Kathie DeNosky - Rich, Rugged Ranchers

He released his gentle hold on her and she walked away. But the impact of Logan’s touch stayed with her for the remainder of the workday.

Well past seven o’clock, she closed up her office and left the lodge as the sun made one last blazing hurrah on the horizon. She enjoyed the glorious sunset on the walk home. But when she climbed the steps leading up to her front door, just as she put her key into the lock, a rustling sound from behind her interrupted her peace. She felt a presence. Someone was in the bushes. She turned sharply to see who it was. “Is someone there?” she called out.

No one appeared. There was no response. In the fading light she scanned the area, searching the garden, shrubs and thicket of trees and then farther, past the yard. Had she imagined it? With her back turned, she’d been so certain that someone was approaching from behind. An eerie sensation crept up her spine.

For a moment, she stood perfectly still, listening. A lump formed in her throat and before she allowed butterflies to take flight in her stomach, she gave herself a mental talking to. Don’t let your imagination go wild. No one is out there. It was probably the wind .

Though at the moment, not so much as a breeze blew by.

Sophia shook off the feeling of déjà vu, turned the doorknob and flipped on the light switch as she entered the house, making sure to lock the front door. She moved carefully through the rooms, looking around, and finally decided she was being silly. She was safe on Sunset Ranch. There were security gates, and the property was well guarded.

But just in case, Sophia slept with the lamp on that night.

The next morning, Sophia stood at the cottage’s entranceway, staring at a plain piece of folded, white computer paper she’d lifted from the welcome mat outside her door. Curious, she glanced out to the yard, looking to find someone who might have left her a note. Coming up empty in her search, she unfolded the paper quickly and read four words typed above the crease.

She blinked, and reread the note.

Her shoulders slumped, and her breath came in shortened bursts. “Oh … no.”

Slight tremors coursed through her body, and she fought the sensations, trying to make sense of what she’d found. The words were not threatening—should not instill panic. And yet she couldn’t tamp down her fear. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her … again.

You are very beautiful .

Last night, she’d been certain someone had been watching her. And today, as she’d slipped into her brown slacks and sleeveless cream blouse after her morning shower, she’d realized how foolish she’d been.

“Don’t be paranoid, Sophia,” she’d said into the bathroom mirror, tying her long hair back into a loose braid. “You heard a frightened animal dash from the yard or a bird flitting through the branches of the tall pines.” She had herself convinced it was nothing. But after seeing those four words, Sophia feared her world could very well tip upside down. She wasn’t convinced or sure of anything anymore. There was only one conclusion she could come to.

Someone had been outside her cottage last night.

Someone was watching her.

Sophia squinted against the morning sunshine, looked around the yard once again and then shut the door. Her legs wobbly, she made her way to the sofa and lowered herself onto it.

She closed her eyes.

She had to get a grip.

Yet she couldn’t move or summon up the energy to start her busy day. Her mind flashed to two years ago and that very frightening time in her life.

Shortly after her mother’s cancer treatments had begun, she’d landed a position on the chorus line for the Las Vegas Fantasy Follies. Hospital bills had piled up faster than she could work them off. She’d been scared and worried about a mother who was in major denial about the severity of her illness. Out of necessity, Sophia had become both a worried, doting daughter and the only breadwinner for their little family.

When the first note had arrived to her dressing room, Sophia hadn’t thought much of it. Her mind was on her mother’s chemo treatments … and kicking her legs high enough and in sync with the other dancers in order to keep her job. Two more notes had followed. After she’d received the third note delivered to the dressing room, her closest friend in the follies remarked, “Oh, wow, Sophia. You have yourself a stalker.”

It was then that Sophia had learned that propositions usually came to showgirls in face-to-face encounters with gentlemen backstage after the show. They weren’t typed out on unadorned, untraceable white computer paper.

The notes kept coming sporadically; there was no rhyme or reason to them. Sophia had gotten spooked on several occasions when she was sure there was one particular pair of eyes in her audience with deeper, more observant, more sinister motives than watching pretty girls dance, jiggle and tease on a glitzy stage. There were other times when she felt as if she were being followed home, although she’d never seen a soul. Her life had been one great big ball of fear. Fear for her mother, fear for her job, fear for her safety. She’d called the police once, and they’d taken a report noting her complaint, but they said no crime had been committed and Sophia figured she was pretty much on her own.

Until Gordon Gregory had come to her rescue, her grey-haired knight in shining armor.

Gordon felt he owed the Montrose women a great debt for saving his granddaughter’s life. Months prior, Louisa had taken in a wayward girl who had run away from her parents’ home in Northern California. She’d shown up in the alley behind the motel Louisa managed, high on drugs and beaten pretty severely from a mugging. The girl had been a runaway for certain and might have died on the backstreets of Las Vegas if Louisa and Sophia hadn’t taken her in and nursed her back to health. The frightened girl threatened to run again if they called the police. They hadn’t. Instead they’d talked to her for three days straight and gained her trust, making her see that she had hit rock bottom. But she still had a chance to save herself, and once she agreed to go home and make a fresh start, they’d learned that the misguided teenager was Amanda Gregory, granddaughter to Gordon Gregory, a wealthy oil magnate who had a home in Las Vegas.

Gordon was so grateful to Louisa and Sophia for saving Amanda that he’d offered to give them anything they wanted. The sky was the limit.

“We shouldn’t be rewarded for doing the right thing,” her ailing mother had told him.

After that, Gordon had become a friend. And when things got bad and the two Montrose women had really needed help, Gordon had intervened with his offer to take Sophia away from the Follies and any danger she might have been in, marry her and give Louisa the best possible health care. The older gentleman had principles and old-fashioned notions about marriage, despite his four failed unions and the big age difference. He’d insisted there would be no strings attached initially if Sophia was in agreement. He’d offered her time to adjust to the marriage and a safe haven from all her worries. At the time, with skyrocketing medical bills, a would-be stalker and an ill mother on her hands, Sophia had had no choice. Basically, Gordon had been the answer to her prayers. Sophia had even managed to convince her mother that she’d be happy with Gordon, but in truth, she’d wanted to give her mother peace of mind that her daughter would be well cared for if anything happened to her.

The marriage was to be a quiet affair. But the details of her marriage had been leaked to the tabloids, which naturally resulted in splashy front-page headlines. Sophia was not painted in a good light—the twentysomething gold-digging showgirl married to the aging oil magnate. At the time, Sophia had been out of options and her mother’s health had been foremost in her mind.