B.J. Daniels - Honor Bound

Sawyer thought of her naked in the moonlight. “She’s quite the woman.” He chuckled. “I’ll send the note he left her. I’m betting he was upset enough that he didn’t think to be careful about leaving his prints.”

CHAPTER SIX

“HOW’S YOUR GIRLFRIEND?” Kitzie asked as she sat down next to Sawyer in the kitchen at breakfast. Everyone had already finished and gone back to work, so they had one of the tables to themselves.

He didn’t take the bait. Kitzie knew that Ainsley wasn’t his girlfriend—not that it stopped her from being jealous. “She isn’t feeling so hot today.”

“Really? Must be something going around.”

“Yup,” he said, knowing that Kitzie had purposely gotten Ainsley drunk last night. But he wasn’t about to get into it with her. “Must be.”

She chuckled.

“Thanks for the information you slipped under my door.”

Kitzie glanced toward the back part of the kitchen where both teenagers were supposed to be cleaning up. Instead they were texting on their cell phones. “I did remember something that might help you.” She lowered her voice. “Bobby LeRoy. I’ve seen him watching her. I didn’t think anything about it until you told me what you’re doing here. What caught my attention was that he wasn’t looking at her like a man looks at a woman. He seemed...protective, you know what I mean?”

He considered that. “The security guard, Roderick? He seems a bit odd. Has anyone else been hanging around?”

“Not really. We’re isolated here, so we don’t get many visitors. The hotel owner comes up occasionally. The delivery guy brings up supplies every day or so.” She shrugged. “He’s been trying to butter up to Gunderson, thinks he can get into the movies. Don’t we all?”

He was taking this all in as he finished his breakfast. Bobby LeRoy was young and foolish, from what he’d seen. Roderick? He was something else altogether. So was the wannabe movie star.

“I’m surprised you got a cabin,” Kitzie said, studying him openly. “Murph must have liked the looks of you. I heard she turned down all the other cowboys who came up to audition.”

“Murph?”

“Murphy Hillinger, the woman who hired you.”

“Who has access to the four-wheelers and the horses?”

Kitzie shrugged. “Anyone who needs them.”

“Including security?”

“I believe Roderick patrols the area every night on horseback. If that’s all, I have to get my crew lined out on the lunch menu.” She got to her feet.

He turned to look at her. “Thanks for your help.”

“Anything for an old...friend.” She left, having hardly touched her breakfast. “Good luck.”

* * *

AS LUCK WOULD have it, the first person Ainsley had to deal with this morning was Gunderson.

“The canyon scene isn’t going to work out. I need you to find some other locations we can use, and I need them by noon,” he ordered. “By the way, you look terrible.”

“Thanks.” Her cell phone rang as she was heading for the stables. It was her sister Kat. “Good morning,” she said by way of greeting. “I can’t talk. I need to get saddled up and off to work.”

“You call that work?” Kat said but quickly got to her reason for phoning. “Dad asked me to call and make sure you were going to be home for election night.”

“Mother already called me early this morning to confirm that I would be there. Did she mention to you that there is going to be a party, kind of a celebration of their marriage? Apparently we’re putting it on for them. I said we would help.”

Kat groaned. Besides refusing to call her mother, she still acted suspicious of everything Sarah did. “Whatever,” she said of the party. “Election night we’re all going to be at the Beartooth Fairgrounds, along with a thousand well-wishers and who knows how many crazies who might want the family dead.”

“What are you talking about?” Ainsley asked. “This isn’t about The Prophecy, that anarchist group from the 1970s that you’re convinced our mother was a part of, is it?”

“She was the leader.”

Ainsley rolled her eyes as she entered the stables. Ted was already saddling her horse. He grinned at her and mouthed, “Knew you’d need it this morning.”

She mouthed thank you back.

“Security will be a nightmare, but you know Dad,” Kat was saying. “We’ve all done our best to talk him out of it. The Republican Committee wanted it in the capital in Helena, but Dad wants it here. We should all wear bulletproof vests, not that it would probably do any good since Sarah’s MO is bombs.”

Kat had always been the doomsday negative sister, so it was hard to tell if there really was a security problem or if this was just Kat being Kat. Except since she’d met Max and fallen in love, she’d been more upbeat.

“I’m sure there will be dozens of Secret Service to protect him,” Ainsley said, trying to lighten the conversation. “Let’s just be happy for Dad.”

“There will be a lot of Secret Service, but only because Sheriff Curry insisted on it. You know Dad. He thinks he’s invincible. Frank is calling in local law enforcement as well as the National Guard.”

“So it should be fine.”

“Yep, one big happy family on parade.”

Ainsley knew her sister’s sarcasm stemmed from her problems with their mother and this crazy idea of hers that their mother was some kind of terrorist. “Now that Dad and Mom are married again—”

“I’m not worried about putting on a party for the two of them. There’s a lot you don’t know. Let’s just hope Dad survives election night. Let’s hope we all do. I have to go.”

Ainsley disconnected, her headache pounding. Kat couldn’t forgive their mother for disappearing for twenty-two years from their lives. Since it had only been months after the twins were born, Ainsley had speculated that maybe their mother had been suffering from postpartum depression. Why else would she leave six children and a husband she professed to love to try to kill herself that night in the river?

She sighed. Kat’s problems with their mother aside, what was that about Dad surviving election night? Why did Kat always have to be so dramatic? And what was this about Mother being the leader of The Prophecy? She wondered where Kat got this kind of stuff. As far as Ainsley knew, some of the members had tried to throw their mother under suspicion to hurt their father’s presidential campaign, but it hadn’t worked.

Ainsley wasn’t looking forward to election night either for her own personal reasons. She hated being in the spotlight. But this wasn’t about her. It would be their father’s night. He’d worked hard for this and deserved to have his family by his side when he won the election, which according to the polls, was in the bag.

She felt goose bumps along with a surge of pride. Her father would make a wonderful president. She just hoped it was everything he thought it would be. As for their mother... Just a few more days and she would be home. Then she could decide if Kat’s concerns were valid.

“Good, I’m not too late to catch you.”

She turned to find Kitzie standing in the stables doorway, silhouetting her against the bright October day. “A peace offering,” Kitzie said and held out what looked like a small breakfast burrito wrapped in plastic. “I just ran into Gun, so I know you missed breakfast. Sorry about spiking your tea last night.”

Ainsley took the burrito. “Thank you. Actually, you might have done me a favor last night. Now I’ll never drink again.” They both laughed.

“Well, I’d better get to work,” Kitzie said and turned to leave.

She looked down at the burrito. Just the smell was enough to make her want to barf. “Hungry?” she asked Ted.