently.”
“Yes.”
Her mouth twitched despite herself. “You are very committed to agreement when it is least helpful.”
“It’s helpful to me.”
For the first time since she arrived, something like a smile moved between them.
Small.
Dangerous.
Then he said, “You’ll have a chance to do it differently now.”
Talia went still.
He gave her one brief nod, then left.
No lingering.
No polite conversation.
No chance for her to explain, defend, question, or recover.
The door closed behind him.
Talia stood in the middle of the women’s bunkhouse with her electronics hanging off her shoulders, her suitcase beside a bunk bed, her heart beating too fast, and the uneasy knowledge that Gordon Windgate had just taken complete control of the situation.
Worse, he had done it without raising his voice.
She looked around the room.
Lisa, Cassi, and Ruby.
Luke’s table every night.
Shadowing Gordon while he worked.
No interviewing anyone else.
No pretending.
She sat slowly on the edge of the bunk.
The mattress creaked.
Outside, boots crossed the porch, then faded down the steps.
Gordon leaving.
Talia pressed one hand to her stomach.
This was not the access she had planned.
It was rougher.
Closer.
More honest.
More dangerous.
She glanced at her suitcase, then at the recorder case in her lap.
Half an hour.
She stood and unzipped her suitcase.
If Gordon Windgate wanted her to work, she would work.
If the ranch wanted her to prove she could be civil, careful, and useful without hiding behind a lie, she would prove it.
And if everyone hated her?
She would survive that too.
Probably.
She pulled out a notebook, a lighter shirt, and the second pair of jeans.
Then she looked down at her too-clean boots.
“You will,” Gordon had said.
Talia swallowed.
Yes.
She probably would.